Summary
This lesson empowers B1 learners to effectively communicate and pitch their ideas. It covers essential vocabulary for discussing proposals and business concepts, strategies for understanding and motivating an audience, and the power of storytelling in persuasion. Through video analysis, matching exercises, and sentence completion tasks focusing on the first conditional to create impact, students will build practical skills for presenting ideas confidently and convincingly in various contexts.
Activities
Students begin by reflecting on their personal experiences with persuasion, considering what makes a new idea appealing and what challenges they've faced when trying to convince others or being convinced themselves.
Learners will deduce the meaning of key pitching vocabulary such as pitch, buy-in, and venture capitalist from context, preparing them for the video content and further exercises.
Participants watch an engaging video about the secrets to a successful pitch, focusing on identifying the main message, the structure of a story-based pitch, and advice for addressing weaknesses in an idea.
Through matching exercises, students connect key concepts like FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and the Hero's Journey with their descriptions, and also learn specific storytelling vocabulary terms.
Learners practice using common pitching phrases and the first conditional to create a sense of urgency or opportunity, enhancing their persuasive language skills for effective communication. The lesson culminates in a practical planning exercise where students outline a minipitch for a real idea they have, applying the three-act storytelling structure (Status Quo, Conflict, Resolution).
Vocabulary focus
This lesson introduces essential terms for pitching and persuasion. Key vocabulary includes: pitch, buy-in, venture capitalist, revenue, status quo, protagonist, inciting incident, climax, resolution, stakes, FOMO, address, focus, create, leverage, sustainable, and opportunity. Students will learn these terms through contextual examples and active use
Grammar focus
The primary grammar focus is on the first conditional (if + present simple, will + infinitive). Students will learn how to use this structure to discuss potential future outcomes, create a sense of opportunity, or highlight the consequences of inaction, which is a crucial element in persuasive pitching, particularly for generating FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Exercises will involve completing sentences to practice this form effectively.
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