| LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this ESL lesson on cleft sentences are to:
- discuss sustainability and responsible consumption;
- learn and practise cleft sentences;
- watch a video exploring consumer behaviour.
In this lesson, students reflect on sustainable consumption, talk about factors that impact sustainability and watch a video about a consumer behaviour study. They share their opinions, discuss what companies do to show they’re acting sustainably and talk about greenwashing. Students also explore cleft sentences, listen to a conversation about companies selling chocolate and discuss how to make products and services more sustainable.
WARM-UP AND VIDEO
This ESL lesson on cleft sentences starts with a warm-up. Students look at the photos of a golf course being watered, a person with several folded t-shirts and food leftovers. They use them to discuss questions about sustainability and responsible consumption. After that, students say whether different factors (e.g. political beliefs, education, where someone lives) play a role in sustainability and explain how. Moving on, they watch the first part of a video about a consumer behaviour study and answer questions about it. Following that, students watch the second part of the video and say which ideas are mentioned. Afterwards, they read quotes from the video (e.g. there are no ‘average’ consumers), say which they find surprising and provide details. Then, students discuss how companies in different sectors (e.g. transport, fashion, energy) demonstrate sustainability, identifying which actions are effective and which might be greenwashing.
CLEFT SENTENCES AND DISCUSSION
In this part of the ESL lesson on cleft sentences, students examine two cleft sentences about the video from the lesson. They do tasks where they analyse and rewrite the sentences to identify and understand emphasis. After that, students rewrite statements about sustainability challenges as cleft sentences. Moving on, they choose three sentences from the previous task and say to what extent they agree with them. Next, students look at different products and services (e.g. cars, travel agency, T-shirts) and discussion points related to sustainability. They then listen to a conversation between two students about one of the products and summarize what they say. Finally, students choose one of the other products or services from the previous exercise. They discuss how to make it more sustainable using the points provided. Students include phrases (e.g. It’s our responsibility…) to incorporate cleft sentences into their discussion.
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This ESL lesson on cleft sentences also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students add missing words in sentences. They then write cleft sentences about what they do or want to do about sustainability, rampant consumerism or overconsumption. 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.
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this is an oustanding lesson : ) Used it with my C1s and they liked it a lot.
That’s great to hear! Thanks so much for your positive feedback!