Why escaping poverty is so hard

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

– introduce advanced vocabulary related to economics and society, which can be used to discuss the social and economic factors that contribute to cycles of poverty ;

– encourage critical thinking through exercises that distinguish between external causes and personal decisions, while reinforcing what students have learned with gap-fills;

– identify relevant, key information from a video titled “Why Is It So Hard to Escape Poverty?”

In this Advanced ESL lesson plan, students will analyze various social and economic factors that create cycles of poverty while being introduced to advanced vocabulary related to economics and society. They will then use this new language in a discussion.

Warm-up

The lesson starts with an exercise where students pick words related to poverty.

Video

Students watch a video named “Why is it so hard to escape poverty?” While watching, they identify various reasons that cause people to be classified as poor.

Exercises

In this part of the lesson, students decide whether each sentence shows poverty resulting from external factors or personal decisions. In the second exercise, they complete a gap-fill exercise using the target language.

Reading

Students read a short text about poverty, then participate in a Q&A session.

Discussion

To wrap up, students discuss their thoughts about a quote related to the topic