How to spot a liar

In this Upper-Intermediate ESL lesson plan, students will practice detecting lies and deception. They will develop their speaking and critical listening skills by analyzing verbal and non-verbal cues in conversation. They will learn vocabulary related to deception.

Warm-up
The lesson starts with an exercise where students pick words related to deception.

Video
Students will watch a video named “The language of lying.” After viewing, they choose which lying strategies were mentioned in the video.

Exercises
In this part of the lesson, students will decide which sentences are likely to be lies. In the second exercise, they will fill in gaps in phrases.

Reading
Students will read a short text about lying, followed by a Q&A session.

Discussion
To wrap up, the students will discuss a quote.