Lesson Topics: Pope Francis, religion, xenophobia, compassion
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: pope-francis-life-advanced-lesson-042025.docx
- Note: Because religion can be a sensitive topic, please pre-read the entire lesson before using it with your class. The lesson does have some tasks that have students question the value of religious organizations (see the first debate prompt), for instance.
- The lesson begins with warm-up questions about religion and Pope Francis.
- Next, students complete a short Pope Quiz (find the answers on the last page).
- This is followed by a vocabulary previewing exercise that has students match phrases from the upcoming video with their definitions.
- Students then view the video (AmE, 1:22), which is a short YouTube reel. The video quickly outlines Pope Francis's upbringing and key moments as the 266th pope. Note that the speech on the video is a little fast.
- The video is followed by comprehension and follow-up questions.
- Next, students match 10 vocabulary items to their corresponding definitions.
- After vocabulary matching, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary.
- The lesson has two debate prompts about the role of the Catholic Church and morality.
- There are roleplay scenarios. The first is a playful situation in which a student is interviewed for a leadership position in a charitable organization. The student must convince the interviewer to hire him, not another (far worse) applicant. The second scenario is a discussion on xenophobia between Pope Francis and a politician.
- Next, students review famous quotations related to the Pope and the Church.
- Finally, students review vocabulary and collocations before discussing some final discussion questions.
ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson on Pope Francis
Warm-up-Questions
- Would you describe yourself as a religious person? Why or why not?
- What do you know about the life of Pope Francis?
- Pope Francis was described as a charitable person, i.e. he gave to others. What charitable acts have you done in your life?
Pope Quiz: Discuss whether you think the below statements about Pope Francis are True or False.
- He was born in Tuscany, Italy.
- He once climbed Mt. Everest with his college friends.
- He once worked as a nightclub bouncer. (A bouncer is like a security guard)
- He approved the blessing of same-sex couples.
- He refused to live in the official papal residence. Instead he lived in a small apartment in the Vatican guesthouse.
- He supported President Trump’s policies on immigration and climate.
[Answers on last page of lesson]
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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.
Comprehension Question Answer Key
- …
- He was from a different region (the Americas, not Europe). He focused on modesty and helping the poor. He was a Jesuit as well.
- He supported peace negotiations in Colombia, Africa, between Cuba and the US, and in the Middle East.
- He did not speak out against a dictatorship in Argentina in the 70s. Also, people say he did not do enough to address sex abuse scandals involving priests.
- …
Quiz answers: 1-F, he was born in Argentina, 2-F, 3-T, 4-T, 5-T, 6-F
Vocabulary: 1-perished, 2-scandals, 3-resignation, 4-modesty, 5-negotiations, 6-xenophobia, 7-thawing, 8-advocate, 9-controversy, 10-tenure
Collocations 1-f, 2-a, 3-d, 4-g, 5-c, 6-e, 7-b