Lesson plan

Why do people migrate?

Topic

Human Migration

Learning outcomes

• Practise communication skills through discussions

• Develop vocabulary around the topic of human migration
• Consider some of the issues regarding human migration

Age group and level

Aged 13-17 and Adult B1+

Time

This is a multi-lesson plan with 6 language focuses, each of 45-70 minutes. This could be part of a term-
long project or you could select which focuses or stages to use.

Materials

• Presentation
• Discussion cards – enough for half of students to have card A, the others card B
• People photographs – Either 1 large one or enough for each group to have one.
• Listening audio – You need Internet access to use this
• Worksheet 1 – Reading (1 per student)
• Worksheet 2 – Reading (1 per student)
• Worksheet 3 –Mingle(1 per student)
• Appendices

Introduction

This lesson plan explores some of the issues associated with cultural and environmental adjustments
and looks at some of ways in which these have impacted on the lives of migrants in different cities and
countries.
Tip: These lessons have been developed to be low print. You should be able to do most activities using

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 Lesson plan
only a board. Reading activities are always presented on a Worksheet. The use of a projector would
add more interest and a presentation is provided, although this is not essential.
Note: If you have migrants in your class, consider whether this is a suitable topic and be sensitive to
their thoughts on the topic.

Procedure

Introduction to the topic

Focus 1: Speaking (50 minutes)

Materials: Presentation; Discussion cards

1. Lead-in
(15 mins) This is a Think, Pair, Share activity

• Tell learners they must think about the answers to 5 questions. Either display slide 2 or ask
these questions:
⎯ Have you ever been abroad?
⎯ Would you like to live and work in another country? Why/why not?
⎯ Do you know anyone who lives in another country?
⎯ Why do people decide to live and work abroad?
⎯ Where would you go if you decided to move to another country? Why?
Note: You could turn this into a visualisation activity by asking learners to close their
eyes and imagine their answers
• Encourage students to share their ideas and experiences in pairs before moving to a whole
class discussion
Tip: This is a good time to listen to students and see what range of vocabulary they produce
and where any gaps in their knowledge may be.

2. Discussion • Explain that the ‘Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ is a UN entity on
(10
human rights.
minutes)
• Then either display slide 3 or write the following quote on the board from the ONCHR::

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 Lesson plan
“An estimated 281 million people, approximately 3.6% of the world's population, currently
live outside their country of origin; many of whose migration is characterized by varying
degrees of compulsion.“
Ask learners to work in pairs and discuss if they are surprised by the statistics and what
they think ‘varying degrees of compulsion’ might mean.
Get whole class feedback.
Write Positive reasons and Negative reasons on the board and elicit a few different reasons
why people migrate. EG:
Positive reasons Negative reasons

Employment Poverty
Marriage War
Adventure Famine
To learn a language Political unrest

Note: This leads into the following task

3. Scaffolded • Put learners into 2 or 4 groups (or a number that can be divided by 2)
discussion
• Elicit a few ideas of language for discussions: Giving opinions; Agreeing; disagreeing;
(25
minutes) undecided. Either write these on the board or display slide 4.
• Give half of the groups Discussion card A, and the other groups discussion card B.
• Learners rank the factors on their cards individually. Allow 2 minutes for this. Monitor
and support with any new language.
• Ask groups to discuss their rankings together and to try to agree. Allow 8 minutes
• Move learners into pairs so each pair has a learner with a Discussion A card and a
discussion B card. If you have an odd number of learners make one group of 3.
• Ask them to explain their tasks and their outcomes from the task discussion, then
decide which factors from each list most motivate people to migrate.
Note: Remind learners to refer to the discussion language throughout this stage.
Tip: Monitor and check if the discussion language has improved from the discussion in
stage 2. This could be a good point to assess learner’s speaking as part of an AFL
approach
• Get feedback from a few pairs.
• Then ask them whether they think most migrants move countries for positive
reasons (as in group A to improve their lives) or for negative ones (as in group B to
escape from negative factors)

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 Lesson plan
• Finally give the group general feedback on their speaking/ discussions. Feedback to
consider: Did they use the suggested language? Did their groups agree? Did they only
speak English during the discussions?

Focus 2: Listening (70 minutes + 15-minute optional extension)

Materials: Presentation, Photographs of people (also on presentation); Listening audio

4. Open
discussion • Ask students if they know anybody who has migrated to their town/country from a
(10 different country or if they know someone who has moved from their country to a
minutes)
different country.
• If any of the students do know someone, ask a few questions for a bit more
information. Example:

⎯ What do they do?

⎯ Where did they go to / come from?
⎯ Are they happy?
⎯ Etc.

