The Bystander Effect (Upper-Intermediate Lesson)

ESL/EFL Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2/C1)
Lesson Topics: the Bystander Effect, psychology, law
Skill Focus: Vocabulary, Speaking, Listening
Approximate Class Time: 2.5 hours
Lesson Plan Downloads: Editable DOCX | PDF Slides
Lesson Overview:

  • Students first warm up with questions about emergencies in public and the nature of people.
  • Before watching the video, students preview four idioms and try to match them to their definitions.
  • The lesson has two inputs: a video (3:35) and a paragraph (109 words). The video explains the Bystander Effect, a psychological theory that posits that the more people who witness an emergency, the less help the victim will receive. The speech is fairly slow and shouuld be accessible to B2 students. The video is followed by a short paragraph describing a 2019 study of CCTV cameras which partly contradicts the classic understanding of the Bystander Effect. Both inputs work well as a setup for the debate atop page three on whether the Bystander Effect is a myth or not. 
  • The video and paragraphs are followed by comprehension questions.
  • Next, students match vocabulary from phrases in the video to definitions. This is followed by an exercise in which students ask questions to each other using some of the new vocabulary.
  • The first speaking activity is a debate that gets at the crux of the issue: Is the Bystander Effect a myth? 
  • The lesson's role-play is centered on the legal principle of a duty to rescue, which states that in some cases bystanders who do not intervene are criminally responsible. Students act as attorneys and debate whether a woman who didn't help a man having a medical emergency should be punished.
  • The next speaking activity has students review eight public situations to determine the extent to which they are good Samaritans. Note that some of the situations are a bit unconventional -- teachers: please review beforehand (as always).
  • After a few famous quotations, students review collocations and then the vocabulary from the passage.
  • Finally, the lesson ends with a few final discussion questions.

A woman lying on the ground while bystanders ignore her.

The Bystander Effect UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1)

 WARM-UP:  

  1. Have you ever had an emergency in public and had to rely on the help of others?
  2. Have you ever helped someone in public?
  3. Deep down, do you think people are good or bad?

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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. Claude AI was used to assist with answer keys and famous quotations..

 

ANSWER KEY

 

Previewing Answers

A-c, b-a, c-b, d-b

 

Comprehension Questions

  1. ...
  2. The bystander effect is the idea that people are less likely to help someone in an emergency when other people are around, because everyone assumes someone else will act.
  3. More than 20 minutes.
  4. The rule that we should help someone in trouble, and the rule that we should do what everyone else around us is doing.
  5. Because his appearance (dressed as a respectable gentleman) matched the people around him, so bystanders didn't hesitate to help.
  6. (Open-ended: personal response. Sample: No, not really, the video shows that being in a crowd made it less likely a victim would be helped. If there's "safety," it seems to apply more to the bystanders, who feel protected from personal responsibility, than to the victim.)
  7. (Open-ended: personal response. Sample: Not entirely. Philpot's research found that in real public conflicts, someone stepped in 9 out of 10 times, and more bystanders meant a higher chance someone helped, the opposite of what the video shows. This doesn't fully disprove the bystander effect, though, it just shows that a crowd isn't always powerful enough to stop help from eventually arriving.)

 

Vocabulary Answer Key

a-ruin, b-commuter, c-spot, d-bystander, e-risky, f-bloke, g-suffer, h-victim, i-stand out, j-intervene, k-conflict

Collocation Answer Key

1-f, 2-a, 3-b, 4-g, 5-c, 6-h, 7-d, 8-e

[1] https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Famp0000469

d

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