Productivity and AI tools

This intermediate ESL lesson plan looks into the topic of productivity, time management, and how AI tools can help boost productivity and increase efficiency. It goes beyond Chat GPT and presents 8 of the latest AI tools. This lesson plan can be combined with other lessons related to artificial intelligence, and generative AI in particular, such as: “Chat GPT”, “AI-generated images – is seeing believing”, “Smart homes“, as well as topics related to productivity: “Perfectionism vs progress”, “How to smash distractions”, “Phrasal verbs: job performance”, and “Idioms: technology”.

Speaking: The lesson starts with a speaking task: Students look at 5 situations of people experiencing reduced productivity and discuss what advice they will give to each person.

Reading: Students read about 6 productivity techniques (Pomodoro, Eisenhower Matrix, The Two-Minute Rule, Eat The Frog, Batching, and Deep Work). After reading, they go back to activity 1 and say which productivity method will be suitable for each person.

Vocabulary: Students complete 8 expressions from the text (e.g. optimize your workflow, time management, to-do list, overcome procrastination,  a state of flow, enhance concentration/productivity). To practice, they choose the correct expression to complete 6 sentences.

Speaking: Moving on, there are 2 speaking tasks. First, students discuss 6 questions about productivity and time management. Next, to introduce the topic of AI tools in the workplace, students complete a questionnaire with the goal of evaluating how much can AI boost their productivity based on the tasks they need to complete on a daily basis.

Listening: Students watch a video called “These AI tools will boost your productivity like crazy” and complete 2 tasks: First, they put the AI tools in the order they are mentioned in the video and then they match the tools to the correct description.

Speaking: After watching the video, students engage in a more in-depth discussion about the future of work, AI in their specific industry and their experience with generative AI tools. To wrap up the topic, students look at 4 different opinions about the use of AI in the workplace and discuss which one they agree with the most (For group classes, this activity can also be done as a debate).

Optional vocabulary extension: The video includes a few interesting idioms (e.g. a game-changer, to do the heavy-lifting, to save the day, at your fingertips) and there is a vocabulary extension to work on them (it will be more suitable for B2 level students).

To revise the target vocabulary, you can use the conversation cards.

You can combine this lesson with other technology-related lessons, as well as Business English lessons.