Weak ties - more powerful than you'd think
Did you know that your weak-tie relationships may be as important to your overall happiness as your family and close friends (strong ties)? Or perhaps it took a pandemic for you to even realise what weak ties are?
In this lesson students will read an article about the role of weak ties, i.e. our acquaintances or even strangers we merely walk past occasionally. The site also features an audio recording of the same story, and it might be interesting for both lower and higher levels to listen to it too, rather than just read the text. With lower levels, I find it more engaging to let your lerners first scan the article and have key vocabulary explained before they listen to the audio file (with or without the text).
The subject inspired my students to share their personal anecdotes about how they were helped by their weak ties, be it in their careers or personal lives. You can ask your learners to write about their experiences or make a presentation in class.
This topic is sure to get everyone want to discuss it further once the class is over, and perhaps it will even convince people to start nurturing their weak-tie relationships.