In this article, we’ll explore the crucial importance of Business English for students’ future careers, analysing how to structure interactive and customised lessons to engage B2-level students and enhance their language skills, preparing them for their entry into the world of work.

Phase 1: Skills Analysis and Objectives

The lesson can begin with a brief analysis of students’ skills and career goals to identify areas for improvement, both in oral and written business communication.

Phase 2: Scenario Creation

In the second phase, the class will be divided into groups, each assigned specific business scenarios—such as a work meeting, presentation, or commercial negotiation. Students will prepare a dialogue or presentation using the Business English elements learned by the end of the lesson.

Phase 3: Vocabulary

In the third phase, provide students with a range of common business vocabulary and encourage them to integrate these terms into their dialogues and presentations. Below is an illustrative list covering a variety of useful terms and phrases in work situations and professional environments:

Internal Communication:

• Colleague: A person you work with in the same company.

• Supervisor: A person who guides and oversees others’ work.

• Deadline: The date by which a task must be completed.

• To Delegate: To assign tasks or responsibilities to others.

• To Coordinate: To organise and manage activities or resources effectively.

Meeting and Presentation:

• Agenda: A list of topics to be discussed in a meeting.

• To Conclude: To end or reach a conclusion.

• Slide: A single page of a presentation.

• Q&A: A session where questions from the audience are accepted.

• To Present: To show or illustrate something formally.

Negotiation:

• To Bargain: To negotiate or seek a mutually beneficial agreement.

• Compromise: An agreement reached between involved parties.

• To Counteroffer: To respond to an offer with an alternative proposal.

• Terms and Conditions: The rules or agreements defining a transaction or contract.

• To Reach an Agreement: To arrive at a mutual decision.

Email Communication:

• Attachment: A file sent along with an email.

• CC: To send a copy of an email to a third party.

• Subject Line: A brief description summarising the email’s content.

• To Forward: To send a received email to another person.

• To Reply All: To respond to an email including all original recipients.

Business Travel:

• Itinerary: A travel programme or plan.

• Expense Report: A record of expenses incurred during a business trip.

• To Check In: To register at a hotel or for a flight.

• To Arrange Transportation: To plan transport during a trip.

• Visa: Official authorisation to enter a foreign country.

Professional Development:

• Training: Educational activities to develop specific skills.

• To Network: To build professional connections with others.

• Professional Development: Improvement of professional skills and knowledge.

• Mentorship: A relationship where a more experienced individual guides and supports another.

• Career Advancement: Progression or improvement in one’s professional career.

Phase 4: Interactive Role Play

Once groups are formed and provided with basic vocabulary, organise role-play sessions where students can practise the prepared business scenarios. This activity not only improves their language skills but also builds confidence in professional contexts. Here’s an example of a B2-level role play for the classroom:

A Partnership Negotiation
Context: Two companies, ABC Ltd. and XYZ Inc., are exploring a strategic partnership. Students will take on the roles of representatives from the two companies and negotiate the details of this potential collaboration.
Characters:

• John – Representative of ABC Ltd.

• Emily – Representative of XYZ Inc.
  Scenario: ABC Ltd. specialises in innovative healthcare software, while XYZ Inc. is a healthcare services company seeking advanced tech solutions to improve service quality.

Role Play Objectives:

• Company Presentation: Representatives start with a brief introduction of their companies, highlighting key points and achievements.

• Exploring Needs: John and Emily identify XYZ Inc.’s specific needs and how ABC Ltd.’s products can meet them.

• Negotiating Terms: Discuss and negotiate partnership terms, including pricing, purchase volumes, delivery times and contractual conditions.

• Addressing Objections: Both representatives handle any objections or concerns from the other side, seeking mutually beneficial solutions.

• Conclusion: The role play ends with a preliminary agreement on the partnership, outlining next steps and actions.

Phase 5: Analysis and Feedback

After each role play, provide constructive feedback on positive aspects and areas for improvement. Peer discussion is also very useful—encourage class debate to share performances, challenges faced and strategies used.

