Hopes Not Fears (LS-PL-566)

“May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears”

Nelson Mandela

I felt really motivated by this sentence to create a learning scenario which will show students the importance of the decision-making process. You need time to think about your life and to make good choices depending on the reflections you have. Such a process seems to be very meaningful in the times of Covid-19 pandemic.

Reflection – choice – decision

The lesson should guide students towards a good decision-making process. Everyone needs time to reflect and to talk with other people to make good decisions. This learning scenario is intended to help students to become aware of that process and also to teach them some English idioms which can help to understand that the process of decision making could be quite complicated. The idioms are also a very good way to show students that the language reflects our difficulties.

Decision – making process everywhere!

Personally, I think we have to treat all aspects of our lives seriously. Therefore, by this scenario I would like students to understand that the decision-making process is not only crucial in our family or private lives but also in the whole society. I included some kind of discussion about that aspect. Nelson Mandela could be a very good example here.

How to implement it

There are many ways of implementing this scenario. You can use it during English lessons, Civics, Tutor’s lessons or even in some extracurricular activities as a basis of improving people’s motivation. My students really enjoyed that scenario! I used it with a group of adult students, however, it could be suitable for secondary students, particularly for those who are almost 18! I suppose teachers do not need to spend a lot of time preparing for the lesson. There are also some online tools used to improve the quality of interaction among students!

Would you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:

Did you find this learning scenario interesting? You might also like:

• Healthy Choices
• The Political Process and Citizens’ Voice in the European Union
• One Coin, Two Sides – The Art of Debating

Public Domain Mark 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Rijksmuseum.