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The Sustainable Development Goals

Use this lesson to introduce the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to your primary learners.

sustainable development
Author
Rachel Ro

Introduction

This lesson plan is based on activities from the British Council publication Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom, which provides innovative ideas for teaching while raising awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In this lesson, which helps introduce the goals, learners think about what goals the world might need. Then they discover what each goal is and what it means, and decide which ones they think are the most important and why. Finally, they design an icon for one or more of the goals, which they share with the class.

This lesson can be done in class or online.

Aims:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of global challenges by identifying and explaining key world issues and  Sustainable Development Goals
  • Use vocabulary for describing world issues and solutions
  • Justify choices
  • Develop creativity and design skills

Age and level:

Aged 9–12 and 13-17 (CEFR level A2+)

Time:

90 - 95 minutes over lessons

Materials:

  • lesson plan for face-to-face teaching
  • lesson plan for online teaching
  • Presentation
  • images showing key world issues, as appropriate for your learners (one per class, optional)

For face-to face lesson only:

  • matching strips (one copy per group, cut up )
  • worksheet (one copy per learner)
  • examples of common icons - (one per class, this can be replaced by the presentation)
  • template (one copy per learner)
  • official goal icons, available from https://www.globalgoals.org/resources 

Face-to- face lesson one (50 minutes)

Introducing the topic (10 minutes)
  • Ask learners what they think are the biggest problems in the world today. Listen to their ideas and feed in any useful vocabulary, e.g. poverty, health, hunger, war, etc. You can display slide 2.
    Note: If you think your learners will need support with this question, before the lesson select a few images to display that show some key issues, either from the accompanying ‘issues images’ document or sourced elsewhere, to help prompt ideas. What images you choose should be appropriate and sensitive to your learners and context.
Awareness raising and prediction (15 minutes)
  • Ask learners if they think something is happening to solve the problems. Are they, their family, their school, the government doing anything? 
  •  Learners may have more ideas around, for example, environmental problems, e.g. recycling. Ask learners if they think it’s enough.
  • Explain to the learners that the United Nations, an international organisation that works to bring peace and help solve world problems, has 17 special goals which all the UN countries agreed to in 2015. The goals are designed to help solve these world problems for everyone, everywhere, by 2030. They are going to learn about these goals today.
  • Write To make sure that … on the board. Elicit an idea for one of the goals, e.g. To make sure that everyone has enough food. Display slide 3. 
  • Ask the learners to work in small groups and give them five minutes to make a list and predict more goals.
Matching (15 minutes)
  • Put learners into groups. Tell them they will be matching the 17 goals with their meanings.
  • Give each group a set of matching strips. Ask them to decide on the best match.
  • Monitor and support as needed.
    Note: Some of the goals and meanings are not easy to match as there is some crossover. The important point is that this activity will motivate learners to read the goals and start to understand them. 
  •  Give learners the worksheet. Ask them to check their matches against the worksheet.
  • Ask the learners to find their list of predictions. As a class, ask What’s Goal 1? Clarify any language questions. Then ask which groups had it on their list of predictions. Repeat with some or all of the other goals. Did any groups have ideas for goals which weren’t on the strips?
Prioritising (10 minutes)
  • Ask learners to think individually and decide what three goals they think are really important and put a star next to them. You can display slide 4.
  • Ask a few learners what they chose and encourage them to say why, e.g. ‘I chose Goal 1: No poverty because ...’. 
  •  Then ask learners to work in small groups and tell each other what they chose and why.
  •  At the end of the lesson tell learners they will need the worksheet in the next lesson.

