Blame

Lesson Summary:
This ready-to-use ESL video lesson plan, based on Brené Brown’s short talk on blame, explores how and why people blame others. Students expand vocabulary on emotions, accountability and empathy, build comprehension skills, and engage in speaking, writing and roleplay activities.

Learning Objectives:
• To introduce students to the theme of blame and its role in human behaviour
• To explore why people blame others and how it affects relationships
• To expand vocabulary related to emotions, accountability and empathy
• To develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills
• To improve speaking skills through discussion and roleplay using new vocabulary
• To enhance writing skills through creative tasks and use of new vocabulary
• To improve students’ visual representing skills through multimodal composition homework tasks

Lesson Activities:
• Discuss the concept of blame and its effects on relationships
• Learn and practise key vocabulary on emotions and empathy
• Watch and analyse Brené Brown’s short video on blame
• Answer comprehension and critical thinking questions
• Perform a roleplay exploring accountability and understanding
• Read the article “How to Stop Blaming and Start Understanding”
• Complete comprehension and reflection tasks
• Write about what has been learned from the video and article

Learner Type:
Intermediate (B1) – Upper Intermediate (B2); teens and adults

Language Focus:
• Vocabulary related to emotions, accountability and empathy

Transform Your English Classroom with This Film English Multimodal Lesson

This ESL video lesson plan is built around a carefully selected short video and designed using the exclusive Multimodal Approach– an innovative methodology that integrates traditional language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) with viewing – the active process of analysing and interpreting multimodal texts – and representing – creating multimodal texts. This pedagogically rich approach mirrors how communication works in the real world, through a combination of language, image, sound, gesture and spatial design, making the lesson more engaging, relevant and effective.

This ESL video lesson plan plan consists of a complete, ready-to-use package that includes:

• A thought-provoking short video
• A detailed teacher’s guide with step-by-step instructions
• A pre-viewing vocabulary glossary to scaffold understanding
• Comprehension, discussion and critical thinking questions
• Creative post-viewing tasks such as roleplays, writing prompts and reflective activities
• A thematically linked reading text to reinforce language and deepen understanding
• A final task encouraging learners to create their own multimodal compositions (e.g. vlogs, posters, infographics or social media posts)

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
• 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
• Create authentic, personalised multimodal projects that reflect their own voice and ideas
• Strengthen emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness through affective engagement with multimodal texts

Whether you’re teaching in a secondary school, university or adult education context, Film English lesson plans offer a dynamic, research-informed pathway to meaningful language learning. Join thousands of teachers worldwide who are transforming their classrooms with the Multimodal Approach and helping their students learn English—and live through English—more fully.

Watch the short video.