Lesson Topics: tariffs, economics, inflation, US relations
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.5 hours
Lesson Plan Download: trump-tariffs-advanced-lesson-022025.docx
- After warm-up questions, students preview 12 vocabulary items from the upcoming video and match them to corresponding definitions.
- The lesson is centered around a 2:25-minute YouTube video about Trump's tariff policy by Sky News. The video discusses the counter-measures imposed by Canada, some rationale for the tariffs (combatting the fentanyl trade), and the likely effects of the tariffs (higher prices).
- The passage is followed by comprehension and follow-up questions.
- Next, students review the 12 vocabulary items by matching them to their corresponding definitions.
- After vocabulary matching, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary.
- There is one debate topic on whether the trade war will strengthen or harm the U.S. economy.
- This is followed by an activity in which students try to guess the number one export for several nations (a list of products is given to guide students).
- The lesson has one role-play activity, set as a televised panel discussion. The roles include a reporter (the moderator), a pro-tariff politician, and a business owner.
- Next, the lesson presents a few famous quotations about taxes and tariffs.
- Finally, the lesson ends with a review of vocabulary and collocations before presenting some final discussion questions.
ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson on Trump’s Trade War
Warm-up-Questions
- Which products is your home country a major producer of? Which does it import?
- Who are its neighbours? Does it have good relationships with them?
- What factors cause changes in the price of everyday goods?
- If your home country had the option of becoming “America’s 51st state”, would it do so?
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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.
Comprehension Question Answer Key
1 - ...
2 - Canada responded with a 25% counter-tariff and warned that U.S. jobs, manufacturing, and consumer prices would be affected.
3 - ...
4 - She meant that U.S. consumers and businesses would ultimately bear the cost of tariffs through higher prices and economic disruptions.
5 - The two issues are fentanyl and illegal immigration. The reporter argues that they are a pretext because Canada is not a major source of either, with only 1% of fentanyl or illegal migrants entering via the northern border.
6 - ...
Vocabulary: 1-bracing, 2-migrants, 3-integrated, 4-justification, 5-tariff, 6-consistently, 7-pretext, 8-sovereignty, 9-true to his word, 10-imposed, 11-up for negotiation, 12-countermeasures
Top exports: The United States-petroleum, Canada- petroleum, Mexico-cars, China-communication devices, Brazil-soya beans, The U.K.-cars, France-aircraft, Germany-cars, South Korea-electronic circuits, Australia-coal, Greenland-fish, Russia- petroleum
Collocations 1-e, 2-a, 3-b, 4-f, 5-g, 6-c, 7-d