I don't know about you, but in the past I never focused a lesson on mental health.
Maybe because it is a sensitive topic or maybe I didn't know how to go about it.
Or maybe because in some countries people might not be able to speak freely about mental health.
In hindsight, I realized that that one of the best places where students might be able to share more how they feel about this topic is in the ESL classroom.
If you're reading this blog, I am sure that you, like me, always try to make your lessons more inclusive.
So why not create a lesson as an introduction to mental health?
And how about you? Have you ever talked about mental health in your class?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!
Quick note: Even though the video for this lesson is on high school students, it serves as a springboard to talk about what kind of stress different audiences are going through, for example
newcomer mothers,
international students,
internationally educated professionals and so on.
By the end of this lesson,
students will be better able to share their opinions and to disagree tactfully when it comes to speaking about mental health.
This lesson
is for a B2 ESL class
lasts for 90 minutes (even though it might take longer)By the end of the lesson, the students
The lesson plan
Let's take a look at how I scaffolded this lesson plan.
As always, you can grab the lesson here for free!
And here you can find the video: “Speaking Up on Teen Stress”.
Stage: Lead-in (10 minutes) [slides 1-2-3]
Show the students (s/s) the picture and elicit the topic of the lesson (mental health).
Tell s/s to brainstorm what comes to mind when they think of “mental health”.
Ask them to share their word cloud and to choose one interesting thing that they found about each other OR if they had anything in common.
Do whole class feedback.
Stage: Predictions (10 min.) [slide 4]
Show s/s the title of the video (“Speaking Up on Teen Stress”).
Ask s/s to make predictions based on the two questions on the slide.
Collect their answers as a whole class feedback.
Stage: Listening for gist (6 min.) [slides 5-6-7]
Tell s/s that they’re going to watch an authentic video (this will make them feel more motivated)
Give s/s a few seconds to read the questions.
Make sure that they know that they don’t need to understand every single word in the video.
After the listening, ask the s/s to share what they wrote.
Confirm the predictions and ask to share if their predictions were similar.
Show the answers.
Screenshot of the YouTube video "Speaking up on teen stress"
Stage: Discussion around the video (10 min.) [slide 8]
S/s will read the statements on the slide and will decide if they agree or disagree. Give them 1 or 2 minutes to gather their thoughts.
Put the s/s in pairs or in triads and ask them to share their thoughts.
Monitor the s/s to see how they agree or disagree (for example: Do they sound too direct when they don’t share the same views with each other? How do they interrupt? How do they encourage the other classmates to speak?).
Do feedback.
Stage: Functional language – part 1 (10 min.) [slides 9-10]
After the feedback, show the s/s the chart.
Ask them to think of one or two expressions for each category.
Elicit one expression as an example (for instance “Asking for opinion” – “How do you feel about it?”).
Stage: Functional language – part 2 (10 min.) [slides 11-12]
Tell the s/s they have to drag the boxes into the right category.
Pick one as an example.
Have the s/s do this individually OR in pairs.
Make sure that they explain why they want to attribute one expression to a specific category.
Elicit the answers and do feedback.
Show the answers as a written record.
Stage: Production – part 1 (20 min.) [slides 13-14]
Show s/s the different kinds of audience.
Tell them that they are going to pick ONE or TWO problems and think of their solutions (depending on the time, either one or two problems).
Ask them to share the problems and solutions.
Tell them that the communicative goal is to come to an agreement.
Monitor and provide feedback on content and language.
Stage: Production – part 2 (10 min.) [slide 15]
Tell the s/s they are going to do a second round.
Ask them “Why are we doing this?”. Elicit the answer “To become more comfortable at speaking more naturally the second time around”.
To do the recording, the s/s can either go to a different classroom or to the lounge. If online, put the s/s in breakout rooms and ask them to record their conversation.
Ask them to send you the recording via email.
Tell them you are going to give feedback on content and language on their recording.
Monitor the s/s and provide additional feedback.
Stage: Final discussion (10 min.) [slide 16]
Have the s/s discuss the questions based on the video they watched.
Do feedback on content and language.
And here you have it!
You can start discussing mental health with your students with this lesson.
🗨️ Over to you:
How would you adapt this lesson to the environment you teach?
Share your ideas in the comments!
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To be honest with you, I think having done the DELTA, it gave me more confidence in creating more ideas. And if you're on the fence between taking the DELTA or not, make sure to read my reflection to see if it's worth it or not.
Source of the picture: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/mental-health
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