A selection of English ESL social media pros and cons printables

This worksheet is designed to accompany the short film What's On Your Mind? - a powerful and relatable commentary on how people portray their lives on social media versus what they actually experience. The tasks in this resource aim to develop vocabulary, improve listening comprehension, and foster critical thinking and communication skills.

What's on Your Mind ESL Worksheet

Involves vocabulary tasks, true/false questions, comprehension questions an has a set of convesaion questions all based on the 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma. There is also a link to a Quizizz activity. Answer Key and Teacher's Guide are included. For a comprehensive set of materials, please be sure to support my blog post: https://figurativelobotomies.mystrikingly.com/blog/social-media-and-its-influence-on-the-human-psyche

Social Dilemma ESL Worksheet

This lesson is designed for A2 (Pre-Intermediate) English learners and focuses on the topic of meme history and their role in society. It provides a blend of reading, speaking, and writing activities to help students understand the text and use new vocabulary. The lesson begins with warm-up questions to activate students' prior knowledge and encourage discussion about memes and internet culture. A vocabulary matching activity follows, where students match key words from the text with their definitions, reinforcing word meanings. The reading comprehension questions include true or false, fill-in-the-blank, multiple-choice, and open-ended formats to test students’ understanding of the main ideas and details in the reading. 
 

The open-ended questions help promote deeper thinking and peer interaction as students share their thoughts about why memes are popular and how they connect people. The lesson concludes with a creative homework assignment, where students write a short paragraph about why people enjoy sharing memes and create their own meme using one of three provided templates. This activity allows them to use humor and express their opinions in English, making the lesson both educational and engaging.

The History of Memes and Their Role in Society

Vocabulary Match
Task: Students match words related to the videos with their correct definitions (e.g., "ironic," "distracted," "to scroll").
Objective: Build vocabulary related to the video themes of social media and technology use.

Listening Comprehension
Task: Watch both Look Up and Look Up 2 by Gary Turk and answer comprehension questions based on the videos.
Objective: Test listening skills, understanding of the main ideas, and details from the videos.

Discussion
Task: Discuss the impact of social media and technology on personal lives and relationships. Questions prompt reflection on personal experiences with phones and social media.
Objective: Encourage speaking practice and deeper thinking about the themes of the videos.

Writing Task
Task: Write an opinion essay or personal reflection on the topics of technology use, digital detox, or social media’s effect on society.
Objective: Develop writing skills through structured opinion expression.

Optional Creative Extension
Task: Write and perform a short spoken word poem or monologue inspired by the Look Up videos.
Objective: Foster creativity and enhance oral presentation skills.

Look Up by Gary Turk ESL Worksheet

A worksheet on social media. The paper is mostly oriented to speaking activities. 

Task 1: talking with a partner of  group, discussing the preference in social media

Task 2: reading with comprehension task focusing on adverbs of frequency

Task 3: table on usage of adverbs of frequency

Task 4: speaking activity on pros and cons of social media.



The worksheet is suitable for classroom or one-on-one lesson.

Social Media (adverbs of frequency)

This worksheet is designed for B1 level teenage English learners and focuses on the topic of hobbies, specifically social media and video games, and how these activities can be beneficial. The accompanying article, “Why Your Parents Need to Stop Nagging You About Your Hobbies,” presents a balanced perspective on the positive aspects of these hobbies, such as improving problem-solving skills, building social connections, and encouraging creativity. The language and content are appropriate for teens, making it engaging and relatable.

 
The worksheet begins with warm-up questions that prompt students to reflect on their own experiences and how their parents perceive their hobbies. The vocabulary matching exercise introduces key words from the text and reinforces understanding of new terms. True/false and multiple-choice comprehension questions check understanding and help students engage with the article’s content. Open-ended comprehension questions encourage deeper thinking and personal responses.

 
The discussion questions provide opportunities for meaningful conversation, allowing students to express their opinions about their hobbies and how these activities can help them learn new skills or improve their well-being. The homework assignment asks students to write a short essay defending one of their hobbies and explaining its benefits. This worksheet promotes critical thinking, vocabulary development, and self-expression, making it a valuable tool for B1 level learners to discuss and explore topics relevant to their lives.








Why Your Parents Need to Stop Nagging You About Your Hobbies

Hey  Teachers!



With Naomi Osaka withdrawing from the French Open due to mental health concerns, I decided to publish a lesson plan on Fluentize based on a short news report video about the issue.



I would say this lesson plan is probably most suitable for upper intermediate (B2) students.



In order to view the video, please visit the lesson page on Fluentize via the link below.



https://app.fluentize.com/lesson/osaka-withdraws



The lesson materials attached in this post include the first half of the lesson — the preview discussion material, the sections for pre-teaching the vocabulary in the video, and a listening comprehension exercise that goes along with the featured video.



You can access all the post-viewing sections for free until June 11, 2021 if you're registered and download it directly from Fluentize — including activities on vocabulary context usage, phrasal verbs, a video quote, grammar on reported speech, follow-up conversational material, the quiz & review section, and the teacher's guide.



As you'll see in the lesson plan, students discuss topics such as the impact of fame and the media on professional athletes' mental health. They'll also learn some useful phrasal verbs that can be heard in the video, such as "pull out of", "cope with",  and "feel for". 



After watching the video and completing the first post-viewing section, there is a second post-viewing part that focuses on some grammar, featuring the difference between direct and indirect speech, and how we often shift direct speech back one tense when referring to what someone said or wrote in the past.



"Osaka announced she wouldn’t be doing press interviews to preserve her mental sanity."



You can follow everything up with additional discussion material based on the following topics...



- Professional athletes' interactions with the media

- Being fined in pro sports

- Positive & negative impacts of social media in the lives of pro athletes

- Changes students would like to see in other sports

- Other controversial sports topics



I hope you have a great lesson exploring sports, the media, and mental health with your students!



Thanks!



Jake from Fluentize

Naomi Osaka Withdraws from French Open - ESL Lesson Plan

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

7 Social media pros and cons English ESL worksheets pdf & doc