5. Prediction/ • Either display slide 5 or put students into groups and give each group a copy of the people
speculation
photographs.
(20
minutes) • Ask learners to look at the pictures and discuss the following questions with their group:
⎯ What jobs do they do?
⎯ Why did they move from their country of origin?
⎯ What made them come to where they are now?
⎯ Do you think they have better economic prospects where they live now? Why/why
not?
⎯ Are they happy where they are now?
⎯ Do you think they will go back to their countries of origin?
Note: These questions are on slide 6. If only using the presentation ask learners to copy the
questions before moving back to the images on slide 5. Or dictate the questions.
• Explain that if they do not know the answers they can speculate.
• Once they have had some time to discuss the questions, ask for feedback from the

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 Lesson plan
students. Does everybody agree or do they have different ideas?

6. Listening • Tell students that they are going to hear the five people from the pictures talking about
1(15 their experiences.
minutes)
• Either write the following countries on the board or display slide 7:

Senegal Dublin Dubai India Bolivia Serbia

Bilbao Sofia Madrid China Austria Bulgaria

• Ask learners to identify and make notes on where each of the people are from and where
they live. Allow learners to listen more than once, if needed.
• Ask learners to check their answers with a partner before eliciting whole class feedback.

Answers

1. Miroslav is from Serbia. They live in Austria

2. Zhihong is from China. They live in Ireland
3. Gip is from India. They live in Bulgaria
4. Mamadou is from Senegal. They live in Spain
5. Chabela is from Bolivia. They live in Spain

7. Listening 2 • Either display slide 8 or write the following on the board:

(10
⎯ Which person .....
minutes)
1. is happy about the children being employed?
2. works on a radio station?
3. married someone from where they live?
4. wants to settle down with a wife and daughter?
• Remind learners of the names of the people. Ask them to try to answer the questions before
listening again. Don’t take feedback at this stage.
• Play the audio again and ask learners to listen for the answers.
• Learners check answers in pairs before whole class feedback

Answers:

1. Miroslav
2. Mamadou
3. Zhihong
4. Zhihong

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8. Discussion • Put learners into small groups
(15
minutes) • Either display slide 9 or write the following on the board:

⎯ In your opinion, which of these people…

…has the best job?

…earns the most money?
…is very happy to live where they live?
…lives in the city for professional reasons?
…lives in the city for family reasons?
…would like to go back to their country of origin?
• Finally, to round off the discussion, get some feedback and ask students why they think
each person migrated. Accept any reasonable ideas.

9. Extension – • Give all learners a copy of the transcript (see Appendix 1)

Learner
training (15 • Ask learners to underline any information they didn’t pick up when they were listening.
minutes)
• Learners listen again to ‘hear’ the missing information.
OPTIONAL
• Check if there is any language or pronunciation that learners have found difficult.

Focus 3: speaking and error correction (45 minutes)

Materials: Photographs (cut up) or presentation; transcript (for your reference or 1 per group)

Role play (30 This activity gives the students the opportunity to imagine themselves as the immigrants in
minutes) the images.
• Either give each learner a photograph of one of the people from the audio or assign all
learners a number between 1-5 and display slide 5

• Tell learners that they will take part in a role play and they will be the person they’ve been
assigned.

• Make 5 groups with learners that all have the same role. Display slide 10 or write the
questions on the board, and ask groups to discuss their answers together and to make
notes:

⎯ Discuss:

▪ what you miss about your old country.

▪ what you like about your new city/country.
▪ the negative things about living where you live.
▪ how you keep in touch with family and friends back home.

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 Lesson plan
▪ the new friends and people you have met.
▪ your hopes for your children.
▪ your plans for the future.
• Monitor and feed in any information and language that the students need (have the
transcript available in case it is needed)

Note: If you have a large class you may need to divide the 5 groups up into smaller groups.

• Allow 10 minutes for discussion, then change the groups. Create new groups so that each
group has different roles. Ideally these should be groups with 5 learners.

• Tell the group members they should introduce their roles and discuss the questions
together. Again, monitor and support with language

• Make notes of any common errors and some well-used language

• Allow 15 minutes for the role plays.

• Get feedback from groups. Did they have similar ideas?

10. Error • Write 5 sentences you heard while ,monitoring on the board. 1 or 2 should show a good
correction use of learnt language; the rest will show the common errors.
(15
• Ask learners in pairs to identify the incorrect sentences and to correct them. Allow 5
minutes)
minutes
• Do the activity as a whole class and give feedback on the learners speaking.

Focus 4: Reading (40 minutes)

Materials: Worksheet; 4 statements to stick on the wall, Presentation (not essential)

11. Running • Before the lesson write the following statements on small pieces of paper: If you have a
dictation large group you may need 2 or 3 sets of the statements.
(15
1. The main movement of population is from developing countries to developed countries.
minutes)
2. There are 4 million foreign born residents in Germany.
3. Most OECD countries have a foreign population of between 5% and 15%.
4. Many countries in the north would be unable to function without a large population of
foreign workers.
• Stick the statements in an easily accessible place on the wall. You should only be able to
read the text when quite close up.
• Put learners into groups of 4. Explain that they must take turns to be a reader. Number the
group participants 1-4 (in a smaller group assign one more confident person two
numbers).

