B2 ESL Video Lesson Plan: How to Be Empathetic

Lesson Summary:
This ESL video lesson plan for Upper Intermediate to Advanced learners is built around a short video titled STOP making it about YOU and explores empathy and how to be empathetic in personal and professional contexts. The lesson guides learners through discussion, quotation analysis, video viewing, comprehension tasks, roleplay and an extended article reading titled Empathy at Work: Building Trust Without Fixing. Learners reflect on real-world communication, develop critical thinking skills and practise language for building trust and meaningful relationships.

Learning Objectives:
• To introduce students to the concept of empathy and its importance in relationships.
• To explore how empathy can build trust in personal and professional contexts.
• To expand vocabulary related to empathy, relationships and communication.
• To develop listening, viewing and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve speaking skills through discussion, reflection and roleplay.
• To develop creative, reflective and visual representing skills.

Lesson Activities:
• Pre-viewing discussion on empathy and influence.
• Vocabulary work and quotation discussion.
• Viewing and analysis of a short video.
• Comprehension and critical thinking tasks.
• Roleplay focusing on empathetic listening.
• Reading and discussion of a follow-up article.
• Reflective writing and lesson consolidation.

Learner Type:
Upper Intermediate (B2) – Advanced (C1) adult learners.

Language Focus:
• Vocabulary related to empathy and emotional awareness.
• Language for relationships and communication.
• Trust-building and workplace interaction language.

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.