C1 ESL Video Lesson Plan: The Philosophy of Parks

Lesson Summary:
This C1–C2 ESL lesson plan is built around a thought-provoking video titled Why a Walk in the Park Can Save Your Life and explores the theme of parks as places of reflection and restoration. Learners build vocabulary related to nature, mental health, and perspective, develop their viewing, listening, reading, and writing skills, analyse and discuss the role of parks in well-being, and engage in a roleplay and reflective writing activities.

Learning Objectives:
• Introduce learners to the theme of parks as places of reflection and restoration
• Expand vocabulary related to nature, mental health, and perspective
• Develop viewing, listening, and reading comprehension skills
• Improve speaking through critical discussion and roleplay
• Enhance writing through reflective and creative tasks
• Encourage multimodal composition skills through homework tasks

Lesson Activities:
• Pre-viewing discussion about parks and mental health
• Vocabulary-building exercises on nature and perspective
• Prediction and viewing of a short video
• Comprehension and analysis of the video
• Speaking practice through critical discussion and roleplay
• Reading and comprehension of The Philosophy of Public Parks
• Writing reflection on themes raised in the lesson
• Homework tasks for multimodal composition practice

Learner Type:
Advanced (C1) – Proficient (C2) | Mature teens and adults

Language Focus:
• Nature and tranquillity vocabulary
• Mental health and well-being terminology
• Perspective and reflection expressions

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
• Strengthen emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness through affective engagement with multimodal texts

Watch the short video.

Remember that Individual Membership and Institutional Membership of Film English Club allow unlimited access to all 800+ Film English Club Video Lesson Plans, Extensive Viewing Guides and Film Study Worksheets.

We hope you enjoy this ESL video lesson plan.

Thanks for being part of the Film English community, and happy teaching!
— The Film English Team

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.