Procrastination and prioritisation
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson plan on procrastination and prioritisation helps learners discuss time-management skills and reflect on their own habits in work, study, and daily life. Students learn how to beat procrastination, prioritise tasks effectively, and talk confidently about urgency and productivity. Designed for intermediate to upper-intermediate (B1–B2) learners, this lesson combines real-life language with reflective skills, making it ideal for both general and Business English classes. Other lessons you might like are “Motivation“, “Productivity and AI tools“, “Gamify your life: Make boring tasks fun“, and “Phrasal verbs: time management“.
Activities Overview
Speaking: The lesson starts with a few conversation questions about time management. Next, learners reflect on common reasons people procrastinate and identify which ones apply to them personally. They provide concrete examples of tasks they tend to delay, encouraging personal engagement and discussion.
Vocabulary: Procrastination Expressions. Learners work with practical verb phrases (e.g, put off, break down, beat yourself up, prioritise, make a commitment). They match verbs to definitions and then practise using them to rewrite sentences with the same meaning. After that, they discuss a few conversation questions to further activate the target vocabulary.
Listening: Students watch a video titled “The 4 Types of Procrastinators and How to Beat Them” in three stages:
- Identify the four procrastinator types
Note their main characteristics
Record suggested solutions
Speaking: Post-listening Discussion. Learners reflect on the video, discussing:
Which type causes the most stress
Which is hardest to change
Whether they agree with the proposed solutions
Which type they personally relate to
Vocabulary: Urgency and Priority. Students analyse sentences and underline expressions that indicate high or low urgency, such as urgent, time-sensitive, top priority, and can wait.
Writing: Weekly Task List. Students write a list of 10 tasks they have for the week, combining work/study and personal responsibilities.
Speaking: Eisenhower Matrix. Using their task list, students categorise tasks into 4 categories. They then explain their decisions using priority and urgency language, practising polite de-prioritisation and justification.
For more speaking practice and to review the target vocabulary, you can use the printable conversation cards.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
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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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