B2 ESL Video Lesson Plan: What Makes a Great Leader?

Lesson Summary:

This C1–C2 ESL lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking video titled What Makes a Great Leader? which explores the theme of leadership in modern organisations. It is designed to help learners develop key language skills—listening, viewing, speaking, reading, writing and visually representing—through guided discussion, roleplay, vocabulary building, article analysis and engaging classroom activities. Students examine how great leaders create culture, encourage collaboration, build trust and support innovation.

Learning Objectives:

• To introduce students to the concept of leadership in modern organisations
• To expand vocabulary related to leadership, innovation, collaboration and organisational change
• To develop viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills
• To develop writing skills through reflective and analytical tasks using new vocabulary
• To improve speaking skills through discussion, roleplay and the use of new vocabulary
• To improve visual representing skills through multimodal composition homework tasks

Lesson Activities:

• Discuss leadership quotations and key ideas
• Share ideas about admired leaders and leadership qualities
• Predict, view and analyse a short video
• Answer comprehension questions on the video
• Study vocabulary related to leadership and innovation
• Take part in a roleplay about organisational leadership
• Read and analyse an article on leadership culture
• Complete speaking, writing and multimodal follow-up tasks

Learner Type:

Advanced (C1) to Proficient (C2) mature teens and adults

Language Focus:

• Leadership in modern organisations
• Innovation, collaboration and organisational change
• Culture, trust, influence and strategy
• Advanced discussion and critical thinking vocabulary
• Reflective, analytical and persuasive 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.

Remember that Individual Membership and Institutional Membership of Film English Club allow unlimited access to all 800+ Film English Club Video Lesson Plans, Extensive Viewing Guides and Film Study Worksheets.

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.