Lesson Topics: free speech, political polarization, social media, university
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 2 hours
Lesson Plan Download: abandonment-of-persuasion-advanced-092025.docx
- Foreword: This lesson is meant to highlight the value of having an open mind. Please preview the entire lesson, particularly the Content Moderation activity on page three, which has some controversial statements for discussion.
- The lesson begins with warm-up questions discussing politics and an activity in which students place several concepts, e.g. "traditional", on the political spectrum spanning the alt-left to the alt-right.
- This is followed by a matching activity with 12 vocabulary terms from the upcoming listening passage.
- The lesson's video is a 2:45-minute interview with U.S. politician Sarah McBride. She and the host discuss the abandonment of persuasion and how social media has contributed to a political polarization of views. Though the title of the video is "The Left's Abandonment of Persuasion", its content focuses more generally on the tendency of people to fall into echo chambers instead of questioning their own beliefs. Prior to watching the video, two optional lead-in questions are presented. The video is followed by comprehension questions.
- As a unique feature, the vocabulary review section features a sorting activity in which students discuss if each term has more of a negative or positive connotation. Afterward, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary.
- The first speaking activity is a three-person role-play (could be reduced to two) between a professor who risks being fired by a group of student activists who dislike his social media activity. The optional third role includes the college president, who must decide what penalty the professor should receive (if any) for his alleged transgression.
- The next activity is controversial but should be captivating for those who can discuss ideas without being triggered. Students are part of a social media content moderation group that must review flagged posts. The students must review a list of 11 posts that contain offensive ideas, discrimination, revisionism, doxxing, crypto scams, and stupidity. The catch is that students cannot allow all the content to go unmoderated because the site depends on advertisers who do not want their ads appearing next to hateful content.
- Next, students review four quotations related to free speech and social media.
- As the lesson draws to a close, students review the lesson's vocabulary and match collocations used in the video.
- The lesson closes with some final discussion questions.
ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson on Free Speech, Social Media, & the Abandonment of Persuasion
Warm-up
- Do you like to discuss politics with friends or online? Why or why not?
- When was the last time someone persuaded you to change one of your views?
- The political spectrum (range of views) is often described in terms of left and right. What do these two opposing terms mean?
- With your partner(s), situate these ideas on the below spectrum. If you disagree, explain your reasoning.
violent sensitive religious xenophobic (fearful of foreigners) yogacancel culture open-minded educated traditional vegan tattoos
[see .DOCX for scale]
Alt/Far-left Left-wing Centrist Right-wing Alt/far-right
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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.
Vocabulary: 1-persuasion, 2-subconscious, 3-undermined, 4-platforms, 5-warped, 6-echo chamber, 7-breeds, 8-doom scrollers, 9-dynamic, 10-amplified, 11-compelled, 12-doom posters
Comprehension Question Answer Key
- People now talk about opponents to people who already agree with them, rather than engaging directly across differences.
- The vast majority are “doom scrollers” (passively consuming content), and a smaller group are “doom posters” (actively creating extreme messages).
- … (students should capture the essence—that social media encourages performative outrage and discourages real persuasion)
- People don’t talk to opponents; they talk about them to like-minded groups and check responses there.
- By constantly posting extreme, outrageous content that gets amplified, they distort how we see public views and social norms.
- … (students may note it generates strong emotions, engagement, clicks, and is algorithmically favored)
- False — she says the opposite: her public engagement breaks her out of the echo chamber, allowing real conversation with the majority.
- It reflects her argument that social media has shifted us away from persuading others to simply rallying existing supporters through outrage—abandoning genuine dialogue.
Collocations: 1-d, 2-a, 3-c, 4-f, 5-g, 6-e, 7-b