Stiff upper lip

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – Discover emotional vocabulary including adjectives like “livid,” “forlorn,” and “apprehensive” while exploring expressions such as “stiff upper lip” and “wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve” in this C2 lesson.
• – Analyze cultural approaches to emotion by watching videos about British emotional restraint, understanding historical context, and comparing different ways people express feelings.
• – Practice polite communication through speaking activities that use new vocabulary, reading short stories about emotions, and discussing appropriate ways to express feelings in different cultural contexts.

In this C2 lesson plan, students will discuss the ways of expressing emotions, sounding polite, as well as deepen the vocabulary related to feelings and emotions.

Warm-up 

Based on an old photo of a lady, the student discusses the emotions she might be experiencing. They learn what ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve’ mean.

Video: Stiff upper lip

Before watching a video, the student learns and practices using new vocabulary (over the top, robust, subtle, etc.). They watch a video of a British historian explaining the origin and meaning of stiff upper lip. Then, they decide which statements based on the video are true/false.

Reading: Adjectives to describe feelings

The student reads a short story from which they extract and sort out the adjectives used to describe feelings (livid, forlorn, apprehensive, etc.). They practice using these adjectives in a speaking activity.

The student checks their understanding of expressions ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve’ by deciding which of these two types of people would utter the sentences given.

The lesson ends with a review.