Phase 6: Interview Simulations

The role play can continue with a list of typical job interview questions. Students interview each other, responding appropriately and learning to handle job interview situations. Here are some questions to use as a template:

• What motivated you to apply for this position?

• What skills and qualifications make you a good fit for this role?

• Can you describe a challenging work situation you’ve faced and how you handled it?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

• How do you stay updated on industry trends and developments?

• Where do you see yourself in five years professionally?

• Can you provide an example of a time when you had to work in a team to achieve a goal?

• How do you handle stressful situations at work?

• What do you know about our competitors?

• Why should we hire you for this position?

Phase 7: Presentation Project

At the end of the lesson, students will create an active, tangible contribution: a presentation project on their professional ambitions using Business English. Each presentation should include a personal description, past work experience and future aspirations.

Learning Objectives

• Development of Communicative Skills: Improve effective communication in business contexts.

• Expansion of Business Vocabulary: Enrich job-specific vocabulary.

• Building Professional Confidence: Increase students’ confidence in using Business English in work situations.

• Preparation for Interviews and Presentations: Equip students with skills for successful professional interviews and presentations.

Incorporating practical activities and realistic scenarios into training not only makes lessons more engaging but also ensures students are ready for success in an international business environment.

At MLA, we believe that with an innovative approach, every teacher can guide their students toward the language skills needed to excel in their future careers. This is why we’ve added new optional educational itineraries to the MLA Studio Vacanza 2024 catalogue, such as the “Managers of Tomorrow” course, designed to improve English knowledge applied to a business context—learning to develop a business plan or enhance brand awareness. Browse the catalogue to learn more!

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This month we propose a ready-to-use lesson plan revolving around the controversial theme of Generation Alpha’s relationship with technology.
Register on MLA EDU Resources to download it for free!

Premise

Children born from 2010 onwards are considered part of Generation Alpha, abbreviated as AlphaGen.
They are the first generation to grow up with access to the internet from childhood, and therefore their members are considered accustomed to using technology and social media—though these do not play a significant role in their socialisation process. For this reason, they have been defined as “Digital Natives”.

While researchers and parents agree that the educational paradigm shift is significant, the outcomes of this change are variable. On one hand, technology offers opportunities for improved learning and more personalised education; on the other, there is concern that excessive device use may create technological dependency and a lack of self-regulation that hinders development.

Educational Goals

The educational aim of this month’s lesson plan is to make students aware that new technologies have brought numerous positive developments but also have negative implications; to reflect on the importance of the “peaceful coexistence” between analogue and digital lifestyles.

Learning Objectives

With this proposal, we aim to guide students towards the following learning objectives: analytical text comprehension; learning to classify data; preparing questions for an interview, conducting the interview and reporting it according to the principle of “integrated skills”.

Activities

The activities included in the lesson plan are designed to enrich vocabulary and guide students in drafting a personal letter, an essay and conducting an interview. Here are some examples:

Activity 1: Writing an essay
As an activity that can also be assigned as homework, students are asked to write an essay reflecting on the use of technology in education:
Computers are a central part of education today. In some schools every child has a personal laptop and the class teacher communicates with them through his/her computer or tablet. Do you think that computers and technology are useful in education? Write your opinion (120 words).

Activity 2: Interviews
As a concluding activity, the teacher will ask students to work in pairs to conduct interviews. Each member of the pair will:

• Prepare two questions in English about their partner’s reading habits and preferences regarding reading and internet browsing.

• Ask their partner the prepared questions.

• Listen to the response and write it down in their notebook.

This is a perfect example of “integrated skills”, as the proposed activity involves all four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing).

Now all you have to do is register in the MLA EDU Resources section and download the ready-to-use PDF lesson plan complete with plenty of exercises to use with your students!

