Two Thumbs Up: Writing a Review

About This Resource

A complete Grade 8 ESL writing lesson pack on writing a review: the purpose and audience of reviews, the structure of title, introduction, summary without spoilers, balanced opinion and recommendation, strong adjectives for positive and negative opinions, useful review phrases, analyzing a model film review, and planning and writing a review of a film, book, game or restaurant. Includes slides, a timed lesson plan, flashcards, worksheet, quiz, homework, rubric and answer key.

Overview

Students learn that a review helps other people decide whether something is worth their time or money. They study the five parts of a good review: a catchy title, an introduction with the key facts, a short summary that avoids spoilers, a balanced opinion supported by reasons and examples, and a clear recommendation with a rating. They analyze a model review of a fictional adventure film, build a bank of precise adjectives such as gripping, predictable and stunning, practice useful phrases such as "The only downside is..." and finish by planning and writing their own review.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Writing a Review
Category: Writing
File Type: PDF
File Size: 372.9 KB
Published: 04 Nov 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 8 (ages 13–14) 55 minutes Writing organizing ideas giving opinions vocabulary reading for structure

Learning Objectives

Identify the purpose, audience and structure of a review.
Use precise adjectives and review phrases to give a balanced opinion supported by reasons.
Plan and write a well-organized review with a clear recommendation.

How to Use This Resource

Start with slide 1: "Before you watch a movie or buy a game, how do you decide if it's good?" Collect ideas.
Teach the structure, adjectives and phrases with the slides, then do activities 1 and 2 together.
Students complete activities 3 to 6, then use the quiz to check and the homework review. Answers are in the answer key.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Review swap: students write a short review of their favorite snack, then swap and add a rating based only on the review.
Spoiler alert: students retell a well-known fairy tale twice, once with spoilers and once without, and discuss what makes a good summary.
Class review wall: display student reviews of books from the class library to help classmates choose what to read next.

Differentiation

Support: give a writing frame with sentence starters for each paragraph and an adjective bank. Challenge: write two short reviews of the same thing, one for teenagers and one for parents, and adjust the language for each audience.

Assessment

Worksheet activities 1 to 5 and the quiz check structure, vocabulary and review phrases (answer key included). Activity 6 and the homework review are assessed with the rubric.

Teacher Tips

Students often write a long summary and a one-line opinion. Set a rule: the summary should be no longer than the opinion section, and every opinion needs a reason or an example.

What's Included

12-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (8 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (3 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 8 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

Lesson Slides (PPTX)
Editable Student Pages and Lesson Plan (DOCX)
A5 Flashcards (PDF)
Answer Key (PDF)

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