LESSON OVERVIEW

This ESL lesson about design focuses on how nature inspires creation of new things. Students learn some vocabulary to describe the design of things, watch a video and have a lot of brainstorming and speaking practice. 

WARM-UP & VOCABULARY

The worksheet starts with a discussion. Students talk about product designers, their skills, and brainstorm features of well-designed products. This ESL lesson about design is also supplemented with useful vocabulary. Students look at some words (e.g. angular, crooked, intricate, sleek, etc.) and answer the questions using them. Then, they put the vocabulary into practice by describing the things in the pictures (a chair, a car, a building, a tea set). Students have to discuss what the strengths and weaknesses of each design are. 

VIDEO & DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson about design students watch the video and learn how nature inspires designers. First, students discuss a couple of questions and learn the term ‘mimicry’. After that, they watch the first part of the video and answer more questions (e.g. about biomimicry and how it helps to solve problems). Then, they look at three pictures (lotus leaf, ants, forest) and match them to the things they inspired (autonomous cars, building paint, economic system). Students also have to justify their answers. After that, they watch the rest of the video and check their ideas. Students move on to more speaking activities. First, they read some statements, choose the ones they agree with and explain their answers. Then, they look at more inventions and try to guess what element of nature might have inspired them. As a wrap-up activity, students look at two items (a white t-shirt and fairy lights) and discuss them in terms of their design. They talk about problems with them  and how they could be solved using biomimicry.