The Science of Kindness

Lesson Summary:
This Pre-intermediate (A2) to Intermediate (B1) ESL video lesson plan is built around the short video The Science of Kindness and explores kindness, its importance in everyday life and the science behind helping others. Through viewing, discussion and creative activities, students learn vocabulary related to kindness, emotions and social behaviour, while developing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Learners analyse quotations about kindness, predict the content of a short video, complete comprehension tasks and participate in a roleplay. They then read the article Why Helping Others Makes Us Happier, discuss the ideas presented and reflect on how acts of kindness can influence individuals and communities.

Learning Objectives:
• Introduce students to the concept of kindness and its importance in everyday life.
• Explore the idea of random acts of kindness and their impact on others.
• Expand vocabulary related to kindness, emotions and social behaviour.
• Develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• Improve speaking skills through discussion and roleplay.
• Develop writing skills through reflective and creative tasks.
• Encourage critical thinking about kindness and social interaction.
• Improve visual representing skills through multimodal homework tasks.

Lesson Activities:
• Discuss quotations about kindness.
• Predict the content and images of a short video.
• Watch the video The Science of Kindness.
• Complete comprehension questions and analyse the video.
• Take part in a roleplay exploring acts of kindness.
• Read the article Why Helping Others Makes Us Happier.
• Discuss ideas about kindness and society.
• Reflect on the lesson through writing and discussion.

Learner Type:
Pre-intermediate (A2) to Intermediate (B1) learners
Mature teens and adults

Language Focus:
• Vocabulary related to kindness
• Emotions and social behaviour
• Language for discussion and reflection

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.