The Death of Dating Apps

This intermediate-level English lesson explores the recent struggles of dating apps and changing attitudes toward online romance through engaging activities that help students build vocabulary related to modern relationships, online dating challenges, and current social trends. Students will practice expressing opinions about technology’s role in dating while developing practical language skills for discussing contemporary social issues.

Warm-Up 

The lesson begins with students reading various statements about why people decide to stop using dating apps. They work through these statements and identify which specific reason each one describes, such as feeling overwhelmed by too many choices, experiencing fake profiles, or preferring to meet people in person. This opening activity introduces key vocabulary about dating and relationships while getting students thinking about the topic from personal and social perspectives.

Video

Students watch a current affairs video titled “Bumble to lay off one-third of its workforce as dating apps struggle” that explains the business challenges facing major dating app companies. After watching, students complete a matching exercise where they connect sentence beginnings with the correct endings based on information from the video. 

Exercises

The exercise section features three different activities designed to strengthen various aspects of English within the dating and relationships context. Students start with gap-fill exercises using common phrases that people actually use when talking about dating. These exercises help them learn natural, everyday language they can use in real conversations.

The second activity focuses on grammar practice, with students putting verbs into their correct forms in sentences about dating scenarios and relationship situations. 

Finally, students work on word formation activities that focus on vocabulary specifically related to online dating and modern relationships.

Reading

Students work with a realistic dialogue between two people discussing their experiences with dating apps. Rather than just reading the conversation, they actively participate by replacing certain parts of the dialogue with provided alternative phrases and expressions.

Discussion 

The lesson ends with an organized discussion where students explore the advantages and disadvantages of dating apps and online romance.