Creative Minds: B2 Unit 1
Creative Minds
Lesduur is: 100 minOnderdelen in deze les
Creative Minds
Open the lesson by linking creativity to language: students will talk about ideas, describe people and projects, and choose accurate grammar and vocabulary in context.
Learning goal
I can use Unit 1 grammar, vocabulary and Use of English accurately to talk about creative people, ideas and projects.
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What words come to mind when you think of creative people?
Use the responses to activate prior knowledge around people, qualities and creative work. Invite students to notice whether they mostly name jobs, personality traits or activities.
Grammar points
Unit 1 grammar helps students speak and write about creativity with more control.
describing present habits and actions
contrasting completed and unfinished time
choosing accurate verb patterns
building clear comparisons and opinions
The exact page wording may vary by edition, so keep examples anchored to the Unit 1 theme of creativity rather than overcommitting to page-specific labels.
Present forms in context
Use present forms to describe routines, current projects and changing situations.
Present simple: facts and habits — She designs posters every week.
Present continuous: actions happening now or around now — They are working on a new app.
State verbs usually stay in simple forms — He knows how the software works.
Highlight that creative work often mixes routine and ongoing action, so students need to choose the tense that matches the meaning, not just the time word.
Present perfect or past simple
These forms answer different questions.
Past simple shows a finished time in the past — The artist won a prize last year.
Present perfect connects the past to now — The artist has won several prizes.
Use past simple with finished time markers: yesterday, in 2023, last month
Use present perfect when the time is not finished or not stated
Students often mix these because both refer to the past. Keep returning to the idea of finished time versus connection to the present.
Verb patterns after common verbs
Some verbs are followed by -ing, some by to + infinitive, and some can take both.
enjoy, avoid, consider + -ing
decide, hope, manage + to + infinitive
like, love, start can often take both forms
Accuracy matters: She decided to study design, not decided studying design
Give extra examples linked to creative careers: acting, designing, writing, filming. This helps grammar feel purposeful rather than abstract.
Grammar for speaking clearly
In Unit 1, grammar supports clearer communication about people and ideas.
talk about experience
describe current creative work
explain choices and plans
compare projects and opinions
This slide works as a bridge from isolated forms to real communication. Emphasise that grammar choices change meaning.
Which sentence uses the correct tense for an action happening around now?
She designs a poster now.
She is designing a poster.
She has designed a poster yesterday.
She enjoy designing posters.
Checks present continuous for an action happening now or around now. Distractors reflect common errors: overusing present simple, mixing present perfect with finished time, and wrong verb pattern.
Complete the grammar summary
A young designer works on new ideas every week, but this month she is creating a special project. She won a school prize last year, and she has decided to study art in the future.
Targets the grammar block as a whole: present simple for routine, present continuous for current project, past simple with finished time marker, and the verb pattern 'decided to study'.
Why do grammar choices change meaning in Unit 1 examples?
Expected elements: students should explain at least one contrast, such as routine vs current activity, finished past time vs connection to now, or why 'decide' is followed by 'to + infinitive'.
Vocabulary focus
Unit 1 vocabulary builds a topic field around creativity.
It helps students describe:
creative people
artistic activities
ideas and invention
qualities such as originality, skill and imagination
Keep vocabulary grouped by meaning so students can notice patterns and make stronger speaking choices.
Words for creative people
People and roles
artist
designer
writer
musician
inventor
performer
imaginative
original
talented
skilled
innovative
expressive
Qualities
Encourage students to distinguish roles from qualities: a person can be a designer, and also imaginative or innovative.
Vocabulary for ideas and projects
Useful language for talking about creative work:
idea - a thought or plan
project - a piece of work with a goal
design - a plan for how something looks or works
create - make something new
develop - improve an idea over time
inspire - give someone new ideas or energy
If your class has the exact unit list, adjust the examples to mirror the book wording while keeping these meaning groups.
