Lesson Topics: dark tourism, human nature, cruelty
Skill Focus: Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.5 hours
Lesson Plan Download: italian-dark-tourism-intermediate-lesson-112025.docx
- The lesson begins with warm-up questions about tourism and unethical forms of entertainment for the wealthy.
- Next, students read a 208-word passage about sniper tourism in Bosnia, i.e., the allegations that wealthy Italian tourists paid large sums to Bosnian-Serb soldiers to shoot civilians during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. Note that I chose not to include a video for this lesson since the ones I found contained graphic imagery. Please preread the lesson (as always) to ensure it is appropriate for your class. Though the topic is heavy, I believe it can generate meaningful discussions about wealth and human nature. The story also provides a good segue into dark tourism.
- The reading passage is followed by comprehension questions.
- For vocabulary, students match nine terms from the passage to definitions and then use them to create discussion questions to ask a partner.
- The lesson has two debate topics about human nature and hunting.
- As a roleplay, one defense lawyer presents the case of his wealthy Italian client who participated in sniper tourism. He must convince the judge to mete out a lenient penalty for this crime.
- Next, students review eight examples of dark tourism and decide where they rank in terms of ethics and personal appeal to them.
- As the lesson wraps up, students review collocations and vocabulary.
- Finally, the lesson ends with some final discussion questions.
INTERMEDIATE (B1/B2) Lesson on Dark Tourism
Warm-up Questions
- What was the last country you visited?
- Do you like traveling to dangerous or unusual places? Why or why not?
- This lesson is partly about “dark tourism”. What do you think the means?
- Bosnia is a country in southeastern Europe. Do you know anything about the Bosnian war in the 1990s?
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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
- …
- Between €80,000 and €100,000
- Journalist Ezio Gavazzeni
- From a 2023 documentary called Sarajevo Safari
- Italy, Germany, France, and England
- They did it for fun and personal satisfaction, not for political or religious reasons
- …
Vocabulary answer key: 1-d, 2-I, 3-e, 4-f, 5-h, 6-a, 7-b, 8-g, 9-c
Collocations: 1-b, 2-f, 3-c, 4-a, 5-e, 6-d
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/11/milan-prosecutors-investigate-alleged-sniper-tourism-during-bosnian-war, https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-11/human-safaris-in-sarajevo-milan-investigates-1990s-trips-where-tourists-allegedly-paid-to-kill-civilians.html, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YsD9NGC74