Life after work

Inna | Mar 02, 2026Mar 02, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on retirement are to:

• talk about retirement from various perspectives;
• practise words and phrases related to retirement;
• understand a video excerpt on how to stay happy after you retire.

In this lesson, students discuss perspectives on life after retirement, watch part of a video (to 01:08) on what makes this stage of life happy and discuss planning and finding meaning as a retired person. They work with vocabulary for talking about retirement (e.g. take up, stay in touch, afford) and share thoughts on experiences and social realities of retired people. Students also write short texts about people in photos, discuss the pros and cons of various retirement situations and talk about how things are in their country.  

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This ESL lesson on retirement starts with a warm-up. Students read the definition for the word ‘retirement’ and name five things the word makes them think of. After that, they complete sentences about perspectives on life after retirement with the words ‘retirement’, ‘retired’ and ‘retire’. Next, students watch part of a video about the topic and say which idea from the previous exercise is mentioned in it. Moving on, they watch the video excerpt again and complete sentences about preparation and well-being in retirement. Following that, students discuss questions about planning and finding meaning after retiring.

VOCABULARY AND DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson on retirement, students read sentences about common experiences and social realities of retirement (e.g. most retired people take up hobbies like gardening). They match phrases for discussing retirement and lifestyle (e.g. take care of, a nursing home, take up) with their definitions. Afterwards, students read the sentences from the previous task again, discuss whether they are true in their country and give details. Following that, they write short texts about elderly people in photos. In the texts, students make guesses about people’s lives. They use the target vocabulary from the lesson. 

Then, students discuss the pros and cons of different options for retired people (e.g. living with their children, moving to a different country). Next, they say which one they’d choose for their retirement and why. Finally, students discuss questions about cultural and personal perspectives on retirement.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on retirement also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete comments about retirement with the correct forms of the target words and phrases from the lesson. They then choose one comment and write sentences about how retirement in their country is similar or different. 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

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