How personal are our preferences really?

This ready-to-teach C1 EFL lesson takes students beyond the usual speaking topics and into a fascinating question: who shapes what we like, buy and become?

Through realistic scenarios, discussion, debate and reflection, students explore how family, culture, social class, status, marketing, friends and algorithms can influence apparently personal choices.

Students will investigate their own everyday preferences, conduct an Influence Audit, analyse fictional profiles, explore how recommendation algorithms can gradually shape taste, debate challenging statements and finally reconsider one of their own choices.

Along the way, they develop useful C1 language including shape, reinforce, internalise, conform, signal, cultural capital, socioeconomic background, curate, echo chamber and autonomy.

The pack includes: teacher guide and lesson flow, ready-to-use student worksheets, C1 vocabulary work, speaking and debate activities, the Algorithm Experiment, critical-thinking scenarios, final reflection, C1/C2 extension, and teacher notes.

Level: C1
Extension: C2
Duration: 60–75 minutes
Suitable for: teens & adults
Skills: Speaking • Vocabulary • Critical Thinking • Reasoning

The lesson doesn't tell students that their choices aren't really theirs. Instead, it asks a much more interesting question:

Can our choices be genuinely ours and socially shaped at the same time?