Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers helps B1 ESL students improve communication skills. This class material uses a video and practical exercises to teach students how to avoid misunderstandings and express themselves more clearly.
Based on a short animated video, this ESL lesson guides students through the complexities of communication. Activities include a vocabulary matching task, video comprehension questions, and a grammar focus on modal verbs for speculation (might, could, may). Students learn and practice useful phrases for clarifying information and checking for understanding through guided discussion and communicative role-play scenarios, ensuring they can apply the concepts in real-life situations.
Activities
- Students start by analyzing a simple misunderstanding and discussing their own experiences, then match key vocabulary like 'grasp' and 'subjective' to prepare for the main video.
- Learners watch an animated video about why miscommunication happens, answering comprehension questions on communication models and perceptual filters that can 'cloud our understanding'.
- The lesson provides extensive practice with phrases for checking understanding, asking for clarification, and confirming information, which students then use in practical role-play scenarios.
- A dedicated grammar section focuses on using modal verbs like 'might', 'could', and 'may' for possibility and speculation, with a sentence transformation exercise to reinforce learning.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson introduces vocabulary essential for discussing communication, including key terms like 'to grasp', 'confusion', 'animosity', 'complex', 'subjective', and 'to facilitate'. It also explores concepts from the video, such as 'perceptual filters' and the difference between 'passive hearing' and 'active listening'.
Grammar focus
The grammar section is centered on using modal verbs for possibility and speculation. Students learn how to use 'might', 'may', 'could', and 'can' to discuss potential reasons for miscommunication without stating them as absolute facts. Practice is provided through a guided sentence rewriting exercise.