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Premise

The field of tourism is vast and complex because it encompasses economic, environmental, social, political, linguistic, historical and cultural phenomena. Travelling, therefore, is not the light activity one might think it is. “The real voyage of discovery,” wrote Marcel Proust, “does not consist in seeking new lands, but in having new eyes.” The writer Paul Bowles, on the other hand, made a sharp distinction between “tourist” and “traveller” in his famous aphorism: “The tourist thinks of the return home, the traveller thinks of the journey” (from The Sheltering Sky).

Educating teenagers to have new eyes means training them to see the habits and values of other countries and peoples as enriching; encouraging them to be travellers rather than tourists is therefore a rather complex task. Have you ever struggled with food abroad? Have you ever worn inappropriate clothing for cultural or religious reasons? Have you ever witnessed “cultural vandalism” in a museum or other historical/archaeological site?

In this lesson plan, we have designed didactic interventions for you that, in a semi-serious way, present the “right” ways to approach a trip or holiday—from the type of itinerary to clothing mistakes to avoid, to cultural and food habits. In this case, the choice of the definition of “responsible tourism” refers to a 2017 UN declaration that focuses on tourism to “spread awareness of the great heritage of various civilisations and appreciate the intrinsic values of different cultures.” And you—are you a “tourist” or a “traveller”?

Educational Goals

The educational goal of this month’s lesson plan is to make students aware of the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity in the world’s countries. The final aim of the lesson is to educate students to travel as a way of discovering the world and themselves.

Learning Objectives

With this proposal, we aim to guide students towards the following learning objectives: reading a text quickly to grasp its overall meaning (skimming), reading a text in depth to find specific information (scanning), and vocabulary enrichment.

Activities

The activities included in the lesson plan are designed to foster students’ linguistic development through independent and group tasks such as: giving titles to texts, matching images and definitions, consulting a website for information, and carrying out a project work. Here are some examples:

Activity 1: Arousing motivation
Match these descriptions with the correct type of holiday.

1. Sporting holiday

2. Group holiday

3. Theme Parks

4. Short breaks

A. Two is company, three is a crowd and four is a party! Sharing the sites, food and culture during your travel experience with friends and family can take your holiday to another level.
B. Sometimes a brief rest is all you need to re-energise your body and mind. Treat yourself to a weekend escape to let loose, unwind and indulge in life’s pleasures.
C. Combine your love of fitness and passion for travel with this kind of holiday. Be part of the action and experience your favourite activities in arenas, stadiums and tracks all around the world.
D. Combine exciting rides, fun entertainment, resort accommodation and more! These holidays are sure to leave you with fond and unforgettable memories.

During this activity, the teacher will explain to students that this is an “overall comprehension” exercise and that they do not need to read the provided texts in full to make the match. This is, in fact, a skimming activity—a quick reading that helps grasp what is called “the general gist.” Naturally, the correct key lies in the vocabulary used. For example, in text A, the keywords “crowd, sharing, friends, family” point to the idea of sharing and the number of people, clearly indicating that the type of holiday referred to is number 2, Group holiday.

Now all you have to do is register in the MLA EDU Resources section and download the ready-to-use PDF lesson plan complete with plenty of exercises to use with your students!

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The Task-Based Learning approach not only stimulates student interest but also promotes practical learning and language mastery. In this article, we’ll outline the advantages of this methodology and how it can be successfully implemented in your lessons!

1. Active Student Engagement

Task-Based Learning places students at the centre of the learning process. Through practical activities and goal-oriented projects, students actively participate in building their language skills. This approach motivates them to communicate meaningfully, developing their linguistic abilities in real-world contexts.

2. Contextualisation and Practical Application

One of the main strengths of Task-Based Learning is its ability to provide real-life contexts for language learning. Students tackle tasks that reflect authentic situations they might encounter in everyday life, thereby enhancing their ability to apply language skills in daily scenarios.

