The Life of Pope Francis (Upper-Intermediate Lesson)

ESL/EFL Level: B2/C1 (Upper-Intermediate)
Lesson Topics: Pope Francis, religion, xenophobia
Skill Focus: Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: pope-francis-life-upper-intermediate-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).
  • The lesson's reading passage is 254 words. It summarizes Pope Francis's beginnings and political activism while also mentioning some criticisms of his tenure.
  • The passage is followed by comprehension 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.

Pope Francis talking with someone in front of the Vatican.

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Pope Francis

Warm-up-Questions

  1. Would you say that you are a religious person? Why or why not?
  2. What do you know about the life of Pope Francis?
  3. Pope Francis was a charitable person, which means he gave to people in need. 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.

  1. He was born in Tuscany, Italy.
  2. He once climbed Mt. Everest with his college friends.
  3. He once worked as a nightclub bouncer. (A bouncer is like a security guard.)
  4. He approved the blessing of same-sex couples.
  5. He refused to live in the official papal residence. Instead he lived in a small apartment in the Vatican guesthouse.
  6. He supported President Trump’s ideas about immigration and climate change.

[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

  1. ...
  2. Janitor and nightclub bouncer.
  3. Lived in a guesthouse, focused on social issues, first Latin American and Jesuit pope.
  4. ...
  5. Efforts against abuse were not enough, too political, too progressive.
  6. Compassion, humility, social justice, inclusion.

Quiz answers: 1-F, he was born in Argentina, 2-F, 3-T, 4-T, 5-T, 6-F

Vocabulary: 1-j, 2-a, 3-i, 4-f, 5-c, 6-h, 7-g, 8-k, 9-b, 10-d, 11-e

Collocations 1-a, 2-e, 3-c, 4-d, 5-b

[1] Sources: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OUKquMRI7Lc, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OUKquMRI7Lc

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