Stuck Together: Divorce in the Philippines (Upper-Intermediate)

ESL/EFL Level: B2/C1 (Upper-Intermediate)
Lesson Topics: divorce, keys to a happy marriage
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: divorce-philippines-upper-intermediate-062025.docx

  • The lesson begins with warm-up questions about marriage and divorce.
  • The featured video, at 2:33 in length, is a news report describing divorce in the Philippines. The narrator speaks quite clearly at a medium pace, so the video should be accessible to upper-intermediate students. Regarding divorce, the practice is still illegal despite many other nations liberalizing their marriage laws. The video provides discusses the effects of this law on women and the status of bill proposals to make divorce legal. 
  • The video is followed by comprehension and follow-up questions.
  • Next, students match vocabulary from the passage to definitions. They then form discussion questions with the target vocabulary. 
  • The lesson has two debate prompts related to living together happily.
  • The first speaking activity is an extended role-play. First, students review a list of relationship programs and indicate which are grounds for divorce. Second, assuming their relationship suffers from at least two of these issues, they see a marriage counsellor to get help to save their marriage.
  • Next, students brainstorm four keys to a happy marriage and share their list with the class.
  • Next, students review two famous quotations and the lesson's collocations.
  • Finally, students review vocabulary before discussing some final discussion questions.

A counsellor helping a troubled marriage

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Divorce & Marriage

  1. What is a wedding like in your country?
  2. How have attitudes about marriage changed in recent decades?
  3. Is the divorce rate high in your country? If so, what are some of the causes?
  4. What do you think the Philippines and Vatican City have in common?

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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. Her husband was abusive, and her children were also being hurt when they tried to defend her.
  3. Annulment means legally canceling a marriage as if it never happened.
  4. Getting married under age 18, or faking a marriage license.
  5. Getting a divorce bill approved on second reading and a Senate version approved at committee level.
  6. The Vatican.
  7. Because divorce was not available, they stayed together and eventually worked things out.
  8. …

Vocabulary: 1-e, 2-a, 3-g, 4-d, 5-c, 6-i, 7-f, 8-b, 9-j, 10-h

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

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