3. Development of Communicative Skills

Task-Based Learning focuses on acquiring communicative competences through practice. Students learn to work in groups, negotiate, present their ideas and solve problems—all in English. This significantly contributes to developing essential communication skills for navigating everyday life.

4. Personalised Learning

Every task in Task-Based Learning can be adapted to meet the specific needs of the class. Teachers can customise tasks based on students’ proficiency levels, preferences and individual interests, creating a tailored learning environment.

5. Stimulation of Creativity

Task-based activities often require a creative approach. Students are encouraged to think innovatively, find creative solutions and express their ideas in original ways. This not only makes learning more enjoyable but also more effective.

In conclusion, Task-Based Learning provides a solid foundation for teaching English to adolescent students. By stimulating active engagement, promoting practical application of skills and developing communicative abilities, this methodology can transform lessons into fun yet meaningful learning experiences. Teachers who adopt Task-Based Learning not only prepare students to master the language but also empower them to navigate confidently and securely in the globalised world we live in!

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The value of project-based learning
One of the main advantages of project-based learning is its ability to make language learning more meaningful and relevant for students. Rather than memorising grammar rules or vocabulary in an abstract way, learners actively engage in practical, authentic tasks that put them in direct contact with the English language. This approach supports deeper and longer-lasting learning, as students are motivated by the need to use the language in real and meaningful contexts.

Practical implementation in the classroom
How can project-based learning be successfully implemented in class? Here are some practical suggestions:

• Defining objectives: Start by identifying the linguistic and communicative objectives you want your students to achieve through the project. These goals should be clear, measurable and relevant to students’ interests and needs.

• Selecting projects: Choose projects that are stimulating and meaningful for learners, integrating their personal interests, culture and real-life contexts. For example, you might propose projects involving the creation of videos, blogs, presentations or role plays on topics they care about.

• Collaboration and autonomy: Foster collaboration among students by encouraging them to work together to plan, carry out and evaluate the project. At the same time, give them a certain degree of autonomy in making decisions and managing their own learning.

• Feedback and reflection: Provide regular feedback throughout all the stages of the project, encouraging students to reflect on their learning and identify areas for improvement. This self-assessment process will help them develop essential metacognitive skills.

• Presentation and sharing: Finally, encourage students to present their projects to the class. This moment of sharing not only consolidates their language skills, but also allows them to develop effective communication abilities.

In conclusion, project-based learning offers English teachers a valuable opportunity to make language learning more engaging, meaningful and authentic. By implementing this methodology in the classroom, it is possible to equip students with the linguistic and communicative competences they need to successfully face the challenges of today’s global and interconnected world.

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If this topic interests you, you can reserve your place at the free webinar for English teachers, which will take place on Thursday 30/05 at 18:00 and will focus precisely on this theme.

The acronym BES – Bisogni Educativi Speciali (Special Educational Needs) carries with it a practice of identifying needs and then individualising approaches. We speak of Special Educational Needs (SEN) to refer to a macro‑category that includes all possible educational and learning difficulties. Whatever the nature of the need, there is a common matrix that unites them: the right to receive an effective individualized or personalized educational intervention.

The BES category covers a wide range of needs that reflects students’ uniqueness within diversity, embracing the principles of the ICF (International Classification of Health) in order to identify those who, permanently or temporarily, for physical, biological, physiological, psychological and/or social reasons, require targeted teaching interventions tailored to their special needs.

BiLS – Bisogni linguistici specifici (Specific Language Needs) refer to “developmental difficulties that affect the growth of communicative competence and significantly impact language learning to the point that adaptations, integration or modification of the language‑education pathway become necessary.”

BiLS fall within Special Educational Needs and represent a sub‑category, because they concern difficulties in the areas of language, communication and learning. Needs may be temporary, as in the case of a foreign student who has just arrived in Italy and has linguistic, cultural and personal needs because they do not yet know Italian. Once this learner has closed the language gap, their temporary need will be resolved, as they will have learned to live in the host country and to understand its language, customs and traditions.

