LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• discuss experiences, types and impacts of personal decisions;
• practise phrases related to decision-making;
• watch a video on ways to make better choices.

With this lesson, students talk about decision-making, share their experiences and work with make and take phrases (e.g. make a tough decision, make progress, take time to think) to discuss making choices. They do a quiz about decision-making, watch a video on how to get better at making decisions and talk about what they would do in different situations using the target vocabulary from the lesson.

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This lesson begins with a warm-up. Students look at pictures and say what decisions the people are trying to make (e.g. buying a new car, choosing between clothes, getting engaged). They then put the decisions in order from the easiest to the hardest, in their opinion. After that, students discuss experiences, types and impacts of decisions. Next, they create make and take phrases (e.g. make a mistake, make progress, take risks) by completing gaps in a quiz about decision-making styles. Then, students do the quiz. Afterwards, they read their quiz results and discuss whether they agree with how they describe them. Moving on, students replace phrases with the target phrases from the lesson (e.g. make a tough decision, take some time to think, take one’s advice) in statements about making important choices.

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION

In this part of the lesson, students watch a video about how to get better at making decisions. First, they watch it and choose what it is about. Then, students watch the video again and complete gaps with the words they hear. After that, they complete gaps in questions about influences and strategies in decision-making. Students use the verbs ‘take’ or ‘make’. Next, they choose three questions from the previous task and discuss them. Following that, students read situations (e.g. having trouble choosing between two holiday destinations) and imagine what they will do. They then discuss their answers using make and take phrases. Finally, students look at some decisions (e.g. choosing a career, choosing a yogurt to buy, choosing a film to watch) and discuss questions about why some decisions are hard and how to handle them.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson plan also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students match halves to complete questions about decision-making. They then choose two questions and answer them. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.