Colonialism & Truth Telling (Advanced Lesson Plan)

ESL/EFL Level: C1/C2 (Advanced)
Lesson Topics: colonialism, reconciliation, history
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary, Writing
Approximate Class Time: 2 hours
Lesson Plan Download: truthtelling-colonialism-advanced-052025.docx (Video-based) | truthtelling-colonialism-reading-advanced-052025.docx (Reading-based)

  • Note: I have created two advanced lessons: one based on a video that describes Australia's colonial past, and one based on a reading passage that more generally describes colonialism and its effects. Choose the appropriate link above. If you'd like more reading-based passages at the advanced level, please let me know by leaving a comment below this lesson. (You'll find that many C1/C2-level passages are video-based because most videos are naturally at this level of fluency.)
  • The lesson begins with warm-up questions about the student's family history, the value of rehashing the past, and the subjects students learned in history class.
  • For the video lesson, students preview 12 vocabulary items and match them to definitions. They then watch a video in Australian English at 3:07 in length. It describes Australia's colonial past and the efforts of a truthtelling commission to improve the education system. Though the video focuses on Australia (and a little on South Africa), the theme of settler colonialism is discussed more generally throughout the lesson and applied to different regions.
  • For the reading-based lesson, students read a 269-world passage that introduces colonialism and the distinctions between settler and extractive colonialism, while citing examples. Overall, the passage provides a critical view of colonialism and the harms it has caused. The lesson touches on neo-colonialism and the reconciliation movement between indigenous and non-indigenous people to help rebuild trust.
  • The video and passage are followed by comprehension questions.
  • Next, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary. 
  • The lesson has several debate prompts about the value of apologies and the effects of globalization.
  • This is followed by a student council scenario in which students propose changes to their high school history curriculum. For their change to be accepted, they must explain what must be removed from the existing curriculum and why.
  • The lesson has two roleplay scenarios. The first is between two friends, one of whom wants to boycott her home country's national holiday because of its colonial past. The second is between two friends again. One wants to join a religious group that is volunteering in Africa, while the other worries that this repeats colonial patterns.
  • Next, students review famous quotations related to colonialism (the Jomo Kenyatta quote is really profound).
  • Finally, students review vocabulary and collocations before discussing some final discussion questions and two writing prompts.

An AI-generated image depicting a European colonizer

ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson on Colonialism & Truth Telling (Preview of Video-Based Lesson)

Warm-up-Questions   

  1. How far back can you trace the history of your family in your home country?
  2. If you had to immigrate to another country, which would you choose and why?
  3. Is it better to forget past mistakes and move on or to bring them out in the open and address them?
  4. What topics did you learn about in your high school history class? Was the curriculum satisfactory?

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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. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.

Comprehension Question Answer Key

  1. ...
  2. Telling the truth about Australia’s history, especially the violence and injustice toward Aboriginal people.
  3. Because this history hasn’t been properly acknowledged or taught in schools.
  4. Queensland ended its truthtelling efforts, which suggests it may not see it as a priority or may be avoiding it.
  5. Canada, the United States, South Africa
  6. ...

Vocabulary: 1-scrapped, 2-acknowledged, 3-atrocities, 4-reckon with, 5-trauma, 6-inquiry, 7-settlers, 8-apartheid, 9-occupation, 10-reflect, 11-invasion, 12-massacres

Collocations 1-b, 2-f, 3-e, 4-d, 5-a, 6-c

[1] Sources: https://learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Lesson-Plan.pdf

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