Other needs may be permanent, such as the specific needs of students with DSA – Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (Specific Learning Disorders) which can be compensated for through appropriate strategies and effective tools, depending on the type of difficulty or disorder.

Specific Learning Disorders involve a growing percentage of secondary‑school students in Italy. This is largely due to a progressive recognition of these disorders, formalised by Law 170/2010, which defines SLDs and, together with the 2011 Guidelines, provides tools and indications for teaching.

Language‑learning difficulties should never be interpreted as a “problem” of the student, but rather as the result of an interaction that is not optimally aligned between their characteristics and the environments in which they are placed.

The learning environment can widen or reduce the barriers a learner encounters in their language development. In language education, when working with students with SLDs, and bearing in mind the learner’s biological input and the contextual input of the environment, it is necessary to design instruction based on the principles of accessibility, multimodality and inclusion.

With respect to foreign languages, students with SLDs encounter a wide range of linguistic‑communicative difficulties, from internalising vocabulary to reading comprehension, from the use of grammatical structures to fluency and the effectiveness of written and oral production. According to the principle of multisensoriality, which underpins glottodidactic accessibility, the individual’s sensory channels can become a resource because they favour the acquisition of linguistic input.

Another aspect of accessibility is linguistic adaptation, i.e. the modification of language input. A commonly used example is task segmentation and reflection on the metacognitive strategies the student employs during learning. Each person is a social being who lives daily life by integrating existential, linguistic and communicative competences. Activating these competences in everyday life means mastering the language. According to Balboni, communicative competence is “a mental reality which is realised as performance in the world, within communicative events that take place in social contexts where language users perform actions.”

In this regard, it is useful to refer to language proficiency as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a fundamental tool for all language educators. Language proficiency is articulated through a series of activities that learners must learn to carry out concretely, using expressions and functions typical of the language and acquiring communicative competences in the foreign language.

Teachers often believe that teaching a language simply means transmitting linguistic or grammatical structures. However, promoting inclusive language education means not separating language, mind and body; it means paying attention to differences both on the linguistic‑cultural level—skills, linguistic and cultural repertoires—and on the psycho‑cognitive level—cognitive styles, attitudes, motivation and emotions.

The language classroom, using Caon’s term, can be defined as a Mixed‑Ability Class (MAC), where the teacher encounters a strong heterogeneity of learners and must promote effective learning for everyone, taking into account their differing needs and supporting language learning for each student by moving towards inclusive and accessible teaching. Here, accessibility takes on crucial importance for those with language difficulties.

Teaching interventions must be attentive on several levels:

• the recognition level, i.e. how the text appears—graphics and style of the material, any images on the page, font and typeface used;

• the processing level, which concerns the content of the material and the way concepts are presented;

• the application level, which corresponds to the glottodidactic technique used for an activity or exercise, including instructions. Accessibility at this level also depends on how the technique is proposed, taking into account working‑memory demands and each learner’s specific difficulties.

There is a clear need to lay the foundations for an ecological, inclusive language education, aimed at creating models, operational strategies and reference points to build educational communities in which language learning is attainable for all students. By changing how we “read” a class and recognising it as a nucleus of heterogeneity, the learner learns by doing and becomes the active, engaged protagonist of their own learning.

This rewarding approach boosts self‑esteem and nurtures the learner’s motivation to learn by following the strategies and methodologies that suit them best. From a glottodidactic accessibility perspective, language learning is seen as taking place in contexts where learners interact with their environment—an environment of knowledge and learning free from barriers—in which the student plays an active role and teaching practices gain greater flexibility, fostering higher levels of self‑awareness and autonomy among learners.

Roberta Tardi
Teacher of modern foreign languages, specialised and expert in inclusion processes and in teaching and psychopedagogy for specific learning disorders; expert evaluator of teaching processes; trainer in linguistic education and verbal and non‑verbal communication for teachers; specialist in teaching Italian as a foreign language, guidance‑oriented teaching and mentoring, educational and professional guidance, counselling in helping relationships and career guidance. She writes for specialist journals and is the author of essays and publications.

