Should we give children an allowance?
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson plan for intermediate students explores the topic of parenting, and more specifically on whether or not children should receive pocket money. It teaches useful vocabulary to talk about budgeting, rasing chilgren and household chores and gives plenty of speaking opportunities to practise the target vocabulary. You can combine this lesson with the followinf lessons: “Extracurricular activities“, “Phrasal verbs: money”, and “Phrasal verbs: childhood“.
Vocabulary: After an initial discussion, students learn words to talk about different chores (doing the washing-up, doing the laundry, setting the table) and discuss which chores they had to do when they were children. After that they complete a pre-listening vocabulary matching activity which introduces essential topic-related vocabulary (to budget, allowance, pre-loved items, lend). Then students complete and discuss a few questions in order to practise the vocabulary.
Listening: students watch a video “Why You should Give your Child Pocket Money“. First they complete a gap-fill exercise, then they answer different questions with information from the video and after that they complete a True/False exercise (if the video is too fast for your students, you can play it at a lower speed). After watching the video, they share their personal experiences related to the topic of pocket money and educating children about budgeting.
Confusing words: In a last vocabulary development activity, students learn the difference between a few commonly confused words (educate, raise, bring up, take care, look after).
Speaking practice: The lesson concludes with a few questions which will encourage debate and conversation and provide further opportunities for students to practise the vocabulary learned during this lesson.
Homework: 3 questions for further research are suggested, which would allow students to review and learn more topic-related vocabulary at home as well as use it in the next class to report their findings to the teacher. The lesson provides plenty of opportunities for discussion and practise of key vocabulary.
Unlock these resources with one of our subscription plans
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:
To send the pre-class activities to your students, copy the link below.
In-class activities
To download the PDF files for this lesson, you need to have an active Premium or Premium + subscription.
Browse FREE lesson plans here.
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.
Unlock these resources with one of our subscription plans
Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Not sure yet?
Try one of our FREE lessons plans
Share this lesson plan with someone who will find it useful