Farmers’ protests in Europe
Lesson plan overview
This FREE updated worksheet focuses on the farmers’ protests in Europe caused by the EU–Mercosur trade deal and explores related issues in farming, agriculture, and global trade through a variety of language learning activities. Students will learn useful vocabulary to talk about food production, regulations, and protests, and will discuss topics like food security, challenges farmers are facing, and possible solutions. Other video-based lessons you might find interesting are “Being a citizen of the European Union“, “Where are Europe’s innovative companies?“, “Heatwaves”, “How we get tree planting wrong”, “How green are electric cars?”, and “Idioms: bureaucracy“.
Speaking: The lesson starts with a discussion about what the life of a farmer is like.
Vocabulary: The first part of the vocabulary section in the lesson is dedicated to words and phrases about food production and climate (e.g. yield, harvest, floods, drought, crop diversity). Students match the words to their definitions and complete a gap-fill activity. Then they discuss 6 conversation questions. The second part of the vocabulary section is dedicated to words related to rules and regulations (e.g. red tape, tax breaks, subsidies, tariffs). Students look at 6 sentences and explain how they understand the words. Then they discuss the sentences, saying whether they are true for their country or not. Finally, students discuss different measures and how effective they might be in mitigating the challenges farmers face.
Listening: Students watch a video called “What is the Mercosur trade deal that is causing farmers’ anger?” and complete a listening comprehension activity. Then they look at quotes from the video and answer questions related to each quote.
Vocabulary: Finally, students learn words and expressions related to protests (e.g. take to the streets, go on strike, a march, boycott). After that, they discuss their personal experiences related to protesting.
To review the target vocabulary from this lesson, you can use the conversation cards.
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:
To send the pre-class activities to your students, copy the link below.
In-class activities
Conversation cards PDF
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.
Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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