When the government announces a three-day nationwide power cut, Elijah’s first thoughts are all about work — the meetings he’ll miss, the commute he can’t make, the deadlines that suddenly don’t matter. But as the street outside goes quiet and his phone goes dark, a different kind of worry creeps in: one he can’t call anyone about, and can’t ignore.
Three Days is a modern twist-ending story for B1–B2 English learners, built around themes of technology, family, and what we actually notice once the noise stops.
This lesson plan includes the full story, comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, discussion prompts, a role play, a debate, and a writing task — everything you need for a complete lesson, ready to teach.
You can download the full lesson below!
1. Look at the title “Three Days.” What do you think the story might be about?
2. How do you usually start your morning — is it calm, or rushed?
3. How dependent do you think modern life is on electricity?
4. Have you ever experienced a power cut? What was it like?
5. Do you think most people spend enough time with their families? Why or why not?
Listen to the Story
Watch the video below and listen as the story is read aloud. Pause after each section to answer the reading comprehension questions or discuss the story with your class.
Three Days
Mornings were always a rush.
Elijah slurped at his coffee and took a bite from his toast, one shoe already half on his foot. He glanced at the clock in the lower right hand corner of the TV screen, then back down to tie his lace, then up again — the hosts on breakfast TV babbling on about some nonsense.
His phone buzzed against the table.
A message from his boss, already, before nine.
Can we move the 11 to 10:30?
Then, before he’d even locked the screen, it buzzed again — a calendar notification stacking on top of the last one, then an email preview flashing up underneath that.
Three things wanting him at once, and it wasn’t even eight.
I should call Mum tonight, he thought, grabbing his bag. He’d been saying that for a week.
The only time he ever used the TV was in the morning. And that was because they always showed the correct time on the screen.
Other than that, why watch these fools?
He sat on the sofa and pulled his other shoe in front of him, phone propped against his knee. First meeting was at nine. He had maybe twenty minutes if the subway behaved itself.
His mind raced through the things he had to do at work today.
Of course there were meetings. There were always meetings.
It drove him mad.
Then he had to get on with his own work. And the company expected him to find the time outside of all the meetings to meet the deadlines imposed upon him.
He shook the thoughts from his mind.
His hand tapped the right hand pocket of his trousers. His ear buds were in there. On the way to work he liked to listen to an audiobook on the subway — find a spot on the train where he could park himself undisturbed, and lose himself in whatever the app was narrating to him that week.
The woman on the screen was whittering on about something. Something about the use of electricity in the home.
Elijah wasn’t really paying attention. Half his focus was on his shoelace, half on the time.
Then the screen changed and there was a news anchor.
Behind him producers hurried between desks, phones pressed to their ears.
The newsreader looked unusually serious.
Said something about an apology for interrupting the usual broadcasts and so on.
Elijah took another long gulp of coffee.
‘…Three-day blackout…’
What was that?
‘… lack of resources…’
Elijah put his cup down and leaned in to the screen.
The news guy didn’t look like his expression was just for the camera. He actually looked genuinely concerned.
‘… seems to be no choice in the matter. The government has assured the public that they will do all they can to ensure that the power is back on after three days. But for now, we all have to survive as best we can.’
Elijah stared at the screen.
What did he just hear?
The screen changed back to the breakfast hosts. The man and the woman. The people that everyone knew.
Cosy smiles and sweaters.
They represented normality and safety in the country.
The sort of people you trusted.
The man looked to be chatting with someone off camera.
‘… but what do I say? What can I tell people?…’
The woman just sat there with her jaw open.
Then the man turned back to the camera.
‘Um, yes, hello everyone. You’re probably just as shocked as we are. But it does seem that the whole country will be without power for the next three days…’
Then the screen popped and went to black. Just the hiss of static as it turned off.
Elijah sat very still.
For a second his mind just… stopped. Not thinking anything. Just the static hiss and his own heartbeat.
He reached for the remote and tried to flick it on again.
Nothing.
He tried again anyway, thumb jabbing the button three, four times, as if the problem was the remote and not the world.
That was weird.
He picked up his phone. Tapped at it but nothing. Each app he clicked came up with a static screen but he could not scroll through anything.
It was like the phone was frozen.
Outside Elijah heard one of his neighbours. Some yelling and cursing.
Surely they couldn’t just switch the electricity off like that?
Elijah’s stomach dropped.
His mum. Her nebuliser, the machine she needed twice a day for her chest.
Did it run on batteries? He genuinely didn’t know.
He’d have to go round there —
Then he stopped himself. No. His sister was two streets from Mum’s. She’d go. She always went.
He breathed out.
There would be economic costs, he thought instead. The country can’t just grind to a halt.
Elijah jumped to his feet and clicked the living room light on.
Nothing.
More shouting outside. This time a woman’s voice.
Elijah made his way from the living room to the kitchen. Clicking lights on and off as he went. But nothing happening.
No electricity.
The thought came to him.
How would he get to work?
The Underground was electric. Even if the trains somehow ran, the ticket gates wouldn’t.
And even if he did get to work, then what?
His office was on the 22nd floor. What was he supposed to do? Walk all the way up?
This was assuming he could actually get to his office.
He thought of his mum again. Should he go round? It wasn’t far — fifteen minutes on foot, maybe less if he cut through the park.
But then what? Knock on the door, stand there uselessly if something actually was wrong? He wasn’t a nurse.
His sister would go. That was just how it worked between them.
More voices came from outside.
Elijah went to the front door and marched outside.
Both his neighbours either side of his house were on the pavement. The man next door — someone who usually appeared to be so breezy about life — was clearly worried about the situation.
