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15 The
United Nations

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14 Sustainable
Development
13 Goals 5
By Andrew Dilger
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 © Oxford University Press

Many teachers already know about

the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (UN SDGs). But
what about our learners? How can
we tell them about this important set
of world objectives … but also make
it relevant and even ‘fun’ for a new
generation?
First of all, it’s about breaking down the long words and big ideas behind the goals themselves. Secondly,
it’s about not making too many assumptions on the part of our students. Thirdly, it’s about personalizing
actions which relate to the goals themselves. At the end of the day, the UN SDGs aren’t a theoretical
framework – they’re a real plan of action to improve the quality of life worldwide … and to save our planet!

Here are 20 practical steps for integrating the UN SDGs into your ELT lessons or syllabus. They are
targeted at learners of CEFR level A2/B1, but you could adapt them for higher-level learners. If you’ve only
got time for ‘token’ integration, try steps 1–5. If your syllabus allows you to go into more detail, do steps
1–10. If you’re really looking to build a better world through English language learning, go for the full
integration of steps 1–20!

1 What is the UN? 4 Story time

Start with the basics. Ask learners if they know what the
two letters UN stand for. Some learners might know united
from the United States of America or even football clubs like
Manchester United. A good synonym is together. The word
nations (as in nationalities) means countries. Give an idea of
the size of the organization by asking students to guess how
many countries are in the UN. Answer = lots (193)!
2 What are the SDGs?
Take a similar approach with SDGs, but start with the final
letter. Ask why it’s a small letter (it’s plural). For goal, it’s
another football word! It means something you try to do or
get. The word development is about growing or changing.
Then there’s the tricky one: sustainable! The best low-level
definition I’ve seen is: safe for the future of the world. If you
have learners who like grammar, you could break it down
even further into the verb sustain (to do something for a long
time) + the suffix -able.
3 What are the UN SDGs?
Work with learners as a class or in groups to come up with
a description of the UN SDGs based on what they now know
about the constituent meanings. You should end up with
something like: goals for changing things to make a safe
future for the world, decided by lots of countries together.
Ask learners to close their eyes and listen to this ‘story’:
The world is bright, and people are laughing and smiling.
Life is good and everyone has money, good food to eat
and clean water to drink. All children go to school, and
everyone is healthy and has a good job. Cities and towns
are wonderful places. The land and oceans are clean and
beautiful. And trees and animals are safe. There are no
wars in the world, and we have stopped climate change.
We have everything!
Do learners think the story is real or a dream? Why?
5 What’s the connection?
Ask learners how the ‘story’ from step 4 and the SDGs are
connected. This is where they might surprise you. Hopefully,
they’ll suggest that some of the things in the story are
actually possible and the UN SDGs are a plan for how to
make them happen.
6 How many SDGs are there?
Have a bit of fun by asking learners to guess how many
SDGs they think there are. Optimistic learners may say
fewer than ten. Pessimistic (or realistic?) learners may give
you any number up to 100. The important thing is that they
appreciate how big the challenge is, but also that a finite
number of goals can have potentially infinite improvements.
Tell them that there are 17 UN SDGs – is this a small or large
number?

THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS By Andrew Dilger 2
 © Oxford University Press

7 What are the SDGs?
If you did Step 4, use the story text to ask learners to say
what they think the goals are, e.g. everyone has money,
good food to eat and clean water to drink; all children go to
school, etc. Here you might find there are opportunities to
pre-teach or match vocabulary from the SDGs themselves or
feed it into the lesson as extension work.
8 What colour are the SDGs?
On their official website, the UN itself has some fantastic,
user-friendly branding for the SDGs. One of the best things
is the ‘colour wheel’, which gives each of the 17 SDGs a
different colour. Get learners to look at this, or
print off a large copy to work with in class. Ask
learners to give names to the colours. This is
a bit of fun revision for colour words, but it
also allows learners to be creative – and
perhaps even engage with the English on
the ‘tiles’ of the SDGs themselves. You
may find they come up with colours like
‘sunny yellow’ or ‘ocean blue’!
9 What are the
‘simple’ SDGs?
developing countries, but the key is that these problems
exist everywhere, and everyone needs to try to do
something to help!
12 Shocking statistics!
Using reliable online sources, give your students a variety of
statistics about some of the problems. Ask them to match
the statistics with one or more of the SDGs. And don’t forget
to ask them about their personal reaction to the statistic.
Why is it ‘shocking’? Some ready-made examples you could
use are:
About 10% of people in the world
only have $1.90 to spend. = UN SDG 1
In 2021, 1,000 people died from hunger
every hour. = UN SDG 2
In 2019, 2.2 billion people (over a
quarter of the world’s population) did
not have safe drinking water. = UN SDG 6
There is violence against one in three
women and girls at some time in their
lives. = UN SDG 5
150 million people in the world do not
have a home. = UN SDG 11

