Stealth wealth
Lesson plan overview
This B2-C1 ESL lesson is about the concept of “stealth wealth”, or not showing off your wealth. Students will discuss attitudes towards wealth, will learn interesting vocabulary and idioms to talk about showing off or hiding your wealth, and will watch a video about the benefits of practising stealth wealth. You may also like the video-based lessons “Can money buy happiness?“, “Faberge eggs”, “Are you a collector or a hoarder?“, “Stereotypes”, and “Can you retire in your 30s? The FIRE movement”, as well as the worksheets “Phrasal verbs: money”, and “Idioms: financial trouble”.
Speaking: The lesson starts with a few sentences related to being rich or poor in order to evaluate students’ attitudes toward wealth. Students discuss the statements and say whether they agree with them or not. Then, they discuss 6 conversation questions.
Vocabulary: students learn vocabulary related to wealth and showing it off (e.g. maintain a low profile, keep up appearances, keep up with the Joneses, flaunt your wealth, lavish, frugal). They match the expressions to their definitions. To practise, they choose the correct expression to complete 5 sentences. Then, they discuss 7 conversation questions, each one including 1 of the expressions.
Listening: Students watch a video called “Stealth wealth & financial independence”. The video is divided into 3 parts, and students complete 3 listening comprehension activities.
Vocabulary: revision and expansion. Students put 18 adjectives into the correct category (Lifestyle of showing off wealth or Lifestyle of stealth wealth). Some of the adjectives have already been mentioned earlier in the lesson, while some are new (e.g. over-the-top, flashy, opulent, boastful, modest, unassuming, humble, discreet).
After that, students discuss 8 conversation questions.
For more speaking practice, and to review vocabulary from this lesson, you can use the 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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