A2 – Pre-intermediate

18 Oct How do governments make money?

Posted at 12:24h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, B1 - Intermediate, Business, CNBC International, Economics, Management, Partial Lesson Plan, Politics

The pandemic is making governments cash poor as they deal with the biggest economic shock since the 1930s. CNBC's Silvia Amaro looks at where governments get their money from and why you could soon be paying more taxes. ...

18 Oct How is China “Making” Athletes for the Olympics?

Posted at 12:15h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, British, Management, Partial Lesson Plan, Popular Culture, Sport, The Economist

With 400,000 children in special Olympic schools, China has the biggest mass recruitment and training programme in the world. This lesson plan has not been developed but you can follow a simple “listen, summarise, compare and contrast” formula....

03 Jun Degrowth: Is it time to live better with less

Posted at 20:20h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, B1 - Intermediate, Business, CNBC International, Complete Lesson Plan, Economics, Politics

This lesson is based on the concept of “degrowth” which questions the role of GDP as an indicator of a country’s economic welfare and “progress”. It’s well explained, as they normally are on the CNBC Channel, and great for exploring or linking to several related topics...

28 May The bridge problem

Posted at 16:12h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Complete Lesson Plan, Problem Solving, Psychology, TED ed

This lesson is fun way to introduce talk about alternative ways of thinking and can work well as either a mid-term break, or as a prequel to the lesson on critical thinking, for example, or to wind down the course at the end of the...

28 May Why Scooter Startups Are Worth Billions

Posted at 15:58h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Polymatter, Technology

Scooters (patinetes) have been getting a lot of bad press recently (these headlines are real) and they are incredibly popular so there should be a lot of opinions on the subject. This lesson is quite easy for vocabulary and the narrator speaks VERY slowly and clearly. It can...

26 May Secrets The Lottery Doesn’t Want You To Know

Posted at 17:37h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Popular Culture, Psychology

This lesson is based on the potential downsides of winning the lottery (yes, really!). The lesson can be approached in several different ways and adapted to suit your students and it is in “chapters” so you can also pick and choose depending on interest, time and...

21 May Why Does China Care So Much About The Moon?

Posted at 16:51h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Politics, Polymatter, Technology

This lesson is based around the latest space race kicked off by China recently landing on the far side of the moon. The narrator at this Youtube video channel, PollyMatter, speaks particularly slowly and clearly so should be good for intermediate students while still being a good one for...

21 May Made In China? Of Course It Is – But Why?

Posted at 16:20h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, CNBC International, Complete Lesson Plan, North America

This lesson focuses on the concept of “Made in China” and its many connotations. It compares the sales price of international products (H&M, Adidas, Starbucks) IN China with the prices in the US and it also looks at the cost of made in China products around...

19 May Just How Do Airlines Set Their Prices?!

Posted at 15:40h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, British, Business, CNBC International, Complete Lesson Plan, Technology

This lesson is based around airlines, pricing and artificial intelligence but there should also be plenty of opportunities for 'spin-off' conversations into things like low-cost carriers like Ryanair, impact on the environment, will high-speed trains ever compete etc....

14 Mar What are the six Universal Principles of Persuasion?

Posted at 22:12h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, British, Complete Lesson Plan, Popular Culture, Psychology

This animated video describes the six universal Principles of Persuasion according to Robert Cialdini, an influential scholar and author. This can be a self-contained short lesson or extended to get more mileage out of it. It’s broken down into six topics so it makes for an...