Every year on 22nd July, Brain Day celebrates one of the most fascinating and complex organs in the human body. It is the perfect opportunity to move beyond traditional language topics and explore how our brains shape the way we experience the world. This synesthesia C1 listening lesson uses authentic materials to spark curiosity while helping advanced learners develop their listening, vocabulary, and speaking skills.
Don’t you love that moment when a few of your 1:1 students share interests, allowing you to spend more time developing a perfect lesson plan and ultimately delivering an engaging class (more than once!)? This time all the stars aligned, and I could also finally prepare something for the blog.
This C1 lesson is built around the TED-Ed video What Colour Is Tuesday? Exploring Synesthesia and introduces students to synesthesia – a neurological phenomenon in which two or more senses become connected. Imagine tasting words, seeing music as colours or giving personalities to numbers. Strange? For around 4% of the world’s population, these experiences are completely natural.
Since the video is only about 3:45 minutes long, it could be either sent before the lesson and discussed in class or divided into shorter parts and watched during the lesson. This time I chose the second option as some of my students don’t have much spare time due to their busy personal and professional lives.
This lesson combines guided listening, critical thinking and creative speaking. It is an excellent choice for advanced learners who enjoy discussing psychology, neuroscience and abstract ideas.
Warmer: Word Associations
Rather than introducing synesthesia immediately, students first experience something similar themselves. Ask them to complete a series of unusual prompts, such as Monday has a _____ colour. or The number 7 taste like ______. Obviously, there are no right or wrong answers. Students simply write the first thing that comes to mind before comparing and discussing their ideas.
Listening Part 1: What Is Synesthesia?
Next, tell students they are about to watch a short video about a neurological phenomenon. Before watching the first part, they discuss three surprising statements: Some people can taste words, Some people can hear colours, Some people can feel sounds as physical touch. Students justify their predictions and then watch the opening section of the TED-Ed video (0:00 – 0:47) to discover the answer and learn what synesthesia actually is.
Listening Part 2: Decoding the Science
The second section (0:48–1:34) introduces key scientific terminology. Before listening, students match four terms (synesthesia, anesthesia, grapheme and phoneme) with their definitions. They then watch the video to check their answers and explore the different ways synesthesia can be experienced.
Listening Part 3: Disorder or Superpower?
Before watching the third section (1:35–2:10), students discuss whether synesthesia should be considered a disability, a condition or even a superpower, and predict what advantages it might offer. They then compare their ideas with the speaker’s explanation, discovering why synesthesia is considered a neurological trait rather than a disorder and how it can contribute to exceptional memory.
Listening Part 4: Chain of Reasoning
In the final section (2:11–3:45), students follow the speaker’s chain of reasoning rather than simply listening for isolated facts. By ordering the key ideas from the talk, they explore how DNA, brain connections and metaphor may be linked, why synesthesia appears to be more common among artists, and why the speaker concludes that, in some ways, we all experience cross-sensory connections.
Critical Thinking: Are We All Synesthetes?
One of the most thought-provoking moments of the lesson comes near the end of the TED-ed video. Students look at and analyse the quotation: Inwardly, we’re all synesthetes, outwardly unaware of the perceptual couplings happening all the time. Instead of simply deciding whether they agree or disagree, they discsuss the questions that encourage them to move beyong factual understanding and actual understanding of the speaker’s message.
Creatve Production: Design Your Own Synesthetic World
To finish this synesthesia C1 listening lesson, students use everything they have learned to create something entirely new. They imagine a world where everyone experiences the same synesthetic associations and create five rules describing how that world works. For example, Anger smells like coffee or Fridays are dark green. They then present their world to the class, compare ideas and decide which world they would most like to live in.
Click the links below to get the presentation and the worksheet + the teacher’s notes to use with your students.
If you could build a lesson around any fascinating brain phenomenon, what would you choose?
Splendid stuff! Thanks for sharing. All the best.
great job, I admire your work!
I’m afraid there is a mistake, though.
The definition for “Graphemes” and “Phonemes” in the worksheet doesn’t match any of the suggested options…
Hello! Thank you for your comment. I prepare all the materials myself and, unfortunately, have nobody to double-check my work. I will try to fix this error ASAP! 🫶🏽