Strategic Thinking

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – develop ability to express nuanced opinions using adjectives and adverbs for evaluation;
• – practice grammar skills with comparative and superlative evaluative adjectives, vocabulary building, and critical thinking abilities;
• – watch a video about the 6 disciplines of strategic thinking and analyze startup expansion case studies.

In this Upper-Intermediate ESL lesson plan, students focus on developing their ability to express nuanced opinions using adjectives and adverbs for evaluation.

Warm-up

The lesson kicks off with students revealing the hints to guess the word behind the associations. 

Video

Students watch a video “The 6 Disciplines of Strategic Thinking.” After viewing, they review a list of key points and select which ones were mentioned in the video. This task helps improve listening skills and sparks conversation.

Reading

Next, students read a short article called “4 Ways to Develop Your Strategic Thinking Skills.” They discuss the main message from the article using a list of phrases provided. This part of the lesson strengthens vocabulary and reading skills while reinforcing the theme of the lesson.

Grammar

This section introduces adjectives and adverbs for evaluation and provides examples of their use.

Exercises

In the first language activity, students choose the best option to fill gaps in sentences. In the second exercise, they rewrite the sentences using a comparative or superlative evaluative adjective without changing the meaning. Lastly, students write two sentences using an evaluative adverb and a comparative adjective.

Discussion

To wrap up the lesson, students are asked to use their critical thinking skills while analyzing a startup expansion case study.