Talking about basic income

Ewa | Sep 11, 2026Sep 14, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• discuss universal basic income (UBI) and its effects;
• read an article about a UBI pilot programme for artists in Ireland;
• practise quantifiers.

In this lesson, students read a general note on a universal basic income and discuss what else they know about it. Students also read a two-part article about a UBI pilot programme for artists in Ireland. They review quantifiers (e.g. few/little, any/no, most/several) through the article’s vocabulary and use them to discuss the results, benefits and risks of UBI. Students also compare real-life UBI programmes from Kenya and Alaska and design their own UBI pilot programme for their country.

WARM-UP AND ARTICLE

This lesson starts with a warm-up in which students read a short definition of universal basic income and discuss what they know about it and which professions should receive it. Afterwards, they read the first part of an article about a UBI pilot programme in Ireland and identify three changes in an artist’s life after he started receiving it. Moving on, students look at phrases in bold from the article and match sentence halves to work out the rules for quantifiers. Following that, they choose the correct quantifiers to complete further sentences. Then, they say which are true, false or not mentioned in the article. They also finish sentences about UBI with their own ideas.

MORE GRAMMAR PRACTICE

In this part of the lesson, students read the second part of the article and answer questions about the reasons for introducing universal basic income, its most common results and its potential risks. They then discuss whether they’re for or against UBI and whether they think it will become more common in the future. Next, students find quantifiers (e.g. most, several, enough, another) in the text that match the given definitions. After that, students read about two more UBI programmes, in Kenya and Alaska, choosing the correct quantifiers and comparing the two. Finally, students design their own UBI pilot programme for their country, deciding who would receive it, how much they’d get and how it would be funded.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students write follow-up sentences using one of two quantifiers given in brackets. 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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