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Strategies for integrating Digital Storytelling
Introducing digital storytelling into your English lessons is easier than you might think, as there are many tools and strategies you can use to present it to your students in an interactive and fun way.

Creating Digital Stories
You can ask your students to use digital tools such as presentation software, storytelling apps or online story‑creation platforms to produce original stories in English. They can include text, images, audio and video to enrich their narratives.

Collaborative Writing
You can ask your students to work in groups to write and develop collaborative stories using digital tools such as Google Docs. This activity will help promote collaboration, creativity and teamwork.

Using Interactive Apps
There are many apps that offer students an engaging way to explore the English language while actively taking part in content creation. Here are some examples:

• Twine: Twine is free software for creating interactive stories. Students can use it to create branching narratives with hyperlinks, allowing readers to make choices that influence how the story unfolds.

• Inklewriter: Inklewriter is another free online tool that allows students to create interactive stories without having to write code. It offers an intuitive, user‑friendly platform for building branching narratives.

• Storybird: Storybird is an online platform that allows students to create stories using artwork from professional artists as inspiration. Students can select images and write stories that match the visuals they have chosen, encouraging creativity and imagination.

Exploring Online Resources
Another strategy could be to give students access to online resources such as digital‑storytelling websites, literary blogs and story‑publishing platforms where they can read, share and discuss stories in English.

Benefits of integrating Digital Storytelling
Bringing digital storytelling into your English lessons can help increase class engagement and offers many advantages:

• Development of language skills: creating and telling stories in English gives students the chance to practise their language skills in a creative and meaningful way, improving their reading and listening comprehension as well as their ability to express themselves fluently.

• Promotion of creativity: digital storytelling encourages students to explore their own creativity and imagination while they develop original and engaging stories.

• Development of digital competences: using digital tools for storytelling helps students build essential digital skills, such as mastering software and apps, understanding digital media and learning how to navigate and create online content.

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In this lesson, students will take a linguistic journey through the most well-known accents and slang, ultimately gaining insight into the cultural importance of these variations. In addition to improving their ability to understand English in different contexts, students will apply their knowledge through dynamic, interactive, and creative activities, simulating real-life situations in which English is used as an international means of communication.

Educational Goals

Students will understand how English has spread around the world and become familiar with different accents and slang. They will collaborate in groups to simulate real situations, using the language while learning and having fun.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize and distinguish between different English accents and slang.

• Use English in real and simulated contexts.

• Collaborate in teams to create multimedia content in English.

• Develop listening, speaking, and teamwork skills.

Activity 1: Listening to Accents and Slang

1. The teacher introduces the lesson by explaining that English changes from country to country—not only in vocabulary but also in accent.

2. Using a world map projected on the smartboard, students identify the countries where English is spoken as a first or second language. Link to map

3. Students watch YouTube videos illustrating different accents and slang, for example:

   • Differences between British, Australian, and American English: Watch video

   • Differences between British, American, Australian, and South African English: Watch video

4. After each video, students answer questions such as:

   • What differences did you notice between the accents?

   • Which words or expressions stood out to you?

   • Can we try to repeat them together?

Activity 2: Creating a Travel Video

1. Students are divided into groups of 4–5.

2. Each group chooses an English-speaking country (e.g., USA, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, South Africa). The teacher may also assign countries to avoid overlap.

3. Each group prepares a short video (about 5 minutes) where they:

   • Speak in English and describe their “trip,” presenting landmarks (e.g., “Hi everyone, I’m here in front of the famous London Eye—it was built in…”).

   • Use local slang or typical expressions.

   • Talk about local food or dishes they’ve “tried”: “This is black pudding…”

4. Students use virtual backgrounds showing images or videos of local landmarks and traditional foods.

5. The teacher provides content guidelines:

   • Presentation of the country and its landmarks. Students can create a real travel blog, starting from the airport and including details like transportation or accommodation.

