Lesson plan

Four hats for discussion

Discussions, Roles of group members

Learning outcomes

• Use English in a creative way

Age and level

13-17, Adults (B2+)

Time

50-65 minutes

Materials

• Role cards

Introduction

In the 1980s Edward de Bono came up with his Six Thinking Hats idea, in which businessmen and
women use a parallel thinking process which helps them become “more productive, focused, and
mindfully involved”. A similar process can be used effectively in the English classroom to get learners
more involved in discussions. By wearing a coloured hat, learners are given help, guidance and more
support when they are taking part in discussions. They are also free of the burden of having to share
their own opinions, which can be useful if they have very little to say, or feel shy about giving their views.
This is especially true with older teenagers, young adults and groups who have not been together for
very long. The Four Thinking Hats activity in this lesson borrows the idea from de Bono and offers

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© The British Council 2021 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Lesson plan
teachers a creative alternative to the usual speaking-focused lesson. It is especially effective with
Business English classes where learners are able to use real-life ‘problems’ as the basis of a discussion.

Learners will first work with members of their own group, wearing the same colour hat, developing their
role further by brainstorming words and expressions. Then they will regroup into multi-coloured hat
groups with learners wearing hats of each of the four colours. They will discuss a list of questions for a
limited time. During the discussions they will take on the role they have been given.

Procedure

1. Warmer • Tell learners they are going to develop their speaking skills in this lesson by
(5 - 10 minutes) having discussions in groups. Have a quick chat about ‘discussions’ and
ask them to share their experiences of having discussions in class. For
example, you could ask the class:
o Do you like having discussions in class? Why? Why not?
o What discussions have you enjoyed / not enjoyed? Why?
• Explain that in this lesson the discussions are going to be a bit different
because it won’t be ‘them’ who is speaking. They will each have a role.

2. Understanding • Divide the class into four groups: Red, Black, Yellow and Green. For very
role cards large classes, sub-divide these groups into smaller, more manageable
(5 - 10 minutes) groups of 4 – 6.
• Give each learner a role card. All members of the same group should
have the same role card. Learners should read the card together and
make sure they understand the meaning of all of the words and phrases in
bold. If necessary, they should look them up in a dictionary or discuss them
with their group.

3. Further • Ask learners to work in their groups to brainstorm a list of words, phrases
understanding of and expressions that describe them when they are wearing their hat.
roles • If necessary, make a few suggestions and grade the language according to
(5 - 10 minutes) the level of your learners. For example:
Black hat: gloomy, depressing, ‘put a dampener on something’
Yellow hat: optimist, happy, ‘see the glass half full’, see the sunny side
Red hat: passionate, obsessed, loud
White hat: controlling, a control freak, organised, focused

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© The British Council 2021 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Lesson plan
4. Discussion in • Re-group learners into new groups of four. Each new group should have
roles at least one member with a different coloured hat. For large classes
(30 minutes) and odd numbers, add extra hat-wearers to groups perhaps allowing those
wearing the same colour hat to ‘work together’.
• Give learners some discussion questions and a limited time to discuss
them. They should discuss each question in turn, in their hat-wearing roles.
Monitor and observe the groups as they speak and help where necessary.
Make sure the white hat wearers are controlling the time. This will make
your task a lot easier.
• Discussion questions will very much depend on the class, their interests,
levels and ages. Use discussion questions from
your course books or write your own/ See the ‘esl
discussions’ website for ideas:
https://esldiscussions.com/. A list of 10 discussion
points for a 30-minute speaking should work but
feel free to adjust the number of questions or the
time.
• Allow time here for any post-discussion feedback you might want to give
learners, error correction, pronunciation information, etc.

5. Feedback • If this is the first time you have tried the activity, ask learners for some
(5 mins) feedback. Ask them to share their opinion of having a discussion with
coloured-hat role cards. If they show interest, direct them to the website for
Six Thinking Hats so they can see where the idea came from:
https://www.debonogroup.com/services/core-programs/six-thinking-hats/

Contributed by

Katherine Bilsborough

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
© The British Council 2021 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.