Busy bragging and other pet hates

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Vocabulary - idioms for expressing annoyance

pet peeve lesson

photo of the author Justa |

LESSON OVERVIEW

Busy-bragging has become an element of every talk with friends, family and co-workers and a status symbol in modern society. People boast about being busy in a manner that resembles complaining. Moreover, they often just want to say: “Can you see how important I am?”. This pet peeve lesson consists of various tasks, but the main focus is discussion.

B2 / Upper Intermediate45 minStandard LessonUnlimited Plan
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VOCABULARY

In this pet peeve lesson, students will learn the ways to express their annoyance and talk about pet hates they have. Firstly, they have to answer questions including such phrases as: get on one’s nerves, drive somebody nuts, etc. Then, they move to the discussion on annoying things in modern life. There is a list of 10 things, however, you can search for other examples too.

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION

Next, students watch the video about busy-bragging and answer the comprehension questions. There are two questions at the end of this exercise which are not based on the video, but students’ own opinions. After watching the video, they will also have the chance to discuss the most annoying things connected with their workplaces. To help them collect some ideas, there is a short text which they have to complete with words given, and then discuss.

RELATED WORKSHEET – COMPLAINING ROLE-PLAY

We prepared a special set of tasks to build on this lesson and have more vocabulary and speaking practice. With this extra worksheet, you will teach your students some informal and formal expressions for complaining and practice them in a role-play activity with a twist. See Complaining and responding to complaints.

WORKSHEETS

1

Comments

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Leave a Reply

  1. Stephanie

    Very good class!

    1. Justa

      Thanks!

  2. Karan

    Transcripts would be beneficial for all of your lessons.

    1. Stan

      If it is a TED Talk, transcripts are available on TED.com. However, if it is a YouTube video, you can use the auto-generated transcript. Just click the ellipsis button (…) under the video and click Open transcript. Transcript will be displayed on the right from the video. Remember though that it is automatically created and more often than not it is far from perfect.

  3. Natalia

    Thanks a lot for this lesson! Already used it in class and it worked great.

    1. Justa

      Great to hear it! Thanks 🙂

  4. Audrey Smith

    Great topic!

  5. pam

    Very interesting topic, it was a bit fast for some off my students but they liked the challenge.

  6. Paja

    Thanks a lot, excellent lesson plan!

    1. Justa

      Thanks!

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