Summary
This comprehensive ESL lesson plan delves into the economics of meal delivery services. Students engage with authentic material, including a video analysis, to understand concepts like market share, customer acquisition, and profit margins. Activities focus on business vocabulary, grammar for expressing business relationships, and critical thinking through discussions and a case study presentation. Ideal for B2 learners interested in modern business trends and developing their English communication skills in a business context.
Activities
Warm-up discussion: Students initiate the lesson by sharing their personal food habits, experiences with meal delivery services, and the key factors influencing their food preparation choices, effectively setting the stage for the topic.
Vocabulary gap-fill: Learners engage with a reading passage about the meal kit revolution, reinforcing comprehension by filling in blanks with essential business terms such as subscription, retention, and economies of scale.
Video analysis 1: Students watch the initial segment of the provided video, which focuses on customer challenges within the meal kit industry, and then answer specific comprehension questions about market statistics and observed consumer behavior patterns.
Business vocabulary matching: To solidify their understanding of key commercial language, students match crucial business terms like market share, customer acquisition, and profit margin with their corresponding definitions.
Video analysis 2: Focusing on business strategies, students watch the middle part of the video to learn how companies attempt to attract and retain their customer base, subsequently completing statements to summarize the key tactics discussed.
Grammar practice: Learners enhance their business English precision by completing sentences using specific linking phrases like "due to," "as a result of," and "in contrast to" to accurately express cause, effect, and comparisons.
Advanced vocabulary task: Students further expand their specialized business lexicon by correctly using advanced terms such as asset-light model, barriers to entry, and customer lifetime value to complete a series of context-based sentences.
Video analysis 3: The final part of the video analysis requires students to examine company performance and profitability issues, answering questions related to specific corporate examples like Blue Apron and the overall industry outlook.
Business model analysis: Working in pairs, students critically analyze various business strategies (e.g., heavy promotional pricing, asset-light model), collaboratively discussing and tabulating the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Industry discussion and debate: Students form groups to select a pertinent topic concerning the meal kit industry's future, customer retention, or fundamental business models, preparing structured arguments for an engaging group discussion.
Case study presentation: To synthesize their learning, students prepare and deliver a concise five-minute presentation analyzing a real-world food delivery or subscription business, applying vocabulary and concepts from the lesson.
Vocabulary focus
Explore key business and economic terms relevant to the meal delivery industry. Focus includes market share, customer acquisition, retention rate, economies of scale, subscription model, profit margin, promotional pricing, asset-light model, barriers to entry, scaling, differentiation, customer lifetime value, and pivot.
Grammar focus
Practice expressing business relationships using specific linking phrases. The lesson emphasizes connectors that show cause and effect (e.g., "due to," "as a result of," "this leads to"), comparison ("in contrast to"), concession ("despite"), and alternatives ("rather than"), enhancing precision in business English.
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