Collocations matter
Natural English often uses words together.
come up with an idea
work on a project
develop a design
show creativity
solve a problem
Point out that collocations are essential in B2 speaking and Use of English tasks because the grammar may be correct but the phrase can still sound unnatural.
Nuance in vocabulary choice
Similar words are not always interchangeable.
creative = able to produce new ideas
artistic = connected more closely with art
original = new and not copied
talented = naturally good at something
skilled = good because of practice and training
Students often overuse 'creative' for everything. Show how more precise word choice improves B2-level speaking and writing.
Which phrase is the most natural collocation?
do creativity
solve a problem
make on a project
invent an idea
Tests recognition of natural collocation from the vocabulary section. The distractors are plausible because they use common verbs but form unnatural combinations.
Complete the vocabulary text
An inventor can be both innovative and skilled. When a team comes up with an idea, they often develop the design into a real project.
Recycles the people/qualities distinction and key collocations. Each blank has one forced position from meaning and grammar.
Which vocabulary contrast is hardest for you to use accurately?
creative / artistic
talented / skilled
idea / project
create / develop
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Use of English
Use of English combines grammar, vocabulary and meaning.
Students need to:
notice the whole sentence
choose the correct form
recognise fixed expressions
avoid distractors that look similar
Frame this as precision in context, not as isolated grammar drills. The skill is to read for meaning first, then form.
Reading the sentence for clues
Good answers usually depend on clues in the sentence.
Time markers can point to the right tense
A verb before a gap can control the next form
A noun may need an adjective, not another noun
A preposition can signal a fixed phrase
Model the process aloud: read before the gap, read after the gap, identify the grammar signal, then choose.
Common Use of English targets
Unit 1 practice often checks control of high-frequency patterns.
tense choice
verb patterns
word formation
collocations
prepositions in fixed expressions
Keep examples tied to creative topics where possible so students see continuity across the unit rather than separate exercises.
Word formation
Students often need to change the form of a base word.
create → creative / creatively / creativity
imagine → imaginative / imagination
innovate → innovative / innovation
Check what the sentence needs: noun, verb, adjective or adverb
This is a core B2 skill. Remind students to look at sentence position: before a noun often suggests an adjective; after an article often suggests a noun.
Accuracy at B2 level
Strong answers are accurate and natural.
correct grammar form
precise vocabulary
natural collocation
clear meaning in context
End the Use of English section by stressing that B2 success depends on combining several small decisions accurately.
What is the best first step in a Use of English task?
Choose the longest word
Translate every word
Read for meaning
Guess from one gap
Anchored to the Use of English slides: students should notice the whole sentence and read for clues before choosing a form.
Complete the Use of English advice
In Use of English, students should read the whole sentence for clues. A finished time marker often shows that the past simple is needed. In word formation, the sentence may need an adjective before a noun, and a natural collocation makes the answer sound right.
Checks the core process and target areas from the final subtopic: clues, tense choice, word formation and collocation.
What clue helps you most when you do Use of English tasks?
Expected elements: students may mention time markers, the word before or after the gap, sentence meaning, required word class, or fixed expressions/collocations.
What is one thing you learned well in this lesson?
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Which part of today’s lesson felt hardest for you?
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What will you try to use in your next English task?
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Glossary
creative - able to produce new ideas or original work
artistic - connected with art or showing artistic skill
original - new, fresh or not copied from something else
innovative - introducing new ideas or methods
talented - naturally good at something
skilled - good at something because of practice
collocation - a natural combination of words
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Glossary
verb pattern - the structure that follows a verb, such as -ing or to + infinitive
present perfect - a tense that links past actions or experiences to the present
past simple - a tense used for finished actions in the past
word formation - changing a word to a different form, such as noun or adjective
fixed expression - a phrase that is commonly used in one set form
inspire - to give someone ideas, energy or motivation
develop - to grow, improve or build an idea further
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