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ENGLISH FOR TEENAGERS · GENERAL ISSUES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

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1 Warm up
What can you see in the images? What do they mean? What do people use these signs for? Has
anything like this happened in your city or country?

Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3

In small groups, think of three issues that young people might protest about. Why is it important or
necessary to protest about these topics?

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2 Focus on Vocabulary

Part A: Match each word or phrase to its correct definition.

Group 1

1. parliament (n) a. a woman on her wedding day

2. demonstration (n) b. a group of politicians that make the laws for their
country
3. convince (v) c. angry behaviour that is intended to hurt someone

4. bride (n) d. a public meeting or march to protest against something

5. violence (n) e. to persuade someone that something is true

Group 2

1. go viral (phrase) a. a person who does something officially for other people

2. representative (n) b. the use of power to hurt other people

3. bullying (n) c. to quickly become popular on the internet

4. deaf (adj.) d. an important official job that is often in another country

5. mission (n) e. unable to hear anything

Part B: Write the correct word or phrase from Part A in each sentence.

1. My dad was totally when he was 70. He couldn’t hear a word I said.

2. The player’s has said that he would like to change clubs.

3. The video went immediately. I think it got a million views in less than an hour.

4. There’s a huge outside the building. They want the Prime Minister
to leave.

5. What will it take to some people that climate change is real?

6. We need to remember that is not only bigger kids hitting smaller kids.

7. The looks beautiful in her white dress.

8. I want to be an international spy when I’m older and go on secret abroad.

9. We need to stop the . Too many people are getting hurt.

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Language Tip

Go can sometimes mean become, which means to change from one state to another. Look at
these examples: to go viral, to go grey, to go deaf. Can you think of any others?

Part C: Discuss these questions with a classmate and use the word in bold in your answers.

1. Can you think of a video clip that went viral on YouTube?

2. Have you ever taken part in a demonstration? What was it about?
3. Do you think there is more or less violence than there was in the past?

3 Reading

You are going to read an article about Teenage Activists. Which topics do you think will be mentioned?

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Teenage Activists
Teenagers from all over the world are standing up and fighting for causes they believe in.
A. Do you see things that you don’t like? Things that you don’t think are right? What can you do to change the world?
You’re only a teenager, right? Maybe you can change things when you’re a grown-up? Wrong.

Read about five teenage activists and how they are making a difference.

Greta Thunberg

B. Now 19 years old, Greta Thunberg is definitely the world’s best-known young climate activist. In 2018, at just
15, Greta refused to go to school and instead started protesting outside the Swedish parliament. She wanted
governments to take more action on climate change. She was soon joined by millions of other students all over
the world taking action in their communities. She has argued with the President of the United States, spoken at
the United Nations and has been named one of the most powerful women in the world.

Emma Gonzalez

C. Emma Gonzalez survived a gun attack at her secondary school in Florida, USA, which killed 17 of her classmates.
She was 18 years old at the time and has since founded an organisation that fights for gun control. Emma was a
big part of the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, which attracted around two million people who want to
limit who can buy guns and where they can be bought. These figures made it one of the largest demonstrations in
American history. Following this, Emma convinced politicians to change the law in Florida to make it more difficult
for people to buy guns.

Sonita Alizadeh

D. After almost being sold as a teenage bride in Afghanistan, Sonita Alizadeh started to write and perform rap songs
about her life and child marriage. One of her tracks, Brides for Sale, went viral, and she ended up moving to the
USA to study where she continues to fight against the forced marriage of children and young women. Sonita
also helped produce a documentary about her experiences which went on to win an award at the world-famous
Sundance Film Festival in the US.

Millie Bobby Brown

E. Millie Bobby Brown may be more famous for her role in the Netflix science fiction series Stranger Things but
the actor, at just fifteen years of age, became UNICEF’s youngest ever representative when she was chosen to
promote children’s rights across the globe. Millie, who is completely deaf in one ear and has suffered from bullying
in school and online, is very focused on providing safe environments for young people and protecting children both
online and offline.

