Too Good to Be True? Get-Rich-Quick Schemes

In this ESL lesson plan, your students will:

• – improve their English vocabulary with useful words and phrases related to scams and get-rich-quick schemes by completing word puzzles and categorization exercises;
• – boost their reading comprehension and use their critical thinking skills to think about financial fraud and other fraudulent schemes presented in authentic English-language texts that contain lots of useful scam-related words;
• – discuss how we can avoid falling victim to scams using vocabulary presented throughout the lesson, before examining some famous quotes on the topic and giving their thoughts on them.

This upper-intermediate ESL lesson plan teaches students how to talk about scams in English, to recognize their typical approaches, and how to avoid falling victim to them. Vocabulary is presented through a series of interactive exercises like word puzzles and English reading activities.

Warm-up:

In this lead-in exercise, students reveal hints to help them guess the word behind the associations. This exercise is designed to elicit topic-relevant vocabulary and experiences that the student already has, and to allow the teacher to gauge how much they already know about the topic. This should be done interactively, with the teacher asking questions like “Which of the words have you seen before? Which ones are new?”

Video:

Students watch an authentic English-language video titled “Can you really get rich quick?”, before completing a gap-fill exercise to confirm their understanding. The video may contain some English vocabulary that they are not familiar with, so students are encouraged to note down any new expressions they hear, and to ask the teacher how to use them after watching the video. Phrases and vocabulary that will be useful for subsequent discussion activities should be briefly explained, with the students being shown how to use it. For less relevant words and expressions, a simple definition will suffice.

English vocabulary exercises:

Students work their way through a series of interactive vocabulary exercises with their teacher. In the first exercise, they create their own sentences using the provided target language. The second exercise presents several scam-related phrases that students complete using a set of given words. The third task focuses on categorizing phrases into the correct groups. Students then complete a text about get-rich-quick schemes using vocabulary from the lesson, and finally complete a selection of sentences using the most appropriate choice from a given selection of words. These exercises focus on encouraging students to use newly learned vocabulary in the correct context, which helps retention.

English reading activities:

Students read an authentic English-language text about get-rich-quick schemes, then answer questions about it to confirm their understanding of the key ideas. Students are encouraged to make a note of any new phrases or vocabulary that they come across, and to ask the teacher how to use them after completing the exercise. The teacher should decide whether the phrase is relevant to the topic or not, and if so, should give a brief explanation of how to use the phrase. Students should be encouraged to use such phrases in the final discussion activity.

English discussion:

Students give their thoughts on a famous quote, and discuss it with their teacher. The teacher should ask short follow-up questions to elicit extra details using new vocabulary from the lesson, or examples. To practice the flow of a natural English conversation, it is recommended that the teacher presents a simple template to use for the discussion if needed, like “Answer, Extra, Ask”, where the student gives their answer, then asks the teacher a related question to keep the conversation going.