ESL Discussion: 5 Tough Women

Even though this discussion worksheet was meant for International Women’s Day, it can be used literally any other day of the year. The video discusses 5 women (well, 4 individuals and then Rwandan women in general) and their achievements in a tough world. They all achieved things in different spheres, and each story is really nice to hear. What’s even better is that the presenter speaks slowly and clearly, making this perfect for your B1 students. There are also subtitles that will help, too. I really hope that you and your students enjoy this worksheet and have a great discussion about women on this International Women’s Day (or any other day)!

This should give you enough material for a 90-minute to 2-hour conversation class. It’s also perfect for big classes because students will be put into pairs for each section (and small groups at the end).

You can organize it how you like, but here’s what we recommend:

1. Warm-up: Tell the class about a woman in your life, or around the world, that you admire and why.
2. Watch the video as a class.
3. Let each student tell the class which story they liked the most and why.
4. Look at the vocabulary and answer any questions.
5. Let students complete the first section either individually or in pairs. They must rewrite the sentences to be true.
6. Watch the video again and then have students check their answers together.
7. Put students into pairs and let them answer the discussion questions.
8. Put students into new pairs and let them do the speaking activity which will prolong the discussion about women in a more general sense.
9. Then put students in small groups to complete the group activity.
10. Bring the class back together and let your students present their ideas from their group activity. Do groups have similar ideas or conclusions? Why or why not?
11. Delayed error correction.