How to Stay Motivated

Lesson Summary:

This complete B1–B2 ESL video lesson plan is designed around a short video titled How to Stay Motivated, Using Psychology. and explores motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and practical ways to stay motivated.

Students discuss motivation and long-term goals, predict the content of a short video, watch and analyse the video, answer comprehension questions and learn vocabulary related to rewards, persistence and motivation. They also perform a roleplay, develop critical thinking skills and complete speaking and writing activities.

The lesson includes an article titled How to Develop Intrinsic Motivation at Work. Students read the article, answer comprehension questions, discuss its eight strategies and reflect on how people can develop greater motivation in professional situations.

Learning Objectives:

• To introduce students to the concepts of motivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
• To expand students’ vocabulary related to motivation, rewards, persistence and long-term goals.
• To develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve students’ speaking skills through discussions, roleplay and use of new vocabulary.
• To develop students’ writing skills through creative tasks and use of new vocabulary.
• To improve students’ visual representing skills through multimodal composition homework tasks.

Lesson Activities:

• Discussing motivation, rewards, persistence and long-term goals.
• Predicting the content of a short video.
• Watching and analysing a video about the psychology of motivation.
• Answering video comprehension questions.
• Learning and practising vocabulary related to motivation.
• Discussing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
• Exploring strategies for staying motivated.
• Performing a detailed roleplay.
• Reading an article about developing intrinsic motivation at work.
• Answering article comprehension questions.
• Taking part in critical thinking discussions.
• Completing speaking, writing and multimodal homework tasks.

Learner Type:

This lesson plan is suitable for mature teenage and adult learners at Intermediate (B1) to Upper Intermediate (B2) level. It is designed for a 90–120-minute lesson and can be used in face-to-face, online or hybrid classes.

Language Focus:

• Vocabulary related to motivation, rewards, persistence and long-term goals.
• Language for discussing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
• Language for explaining goals, challenges, strategies and personal experiences.
• Useful expressions for giving advice, making suggestions and reaching agreement.

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.