B2 ESL Lesson Plan: How Fiction Can Change Reality

Lesson Summary

This engaging ESL lesson plan explores reading, fiction and the transformative power of stories. Through a short video titled How Fiction Can Change Reality, students examine how fiction can influence individuals, challenge established beliefs and shape cultures. They also read an article titled How Reading Fiction Develops Empathy and consider how entering fictional worlds can help readers understand other people’s feelings, experiences and perspectives.

Learning Objectives

• Introduce students to reading, fiction and the transformative power of stories.
• Expand vocabulary related to literature, cultural influence and social change.
• Develop viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• Develop writing skills through critical and creative tasks.
• Improve speaking skills through discussions and roleplay.
• Improve visual representing skills through multimodal composition tasks.

Lesson Activities

• Pre-viewing discussion and prediction
• Quotation analysis
• Video viewing and comprehension
• Critical-thinking questions
• Vocabulary development
• Extended roleplay
• Article reading and comprehension
• Speaking and writing activities
• Multimodal homework tasks
• Lesson reflection

Learner Type
Mature teens and adults

Language Level
Upper Intermediate (B2)–Advanced (C1)

Language Focus

• Literature and fiction
• Empathy and perspective-taking
• Cultural influence and social change
• Expressing opinions and supporting arguments
• Discussing characters, emotions and moral choices

Time
90–120 minutes

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
• Promote social-emotional learning (SEL)
• 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 short video.

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We hope you enjoy this ESL video lesson plan.

Thanks for being part of the Film English community, and happy teaching!
— The Film English Team

Transform Your English Classroom with the Multimodal Approach
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.