Lesson Topics: Dolly Parton, philanthropy, music icons
Skill Focus: Speaking, Vocabulary, Listening
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: dolly-parton-life-intermediate-lesson-082026.docx
Lesson Overview:
- Note: This lesson doesn't require that students are familiar with Dolly Parton.
- Students first warm up with questions about music, how they will be remembered, and Dolly Parton.
- To help students better understand the vocabulary and main ideas of the video, students next preview nine of its phrases and match them to definitions.
- This lesson's video, at 3:42 (AmE) in length, covers Dolly Parton's life, from humble beginnings to how she created her music empire. The video was recorded before her passing, and therefore doesn't mention her death.
- The passage is followed by comprehension and follow-up 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 an interview roleplay between a reporter and a music icon. The icon can be Dolly Parton or another of the student's choice. The interviewer should cover the artist's beginnings, their big break, and how they deal with their fame.
- The next speaking activity focuses on philanthropy. Students imagine they received a $10 million royalty from one of their songs and then decide which organizations to donate the money to.
- After a few famous quotations from Dolly, students review collocations and then the vocabulary from the passage.
- Finally, the lesson ends with a few final discussion questions.
INTERMEDIATE (B1/B2) The Life of Dolly Parton
WARM-UP:
- Who is your favorite musician from your home country?
- When you pass away, how do you want to be remembered?
- Have you ever heard of Dolly Parton? If so, what do you know about her?
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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
Comprehension Questions
- ...
- (Open-ended: personal response. No fixed answer.)
- She grew up poor in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
- Landing a spot on The Porter Wagoner Show, which helped her build her own fan base.
- Whitney Houston recorded one of Dolly's songs in 1992, and since Dolly owned her own songs, she earned millions in royalties that year.
- Sample: the Imagination Library, which donates books to children; COVID research, which helped fund the Moderna vaccine.
- (Open-ended: personal response. No fixed answer.)
Vocabulary Answer Key
A-superstar, B-quit, C-an opportunity…, D-popular songs, E-made music by herself, F-was made partly…, G-it became a hit …, H-given away for free, I-got attention from the media
Collocation Answer Key
1-d, 2-f, 3-a, 4-e, 5-b, 6-cd