The Debt Trap: How Borrowing Can Get Out of Control

In this C1 ESL lesson, students explore how national debts grow and why borrowing can turn into a trap that is hard to escape. They also learn vocabulary related to borrowing and public finances and practice mixed conditionals.

Warm-up:

Students look at a bar chart of government debt and try to guess which bar belongs to which country. Finally, they play “two truths and a lie” with surprising facts from the history of debt.

Video:

Before watching, students read a few statements about U.S. debt and guess whether the real numbers are higher or lower. They then watch a video titled “The $40 Trillion Problem Washington Won’t Talk About” and answer questions about it.

Exercises:

Students match words such as deficit, austerity, and creditor with their definitions. They then complete sentences with expressions like kick the can down the road and live beyond your means and choose the correct word in sentences with commonly confused pairs such as borrow and lend. Finally, they match pictures to money idioms like make ends meet and a drop in the ocean.

Grammar:

Students learn how to use mixed conditionals to connect the past and the present, including variations with might, could, and inversion. They then combine pairs of sentences into mixed conditionals and find and fix mistakes.

Reading:

Learners read a text about how debt becomes a trap, from the snowball effect of interest to the crises in Argentina and Greece. Afterward, they answer questions about the text.

Discussion:

Students discuss questions about national debt and whether it is fair to pass it on to future generations. Finally, they act out a role-play at a town hall meeting between a mayor who wants to cut spending and a worried resident.