What’s the deal with flags?

Joe | Jan 30, 2026Jan 29, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this advanced lesson on flags are to:

• talk about flags, patriotism and national identity;
• practise useful words and phrases for debates;
• watch a video on why the UK flag divides opinions.

Students reflect on patriotism, read different views on it and explore advanced language for the discussion (e.g. perpetuate, contention, performative). They share their perspectives, discuss national flags and watch a video about the UK flag. Students talk about national identity, work with hedging phrases (e.g. I’m inclined to…, It’s within the realms of possibility…) and practise expressing opposing views. They also work in pairs, preparing and exchanging arguments using the target vocabulary.

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This advanced lesson on flags starts with a warm-up. Students think about the word ‘patriotism’ and say what it means to them. Afterwards, they read three different views on patriotism. Students find advanced vocabulary (e.g. entrenched, fosters, multifaceted) and match them with their definitions. Following that, they read the views from the previous task again, say which one aligns closest with their own belief and give details. Moving on, students discuss questions about national flags. 

VIDEO AND USEFUL PHRASES

In this part of the advanced lesson on flags, students watch a video about the UK flag and summarize the arguments in favour of and against it. Next, they discuss flags, patriotism and national identity. They then complete responses to the video by creating hedging phrases that soften a person’s opinion (e.g. from what I can gather…, it’s highly conceivable…). Following that, students choose viewpoints from the previous task and expand on them with their ideas. Afterwards, they respond to opinions with an opposing statement using the words they previously studied. Finally, students work in pairs, prepare arguments for each point on their card using the target vocabulary from the lesson. They present them one by one and respond to each other. They then swap roles and repeat.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This advanced lesson on flags also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students read scenarios and answer questions about them using the target vocabulary 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

0

0

Be the 1st to vote.