Go with your gut

Joe | Nov 14, 2025Nov 14, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on first impressions are to:

• talk about first impressions and making fast decisions;
• review phrases related to intuition and decision-making;
• watch a video about how first impressions affect our opinions.

Students review adjectives to describe personality, discuss first impressions and watch a video about the psychology behind it. They share their opinions, discuss what influences how people perceive others and explore the process of making decisions quickly. Students also practise expressions about intuition and impressions (e.g. on a whim, size up, write someone off), discuss how they would react in different scenarios and work in pairs.

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This ESL lesson on first impressions begins with a warm-up. Students examine images of various individuals and consider adjectives that might describe their personalities. They then share the adjectives from the previous task with their partner and discuss questions about first impressions and personality traits. After that, they watch a video about the psychology of first impressions. First, students watch the intro and say what they would do in the situation. Afterwards, they read statements about how we form and change first impressions. Students say whether they agree or disagree and give reasons. Following that, they watch the next part of the video and say whether the statements from the previous exercise are true or false. Then, students watch the last part of the video and elaborate on statements about how we update impressions of others. Next, they discuss questions about first impressions and what influences them.

VOCABULARY AND DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson on first impressions, students read situations involving quick decision-making. First, they match expressions about intuition and impressions (e.g. give someone the benefit of the doubt, go with your gut, have an air of) with their definitions. After that, students read the situations from the previous exercise again and say which option they would choose. They explain their choice. Moving on, students complete gaps with the missing words in sentences about making decisions and forming opinions about people (e.g. A situation where I went with my gut was when…). They then choose sentences and complete them with their own ideas. Students provide details. Finally, they work in pairs. Students discuss different situations (e.g. going on a blind date with a friend of a friend), taking turns giving reasons for trusting their gut or taking time to size up the situation.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on first impressions also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students read the statements and replace the phrases with the target expressions from the lesson. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

6

1