The teacher focus students on the examples from the listening in exercise 1. The two sentences are: The days of unlimited renewable energy, for example, are light years away. The days when blogs will determine elections are just around the corner. The teacher asks students what is the meaning of the two time phrases in the sentences. Does the time phrase mean " soon" or " in the distant future"? The teacher hand out a piece of paper which as a table with two columns: one stating " soon" and the other " in the distant future". The students have to read the sentences on the board and decide whether the time phrase in the sentence goes to the "soon" column or " in the distant one". Students work in pairs for this activity. ICQ - Can someone tell me what you are going to do in this activity? Whole class Feedback- Do they agree with each other's answers? Why/ why not?

The teacher hand out a paper with five questions to each student and explains any new vocabulary from the questions. Students discuss in groups of 3 or 4 what the time phrases in the questions mean. Students will interact with different people in the class and not with the ones sitting next to them. The five questions are CCQ in order to check that the students have understand the time phrases that mean the future. Whole class discussion. CCQ- If I say that the cures for all different types of illnesses are light years away, what do I mean? Do you think people will stop using social networking sites in the future? Do you think that gender equality is a long way off? What does a long way off mean? Do you think I will go on holiday next Monday or is it just wishful thinking? Explain wishful thinking. What do you hope to achieve in your lifetime? What does the lifetime refer to?

The teacher focuses students on ex 3 on page 11. Students on their own choose one topic. Put students into groups according to their topic. If there is one student for one topic, get that student to join another group. Students discuss in their groups why they are optimistic about the topic and give examples. Monitor.

Teacher hand out a blank A4 paper with the title written on top of the page " What are you optimistic about?" Students are asked to look at the text they read in lesson 1 and in pairs to talk about the organisation of the text. FB- Whole class discussion in order to highlight the points to include in the writing activity. Students work alone to write their own paragraphs about the topic they chose in the previous stage.

Students swap their texts and check for and correct any errors. They work in pairs but this time assigned to a different partner. Monitor and help when necessary. Put the students writing on the wall. Students walk around and read each other's texts and decide who is most optimistic.