Unlock 2 – Listening and Speaking
Each Unlock 2 Listening & Speaking lesson plan begins with an engaging picture and a set of pre-listening questions that encourage students to observe, predict, and discuss the topic while activating relevant vocabulary and background knowledge. The units work well alongside Unlock 2 Reading and Writing for a complete four-skills course, and follow on naturally from Unlock 1 Listening and Speaking for classes progressing through the full series. For more background on teaching listening skills effectively, see this British Council overview of listening skills.
Most Unlock 2 Listening & Speaking units run well as a single lesson, but classes with limited contact time can split the listening stage and the speaking stage across two shorter sessions without losing the connection between them. Recording short speaking tasks, even informally on a phone, gives students a chance to hear their own pronunciation and fluency improve across the course, and gives teachers a quick way to track progress unit by unit.
As with the rest of the Unlock series, performance across a full Unlock 2 Listening & Speaking unit is a useful placement signal: a learner who struggles to follow the audio or contribute in the speaking task may need more time on Unlock 1 material, while a student who handles the unit comfortably is often ready for Unlock 3. Reviewing a recording or a set of discussion notes from one unit gives a clearer picture of a student’s spoken fluency than a single test question ever could. In short, these Unlock 2 Listening & Speaking lesson plans give teachers a consistent, ready-to-use way to build both comprehension and confident spoken English across a full term.
