Adolescence: Exploring Societal Issues Through Drama
ESL Lesson PlansAdolescence: Exploring Societal Issues Through Drama

Adolescence: Exploring Societal Issues Through Drama

This ESL lesson plan uses drama and group discussions to enhance listening and speaking skills while addressing societal issues. Students explore vocabulary, watch an interview clip, and discuss key themes from the show Adolescence. The lesson encourages critical thinking about topics like social media's impact, accountability, and emotional triggers through interactive exercises and structured group discussion.

Skills

  • Can express their ideas and opinions with precision, and present and respond to complex lines of argument convincingly.
  • Can understand documentaries, live interviews, talk shows, plays and the majority of films in the standard form of the language or a familiar variety.
Online Interactive
Based on CEFR
Fully Customizable
1

Warm-up: What do you think of the show?

Read the information about the Netflix show. If you have watched it, tell the group what you thought about it. If you haven't seen it yet, would you be interested in watching it? Are these issues important to raise on TV?
00:53
"Adolescence" is a British psychological crime drama series created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, and directed by Philip Barantini. The story follows Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy (played by Owen Cooper), who is arrested for murdering a girl at his school. Each of the four episodes was filmed in one continuous take. Stephen Graham came up with the idea for the series after hearing about cases of knife crime involving teenagers in the UK, such as the deaths of Ava White, Elianne Andam, and Brianna Ghey. He wanted to explore why young boys commit violence against girls and worked with writer Jack Thorne to develop the show. However, Thorne has said the story is not based on any real-life case. In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Thorne said the creators wanted to look at "modern male anger" and understand how public figures like Andrew Tate affect boys today.
2

Match the words to the definitions.

3

Watch a clip from an interview with the cast, and answer the questions.

4

Make statements about social media and violent behavior using these words. Do you agree or disagree with the statements?

5

Discuss these questions with your group.

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