Should we give children an allowance?

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.

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.