When to Jump Off the Corporate Train

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – practice upper-intermediate level vocabulary,
• – watch a video about taking smart career risks,
• – develop the skill to express opinions in a concise and convincing manner.

This B2-level lesson explores the topic of taking smart career risks and pursuing alternative paths beyond the traditional corporate ladder. 

Warm-up:

Students discuss whether they agree or disagree with certain opinions and explain why.

Video:

Students watch an informative video titled “Forget the Corporate Ladder — Winners Take Risks.” After viewing, they complete a matching exercise, connecting sentence beginnings with appropriate endings based on the video content.

Exercises:

Language skills are reinforced through various activities. Students complete the gaps in sentences with the correct words. In the second exercise, they complete sentences so that they have a similar meaning to the original sentences.

Writing:

Together with the teacher, students create two dialogues between a mentor and a mentee discussing risk-taking in professional situations.

Reading:

Students read a text about taking smart career risks and answer questions about the text to test reading comprehension.

Discussion:

Students rearrange the words to form questions, then answer them.