Introduction
This lesson plan is adapted from the British Council publication Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom, which offers classroom activities that focus on the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This lesson plan focuses on Goal 1: Ending poverty, and is based on an activity from chapter 2 of the publication. Learners will focus on key vocabulary around the topic of poverty, discuss statistics around global poverty, then discuss and write about these issues. As an extension, learners can produce a poster and present their ideas.
Lesson outcomes
- reflect on poverty around the globe
- understand and practise vocabulary around the topic of poverty
- develop speaking skills and use language to involve others in a discussion about poverty
- develop writing skills by producing a paragraph
Materials
- Lesson plan
- Student worksheet
- Presentation
- A4/A3 paper and pens/a digital device if doing the optional extension activity
- Lead-in - (5 minutes)
- Show Slide 2 or show students a map of the world in class. Ask learners to say 2-3 countries in which they think people live in poverty. Don’t comment on answers yet. Task 1 will show them that people live in poverty in all countries.
- Explain what the ‘poverty line’ is (the minimum level of income in each country that is considered necessary to live). Explain that countries all set their own value for the poverty line, because the value of things is different in each country, e.g. someone could live comfortably with $500/month in some countries, but be at risk of poverty with that income in others.
- Show Slide 3 (task 1a). Learners work individually to brainstorm 6 words. Put learners in pairs to compare and write a definition. Monitor and check learners understand the word poverty, i.e. have an appropriate definition. Invite some learners to read out their work.
- Show Slide 4 (task 1). Put students in pairs. Ask if they can match the countries to the percentages. Students work in pairs.
- Show Slide 5 or give the answers: 1. Kazakhstan 4.3%, 2. Iceland 8.8%, 3. Indonesia 9.4%, 4. Bhutan 12.4%, 5. Sri Lanka 14.3%, 6. Bangladesh 18.7%, 7. Italy 20.1%, 8. Uganda 20.3%, 9. Mongolia 27.1%, 10. Guatemala 59.3%
- Ask if learners are surprised by any of the figures. Why might some countries have more or less people living at risk of poverty? What do they think the percentage is for their country?
- Vocabulary (10 minutes)
- In this activity, learners work on vocabulary related to the topic of poverty.
- Show Slide 6 (task 2). This is a vocabulary matching exercise. Learners work in pairs to see if they can match the words to the definitions.
- Show Slide 6 or read out answers: 1. income, 2. needs, 3. greed, 4. Wealth, 5. lack, 6. Inequality, 7. well-being, 8. rights, 9. food bank
- Drill the words one by one (say the word, then students all repeat the word) and then in short phrases (e.g. Go to the food bank/ My income is low) so that learners feel confident using the new words in subsequent activities.
- Reading (10 minutes)
- In this activity, learners see the vocabulary in context.
- Show Slide 8 (task 3). Put learners in pairs. Read through the facts and check that they understand them. The words in bold come from the previous exercise. Give them a few minutes to decide which statements are true or false.
- Get feedback from students and then explain that all of the statements are true. Are students surprised by this? What conclusions can they draw?
- Disussion (15 minutes)
In this activity, learners practice the vocabulary they have seen in the lesson, through speaking. They also practice language to involve another person in a discussion.
Slide 9 (task 4). Put learners in pairs. Read through the questions and check that they understand them. The words in bold come from the previous exercise. Give learners time to think of what they could say.
- Remind learners of language they could use to involve each other in the discussion (e.g. Do you feel the same?/ I think that….don’t you?/ What do you think about that? / Does that seem right? / Those are some of my ideas, what else can we say?)
Set a time limit for the discussion and monitor to encourage students to extend their ideas and ask questions. If using the presentation use Slides 10-13 to discuss each question one by one.
NOTE:
You could also set this up as a discussion circle/line. Have half of the class stand in a circle with their backs to each other or in a line along the wall. The other half of the learners go and stand in front of one of their classmates, facing them. Read out the first question and ask the learners to discuss it for 1–2 minutes. Then shout ‘change!’ and ask the learners in the outside circle/line move one place to the right so that they have a new partner. Read out the next question and again give students 1–2 minutes to discuss it. Monitor and help with vocabulary or questions as necessary.
- Get feedback at the end of the discussion, telling learners any good vocabulary/language you heard. Praise those who used the new vocabulary.
- Writing (15 minutes)
In this activity, learners practice the vocabulary they have seen in the lesson, this time in writing.
Show Slide 14 (task 5a, b). Learners work individually to write a paragraph. Monitor and help with language when needed.
- When finished, ask learners to read out their paragraphs to a partner/swap papers. Ask learners to give brief feedback. Saying what they like, what’s similar, and what’s different.
- Reflection (5 minutes)
Show Slide 15 (task 6). Ask students to reflect on what they have learned in today’s lesson.
- Optional extension task (20-30 minutes)
As an extension/in a separate lesson, learners work together to produce a poster showing what they have learned about poverty.
Show Slide 16 or tell learners they will work in groups to make a poster showing what you have learned about poverty. This activity works best in groups of 3-4 learners so that everyone can contribute.
- Read out these questions to help learners organise their work:
What are the main facts we want to tell people? Do we need any more facts/figures?
Can we use some of our sentences from 5?
What will the layout be? How can we capture people's attention? Will we use words, images, or both?
How will we divide the work?
NOTE: This poster could be produced on paper, or learners could produce a digital presentation using PowerPoint/Canva/similar.
- Groups could also work on giving a short presentation of their poster. If they have access to mobile devices, they could record their presentation. Note: so that learners do not appear in a recording, ask learners to point the camera at the poster, as a close-up, while the learners provide a voice-over describing the poster, and using fingers to point at sections.