How Fiction Can Change Reality

Lesson Summary
This engaging ESL lesson plan explores reading, fiction and the transformative power of stories. Through a short video titled How Fiction Can Change Reality, students examine how fiction can influence individuals, challenge established beliefs and shape cultures. They also read an article titled How Reading Fiction Develops Empathy and consider how entering fictional worlds can help readers understand other people’s feelings, experiences and perspectives.

Learning Objectives

• Explore reading, fiction and the transformative power of stories.
• Expand vocabulary related to literature, cultural influence and social change.
• Develop viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• Practise critical thinking through discussion and reflection.
• Improve speaking and writing skills through creative tasks and roleplay.
• Develop visual representing skills through multimodal composition tasks.

Lesson Activities

• Discuss reading, fiction and empathy.
• Explore and respond to quotations about fiction.
• Predict the content and imagery of a short video.
• Watch and analyse a video about how fiction can shape reality.
• Answer video comprehension questions.
• Discuss the cultural and personal influence of stories.
• Perform a roleplay about selecting a novel for a reading programme.
• Read and analyse an article about fiction and empathy.
• Complete article comprehension and vocabulary activities.
• Create written and multimodal responses to the lesson themes.

Learner Type
Mature teens and adults

Language Level
Upper Intermediate (B2)–Advanced (C1)

Language Focus

• Vocabulary related to reading, literature and fictional worlds
• Language for discussing empathy, perspectives and emotions
• Vocabulary related to cultural influence and social change

Time
90–120 minutes

Watch the short video.

Transform Your English Classroom with This Film English Multimodal Lesson

This ESL 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
• 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
• 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.