Face-to-face lesson two (45 minutes)

Review (5 minutes)
  • Elicit from learners a few of the sustainable development goals they have studied. Then ask them to get out their worksheet.
Preparation (10 minutes)
  • Show the learners the examples of common icons. You can use slide 5 or share the icon worksheet with groups. Elicit what they represent, then elicit some characteristics:
  1.  Are they simple or detailed?
  2. Do they look like what they represent?
  3. Which shapes are they, or which shapes do they fit into?
  4. Do they use lots of colours or one or two colours?
  5. Is there any writing?
  6. Are they easy or difficult to quickly recognise and remember?
  • Tell the learners that they are going to design an icon for one or more of the goals that they thought were the most important. Brainstorm some ideas as a class.
Designing an icon (10 minutes)
  • Explain to learners that they will work individually, and they need to keep their icons secret! You can display slide 6 or put an example on the board.
  • Give out the icons template and ask learners to draw an icon in the first square and, next to the square, write what goal it is and why they think it’s important. 
  • Learners who work more quickly can also do their second and/or third goal.
 Icon mingle (15 minutes)
  • When the learners are ready with their icon(s), tell them to fold the paper vertically, so that you see the icons on one side and the writing on the other. 
  • Display slide 7 or write the useful guessing language on the board. E.g. I think it’s money. Is it no poverty?
  • Ask them to stand up and walk around the class, holding the paper so that other people can see the icons but not the writing. 
  • They should look at each other’s icons, say what they see and guess which goals they are, e.g. ‘I think it’s money. Is it No poverty?’
  • Allow 5-10 minutes for the mingle
  • Get some class feedback from the learners. What were their favourites? Which goals were the most popular? Did anyone else do the same goals?
  •  Show learners the official goal icons. How similar to or different from the learners’ icons are they?
  • Invite learners to suggest how they could increase the visibility of the poster. Is there a place in the school that it can be displayed? Can they take a photo to show their family or to be shared by their family?
Extension: Poster making (15 minutes)
  • Make a class poster with all the goals. 
  • Learners can cut out their icons and then group all the icons for the same goal together before sticking them on.
Setting homework (5 minutes)
  • For homework, learners could choose their favourite goal and find out more about it to tell the class next time. 
  • Alternatively, learners can ask their family members about the goals. Do they know about them? If not, explain what they are. How many goals can their family members remember or guess?
Further ideas and resources

Online lesson one (45-50 minutes)

Before the lesson
  • Before you start the lesson:
  1. Test your microphone and camera to make sure they work.
  2. Make sure that you have the presentation open and shared.
At the start of the lesson
  • Welcome the learners as they arrive:
  1. Check that you can all hear and see each other.
  2. Check that they can see the first slide.
  • If they can’t, ask them (or ideally an adult they have present) to check their settings or troubleshoot in the way you have shown them previously. You may need to write this in the chat facility if they cannot hear you.
    Tips:
  • Consider having a short task for the learners to do until they have all arrived. For example, you could have a poll set up (if your platform has this function) or a simple activity where they write in the chat, such as to say what they’ve done that week. 
  • Consider muting learners’ microphones after greeting them to avoid having too much background noise when you get started. Tell them if you do this and explain why. You could also suggest that, if possible, they use a headset with a mic rather than their device’s in-built speakers and mic.
Introducing the topic (5 minutes)
  • Display slide 2. Ask learners what they think are the biggest problems in the world today. Listen to their ideas and feed in any useful vocabulary, e.g. poverty, health, hunger, war, etc.
    Note: If you think your learners will need support with this question, before the lesson select a few images to display that show some key issues, either from the accompanying ‘issues images’ document or sourced elsewhere, to help prompt ideas. What images you choose should be appropriate and sensitive to your learners and context.
Awareness raising and prediction (15–20 minutes)
  • Ask learners if they think something is happening to solve the problems. Are they, their family, their school, the government doing anything? 
  • Learners may have more ideas around, for example, environmental problems, e.g. recycling. Ask learners if they think it’s enough.
  •  Explain to the learners that the United Nations, an international organisation that works to bring peace and help solve world problems, has 17 special goals which all the UN countries agreed to in 2015. The goals are designed to help solve these world problems for everyone, everywhere, by 2030. They are going to learn about these goals today.
  • Display slide 3. This next activity works best in breakout rooms, but it can also be done as a whole-class activity. Draw attention to ‘To make sure that …’  on the slide. 
  • Elicit an idea for one of the goals, e.g. To make sure that everyone has enough food. 
    In breakout rooms
  •  Put learners in small groups and give them five minutes to make a list and predict more goals. Nominate one of the learners to be responsible for making the list.
    As a whole class
  • Elicit ideas from as many learners as possible and make a list as a class.
Gap fill (15 minutes)
 
