Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers examines how LEGO became a content empire. This ESL class material uses a video about business strategy to teach advanced vocabulary and grammar, perfect for a business English lesson.
This C1 lesson plan explores LEGO's successful business strategy. Activities include a warm-up discussion, a business vocabulary matching task, and comprehension questions based on a short video. Students will practice key phrases in a gap-fill exercise and review the use of the present perfect for describing company history. The lesson concludes with a creative group task where students develop a content strategy for a traditional company, applying the concepts and language they have learned throughout the class.
Activities
- Students begin by discussing their experiences with LEGO and then learn key business terms like "licensing deal" and "core business" through a definition-matching activity to prepare them for the video content.
- Based on a short video about LEGO's economic success, students answer comprehension questions that explore the company's strategic shift from a simple toy maker to a vast content and media franchise.
- A clear grammar explanation focuses on using the present perfect to describe a company's growth and evolution, followed by a sentence transformation exercise to practice the structure in a business context.
- The lesson culminates in a collaborative speaking task where students act as marketing consultants, applying the lesson's concepts to develop a "content empire" strategy for another traditional brand.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson introduces essential business and marketing vocabulary. Students will learn and use terms such as "licensing deal," "franchise," "core business," "customer base," "to rake in," and "to revitalize," as well as idiomatic phrases like "paved the way" and "smash hit" to discuss strategy and success.
Grammar focus
The grammar section focuses on the practical application of the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle). Students learn how this tense is used in a business context to connect past actions and achievements to a company's current status, with practice exercises to reinforce their understanding.
