Education for Sustainable

Development and Citizenship Lessons

The Education for Sustainable Development and Citizenship (ESDC) Program is a Macmillan Education
initiative whose vision is to design and deliver material which not only develops students’ English skills, but also
transforms the world for the better. It incorporates the three areas of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
adopted by the United Nations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Global Citizenship Education (GCE). For
more information, see the introduction to ESDC also included on this Teacher’s Resource Centre.

The ESDC Lessons

At the heart of the ESDC program are the Lessons, which have been designed for teachers who want to teach
appropriate content and skills, whilst developing the concepts of Global Citizenship and Sustainability. Each
Lesson addresses one or more standards of the GCE Framework and is accompanied by detailed teacher’s
notes, which can be used with any English course as supplementary material or as project work. Teachers can
deliver a whole class around the Lessons or use the parts of it that best fit their students’ needs and interests.

How to use the Lessons:

■ The Lessons can be used in any order and at any point during the school year. They are mapped to CEFR
levels but do not follow a grammar or vocabulary syllabus. You may want to choose a Lesson which relates to
a topic in the Student’s Book but, equally, you may want to move away from a topic for a while and focus on
something different. The trigger for using the Lesson may even be a related item in the news or something the
students are covering in another school subject.
■ In the teacher’s notes for every Lesson, you will find details of the Standards and Learning Outcomes covered,
the skills being practised, and how the theme or topic relates to the SDGs.

The Stages of a Lesson:

■ Part 1 – Warmer: This introduces the topic, key vocabulary, and ideas to set up the rest of the activities.
■ Part 2 – Main Activity: This is usually a receptive-skills task (reading/listening) that explores the main theme.
■ Part 3 – Application: This usually gives students a chance to see how the theme relates to themselves and
their community, offering an opportunity to express their own viewpoints and personalise the topic
■ Extension: at the end of each worksheet, there is a collaborative task, game, or project that allows students an
opportunity for group research and further reflection on the topic

To support students and teachers, there is a vocabulary box which highlights differences in vocabulary choice
and spelling between American and British English, e.g., trash vs rubbish, center vs centre, and more.

© Macmillan Education Limited 2022