Why are we afraid of clowns?

Advanced lesson plan (B2): Why are we afraid of clowns? - BUY ME A COFFEE if you like my FREE ESL content


Give your students a fright this Halloween with a creepy lesson plan about clowns!

In this B2/C1 worksheet, students will learn how clowns morphed from friendly sideshow goofballs to the terrifying villains of blockbuster horror films. 

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Lesson activities:

1) To warm up, students will match six pun-ny jokes about clowns with their punchlines. They will discuss their earliest memories of clowns and their own feelings about them. Key vocabulary: juggler, to crack someone up, to have big shoes to fill. 


2) Students will watch a video (10:37) entitled "Why are we afraid of clowns?" and answer the comprehension questions. Key vocabulary: slapstick comedy, trope, down-and-out, steep price. 


3) Next, students will see six clown-related idioms: to clown around, class clown, to have a finger in every pie, to eat humble pie, to have something up one's sleeve, to go down like a lead balloon. They will get a chance to see them in sentences, and to create their own sentences with these idioms/phrases.

4) Finally, they will read an article from The Guardian about how people in the clowning profession are coping with the rise of the evil clown stereotype. Key vocabulary: triumphant, bad press, intermittently, to entertain; plus, some modern political words: "woke", "post-truth", "Brexiteer", "alt-right", and more.


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