Choice

Language level: Intermediate (B1) –

Upper Intermediate (B2)
Learner type: Teens and adults
Time: 60 minutes
Activity: Dictation, visualising,
watching a short film, speaking and
writing
Topic: Choices
Language: Collocations with ‘choice’
Materials: Poem and short film
Overview

This EFL lesson plan is designed around a

beautiful short film and poem by Gnarly Bay.
Students do a dictation, visualise, watch a short
film, speak about choices, and write a narrative
for homework.

Step 1

Dictate the following words and phrases to your

students:

the right the wrong a good to make a

to be faced with first wide

Step 2

Pairs the students, and ask them to think of a

noun which collates with all the nouns and
phrases.

Step 3

Elicit or explain the noun which collocates with

all of the nouns and expression is choice.

Step 4

Put the students into small groups and ask them to

talk about the following:

A time when you had to make a difficult choice.

Choice

A time when you made a good choice.

A time when you made a bad choice.

www.film-english.com by Kieran Donaghy 2

Step 5

Hold a plenary session based on the three

sentences asking the students to talk about their
own experience.

Step 6

Tell your students that they are now going to

listen to a poem. Their task is to write it down.
Play the film with sound only once. Then play a
second time pausing for ten seconds after each
sentence.

Link: https://vimeo.com/72216778

Step 7

Get your students to compare what they have

written down with a partner.

Step 8

Give the learners the poem and ask them to correct

anything they have wrong in their version.

Step 9

Help the learners with any vocabulary they don’t

understand.

Step 10
Choice

Ask your students what they think the poem is

about and what its message is.

www.film-english.com by Kieran Donaghy 3

Step 11

Tell your students that the poem is accompanied by

a short film. Ask them what images they imagine
they will see in the film.

Step 12

Tell them that you are going to play the film, but
again without sound. As they listen they should
imagine what images accompany the poem and what
story it tell.

Step 13

Pair your students and ask them to discuss what

images they think are in the film and what story
it tells.

Step 14

Now show the film and ask your students to compare

the images they see with what they imagined.

Step 15

Get feedback from the whole class. Ask them what

choice the director of the film is talking about
tin the last line of the poem (he has chosen to
ask his girlfriend to marry him and she has
accepted).
Choice

www.film-english.com by Kieran Donaghy 4

Homework

Give your students a link to the film and ask them

to watch it at home, and then write a narrative
based on the images from the perspective of the
filmmaker.
I hope you enjoy the lesson.

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Choice

www.film-english.com by Kieran Donaghy 5