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• Explain that the reader must stand up and read sentence 1 on the wall. They cannot write
anything down. They must learn the sentence (they may do this in stages). Then they
return to the group and dictate the sentence to their group members.
• Group members write the sentence down. The first reader sits down and reader 2 repeats
the sequence with sentence 2. They repeat this process until they have written all four
sentences. You may want groups to make a signal that they’ve completed the task (hands
up, etc)
• Either display slide 11 or write the statements on the board. Ask groups to check their
statements and correct any errors. Monitor to check if there are any common errors you
need to address. Praise learners if they completed the task accurately.
Note: With younger learners you may want to set behavioural guidelines, such as no running,
pushing, shouting.

12. Prediction • Tell learners they are going to read an article and they are going to predict the information
(10 that will be in it.
minutes)
• Learners look at the statements in pairs and decide if they are true or false.
• Give each learner a copy of worksheet 1. Ask them to check the reading to find the
answers.
• Elicit feedback from the whole group
Answers:
The statements are all true.

13. Reading • Ask learners to do the reading task

task (15
• They check answers with a partner before you elicit whole class feedback
minutes)
Answers (These are also on slide 12)
a3; b1; c6; d2; e4; f5
• Ask learners if any of the statistics surprised them
• Read out the last sentence: These days, many developed countries would not be able to
operate without a large population of foreign workers.
• Ask them if they can explain why this is so. Give them a few moments to think about it
and then ask for some suggestions.
Answers:
Accept any credible ideas. These may include:
• They have skills that are needed in the new country
• They improve the economy
• It can increase the workforce in countries with an aging population

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 Lesson plan
Focus 5: Reading and vocabulary (45 minutes)
Materials: Worksheet 2/ Presentation/ Appendix 2 – Vocabulary cards

14. Lead in (5 • Review the reasons people migrate with the whole class. Only spend a few minutes on
minutes) this.

15. Reading • Either display slide 13 or distribute Worksheet 2 to learners

and
• Ask them to read the article. They should then look at the task and underline any unknown
vocabulary
vocabulary. Check and gloss unknown vocabulary. You can display slide 14.
(25
minutes) Possible new vocabulary and definitions:
Government persecution /ˌpɜː.sɪˈkjuː.ʃən/ - the government treating people unfairly, often
because of ethnicity, political ideas or sexuality
Corruption /kəˈrʌp.ʃən/: When people in powerful positions steal money or abuse their
power.
• If possible try to elicit examples after glossing vocabulary. Make sure that learners know
how to pronounce any new vocabulary.
• Once the vocabulary has been clarified ask learners to work in pairs to do the task
• Elicit answers or display slide 15. Encourage discussion. Which factors are the most/least
serious, best/worst, etc.

16. Vocabulary • Put learners into groups. Put the Vocabulary cards in a pile face down for each group.
review (15 • Demonstrate the activity by picking up one of the cards, and defining, explaining,
minutes) describing the word on the card until someone guesses what is written on the card.
• Explain that they should do the same in groups taking it in turns to explain the word while
others guess. When a student guesses the word, s/he keeps the card. The winner in each
group is the student with the most cards.
• Monitor and support as needed. Keep note of any word they have problems with and
review them at the end of the activity.

Focus 6: Speaking and consolidation (45 minutes + extension activity)

Materials: Appendix 3; Worksheet 3, optional music (instrumental music is less distracting)

17. Before this • Ensure that there is space in the classroom for learners to stand up and move around.
stage

18. Role play • Elicit from learners ways of introducing yourself to others at an event (a party or
preparation networking event) and ending the conversation and write them on the board. There are
(10 ideas on slide 16 that you could share. Eg:
minutes) Starting
• Hello, my name is ___

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 Lesson plan
• I’m ____and you are …?
Ending
• I’ve got a few other people to talk to ..
• It was good to meet you
• Tell learners they should use these ideas in the next activity.

