Lesson Topics: moral dilemmas, ethics
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary, Grammar
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hour
Lesson Plan Download: lifeboat-ethics-upper-intermediate-lesson-112025.docx
- Note: The video for this lesson is C1 level in difficulty, so this lesson could work for both upper-intermediate and advanced levels.
- The lesson begins with warm-up questions about morality and moral dilemmas.
- Next, students watch a 2:23-minute video (AmE) about a lifeboat ethics case from 1884. Note that in this case, the survivors chose to eat a captive to ensure their survival. This isn't depicted in a terribly graphic manner, but it is described. Please watch the video to ensure it's appropriate for your classes. The video has a nice slow pace that should be easy for students to comprehend.
- The video is followed by an activity that asks students to put the events from the video in sequential order. Next, students complete comprehension questions.
- For vocabulary, students match 11 terms from the video to definitions and then use them to create discussion questions to ask a partner.
- The lesson has one debate topic about whether moral principles are relative or universal.
- In lieu of a roleplay, the lesson has an extended lifeboat ethics activity. In Step 1, students must decide if they should let others on board their crowded lifeboat. In Step 2, they choose whom to let on board. In Step 4, they must choose how to deal with a problematic passenger.
- As a fun feature, the lesson reviews the present perfect tense with the classic Have you ever...? BINGO game focusing on immoral behavior.
- Next, students briefly review moral decision-making systems: utilitarianism, deontology, relativism, and egoism, and consider how they could be applied to a lifeboat ethics scenario.
- After famous quotations on ethics, students review collocations and vocabulary.
- As a new feature, I've crafted a verb tense review activity as well, focusing on the past tense structures from the video transcript. (Warning: This could trigger questions about the passive voice and past perfect, so be prepared.)
- Finally, the lesson ends with some final discussion questions.
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Lifeboat Ethics
Warm-up Questions
- Do you think you are a good or a bad person? Why?
- What motivation is there to be morally good?
- A moral dilemma is a situation that requires making a difficult moral decision. Can you think of any moral dilemmas that you’ve been in recently?
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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.
Sequence ordering: 5, 2, 3, 1, 4
Comprehension Question Answer Key
- …
- In a lifeboat in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000 miles from land.
- He drank seawater and became ill.
- Because he thought killing someone for food was morally wrong.
- …
- …
Vocabulary answer key: a-provisions, b-all things considered, c-drawing lots, d-stranded, e-sacrificing, f-out of necessity, g-confessed, h-his time had come, i-put on trial, j-sustained, k-immorally
Informal language: (Answer key: 1–hate to break it to you, 2–clock, 3–can’t put your finger on, 4–Mind you, 5–the thing is, 6–better off, 7–my DMs were blowing up, 8–this is just all to say)
Collocations: 1-e, 2-c, 3-a, 4-b, 5-d
[1] Inspired by an activity by Frank Bucaro at https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/what-would-you-do/