  • Share your screen to display the online worksheet. Explain that these are the special goals but some of the letters are missing so they have to guess the missing word. 
  • Drill any new vocabulary that comes up.
  •  Ask ‘What’s goal no 1?’. Learners can type in the chat or use annotation. Ask learners to copy the goal into their notebooks.
  •  Repeat this a few times with goal 2. Then ask the learner who gets the goal 2 word correct to be teacher. Prompt them to ask, ‘What’s goal 3?’
  • Give learners time to note down each sentence into their workbook.

Note: For accessibility you could ask learners who struggle with writing to take a photograph if they have access to a smart phone.

  • Nominate a different learner after every couple of goals, so that more learners get the opportunity to be ‘teacher’.
  • Depending on your learners, you could add in an extra focus on spelling, for example by using the question. ‘How do you spell …?’
Prioritising (10 minutes)
  • Now ask learners to find their list of predictions from the previous stage (or redisplay if you produced one as a class) and compare. 
  • Did any learners or groups have different ideas for goals?
  • Ask learners to think individually and decide which three goals they think are really important and put a star next to them. Display slide 4.
  • Ask a few learners what they chose and encourage them to say why, e.g. ‘I chose Goal 1: No poverty because ...’ Then, if possible, ask learners to work in small groups in breakout rooms and tell each other what they chose and why.

Online lesson two (45 minutes)

Review (5 minutes)
  • Elicit from learners a few of the sustainable development goals they have studied.
Preparation (10 minutes)
 
  • Show the learners the examples of common icons using slide 5.  Elicit what they represent, then elicit some characteristics:
  1. Are they simple or detailed?
  2. Do they look like what they represent?
  3. Which shapes are they, or which shapes do they fit into?
  4. Do they use lots of colours or one or two colours?
  5. Is there any writing?
  6. Are they easy or difficult to quickly recognise and remember?
Designing an icon (25 minutes)
 
  • Tell the learners that they are going to design an icon for one or more of the goals that they thought were the most important. Brainstorm some ideas as a class.
  • Display slide 6. Explain that they will work individually. Ask them to draw a medium-size square or circle in their notebook and draw an icon in it. On the next page, they write what goal it is and why they think it’s important. Learners who work more quickly can also do their second and/or third goal.
  • When the learners are ready with their icon(s), ask them to hold their notebook to the camera so that you can see their icon. They should look at each other’s icons, say what they see and guess which goals they are, e.g. ‘I think it’s money. Is it No poverty?’
  • Ask a few learners at a time to show their icons, so that the other learners have a selection to guess at. Make sure as many learners as possible guess other icons as well as show their own.
  • When they’re ready, get some class feedback from the learners. What were their favourites? Which goals were the most popular? Did anyone else do the same goals?
  • Show learners the official goal icons. How similar to or different from the learners’ icons are they?
    Note: If feasible, you could ask the learners to send you a scan or a photo of their icons after the lesson and make an online display of them. Next time, when you show them the display, invite learners to suggest how they could increase its visibility. Is there a way it can be shared with the school or their friends and family?
Setting homework (5 minutes)
 
  • For homework, learners could choose their favourite goal and find out more about it to tell the class next time. 
  • Alternatively, learners can ask their family members about the goals. Do they know about them? If not, explain what they are. How many goals can their family members remember or guess?
At the end of the lesson
  • Praise the learners for their participation and work and tell them you’re looking forward to seeing them again in the next lesson.
  • Make sure they know how to exit the platform and wait until they all leave before leaving yourself.
Further ideas and resources
Downloads
F2F lesson plan174.32 KB
Online lesson plan243.82 KB
Presentation1006.22 KB
Matching strips for F2F lesson134.03 KB
Icon examples185.32 KB
Global issues images1.02 MB
Worksheet133.73 KB
Template149.97 KB
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