   • Description of activities carried out.

   • Use of at least three local words or expressions.

6. The videos can be recorded with smartphones or tablets. Each member plans and covers different parts of the project—e.g., Marco presents the Tower of London, Sofia talks about the English Breakfast, Samira covers Covent Garden. Each student records their part, then edits everything into one video.

7. Each group presents their video to the class in the following lesson. Groups should balance skills so that at least one member has basic video-editing abilities.

Activity 3: Presentation

1. The groups present their videos to the class.

2. The teacher asks students to take notes and may pause the video to review key parts.

3. After all presentations, the teacher asks follow-up questions to check comprehension.

Conclusion

Students reflect on how understanding English and its regional variations can make communication easier across different countries. They are encouraged to share any challenges faced while creating their videos and what they learned about the diversity of English-speaking cultures.

Materials Needed:

• Internet access for YouTube videos.

• Smartphones or tablets for group video recording.

• Virtual backgrounds to simulate locations in English-speaking countries.

This lesson plan includes engaging activities that allow students to put their language skills into practice creatively and interactively, fostering teamwork and exposure to the many varieties of English.

Luca Delgado
Teacher of English, translator, writer, and screenwriter. He earned his master’s degree at the University “L’Orientale” of Naples, specializing in English language teaching. Since 2007, he has taught English language and literature in Italian state schools and prepares students for Cambridge exams. Since 2009, he has also taught Acting and Screenwriting and currently directs a School of Dramatic Arts in Naples. He has worked as a translator for directors Peter Brook and Peter Sellars.
Luca began collaborating with MLA in 1997, holding various roles including Coordinator of the MLA International Drama Festival, Programme Manager, and Centre Manager at several universities and colleges in the UK, Ireland, and the USA.

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Premise

According to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, drafted by UN member countries in 2015, achieving sustainable development requires ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.
Danny Ballan, an American journalist, argues that appearance plays a crucial role both personally and professionally. People — especially teenagers — are often obsessed with their image: they focus on their looks and invest in physical fitness, convinced that this is essential for social acceptance. However, as they grow, teenagers face physical changes that can lead to dissatisfaction with their bodies, a condition increasingly influenced by social media and unrealistic beauty standards.

Adults, such as parents and teachers, can play a key role in helping young people accept and appreciate their unique traits. An empathetic, non-judgmental attitude from adults is essential to help teens see appearance as a value — but not a limitation to happiness and well-being.

The importance of appearance: why it matters

In today’s society, appearance has a tangible influence on how individuals are perceived and treated. From the very first meeting, outward appearance communicates values, interests, and personality, shaping both others’ trust and our own self-confidence.
This does not mean that appearance should become an absolute priority, but that taking care of oneself can enhance self-esteem and emotional well-being.

Lessons and activities for teachers

The MLA lesson plan “The Importance of Appearance” is designed to raise students’ awareness of the relationship between physical appearance, social perception, and self-esteem. Here are some of the classroom activities included:

• Listening to music tracks — As an introductory activity, students listen to “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera. Music provides a stimulus for reflecting on self-acceptance and diversity in beauty standards, creating an engaging and relaxed atmosphere.

• Reading and discussion — Using texts like “Why Image Matters,” students explore how appearance affects others’ perceptions and how it is rooted in cultural contexts. Through debates and discussions, they gain awareness of social pressures and the importance of authenticity.

• Cultural comprehension and analysis — Texts about cultural practices, such as the lip plates of the Mursi tribe or neck-lengthening traditions in some Asian cultures, offer insight into how different societies define beauty. This helps students develop respect for other cultures and challenge their own biases.

• Creative projects — Students can create presentations, videos, or interviews about beauty standards across centuries, encouraging creativity and independent research.

• Discussion on the impact of social media — Guiding questions like “Why do relationships seem based on appearance?” help students explore how social media shapes body image and aesthetic pressure.

