Journaling

Lesson Summary:
This comprehensive ESL video lesson plan helps learners explore the themes of journaling and the power of writing through a rich sequence of viewing tasks, discussions, vocabulary development, critical thinking activities and creative practice. Designed for Upper Intermediate to Advanced students, it provides teachers with a complete, ready-to-use resource that strengthens emotional literacy, reflective skills and communicative confidence.

Learning Objectives:
• To introduce students to the theme of journaling and the power of writing.
• To expand vocabulary related to writing, reflection and emotional processing.
• To develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To develop students’ writing skills through creative tasks and the use of new vocabulary.
• To improve students’ speaking skills through discussions and roleplay.
• To improve students’ visual representing skills through multimodal composition homework tasks.
• To practise critical thinking through reflection on psychological and emotional themes.

Lesson Activities:
• Discuss journaling and writing.
• Explore quotations about the power of writing.
• Predict video content.
• View the short video and answer comprehension questions.
• Analyse the video’s message.
• Perform a roleplay based on the theme.
• Read the article How Handwriting Slows the Mind and Strengthens Awareness.
• Answer article comprehension questions.
• Complete post-reading discussions and reflective writing tasks.

Learner Type:
Mature teens and adults at B2–C1 level.

Language Focus:
Vocabulary related to writing, reflection and emotional processing.

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.