19. Role play • Give each learner a role card face-down. Tell them not to look at it until you’ve given them
mingle (35 instructions. Tell learners that they are going to role-play being a migrant and there is
minutes) going to be a party/ networking event for recent migrants
• Ask them to read their card carefully and think about what their character would say.
Explain that they can note down ideas, but as they’ll be moving around, so it’d be easier to
have their ideas in their heads. Make sure they understand that they must not share their
information with another learner at this stage.
• Tell learners to read their cards. Allow a few minutes for this thinking stage.
• Now explain that they are going to interview each other, and they must remain in their
roles. Tell them that there are 8 different roles in the group.
• Tell learners when you give out the worksheet they must stand up and they’ll need a pen
or pencil. Give out worksheet 3. If you want to use music you could start playing it at this
point. Keep the volume low.
• Ask learners to find their first partner. Monitor and check they are on task. You may want
to set up a signal for learners to change partners.
• Trey to note down some of their language errors, and any good language you hear.
• Ask learners to sit down once they’ve completed their worksheet. Get feedback on the
activity. Did they enjoy it?
• Ask a few learners to share their answers.
Note: Setting up mingles and getting learners moving around can take more time than
expected. 35 minutes only allows about 3 minutes to speak to each person, so you may wish
to extend this time. Encouraging learners to use natural conversation starters and closings
can give more conversation practice.
Tip: Music can relax learners and make them less worried about speaking.

20. Error • Write 5 sentences you heard during monitoring on the board (do not mention who said the
correction sentences). At least one sentence should be a good example of English.
(15
• Put learners in pairs and ask them to decide if the sentences are correct or incorrect. They
minutes)
must correct the incorrect sentences.
OPTIONAL
• Check answers as a whole class.

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 Lesson plan
21. References • Information about migration: https://www.ohchr.org/en/migration
• Report on the importance of migrant workers: https://www.iom.int/news/migrants-role-
global-labour-force-and-development-increasingly-vital-iom-report
• Article on AFL: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-
development/teachers/assessing-learning/articles/assessment-learning

Contributed by
Original activity by British Council
Edited by Suzanne Mordue

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 Lesson plan
Appendix 1 - Transcript

I moved from Serbia to Austria 37 years ago. I moved to Vienna in 1985. I opened my own shop – a
delicatessen – in 1991. My customers call me Michi. I’ve been working in the shop for 18 years. My son
Sascha works with me now. My two daughters have got jobs too, so I am very happy. Things are working
out very well for us here. (Miroslav Llic)

People here call me Robert because they can’t say or spell my Chinese name. After getting my degree in
Computer Science I worked in lot of different places – but never in Europe. I came to Dublin in August 2007
because I was offered a job in Microsoft. I like it here – Irish people are very friendly to foreigners. I’m
planning to stay here and settle down with my wife, who is also from China, and our daughter. (Zhihong)

I was born in India, but I moved to Dubai with my parents when I was a baby. My wife is Bulgarian – we
met in Turkey, got married in the Bulgaran Embassy in Dubai, then went to live in Sophia. I like the people
here; I mean, me, being an Indian, and different colour, people look at me because they are curious to
know where I am from, not because they are racist. (Gipi Gopinath)

I’m from Senegal and I now live in Spain. I work for a non-profit organisation here in Madrid. We try to help
new immigrants from Africa with nowhere to go. I also work with an internet radio station on a programme
about multiculturalism and integration. (Mamadou)

I’m from Bolivia but now I live in Bilbao in the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. I work for a Spanish
family looking after an elderly person. I go to the old people’s home where Goya – the person I look after
– lives. We walk around the residence if it is raining or go out for a coffee if the weather is fine. I’ve been
looking after Goya for four years now. (Chabela)

( Adapted from actual people in photo’s words)

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 Lesson plan
APPENDIX 2 –Vocabulary cards 

globalisation delicatessen

trade capital

foreign worker a non-profit

organisation

Population OECD country

developing country developed country

skilled worker push factor

pull factor transport system

unemployment discrimination

poverty famine

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 Lesson plan
APPENDIX 3 – Role play cards 

Your name is Eduardo. You are Your name is Fatima. You are
from Ecuador. You live in Madrid, and you from Morocco. You left Africa five years ago and
work as a waiter in a central restaurant. now you work in Toulouse. You have your own
Why did you migrate? business – a shop in the centre of the city. Why
did you migrate?

Your name is Magda. You are Your name is Claude. You left
from the Czech Republic. Now you live Nigeria ten years ago and now you live in Italy. You
in Birmingham in the UK. You work as a work on a construction site in Naples.
nurse. Why did you migrate? Why did you migrate?

Your name is Huan Tse. You Your name is Jean-Paul. You

are from China. You live in Munich are from Lebanon. You left a few years ago
where you study Engineering at because of the political situation in your area.
university. Your parents run a restaurant Now you live in Sweden – in Gothenburg –
in the same city. Why did you migrate? where you work at the car factory. Why did you
migrate?

Your name is Nana. You moved Your name is Mohamed. You

from Athens to Milan twenty years ago. are from the United Arab Emirates. You are
You are married to an Italian and you studying in Glasgow at the moment. When you
work as a part-time receptionist in a hotel finish your studies, you’ll get a good job back
in the city centre. Why did you migrate? home.
Why did you migrate?

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