Lesson Topics: hate speech, political polarization, social media, university
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 2 hours
Lesson Plan Download: political-polarization-upper-intermediate-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.
- As inputs, the lesson has a short paragraph and a short video (1:41). The paragraph introduces the increasing feeling of political division felt on university campuses and social media platforms today. The video then describes how social media platforms and media companies contribute to political polarization.
- The passage and video are followed by comprehension and follow-up 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.
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Free Speech and Political Polarization Media
Warm-up
- Do you like to discuss politics with friends or online? Why or why not?
- When was the last time someone convinced you to change one of your opinions?
- Political ideas are often grouped as left and right-wing. In your own words, how would you describe the difference between people on the political left and right?
- With your partner(s), place these ideas on the below spectrum. If you disagree, explain your reasoning.
violent sensitive religious xenophobic (fearful of foreigners) yoga
cancel culture open-minded educated traditional vegan tattoos
[Download lesson plan to see image]
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-i, 2-c, 3-k, 4-h, 5-j, 6-a, 7-g, 8-d, 9-b, 10-e, 11-f
Comprehension Question Answer Key
- … (students should note the themes of political division, universities seen as leaning left, and social media echo chambers that deepen polarization)
- They believe universities lean too far to the left, silence conservative viewpoints, and don’t allow open debate
- … (open/personal)
- An echo chamber is when you only hear ideas from people or media that agree with you. Algorithms contribute by showing you more posts you like and hiding posts you disagree with
- Biased and sensational news sites that confirm people’s pre-existing views
- Hear them out and engage respectfully instead of cutting them off, to avoid creating deeper divides
- … (open/personal)
Collocations: 1-f, 2-a, 3-d, 4-g, 5-b, 6-e, 7-c