B1 ESL Video Lesson Plan: Fear of Flying

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This ESL video lesson plan is designed around a short film titled Fear of Flying and the theme of fears. Students write sentences, dictate sentences, speak, and watch a short film.

 

Link to full downloadable ESL video lesson plan on the theme of fears – ideal for B1–B2 students

 

Language level: Intermediate (B1) – Upper Intermediate (B2)

Learner type: Teens and adults

Time: 90 minutes

Activity: Dictation, speaking, writing and watching a short film

Topic: Fears

Language: Adjective + prepositions

Link to full downloadable ESL video lesson plan on the theme of fears – ideal for B1–B2 students

Benefits for Teachers:

  • Save hours of preparation with a fully developed, flexible lesson plan
  • Engage students through compelling stories and real-world themes such as emotional intelligence, character, values, empathy, personal development, identity, relationships, global issues and social issues
  • Build classroom routines that integrate multimodal literacy naturally and progressively
  • Foster more inclusive and differentiated learning by using varied modes of input
  • Rely on a trusted methodology backed by educational research and grounded in the theories of Vygotsky, Kress, Mayer and Krashen

Benefits for Learners:

  • Develop communicative competence and confidence through integrated skill-building
  • Expand vocabulary and improve listening and reading comprehension through repeated, meaningful exposure
  • Think critically and creatively while exploring powerful social and emotional themes
  • Strengthen emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness through affective engagement with multimodal texts

 

Watch the film.

 

Check out the lesson plan

 

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We hope you enjoy this ESL video lesson plan.

 

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— The Film English Team

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This ESL video lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking short video and designed using the innovative Multimodal Approach, integrating listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing. Engage learners with real-world themes, develop communicative competence, build vocabulary and foster critical thinking through dynamic, research-informed activities. Find out more about the Multimodal Approach and join thousands of teachers transforming their classrooms with Film English.

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40 thoughts on “B1 ESL Video Lesson Plan: Fear of Flying”

  2. Maria Borbandi

    Congratulations you on your themes,as well as your lecture plans.As soon as I get them,I immediately listen to them.They are interesting and really useful.
    Thank you,
    Maria

  3. helen

    Thanks for sharing! I have been looking for something to finish a few classes focusing on gerunds V infinitives and this is a beautiful way to reinforce what we’ve learnt. And seasonal to boot! I’m trying to overcome my technophobia and use youTube regularly in class but don’t know how to use Vimeo in the same way – ie being able to save it to a memory stick. I wonder if any others teachers may be able to advise??? Many thanks Kieran (and the EFL community)

  7. Aileen Hansing

    I have used this lovely short film and associated lesson ideas with a number of different groups in different age ranges and it has gone down very well with all.

    Some other approaches which worked well:
    – creating a narrative (group exercise using a laptop and projector) to go along with the film – joining sentences, descriptive language, emotion and tension – then reading the newly created “story” aloud to the group while watching the film;
    – capturing the plot of the film in the present tense then transposing into the past;
    – mix and match exercise with adjectives and prepositions then use the combinations as sentence starters to practice using the gerund.

    I only discovered this site recently but am a great fan of using media in my lessons. I have also successfully used the Coca Cola ad with different groups. Many thanks for the inspiration and I will be back!

    Aileen

    2. Vincent Peeters

      Hi Aileen,
      I also like your take on the material. Could you tell me a bit more about what it was exactly that you had the pupils do while creating a narrative?

      1. Aileen Hansing

        Hi Vincent,
        I took different approaches, depending on the group. In most cases I firstly brainstormed with the group the key elements and techniques of descriptive writing, then took control of the keyboard and prompted them to tell me the story line by line with more or less guidance and input from me depending on the level of the group. At the end of the workshop I turned down the sound and read them the story they had written while they watched the film.

        With a group of younger students we first wrote the basic story on the board in the present tense then I had them first transpose it into the past tense on the laptop, then work as a group to ensure correct spelling and grammar and to make it descriptive. In this case I let them take turns at the keyboard.

  8. Sharon

    My B1 students (45 – 71 years old)absolutely loved this lesson. Thanks Kieran, once again, for sharing an excellent lesson with us. Standing ovation from Switzerland!!

  9. Neli

    Dear Kieran,
    Thank you for the films. I have used ” Fear of Flying ” with my students . It was a great help. I was looking for something that would encourage the students to speak about fear of flying ( that was the topic in one of the textbooks) The stdents watched it with pleasure and discussed the problems connected with the topic.
    Neli

  10. Elizabeth Marques Coui

    This is the first time I am watching this video. I loved it and the ideas you suggested for the activities are really good. I am going to use the video and some of the activities with 9th graders in a private school in Brazil.I would like to have more material like that to show the youngest pupils. I will send my activity as soon as I use it with my students. Elizabeth

  11. Jennifer

    Hi
    Thanks for the great lessons. I’m a beginner.
    I was just wondering about the password which seems to appear on the video for this lesson. It is not accessible to me, it seems. ANy help?
    Thanks,
    J

  12. fran

    I love your site and often use your resources. Thank you so much for all your hard work and creativity. It seems like the video of Fear of Flying has been removed- is there any other place we can access it? I wanted to use this lesson! Thanks, Fran

    1. Anna

      I also like the videos and great ideas on this site. And I was wondering about the same thing. Is there anywhere we can watch this short film? thanks, Anna

  14. Daniel Matheson

    Thank you so much – The discussion questuon about the message of the film really brought out some fierce opinions – will donate for sure! Please note that the full length video is no longer on youtube but is on vimeo

  15. Beverly

    This is a fantastic lesson plan, and has stirred up some great conversation in my ESL class. However, youtube has cut the cord on the video clip :-/.

  16. Clive

    This one looks good, going to give this to my kids today and see how it goes.
    Just one point, in your lesson plan, step 2, after reading it a few times its clear that its a listening and writing task, however, you seem to have forgotten to add that in the instruction.

  17. Justice Johannson

    I used this lesson plan for an adult conversation class. After I dictated my fears/abilities using the formula I showed a list of different to be + adjective + gerunds for the students to have a look and explore some new combinations to make their own sentences. This allowed for the Ss to learn some new combinations as well as reuse some of the ones they already knew.
    Great lesson!

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