OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on cost of living crisis in Czechia offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for advanced C1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss cost-of-living pressures, housing, wages, and economic hardship.
• Build vocabulary for describing prices, affordability, and financial pressure.
• Watch a video about Czechia's housing crisis and rising living costs.
• Practice cost-of-living vocabulary through a case study about Lisbon.
• Explore cost-of-living pressures in their own city, region, or country.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

In the first part of this ESL speaking & vocabulary lesson on cost of living, students discuss connections between the cost of living and several major factors in a mind map. These include housing supply and construction, government policy, leadership and bureaucracy, major crises, and other financial pressures such as interest rates and childcare. They explain how each factor can impact living costs and add any other factors they think are important.

Next, students think about their own city, region, and/or country. They read four statements about rising living costs, salaries, purchasing power, housing shortages, home ownership, and young adults' financial independence. For each statement, they decide whether it is very true, partially true, not really true, or not sure, and then explain their choices.

The final preview task asks students to test their knowledge of European economies. They choose a few prompts and make predictions about European countries or major cities that fit different descriptions. These include places that are pricey to live in or visit, places whose reputation for a low cost of living may now be outdated, places where life or housing is still relatively affordable, places with flourishing economies, and places that have experienced economic hardship in recent decades.

Before the main viewing tasks, students discuss why a city with a long-standing reputation for affordable housing can become expensive so quickly. This question prepares them to think about the gap between a city's reputation and the financial reality for local residents.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

The video looks at Czechia, a country once seen as a post-communist success story, and explores how it has become a major case study in housing unaffordability and rising living costs. It explains how property prices in Prague began to rival cities like Berlin and Vienna, while Czech salaries remained much lower. The video also connects the crisis to low interest rates, bureaucracy, inflation, energy shocks, falling real wages, and young people feeling locked out of the future.

The first viewing task asks students to discuss or write short answers according to information from the video. They answer questions about Prague's housing market compared to 2015, the importance of comparing Prague with Berlin and Vienna, what happened in Czechia after the fall of communism, how cheap money and interest rates contributed to the housing problem, and why bureaucracy made the crisis worse.

In the second viewing task, students match Czech economic issues with their consequences. They connect issues such as reliance on Russian energy, unusually high inflation, falling real wages, young people being priced out of housing, expiring mortgage fixation periods, and a failed attempt to digitize building permits with the effects these problems had on households, prices, construction, and affordability.

VIEWING FOLLOW-UP

Students first discuss their reactions to the video. They talk about the information, facts, and ideas that surprised, shocked, or stood out to them most. They also discuss whether home ownership and starting a family are still typical parts of a stable middle-class life, or whether societies should move away from that expectation.

The language focus then uses a short case study about Lisbon. Students read a text about Beatriz, who is preparing a video about why life in Lisbon has become harder for many residents. They choose the best word or phrase to complete each gap. The activity focuses on advanced cost-of-living vocabulary such as surged, keep pace with, priced out of, gentrification, purchasing power, deteriorate, housing policy, burdensome, inaccessible, and stagnant.

COST-OF-LIVING PRESSURE MAP: YOUR CITY, REGION, OR COUNTRY

In this activation task, students choose a country, region, city, or state where they live now or have lived before. They select three to four cost-of-living topics or factors that interest them or that they know the most about. The topics include housing, rent and home ownership, food, energy and everyday essentials, public services and state support, government policy and leadership, the middle class, and other factors such as regional inequality, national crises, tourism, foreign investment, and population changes.

After a short brainstorming stage, students take turns discussing their chosen topics with a partner or teacher. They answer questions about how the topics are connected to the cost of living where they live, and how these factors have affected them or people they know. They also use vocabulary from the lesson, including verbs, adjectives, and noun phrases related to rising prices, purchasing power, economic downturns, interest rates, gentrification, fiscal policy, affordability, and financial pressure.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS ESL SPEAKING & VOCABULARY LESSON ON COST OF LIVING

• Gives teachers a timely C1 lesson on housing, inflation, wages, and affordability.
• Helps students discuss real economic pressures through a clear video-based structure.
• Builds advanced vocabulary for cost-of-living issues, housing, and financial stress.
• Connects listening comprehension with personal discussion and critical thinking.
• Provides flexible PDF and digital materials for speaking, vocabulary, and review.