OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on agreeing and disagreeing with opinions offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for B1-B2 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss everyday opinions and compare their views with a partner.
• Explore topics such as social plans, weather, free time, and eating out.
• Learn phrases for agreeing, disagreeing, and acknowledging another view.
• Complete guided practice with polite response phrases in short conversations.
• Share opinions in a discussion task and respond to different points of view.

WARM-UP ACTIVITY

In the first part of this agreeing & disagreeing ESL lesson, students choose the side they generally agree with more for six everyday topics. They choose a or b, or write another idea in c. The topics include long walks with no destination, spending most of a free day at home, summer weather all year, eating out a few times per week, taking a long time to reply to a friend's message, and having a busy social life with lots of plans. After that, students compare a few opinions with a partner and discuss which ones they agree or disagree on.

The next part gives students discussion questions about agreeing and disagreeing. They talk about which opinions from the first activity they agreed or disagreed on, how people can disagree politely, and what can shape someone's opinion. This gives students a chance to think about politeness, personal values, past experiences, and different points of view.

To finish the warm-up, students choose one topic from the first part and say their own opinion. Then they think about why someone else might disagree with them and what reasons that person might give. A short prompt helps students express their view and consider another side of the topic.

TARGET LANGUAGE STUDY

Students read short opinions and responses about going for long walks and having summer weather all year. They look at phrases in bold and place them into three categories: agreeing with an idea, disagreeing with an idea, and acknowledging an idea. The phrases include examples such as "I couldn't agree more", "I'm not so sure I feel the same", and "That's a fair point."

The second part focuses on three responses to an opinion about eating out a few times per week. Students complete the response phrases with the correct verb. Then they decide if each phrase agrees with, disagrees with, or acknowledges the opinion. This part helps students notice how small phrases can change the tone of a response.

PRODUCTION PRACTICE

Students complete responses to two opinions. The first opinion is about spending most of a free day at home as a way to recharge. The second opinion is about taking a long time to reply to a friend's message. Students choose phrases from a box and complete each response. They should not use any phrase more than once.

In the next part, students read an opinion about eating dinner after 8 PM. They share their own opinion and explain their view. Students use one phrase from the box to agree, disagree, or acknowledge the opinion before giving their own reason.

WHERE DO YOU STAND? AGREEING & DISAGREEING POLITELY

For Option A, students choose two topics from a list or think of their own. The topics include allowing dogs in cafes and restaurants, street art and graffiti in cities, tourist limits, celebrity gossip, social media scrolling, online shopping, group chats, to-do lists, alcohol in public parks, and going to the cinema instead of watching movies at home. Students write their general opinion about the topics and add their reasons.

For Option B, students complete two or three opinion sentence starters with their own ideas. The prompts include ideas such as the best time to do something, something worth paying extra for, something they wish their city or region had more of, the most exciting sport to watch, and the most stressful part of traveling.

In Step 2, students work with a classmate or their teacher. They take turns sharing their ideas and opinions from Step 1. Then they respond to their partner's opinions using phrases from the lesson, such as "I see what you mean", "I actually see it another way", and "That's exactly how I see it too."

BENEFITS OF USING THIS AGREEING & DISAGREEING ESL LESSON

• Helps students respond to opinions in a polite and natural way.
• Builds confidence with useful phrases for real conversations.
• Gives clear practice with agreeing, disagreeing, and acknowledging ideas.
• Supports speaking through everyday topics that students can relate to.
• Includes a flexible activation task for pair work, group work, or one-to-one lessons.