The teacher’s role in shaping a healthy self-image

In the educational context, teachers play an essential role in promoting a balanced view of physical appearance, helping students understand that beauty has many dimensions — both physical and psychological — that contribute to personal identity. Teachers’ guidance is key in conveying that, while appearance has value, it should never become an obsession or a barrier.

Supporting students in their journey toward self-esteem and self-acceptance is aligned with the goals of the 2030 Agenda and represents a fundamental mission for the healthy and balanced development of future generations.

Now all that’s left for you to do is register in the MLA EDU Resources section and download the ready-to-use PDF lesson plan — complete with classroom exercises for your students!

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With the latest reform on educational guidance, schools have been called upon to play a more active role in supporting students’ orientational development. Specific figures—trained tutors and advisors—have been introduced to collaborate with teachers, ensuring that subjects are developed with a guidance-oriented approach, helping young learners identify transferable skills that can support “their process of self-guidance, leading them to learn through subjects and not merely the subjects” (Pombeni, M.L., 2001).

Guidance-based teaching—learning through an orientational lens within disciplines—requires a reinterpretation of curricula to identify individual aptitudes through teaching and learning activities across all educational levels. This functional process, integral to formative guidance actions, aims to give young people the opportunity to begin self-directing their paths, developing the ability to design life and career projects.

Starting with the analysis of their interests and abilities, students are encouraged to independently choose the direction of their future, ultimately shaping their own personal and individual projects.

The curriculum, embedded within the Educational Offer Plan (PTOF), defines and publicly shares the general guidelines and collective designs (macro-planning) agreed upon by institutional bodies. It must then be detailed and practically translated into classroom-level planning.

Thus, the curriculum can be understood as a form of macro-design: the organization of a learning path characterized by vertical continuity, contributing to the guidance process. In this way, it can also respond to the needs of the surrounding community, using disciplinary resources to equip young people with the personal competencies necessary for autonomy, active citizenship, and self-determination.

By moving beyond the old conception of the curriculum and adapting it to the demands of contemporary society, education can place students—along with their needs, aptitudes, and potential—at the center of the learning process. The goal is to cultivate transversal competencies that enable them to navigate constant sociocultural change.

The fluidity and continuity of the curriculum give meaning to what is learned, integrating knowledge and skills into an authentic and meaningful learning experience.

Guidance is a continuous process, carrying formative, global, and unified value in the development of an individual’s abilities, knowledge, and competencies, allowing them to gain awareness, control, and influence over their life and choices.

This process is continuous because it spans the individual’s entire life—from the first social and educational experiences to adulthood. It is formative because it engages the abilities, competencies, and knowledge needed to shape one’s value system. It is also global and unified because educational choices must fit into an evolving and wide-ranging life project, enabling degrees of freedom, opportunity, and personal choice.

Within the teaching-learning process, students become active agents of their own educational journey, nurturing curiosity, motivation, and the willingness to learn—while developing dynamic self-reflection and interpersonal awareness over time.

These values foster greater opportunities for self-directed learning, balancing formal and informal educational experiences while encouraging reflection on the contexts in which learning occurs.

The challenge is to learn how to teach with a guidance-oriented mindset—a didactic function that many teachers already perform, often without full awareness of it.

Such guidance processes will enable young people to play an active role in making choices, exploring familiar areas of knowledge, and continuously shaping and reshaping their individual life projects.

Roberta Tardi
Teacher of modern foreign languages, specialized and experienced in inclusion processes, teaching methodology, and educational psychology for specific learning disorders; expert evaluator of teaching processes; trainer in linguistic education and verbal/nonverbal communication for teachers; specialist in teaching Italian as a foreign language, guidance-based teaching and mentoring, educational and professional counseling, supportive communication, and career guidance. Author of articles for specialized journals, essays, and publications.

L'articolo The Construction of Possible Futures proviene da MLA - Move Language Ahead.