Of course I’m not stressed!

Richard | Dec 22, 2025Dec 22, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

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

• practise idioms for discussing stress levels in different jobs;
• watch a short video where call centre employees describe workplace situations;
• understand and practise sarcasm in conversations.

In this lesson, students talk about how stressful different jobs are. They explore idioms related to stress and overload (e.g. grind to a halt, take a toll, hit breaking point) and discuss workplace pressure and routine. Students debate important factors that impact call centre workers, watch a funny video about them and talk about sarcasm and its role. They also practise speaking sarcastically by acting out short dialogues.

WARM-UP AND IDIOMS

This ESL lesson on sarcasm starts with a warm-up. Students look at different jobs (e.g. surgeon, stockbroker, construction worker) and discuss what might be stressful about each one. They then select the three most stressful from the list and justify their choice. After that, students read two sentences with similar meanings, one of which contains an idiom. They say what advantage there might be to using the idiom. Moving on, students complete sentences about work situations with the correct form of idioms (e.g. be running on empty, crack under pressure, shoulder the burden). Afterwards, they do tasks where they talk about workplace pressure. 

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION

In this part of the ESL lesson on sarcasm, students look at various factors (e.g. clients, colleagues, salary) and rank their impact on a call centre worker. Moving on, they watch a video about call centre employees. First, students read the title (If Call Centre Employees Were Honest) and think of things employees in the video might say. After that, they watch the video and tick the things the employees imply in their statements (e.g. customers shouting at them). Following that, students discuss questions about sarcasm and its role. Next, they study an example and think about how they would say words (e.g. What a surprise!) with or without sarcasm. Then, students practise saying each line normally and sarcastically. Finally, they think of what might have caused the sarcastic responses in the previous exercise and act out short dialogues.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on sarcasm also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete questions with the correct words to create idioms. 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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