Why escaping poverty is so hard

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – analyze and discuss social and economic factors that contribute to cycles of poverty while expanding advanced vocabulary related to economics and society;

• – practice critical thinking through exercises that distinguish between external causes and personal decisions, and reinforce learning with gap-fill phrase work;

• – watch a video about “Why Is It So Hard to Escape Poverty?” and identify key reasons mentioned.

In this Advanced ESL lesson plan, students will analyze and discuss social and economic factors that create cycles of poverty while developing advanced vocabulary related to economics and society.

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

Video
Students will watch a video named “Why is it so hard to escape poverty?” After viewing, they choose which reasons for being poor were mentioned.

Exercises
In this part of the lesson, students will decide whether each sentence shows poverty resulting from external factors or personal decisions. In the second exercise, they will fill in gaps in phrases.

Reading
Students will read a short text about poverty, followed by a Q&A session.

Discussion
To wrap up, students will discuss a quote.