Education & learning.
Students are the world experts on this one. Ask them what school gets right, and what it never taught them.
Warm-up · ask three
- What is the most useful thing you have ever learned outside a classroom?
- Which subject did you enjoy most, and did that surprise anyone?
- How do you study when nobody is checking?
09
B2 course unit 9
Education and Learning
These prompts reuse the education and learning vocabulary from Unit 9, so students meet the same ten items in the reading, the workbook and here.
Let’s talk
Discussion questions
Project the generator and let it cold-call a question. Filter by level, then give a student 60 seconds to answer without stopping. Browse the full decks below.
Random question generator
Press “New question” to put one on the board.
Deck 1
How you learn
- How do you actually study — rereading, testing yourself, or hoping?B2
- Have you tried active recall or spaced repetition? Did they work?B2
- What do you do when you cannot grasp a concept?B2
- Do you learn better alone or with other people?B2
- Is memorizing ever a useful skill, or only a shortcut?C1
Deck 2
School
- What does your school curriculum get right?B2
- What should be taught that is not?B2
- What makes a teacher genuinely good?B2
- Are exams a fair way to measure anything?C1
- Should students have a say in what they study?C1
Deck 3
Motivation
- When do you procrastinate most, and what breaks the spell?B2
- What was the last assignment you were proud of?B2
- Does pressure help you or paralyze you?B2
- Do grades motivate students or distract them?C1
- Can anyone be taught to enjoy learning?C1
Deck 4
Learning alone
- What have you taught yourself with no teacher at all?B2
- Can you learn a language properly from an app?B2
- Is a self-taught skill worth as much as a qualification?C1
- What would you learn if you had a free year?B2
- Does the internet make us better learners or lazier ones?C1
Deck 5
Education and society
- Should university be free for everyone?B2
- Is lifelong learning realistic for people with full-time jobs?B2
- Does education create equality or reproduce it?C1
- What should schools stop doing tomorrow?B2
- What is education actually for?C1
Talk for longer
Useful language
The words students need to talk about how they learn and argue about how they are taught. Pre-teach a handful, then challenge them to slip three into the discussion or the debate.
Sentence starters
Scaffolding for B2 — finish the sentence about you.
Describing how you study
Talking about school
Arguing a change
Softening a claim
Words & phrases
The unit’s target vocabulary — the same ten items as the workbook.
continuing to learn throughout your whole life
“Lifelong learning keeps the mind sharp.”
the subjects taught in a course or school
“The curriculum includes science and art.”
to study material again before a test
“I’ve been reviewing for the exam.”
a piece of work given to a student
“The assignment is due on Monday.”
to learn something so you can repeat it exactly
“She memorized the whole poem.”
to delay doing something you should do
“I procrastinate when work is boring.”
to understand an idea
“It took me a while to grasp the concept.”
having learned something without a teacher
“He’s a self-taught guitarist.”
testing yourself from memory instead of rereading
“Active recall is the best study method.”
reviewing material with growing gaps of time
“Apps use spaced repetition to fight forgetting.”
Learning word bank
Quick words for the debate and the discussion.
Classroom debate
Classroom Showdown
Two changes to school go head-to-head. Vote, watch the split — then make one student defend the winner and another rescue the loser.
Which change would improve education more?
Round 1
How to play: Read both changes, take a vote and tap the totals in. Then one student defends the more popular choice, and another argues why the loser deserves a hearing. Every argument needs a target phrase.
Model dialogue
Tereza & Adam compare study methods
Read it together, notice the underlined phrases, then act it out — and finally take on the roles below.
The library, two weeks before exams. One of them is not enjoying it.
How long have you been reviewing that same page?
Forty minutes. I keep reading it and nothing stays.
Because rereading is not studying. Try active recall — close the book and write what you remember.
That sounds worse.
It feels worse. That is why it works.
And when I still cannot grasp a concept?
Then you know exactly what to ask about tomorrow.
Fair. I have been trying to memorize the whole chapter instead.
For this assignment you need to explain it, not repeat it.
True. I always procrastinate until explaining is impossible.
Use spaced repetition — twenty minutes today, ten on Thursday, five on Sunday.
You are frighteningly organized. Are you self-taught at this?
Now argue for a change
Student A - the reformer
School needs to change
The curriculum is outdated and exams measure memory, not thinking. You want fewer subjects, more depth, and skills that survive after graduation.
Student B - the defender
School mostly works
Standards, exams and a shared curriculum are what make qualifications mean anything. Every reform sounds good until someone has to grade it fairly.
Your mission
- Each argue for one change your school should make this year.
- Ask your partner how their change would be paid for and graded.
- Agree on one proposal you would both defend to a teacher.
- Present it to the class in 60 seconds — use at least three phrases from the Useful language section.
Wind down & write
Choose your writing task
Pick one task to finish in class or as homework. Every option pushes the unit vocabulary into writing.
01
Describe how you study and explain what you would change about your method.
02
Write an article for younger students: five study habits that actually work.
03
Are exams a fair way to measure a student? Write an opinion piece.
04
Write a letter to your school proposing one change to the curriculum.
05
What is education actually for? Write an essay giving your view.
Exit ticket · 60 seconds
Before you leave
Quick round-the-room close: each student answers in one sentence. A fast way to check the target language landed.
“Name one study habit you will try before the next class — and why that one.”