Kindness ESL Lesson Plan

OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This kindness ESL lesson plan contains PDF worksheets, activities, and digital materials for intermediate B1 students. This is a great lesson to do on World Kindness Day (November 13), or Random Acts Of Kindness Day (February 17). By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify and describe a variety of acts of kindness. They will also be able to come up with an act of kindness to do for someone, and express and respond to gratitude.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

This ESL lesson on acts of kindness gets started by students describing images showing people doing acts of kindness for others. Then, students match some verbs to some phrases related to acts of kindness. Students try to define each one and discuss how these phrases may be connected to acts of kindness. Some of these phrases include:

• to lift someone’s spirits
• to get something in return
• to feel connected to the universe
• to fulfil your life
• to donate to a shelter

VIDEO & LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Students watch a video that depicts various individuals sharing their experiences and thoughts on acts of kindness and giving. It showcases people from different backgrounds and situations discussing their own acts of generosity and the impact of their actions.

In the listening comprehension sections, students discuss or write at least 4 acts of kindness that the people talk about in the video. Then, they match some sentence halves with the information from the video. In the last part, students write a few items or things the people bring to give away.

DISCUSSION & VOCABULARY

After the viewing phase, students discuss a few questions about the video and kindness. The second part has students match some verbs related to kindness to a set of 7 sentences. Students should change the tense/verb form as needed. In the third part, students analyze some phrases and must categorize these phrases for expressing gratitude or responding to gratitude. Some of these phrases include:

• "I’m happy I could make a difference."
• "That’s so thoughtful. I greatly appreciate it!"
• "Don’t mention it, the pleasure is all mine"
• "Your kindness really means a lot."
• "I’m thankful for your gratitude."
• "It’s the least I could do."

ACTS OF KINDNESS IN ACTION

The featured communicative activity in this lesson plan has students imagine it’s World Kindness Day. They plan to do an act of kindness for someone and describe it. Then, they role play this situation with a classmate or their teacher. They should use some of the phrases from the Viewing Follow-Up to express and respond to gratitude.

Benefits of using this kindness ESL lesson plan:

Promotes Empathy: This lesson plan encourages students to explore and discuss acts of kindness, fostering empathy and understanding of the value of being kind and helpful to others.

Real-Life Application: The activities in the lesson plan provide opportunities for students to apply their language skills to real-life scenarios, such as describing acts of kindness and planning their own acts of kindness.

Cultural Awareness: Discussing acts of kindness from various cultural backgrounds in the video and throughout the lesson helps students appreciate and respect different ways of expressing kindness.

Vocabulary Expansion: The lesson plan introduces students to vocabulary and phrases related to kindness, gratitude, and giving, enhancing their language skills and communication abilities.