In this ESL lesson plan for adults and teens, students watch a news report video and do a listening exercise about the history of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and how it escalated into war. It includes discussion questions and conversation activities about war and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Students also learn some important vocabulary terms from the video. The post-viewing section includes an activity on vocabulary context usage, parts of speech, and rewriting sentences. The grammar activity features the usage of irregular past simple verbs with a passive voice construction. There are additional speaking and listening tasks included, as well as a quiz and review section.

The war that broke out in Ukraine on February 24 marked the culmination of eight years of Russian aggression against its neighbour and weeks of failed diplomatic efforts. But as Russian troops stream across the border and Ukrainian families huddle in abandoned metro stations, the question on the mind of many remains: why? In his near two decades in charge of Russia, predicting Mr Putin’s next move has proved a difficult game.