The benefits of being in nature

This is an intermediate video-based lesson plan which will encourage students to talk about the benefits of being in nature and ways they can spend more time in nature. The lesson is focused on speaking. The topic is related to the topics of stress and relaxation, and mental health. You can combine it with the following lessons: “The healing power of art”, “Self-care”, “How we get tree planting wrong”, “Time to take a mental health day?”, as well as the worksheets “Phrasal verbs: rest and relaxation” and “Phrasal verbs: mental health”.

Speaking: The lesson starts with 2 photos. Students compare the photos and say how the people might be feeling as well as what is causing them to feel that way. After that, students complete a mind map related to nature and are asked to write down as many words and expressions related to 3 categories: activities, sounds, and benefits. After they have finished, students are given a list of words which they have to put into the correct category. Then, students discuss 10 questions given, and are encouraged to use the words and expressions from the previous activity.

Vocabulary: Students learn common collocations with the verbs alleviate, boost, soak in, brighten up, and soothe (these verbs will later appear in the video). To practise, students complete 6 questions and discuss the questions in pairs and small groups.

Listening: Students watch a video called “The mental health benefits of nature” and complete 2 activities: the first one is a True/False exercise. In the second one, students are asked to answer 5 questions.

Speaking: After watching the video, students engage in a post-listening discussion about the information presented in the video. Finally, students are given 2 situations and they are tasked with creating a project related to 1 of them.

As usual, there is a set of conversation cards included, which can be used to revise the target vocabulary from this lesson and to develop the topic further.