Cybercrime and cybersecurity
Lesson plan overview
This intermediate ESL lesson deals with the topic of cybercrime and cybersecurity. It is intended as a Business English lesson, but it can be useful to all students who would like to learn about common cyber threats and tips on how to minimize risk. Other video-based lessons you might like are: “How to avoid job scams”, “Are you being catfished?”, “Don’t fall for these crypto and NFT scams!”, “Is technology making us dumb?“, “Smart homes“, as well as the worksheets: “Idioms: technology”, “Phrasal verbs: technology”, and “Phrasal verbs: social media”
Speaking: The lesson starts with a few conversation questions about technology in the workplace, tools that students use, and how affected their work would be if they lost access to these tools.
Vocabulary: Then, students take a look at different cyber threats and discuss what they know about them (e.g. phishing, smishing, vishing, data breach, ransomware). Then, students match each type of cyber threat to a situation. Then, they learn collocations related to cybercrime and cybersecurity (e.g., to gain unauthorized access, to encrypt files, to restore access, to adhere to security practices, to recover lost data). To practice, they choose the correct expression to complete 7 sentences and then discuss a few questions.
Speaking: Next, students look at cybersecurity Dos and Don’ts and put them into the correct category. Then they match the Dos to the reasons why the measures are important. Then students discuss whether they follow these tips or not.
Listening: Students watch a video called “What is cyber security? How can you protect yourself from cyber attacks”, and complete 3 activities.
Reading: Next, students read a dialogue and learn useful expressions to talk about cyber threats and cybersecurity measures. Finally, they are asked to create their own dialogues.
For more speaking practice, and to review vocabulary from this lesson, you can use the conversation cards.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
All video-based ESL lesson plans include online pre-class activities, which are FREE and can be completed without registration. Perfect for teachers who wish to embrace the blended learning approach. By providing students with resources and engagement opportunities before the actual class session, educators can foster active participation, enhance comprehension, and optimise in-class discussions.
The pre-class activities are optional: if you choose not to assign them, or your students don’t complete them, it will not disturb the flow of the class. You can find and review the pre-class activities for this lesson plan here:
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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