The language of lying

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• – Learn vocabulary about lying and deception including synonyms like “bogus” and “fraudulent” while exploring famous quotes about deceit in this C2 lesson plan.
• – Watch videos about spotting liars through language patterns and body language signs to develop critical thinking skills for advanced ESL lessons.
• – Practice identifying deception through games like “Two truths and a lie” and discussions about common lies using these English teaching materials.

In this C2 lesson plan, the student will learn vocabulary about lying and deceiving. They will also learn how to spot a liar based on language use and body gestures.

Warm-up

As a warm-up activity, the student matches sentence halves to put together quotes about deceiving. Then, they complete some more famous quotes with the correct form of the word deceive (deceit, deception, deceitful, etc.).

Vocabulary: Deceit

The student comes up with more forms of the word deceive and sorts them out according to parts of speech. This is followed by a discussion about deceiving. They also share their thoughts about which of the things on the list they consider to be the least and the most harmful fakes (passport, perfume, medicine, etc.).

Vocabulary: Fake

The student learns synonyms of the word fake by matching them with their meanings (phony, bogus, fraudulent, etc.). They try to find more synonyms of this word in a word cloud.

Video: The language of lying

The student watches a video explaining how to spot a liar based on the language structures they use. Then, they answer video comprehension questions and list the four patterns in the subconscious language of deception mentioned in the video. The student tests their ability to spot a liar by choosing sentences that sound like a lie. Next, they pick a card with a famous lie and try to identify the patterns applied. New vocabulary is extracted from the video for the student to match it with the definitions and practice it by filling in the gaps.

Game: Two truths and a lie

The student plays a game with their teacher by telling them two truths about themselves and a lie. The teacher tries to guess which of the statements is a lie.

Video: 7 body language signs of lying

The student watches a video about body gestures signaling a lie. The student does two video comprehension activities and learns new vocabulary (twiddling, subtle, credible, discomfort).

The lesson ends with a list of the most common lies. The student discusses the contexts in which these are usually used.