Summary
This B2 English lesson plan focuses on teaching students how to use cause and effect language to discuss and solve problems, particularly in a professional context. Through a series of integrated skills activities, students will learn and practice key vocabulary and grammatical structures for analyzing situations, identifying root causes, and explaining consequences.
The lesson includes listening and reading comprehension exercises centered on business scenarios, such as project delays and a startup's failure. Students will learn connectors like "due to," "consequently," and "as a result of," and practice applying them in various contexts. The material is designed to enhance students' analytical and communication skills for workplace discussions and problem-solving.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion to activate students' prior knowledge about problem-solving and identifying root causes.
- A listening comprehension exercise where students fill in the gaps in a text about a project delay, focusing on key vocabulary and cause/effect phrases.
- A grammar focus section that clarifies the use of different cause and effect connectors, distinguishing between those followed by a noun phrase and those followed by a full clause.
- An interactive grammar quiz to check understanding of connectors like "due to," "consequently," and "therefore."
- A reading exercise about a fictional startup's collapse, requiring students to fill in the blanks with appropriate cause and effect language.
- Speaking practice where students engage in a root cause analysis discussion, applying the vocabulary and grammar learned throughout the lesson to real-world or hypothetical scenarios.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary section introduces essential terms for discussing problems and solutions in a business context. Key vocabulary includes "technical issues," "glitches," the phrasal verb "push back" (to postpone), and verbs like "implementing" and "adjust." Students also learn words like "crucial" and "dip" to describe importance and trends.
Grammar focus
This lesson concentrates on cause and effect connectors. It makes a clear distinction between connectors followed by a noun phrase or gerund (e.g., "because of," "due to," "as a result of") and those followed by a full clause (e.g., "consequently," "therefore," "as a direct result"). The exercises provide practical application to help students use these structures correctly.
