The Life of Dolly Parton (Upper-Intermediate)

ESL/EFL Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2/C1)
Lesson Topics: Dolly Parton, philanthropy, music icons
Skill Focus: Speaking, Vocabulary, Listening
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: dolly-parton-upper-intermediate-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.
  • 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.

AI-generated image of Dolly Parton on stage with a guitar

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1)The Life of Dolly Parton

WARM-UP:

  1. Who is your favorite musician from your home country?
  2. When you pass away, how do you hope to be remembered?
  3. 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

  1. ...
  2. (Open-ended: personal response. No fixed answer.)
  3. She grew up very poor in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, in a family of 12 children with no heat, electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water.
  4. Music on the family's battery-powered radio, the only modern thing they owned.
  5. "Big break" means the event or opportunity that gives someone their first major success. Dolly's big break was landing a spot on The Porter Wagoner Show, which gave her a platform and helped her build her own fan base.
  6. Whitney Houston's 1992 cover of "I Will Always Love You" earned Dolly $10 million that year in royalties. This was possible because, when she left The Porter Wagoner Show, Dolly wisely formed her own publishing company and kept ownership of all her songs.
  7. (Open-ended: personal response. Sample: founding the Imagination Library, which has donated more than 150 million free books to children; donating $1 million to COVID research that helped fund the Moderna vaccine.)

Vocabulary Answer Key

a-icon, b-pave the way, c-wisely, d-flop, e-royalties, f-follow in someone's footsteps, g-charm, h-extensive, i-big break, j-overshadow, k-solo

Collocation Answer Key

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

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