Every English teacher, including me, has hard time choosing a good topic for an ESL lesson for teenagers. This lesson is a simple lesson suitable for teenagers and it can lead to interesting discussions since it treats a hot topic, social networking, in particular Facebook.

Lead-in

• What of the following social networking websites do you usually use: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, others?
• Do you know any Vietnamese social networking website? Which one?
• What do you usually use these websites for?

Note: I usually teach vocabulary before the reading/listening task since I want my student to understand what they listen to.

Reading/Listening

Teacher reads, students listen

As many other people I have a Facebook account. Because I am a Romanian living in Vietnam, I use Facebook mainly to keep in touch with my family and my friends from Romania. I usually share pictures and thoughts, and sometimes chat with them. As you can see, using Facebook has many advantages. However, there are many disadvantages as well. The main disadvantage is that Facebook is time-consuming. People spend too much time on Facebook because it offers many games and entertainment applications which are very addictive. Facebook is number one reason why students postpone their school work.

Vocabulary

Keep in touch, share, thoughts, advantages, disadvantages, time consuming, entertainment application, addictive, postpone.

Questions

• What do people use Facebook for?
• What do you use Facebook for?
• How much time do you spend on Facebook?
• Do you play games on Facebook?
• Is Facebook addictive for you?

Note: The writing/speaking task is designed for my beginner students. It can be easily modified according to the level of your students.

Writing/speaking

With your own words write two advantages and two disadvantages of using Facebook or other social networking website. Share them with your classmates.