LESSON OVERVIEW

In this ESL lesson about communication students talk about difficult conversations and share their experiences. They learn vocabulary, watch a video, have a discussion, role play and practise useful expressions

C1 / Advanced
C2 / Proficiency
60 minStandard LessonFree / Premium Plan

WARM-UP & VOCABULARY

The lesson starts with a warm-up in which students look at the examples of difficult conversations (e.g. firing someone, refusing to lend money to someone, dealing with a very upset customer, etc.) and discuss them. Students can also think about their own examples of difficult conversations they’ve had recently. This ESL lesson about communication also includes a vocabulary activity in which students complete the pairs of sentences with one word from the provided list (e.g. hijack, validate, untangle, etc.). The sentences present both meanings of the word – literal and figurative. Then, students practise the vocabulary more. They read the statements again and decide what might have happened so that people said them. 

VIDEO & ROLE PLAY

In this part of the ESL lesson about communication students watch a video, have a discussion, learn more phrases and put them into practice. Before watching the video, students think about a few techniques to use in a difficult conversation. They also try to finish some sentences with their ideas. Then, they watch the video about difficult conversations and compare their ideas with those of the speaker. Students then discuss the tips from the video and some other points. After that, students work with more vocabulary and do a multiple choice activity. They complete the sentence with two possible phrases (e.g. chime in/interject, to put it gently/mildly, etc) and practise them by creating sentences for the situation. To wrap up the lesson, students role play different scenarios (business and general) and use the phrases from the lesson. 

HOMEWORK/REVISION

The ESL lesson about communication includes a supplementary task to practise useful phrases from the lesson. In the task, students need to complete the comments and the responses and match them. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet and can be printed for students or accessed in the e-lesson plan for online teaching.

WORKSHEETS

 

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  1. Christiane IG

    What a great lesson! Cool video, I personally love this speaker and the activities are beneficial. My students love the lesson, the vocabulary, and it’s been easy to get them engaged. Thank you guys!

    1. Ewa

      Thank you, Christiane! You made my day 🙂

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