B2 ESL Video Lesson Plan: How Social Media Affects Our Emotions

Lesson Summary:
This Intermediate to Upper Intermediate ESL video lesson plan is built around the short video Is Social Media Messing with Our Emotions? and explores how social media shapes emotional experience in modern life. Learners engage with thought-provoking viewing tasks, discussion, roleplay and an extended reading text titled Designing Social Media for Emotional Well-being. The lesson encourages reflection, critical thinking and meaningful communication while developing language related to emotions and technology.

Learning Objectives:
• To introduce learners to social media and emotional well-being.
• To expand vocabulary related to emotions, technology and online behaviour.
• To develop viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve speaking skills through discussion and roleplay.
• To develop writing skills through reflective and creative tasks.
• To encourage visual representing skills through multimodal homework.

Lesson Activities:
• Warm-up discussion on social media use.
• Quotation analysis and prediction tasks.
• Viewing and comprehension of a short video.
• Critical thinking and reflection activities.
• Vocabulary practice and consolidation.
• Roleplay focused on emotional well-being and design choices.
• Reading comprehension and discussion.
• Written reflection on lesson themes.

Learner Type:
Intermediate (B1) to Upper Intermediate (B2) mature teens and adults.

Language Focus:
• Emotional vocabulary.
• Technology and digital culture.
• Online behaviour and communication.

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.