Social Issues Vocabulary

Social-issues vocabulary covers the analytical territory of B2 discussion and opinion essays: inequality, poverty, homelessness, racism, sexism, ageism, discrimination, prejudice, stereotype, identity, integration, immigration, refugee crisis, gentrification, gender pay gap, generational divide, mental-health crisis, social mobility, marginalisation, polarisation. The worksheet trains B2 learners to read social-issue texts, write opinion essays, and discuss complex topics with the lexical precision Cambridge B2+ requires.

This worksheet builds B2 fluency with social-issues vocabulary in essay and discussion contexts.

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What’s inside:

• Vocabulary box with 35+ social-issues terms grouped by category (inequality, identity, demographics, policy)
• News-headline and op-ed gap-fill targeting analytical vocabulary
• Multiple-choice items distinguishing similar terms (refugee / migrant / asylum seeker)
• Discussion task: develop an opinion on a current social issue using the target vocabulary
• Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes with essay-prep extension

Common challenges: Loaded terminology requires care — refugee, migrant, asylum seeker, undocumented are not synonyms and carry different connotations. Racism (institutional bias) and prejudice (individual bias) are distinct. False friends in social discourse: Spanish sensible (sensitive) vs English sensible (practical). Word families: inequality → unequal → equitable → equality — knowing the full family supports nuanced writing.

For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B2, in upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Social-issues vocabulary is heavily tested in Cambridge B2 First (FCE) and C1 Advanced (CAE) Writing — particularly opinion essays and articles. Part of the Culture & Society collection — the natural next step is Sports and Physical Activities, which returns to more concrete everyday-life territory.