Throwaway culture
Lesson plan overview
This intermediate ESL lesson deals with the topic of consumerism, throwaway culture, and alternatives to throwaway culture. Students will learn useful vocabulary related to repairing items, will watch a short video about “Repair cafés”, and will discuss the topic in depth. You might also find the following lessons interesting: “What happens to our returns?”, “Stop food waste”, “Patagonia founder gives away the company”, “Earth day”, ”Phrasal verbs: the environment”, and “Phrasal verbs: shopping”.
The lesson starts with a few speaking activities: First, students make a list of everyday items, and then discuss how often they replace them, and what they do when they break. Next, they discuss a few sentences related to recycling and waste. After that students discuss 6 conversation questions related to throwaway culture.
Listening: Students watch a video called “What are repair cafés and why we need them”, and answer 7 open-ended comprehension questions. After that they engage in a post-listening discussion.
Vocabulary: Students learn verbs related to repairing items (sew, alter, mend, solder, glue), and tools (hammer, screwdriver, tape, needle). To practise, they complete 10 sentences with the correct words, and discuss a few questions.
Speaking: Students look at alternatives to throwaway culture (e.g. minimalism, sharing economy, circular economy, buy second hand, upcycling), and discuss them.
To review key vocabulary from this lesson, and for more speaking practice, 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
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:
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In-class activities
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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