International trade: discussing economic news and consequences

Summary

This 90-minute ESL lesson for B2 learners explores International trade: discussing economic news and consequences through a real video. Across 10 interactive exercises, you'll develop listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, practical communication, speaking skills — all built around authentic English content.

What you'll practise:

• 5 key vocabulary items with definitions and usage notes
• Grammar focus: reported speech with examples and practice
• Real-world phrases for discussing the impact of economic news
• Gap-fill and cloze exercises to test vocabulary in context
• Matching exercise to connect terms with their meanings
• Error correction to sharpen grammar awareness

Lesson activities (10 exercises)

Each exercise builds on the previous one. Work through them in order for the best learning experience.

1. Warm-up — Discussion questions to activate what you already know about the topic.
2. Watch — Watch the video and note the main arguments and examples.
3. Comprehension — Answer questions to check your understanding of the main ideas and supporting details.
4. Vocabulary — Learn key words and expressions from the video, with definitions and usage notes.
5. Matching — Connect words, phrases, or concepts to their correct counterparts.
6. Grammar — Study reported speech — explanation, examples, and key rules.
7. Error correction — Find and fix the mistake in each sentence — a great grammar workout.
8. Practical English — Learn phrases for discussing the impact of economic news — ready to use in real conversations.
9. Cloze passage — Fill in blanks within a connected text to practise vocabulary in context.
10. Discussion — Reflect on the topic and share your opinions using the language you've learned.

Vocabulary

This lesson introduces 5 key terms drawn directly from the video:

• To level the playing field — to create a situation where everyone has a fair and equal chance of succeeding.
• Trade barrier — a government-imposed restriction on the free international exchange of goods or services.
• Retaliatory measures — actions taken by one country against another that has harmed it, especially in trade.
• Ripple effect — a situation in which one event causes a series of other, often unintended, events to happen.
• Supply chain disruption — an unexpected problem that interrupts the normal flow of goods and materials from suppliers to consumers.

Grammar

This lesson focuses on reported speech.

We use reported speech (or indirect speech) to tell someone what another person said, without using their exact words. It's essential for discussing news and official statements, where we often report on announcements from politicians, analysts, or companies. This usually involves changing verb tenses, pronouns, and time expressions.

Examples from the lesson:

• The finance minister announced that the new tariffs would be effective on August 1st. — Notice the tense shift. The original statement 'will be' changes to 'would be' in reported speech.
• The reporter asked if the government had considered the impact on consumers. — When reporting questions, the word order changes to a normal statement structure (not a question structure).
• The trade representative warned that any retaliation could lead to a trade war. — Using specific reporting verbs like 'warned', 'claimed', or 'explained' provides more context than just using 'said'.

Key rules:

• Verb tenses typically shift one step back in time (e.g., present simple becomes past simple).
• Remember to change pronouns and time/place expressions to fit the new context (e.g., 'today' becomes 'that day').
• A common mistake is forgetting to change the word order when reporting a question.

Practical English

discussing the impact of economic news

When talking about news related to trade, tariffs, or the economy, you'll often need to share your opinion, agree or disagree with others, and speculate on the consequences. These phrases will help you do that naturally and effectively in a professional or academic setting.

Phrases you'll learn:

• "Did you see the latest on the new trade tariffs?" — To introduce the topic of recent economic news.
• "From where I'm standing, this is bound to have a significant impact on consumer prices." — To state your opinion or analysis of the consequences.
• "You've hit the nail on the head. And on top of that, we also have to consider..." — To strongly agree with someone's point and add your own related idea.
• "I can see why you'd say that, but I'm not entirely convinced that's the whole picture." — To politely challenge someone's opinion and introduce a counter-argument.
• "It's hard to say for sure, but my guess is that we'll see a lot of uncertainty in the markets." — To speculate about future consequences when the outcome is unclear.