Lesein Mutunkei

F. Kenyan teenager Lesein Mutunkei is passionate about two things: football and the environment. After reading
about the climate crisis in school, 12-year-old Lesein founded Trees4Goals. His mission was to plant eleven trees
every time he scored a goal. The project grew and over a thousand trees were planted in Kenya; he met Kenya’s
president and then won an award to attend the Global Youth Climate Conference in New York. Lesein’s dream is
to involve FIFA and see trees planted every time Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo hit the back of the net!

Sources: The Independent, The Ecologist, BBC

Glossary:
Activist - a person who works together with others to achieve change
UNICEF - the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
FIFA - International Federation of Association Football

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Read the article again and write the name(s) of the teenage activist next to each statement. Find and
discuss the answers with a classmate.
1. Went to live in a different country.
2. Has taken part in demonstrations.
3. Created their own organisation.
4. Was famous before she became an activist.
5. Made something that became very popular.
6. Became an activist after something directly happened to them.
7. Has involved politicians.
8. Has won a prize.
4 Focus on language: The Passive
Part 1: Look at the sentence below from the article you have just read and underline the passive verb
form.

The passive is formed by the verb to be + the third form of the verb (the past participle).
Part 2: The passive can be used in all tenses. Look at these examples and underline the passive verb
form:
1. A lot of oil is produced in Saudi Arabia, Russia, and The United States.
2. Too much plastic is being used in supermarkets these days.
3. Climate change has been caused by humans.
4. 17 students were killed at Emma Gonzalez’s school.
5. The next FIFA World Cup will be hosted in Qatar.

We use the passive to change the focus of a sentence and it is often used when:

a. We don’t know who did an action.

b. It is obvious who did an action.

d. We want to start a sentence with the most important information.

Part 3: Discuss and match these sentences to the most likely reasons above.

I. The man was arrested as he tried to escape.

II. Greta Thunberg has been named one of the most powerful women in the world.

III. The winning goal was scored by Lionel Messi.

Part 4: If we want to say who did the action in a passive sentence, which preposition do we use?
Part 5: Go back to exercise 2 and discuss who did each action and why a passive is being used.

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5 Listening

Part 1: Which of these people did you read about earlier? Do you know any of the other people?
What do you think they do?

Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3

Part 2: You’re going to watch a video where another of the people you just read about, Millie Bobby
Brown, asks some of her friends to "go blue" to support children’s rights. What do you think that
means? What will her friends and her team do?

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Part 3: Look at the phrases and think how likely it is that Millie and her friends will do these things:

Dialogue example:

A: I definitely think they’ll dress in blue. That’s easy.

B: They definitely won’t paint their pets blue. That’s cruel.

A: They might make some blue drinks.

Part 4: Now watch the video. Were you right? What do Millie’s famous friends do to "go blue"?
Glossary:
Wardrobe - the department that takes care of the clothes that actors wear
OMG - an abbreviation for ‘Oh my God!’ that is used to express surprise

Part 5: Watch again and say whether the statements below are true or false.

1. Millie is in charge of the Go Blue operation.

2. She gets help from different teams.

3. Liam is using his acting talents.

4. Lilly is worried.

5. Dua asks her music team to start the song again.

6. Orlando says he will help later.

7. Millie asks you to write a letter.

8. This video is to support World Adult’s Day.

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Part 6: Read three dialogues and decide which two are similar in meaning. Think about the underlined
words and phrases.

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6 Speaking: Debate

You are going to take part in a debate connected to one of the issues you read about earlier. Before
you speak you need to prepare what you are going to say.

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7 Supplementary writing: Teenagers changing the world

Write about a teenage activist. Look at the list of teenage activists below and find out a little more
about them online. Choose one and write a short article (150 words) about them.

You could include:

1. Who are they? Where are they from? How old are they? When did they become an activist?
2. What are they fighting for or against and why?
3. What have they achieved?
4. What organisations do they work with or what have they organised?
5. Do you believe the same things as them? What would you say to them if you met them?

8 Homework project

Find out what else happened when children turned the world blue for World Children’s Day.

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