A2 ESL Video Lesson Plan: The Positive Newspaper

This A2-level ESL video lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking video that explores the theme of positive news. It is designed to help learners develop key language skills—listening, viewing, speaking, reading, writing and visually representing—through guided discussion, roleplay, vocabulary building, and engaging classroom activities.

The ESL lesson plan is designed around a short video titled The Newspaper Devoted to Telling Positive Stories and the themes of news, newspapers and focusing on positive news. Students learn vocabulary related to news and newspapers, talk about news and newspapers, predict the content of a short video, watch a short video, answer comprehension questions, analyse a short video, write about what they have learned from viewing a short video, develop critical thinking skills by exploring issues raised in a short video, perform a roleplay, read an article titled Young People Changing the World: Stories of Hope, answer comprehension questions, discuss topics raised in an article, write about what they have learned from reading an article, and reflect on the lesson.

Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2) – Intermediate (B1)

Learner type: Teens and adults

Topic: News, newspapers and focusing on positive news

Language: Vocabulary related to news and newspapers

Time: 90–120 minutes

Objectives:

• To introduce students to the concept of positive journalism.
• To expand vocabulary related to news and newspapers.
• To develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve students’ speaking skills through discussions and roleplay, and use of new vocabulary.
• To practise critical thinking through discussion and reflection on media choices.
• To develop students’ writing skills through creative tasks and use of new vocabulary.
• To develop students’ visual representing skills though multimodal composition homework tasks

Watch the short video.

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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.