Curiosity

This EFL lesson is designed around a stop motion animation titled Curiosity: Exploration and Discovery by Georgina Venning which brings visual life to the words from a talk by author Ian Leslie based on his book Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It. Students talk about curiosity, discuss quotes, watch a short video, read a transcript and write a composition about curiosity.

Language level: Upper Intermediate (B2) – Advanced (C1)

Learner type: Teens and adults

Time: 90 minutes

Activity: Talking about curiosity, discussing quotes, watching a short video, reading a transcript and writing

Topic: Curiosity

Language: Vocabulary related to curiosity

Materials: Short video, curiosity quotes and video transcript

Downloadable materials: curiosity lesson instructions     curiosity quotes     curiosity text

 

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Step 1

Write curiosity on the board. Ask the students to define it. Elicit or give a definition such as ‘a strong desire to know or learn something’.

 

Step 2

Put your students into pairs and ask them to discuss the following question:

• Is curiosity important in life? If so why?
• What can we do to cultivate curiosity?

 

Step 3

Get feedback from the whole class on why curiosity is important and what can be done to cultivate it.

 

Step 4

Give your students the worksheet with the quotes about curiosity. Ask them to read the quotes and see if any of the ideas they mentioned are reflected in the quotes.

 

Step 5

Put your students into small groups and ask them to look at the quotes again and then discuss the meaning of each one and whether they agree with it.

 

Step 6

Hold a plenary session on the meaning of each of the quotes.

 

Step 7

Tell your students they are going to watch a short video which is based on an author’s talk about curiosity. As they watch their task is to answer the following question:

Why is curiosity important according to the author?

Play the video twice.

 

Student Design Award Winner – Curiosity: Exploration and Discovery from RSA Student Design Awards on Vimeo.

 

Step 8

Put your students into pairs and ask them to discuss their answers.

 

 Step 9

Give your students the transcript of the video. Ask them to read it and check their answers from the viewing stage. Help them with vocabulary as necessary.

 

Step 10

Hold a plenary session based on the following questions:

• Where should we nurture curiosity?
• What is the relationship between knowledge and curiosity?
• How does technology relate to curiosity?

 

Homework

Ask your students to write a composition titled How can curiosity help me learn English better?

 

I hope you enjoy this ESL lesson.

Support Film English

Film English remains ad-free and takes many hours a month to research and write, and hundreds of dollars to sustain. If you find any joy or value in it, please consider supporting Film English with a monthly subscription, or by contributing a one-off payment.

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One-off payment

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from Film English » Film Lessons http://film-english.com/2015/07/06/curiosity/