‘How are we supposed to deal with this? What are we supposed to do?’
The woman on the other side looked exasperated.
‘I got to get my kids to school. But if there’s no electric, what can they even do at school?’
Elijah got their attention.
‘Why not call someone?’ he asked.
The man shook his head.
‘Everything runs on electricity,’ he said.
Elijah felt the words sink in.
No calling his sister, then. No calling anyone.
Whatever was happening at his mum’s house right now, it was happening without him, and there was no way to find out, and no way to help even if he did.
He stared out into his street. It was actually quiet apart from the sound of the neighbours talking.
Usually there was something in the air. A kind of hum.
But that was gone.
It actually felt good — and that surprised him. Was it wrong, feeling something close to relief, when he didn’t even know if Mum was all right?
He pushed the thought down, but it didn’t quite go.
Elijah took a deep breath in. The air smelt different. It felt fresher and cleaner.
He pulled at his tie and loosened it.
No electricity meant he would not be able to go to work.
No meetings. No deadlines.
And no way of knowing about his mum until he saw her for himself.
He looked down the road, in the direction of the park. Fifteen minutes on foot, maybe less if he cut through.
He could go and see her. Actually see her, sit with her for an hour, something he hadn’t done in — he tried to think how long, and couldn’t.
He nodded at his neighbours and went back into his house, just to grab his key.
A beautiful day off, and somewhere to be after all.
Reading Comprehension Questions
1. What is Elijah doing when the story begins?
2. What does his boss ask him to do in the text message?
3. What happens on his phone right after the message from his boss?
4. How does Elijah feel about the number of things demanding his attention before eight o’clock?
5. What does Elijah remind himself to do that evening?
6. Why does Elijah only ever use the television in the mornings?
7. What does Elijah usually listen to on his commute, and why?
8. Why is Elijah only half paying attention to the television at this point?
9. What does the news anchor apologise for at the start of the broadcast?
10. How long does the government say the power cut will last?
11. What reason does the government give for the power cut?
12. How does the news anchor’s expression suggest he means what he’s saying?
13. How do the breakfast TV hosts usually make people feel, according to the story?
14. How do the breakfast hosts react to the news themselves?
15. What happens to the screen at the end of this section?
16. What is Elijah’s first reaction when the screen goes black?
17. What does Elijah try first when the television stops working?
18. What happens when Elijah tries to use his phone?
19. What worry does Elijah begin to have about his mother?
20. Why does Elijah decide not to go to his mother’s house himself, at first?
21. What does Elijah think about instead of his mother’s safety?
22. What does Elijah discover when he tries the lights?
23. What two problems would Elijah face even if he tried to get to work?
24. Why does Elijah decide against going to check on his mother in this section?
25. What do Elijah’s neighbours say about their own problems?
26. Why can’t anyone use their phones to call each other?
27. How does Elijah feel about the quiet street, and why does this surprise him?
28. What does Elijah decide to do at the end of the story?
Essential Vocabulary
rush | slurp | glance |
buzz | notification | stack |
whitter | behave | undisturbed |
narrate | genuinely | concerned |
apology | resources | static |
hiss | remote | jab |
frozen | curse | stomach drop |
nebuliser | grind to a halt | vexed |
exasperated | ticket gates | uselessly |
sink in | hum | relief |
surprise | push down | loosen |
fresh | cosy | sweater |
breezy | pavement | march |
shout | deadline | calendar |
boss | prop | worried |
Vocabulary Practice Exercise
Follow the steps below to help you learn and remember new words and phrases more effectively:
Write each new word or phrase in your vocabulary notebook.
Look up the meaning of each word in your dictionary. Write a clear and simple definition next to the word.
Create your own sentence using the word or phrase correctly. Try to make the sentence meaningful and connected to your own life or experiences.
Examples
Rush – a situation in which you need to hurry or move quickly.
Example sentence: I was in such a rush this morning that I forgot to bring my lunch.
Slurp – to drink something noisily.
Example sentence: My little brother always slurps his soup, and it drives me crazy at the dinner table.
Why do this?
Doing this regularly will help you improve all areas of your English — reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By writing definitions and making your own examples, you are actively using the language, which helps it stick in your memory.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think the government decided to cut the electricity for three days?
2. Why does Elijah’s boss message him before nine o’clock in the morning?
3. Why doesn’t Elijah call his mother as soon as he realises there’s a power cut?
4. What do you think Elijah’s neighbours are most worried about?
5. Why does Elijah decide to walk to his mother’s house instead of going to work?
6. What does the story suggest about Elijah’s relationship with his sister?
7. Why do you think the breakfast TV hosts seem so shocked by the news?
8. Do you think technology makes people more connected to their families, or less?
9. Is it acceptable for a government to switch off electricity to save resources, even if it puts some people at risk?
10. What does the story suggest about the pressures of modern working life?
11. Do busy schedules and constant notifications make it harder for people to notice what really matters?
12. Why might silence or quiet feel uncomfortable for someone used to a busy life?
13. Do you think Elijah’s guilt about feeling relieved is a natural reaction? Why or why not?
14. What might the story be saying about the balance between work and family?
15. Do modern conveniences like phones and calendars help us, or control us?
16. Why might a crisis, like a power cut, help someone see their life more clearly?
17. If you were Elijah, what would you do in the moment you heard the announcement?
18. If your electricity was cut for three days, who would you want to check on first?
19. Have you ever assumed someone else would take care of a responsibility, the way Elijah assumes his sister will check on their mother?
20. Would you feel guilty about enjoying a sudden day off if you didn’t know whether a family member was safe?
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