OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This free ESL friendship lesson plan contains activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials for B2 upper intermediate and C1 advanced students. The lesson mostly focuses on how to make friendships last and what the key is to sustaining healthy friendships. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand and express their feelings on a variety of challenges people experience in friendships and give advice on how to overcome them.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

Prime your students for this ESL lesson plan on friendship by dissecting some philosophical quotes, exploring the phases of friendship, and prompting them to reflect on their own experiences in their friendships. They'll engage in discussion questions and conversation about friendships and explore what qualities and factors are important in order to sustain lasting relationships, such as…

• Distance
• Time
• Difference in cultural backgrounds
• Differences in opinions

VIDEO & LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Next, students will watch an insightful TED video featuring a data journalist and her mum exploring what makes friendships last. Students listen for some key information about the reporter’s experience with friendships, different phases of friendship, the insight of the reporter’s mom, and check some of their predictions from the preview phase of the lesson. 

FRIENDSHIP TIPS, DISCUSSION, & PHRASES

To follow up the video, students explore some more tips and phrases related to making friendships last and do an activity on prepositions and averbs that fit some of the phrases used in the video. In order to further prepare for the production and communicative task, they discuss some other phrases expressing common challenges that people face in their friendships and social connections, such as…

• Growing apart from a friend 
• Being taken advantage of by a friend 
• Not seeing eye to eye on certain issues 

FRIENDSHIP ADVICE & CHALLENGES TASK

Students will have the opportunity to put their problem-solving skills to the test with a Friendship Challenges Task that sets the scene for students to discuss and give advice on overcoming common challenges that people face in their friendships.

Benefits of using the ESL friendship lesson plan:

Discussing challenges in friendships and giving advice cultivates empathy, as students learn to consider the feelings and perspectives of others. In addition, having conversations about friendships and the challenges within them are relatable topics that resonate with students' personal experiences, making the lesson content more meaningful.

In short, this ESL friendship lesson plan comes packed with engaging activities that will get your students thinking critically about the complexities of friendships. Download the lesson What Makes Friendships Last now to engage your students in thought-provoking conversations and activities about this crucial aspect of our lives!