Using the language and icons on the tiles, plus what

learners already know, get them to produce simple versions 13 Time to reflect
of the language of the 17 goals. If this is too ambitious for
This step gives you chance to reflect. Obviously, the purpose
your class, then provide some yourself and get them to
of integrating the UN SDGs into your English language
match them. For example: 4 QUALITY EDUCATION = good
lessons is not to frighten or depress learners! As teachers,
schools for everyone.
we have a duty of care to support our learners’ mental
health and well-being, and it’s a balance between exposing
10 Which are your top 3 SDGs? them to challenging ideas and problems while recognizing
that they can be emotionally vulnerable, particularly in their
Here’s where you can start to personalize your approach –
teens. If in doubt, pull back and refocus on something more
and get learners to do some critical thinking! Ask them to say
optimistic!
which three SDGs are the most important in their opinion.
As usual with a personalisation or critical thinking activity,
the most generative follow-up question (and one which you
can also do in learners’ L1) is: ‘Why?’

11 Who are the SDGs for?

A simple question, but one to which learners may give
surprising answers. Particularly in affluent contexts
and countries, there’s an idea that the
problems and inequalities which the
SDGs are trying to help are 1 2
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for poor or developing

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countries only. Yes,

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these problems are
often worse in

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THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS By Andrew Dilger 3

14 Why do these problems happen?
This is quite a tough step. In a word, the reason why these
problems happen is ‘human nature’. But that doesn’t help
us and our learners move the situation on. Until we fully
understand the reasons for some of these persistent
problems, it’s hard to know how we can change them. With
this in mind, try to tackle one or more questions like:
Why is it so difficult to escape from poverty? (SDG 1)
Why is there so much hunger in the world? (SDG 2)
What are the world’s biggest health problems? (SDG 3)
Why are so many young people not in education? (SDG 4)
What things are stopping women from having equality?
(SDG 5)
The best way to approach answering these questions is
diagrammatically, using mind maps and flowcharts. Also,
search online for ready-made ‘infographics’ which you can
adapt. When trying to work out why the problems happen,
encourage your students to think about cause and effect,
connections, and consequences. This is where you could
teach quite high-level phrases like ‘poverty trap’ and ‘vicious
cycle’.
15 How are countries and
organizations trying to help?
This is the step where you can give some really positive
examples of the amazing things that countries and
organizations are doing to build a better world. Search
online for initiatives which you can match with particular
SDGs. Two examples connected to SDG 4 are:
‘Punti Luce’ (light centres) in Italy, which bring equality in
education to children who have difficult home lives, or
who live in places without good opportunities.
‘Children on the Edge’ who made a school for Syrian
children in Zahle, Lebanon, and takes them there by bus.
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© Oxford University Press
16 How are people trying to help?
This is similar to step 15, so you may decide to do only one
of them. The difference is that this step focuses on individual
people (‘heroes’?) who are trying to help. Again, an online
search by you or your learners should provide plenty of
options. For example:
Bedriye Hülya, who opened new gyms in Turkey for
women only. (SDG 5)
Gonzalo Stierling Aguayo, who introduced ‘bicycle
Sundays’ in Chile. (SDG 12)
Jadav Payeng, who planted a forest in India. (SDG 13)
17 Can you help?
This is a vital step, but one which is easy to overlook.
Many things that learners study in school can feel ‘about
somewhere else’ or stuck in history. On the board, write
the ratio: 1 : 8,000,000,000. Ask learners what it represents.
Answer = the ratio of one person to the entire world’s
population! Given this, ask how lots of small changes can
become something very big. Answer = if everyone makes
one small change, then together it can be a huge, worldwide
change.
18 How can you help?
This step is best done by focusing on one SDG or a small
number of related SDGs. The important thing is for
learners to appreciate that they can start to make changes
themselves. For example, connected to SDG 2, ask which of
the following things they would like to do (or already do):
Make a weekly meal plan, so you only buy what you need
and don’t throw away any food.
Buy food that grows near your home or in your own
country – this means it doesn’t have to travel a long way
and will be good for longer.
Grow your own food for you and your family. It’s often
cheaper and healthier!
19 What’s your own SDG?
This step allows students to make a personal commitment
to a particular goal or action. It’s important not to pressurize
them, but if they seem keen you can also help them to
use their English to make it SMART (specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic/relevant, time-bound).
20 Spread the word!
The final step is to encourage students to see themselves
as part of a community, or even a ‘movement’! Can they
spread the word and communicate their ideas, energy and
enthusiasm about the SDGs to others? If so, how? Perhaps
it’s by making a poster in English to exhibit in school, or
designing and giving a short presentation, or setting up a
class debate or a Q&A session.
THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS By Andrew Dilger 4