Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers is designed to help B1 students master the language of brainstorming. This ESL class material provides engaging activities and vocabulary for a business English context, focusing on collaborative idea generation.
This comprehensive English lesson plan equips students with the language needed for effective brainstorming sessions. Through a series of structured exercises, students move from understanding key terms to actively using them. Activities include a creative warm-up, vocabulary matching, a listening gap-fill, functional phrase sorting, and a grammar focus on making polite suggestions.
The lesson culminates in a practical group speaking activity where students plan a company event, applying all their new skills in a realistic scenario.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion prompts students to think "outside the box" by brainstorming unusual uses for a brick, activating key concepts before introducing new vocabulary and preparing them for creative thinking.
- A listening comprehension exercise has students fill in the gaps in a manager's description of a successful brainstorming session, reinforcing target vocabulary like 'productive' and 'collaborative' in a natural context.
- Students practice essential functional language by categorizing phrases for suggesting ideas, agreeing, politely disagreeing, and asking for clarification, preparing them for real-world collaborative discussions.
- The lesson culminates in a practical group speaking task where students must brainstorm ideas for a company event, using the specific vocabulary, phrases, and grammar structures they have just learned.
Vocabulary focus
The lesson introduces key terms essential for discussing and generating ideas in a professional setting. Vocabulary includes verbs like 'generate,' 'contribute,' and 'build on,' as well as nouns such as 'objective,' 'perspectives,' and 'facilitator' to describe the process and goals of a brainstorming session.
Grammar focus
The grammar section concentrates on polite and effective ways to make suggestions. Students will learn and practice using the modal verbs 'could' and 'might' to present ideas as possibilities, as well as the common conversational structure 'How about + verb-ing?' for making friendly, informal suggestions.
