Why get married?

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – build vocabulary about marriage and relationships through gap-fill and matching exercises, while exploring terms related to the institution of marriage, its historical development, and contemporary perspectives;
• – strengthen reading and writing abilities by analyzing thought-provoking texts about how marriage has evolved over time, engaging with complex ideas about social institutions, and writing summary paragraphs that capture key learnings from the lesson;
• – develop critical thinking and speaking skills through examining different perspectives on why people choose marriage, discussing historical versus modern views of matrimony, and participating in word cloud discussions that encourage personal reflection on this important social institution.

In this C2 lesson plan, students will delve into various aspects of marriage, both historical and contemporary. The lesson includes a range of exercises to reinforce vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking.

Warm-Up

Brief discussion on how the students perceive the concept of marriage.

Video

The students watch a video “Why bother with marriage?” and discuss the questions that follow.

Reading and writing

The students read a thought-provoking text on the institution of marriage and how it evolved over time, and give their opinion on the subject matter. The students are asked to write a brief paragraph summarizing what they’ve learned from this section of the lesson.

Exercises

In this section, the students will perform a gap-fill and a matching exercise to solidify the newly learned vocabulary.

Discussion

Finally, the lesson wraps up with a discussion about marriage aided by a word cloud.