ESL/EFL Level: B1/B2 (Intermediate)
Lesson Topics: social class, privilege
Skill Focus: Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: toffs-toughs-social-class-intermediate-012025.docx
Lesson Overview:
Lesson Topics: social class, privilege
Skill Focus: Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: toffs-toughs-social-class-intermediate-012025.docx
Lesson Overview:
- After warm-up questions, students read a 173-word passage that discusses the famous Tuffs & Toughs photograph from 1937. The passage describes the lives of the boys in the image and questions the role of class in determining contentment.
- The passage is followed by comprehension and a vocabulary-matching activity. After vocabulary matching, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary.
- There are two debate topics related to social equality. This is followed by a roleplay scenario about inheritance between a father and child.
- Next, students try to create a story using the lesson's nine vocabulary items based on an image of a rich-looking dog and a scraggly unkempt one.
- As a bonus activity, students review and discuss three famous photographs. Each photo is accompanied by a long description that students should skim (rather than reading the entire page in detail).
- After famous quotations, the lesson ends with a review of vocabulary before presenting some final discussion questions.
INTERMEDIATE (B1/B2) Lesson on Toffs and Toughs
- What do you think of when you see the photo on the right?
- What do you need that you currently don’t have?
- Societies usually have three classes: the upper-class (rich people), the middle class, and the lower class (poor people). What class do you think you are from? Why?
Membership is required to view this post. Please support EnglishCurrent by becoming a member today. Members, please log in.
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
- …
- The working-class boys were at the match to earn money by opening taxi doors and carrying bags. This shows that they had to work from a young age to support themselves, unlike the wealthy boys who could enjoy leisure time and wait for their father to take them to their country home.
- Thomas Dyson likely faced the hardest life. He died young at the age of 16 from an illness while visiting his parents in India. His father also died in difficult circumstances, in a prison camp during the war, which adds to the tragedy surrounding his family.
- …
Vocabulary: 1-c, 2-i, 3-b, 4-f, 5-g, 6-d, 7-h, 8-a, 9-e
Collocations 1-b, 2-e, 3-d, 4-a, 5-c