Урок "How to detect a lie?"

Lesson plan

Teacher: Halyna Kuzmenko

Topic:   How to detect a lie                                                                                                     

Form: 10

Group: 14 students

Level: B1-B2

Time: 45 min

Learning outcomes:

• to arrange and practice lexical materials on the topic;
• to learn about body language;
• to be able to  give one’s own opinions on the topic.

Aids:   Liliya Morska “English 10” profiled level, video materials.

PROCEDURE

I. Warming up.

Matching words with their definitions.

Give your students a piece of paper with a word or its definition.  The students move around the classroom to find their partners.  Then each pair explains the word.

II. Watching a video.

Announce the topic of the lesson “How to detect a lie”.

Pre-watching

 Ask the students if they know any ways to detect a lie.

After a short discussion the students watch a short video clip, which examines the common gestures associated with lying “Body Language: Learn How to Spot a Liar & Avoid Getting Scammed” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1bol0C7_FA)

(Before watching explain some words : dilate- to become wider , constrict – make tight or smaller, squint –to have eyes that look in different directions at once , swindle – cheat , compelling – having a powerful effect, convincing)

Post-watching

Discuss which of their ideas were mentioned and any others that weren’t.

III. Reading activities/ Vocabulary skills

The students read the text and fill in the blanks with the correct item.

It’s easy to know when someone is lying, right? (1)  ................ you have to do is look at a person’s body language; when a person is lying, he becomes nervous and fidgety, touches his nose and bites his nails. This is what people commonly believe, (2) ................ . However, Dr Samantha Mann of Portsmouth University, England, has (3) ................ to an entirely different conclusion. Researching the behaviour of suspects who had given incorrect statements in police interviews, Mann discovered that liars actually stay quite still. This is because they know that people are looking for body language that could suggest they are lying. Therefore, liars (4) ................ fact touch their noses 20% less than truthful people. The same (5) ................ for eye contact. You may think that people avoid eye contact and blink rapidly when they are (6) ................ lies. In reality, it seems, liars make sure they (7) ................ eye contact with the interviewer and control their blinking.

IV. Speaking activities.

The students discuss the questions:

1.     What do you think about lying? Is it always bad?

After discussing the first question the students divide into two groups:  those who think it’s better to be always honest and those who think it’s better to lie sometimes.

2.     Do you compliment people when you really don't mean it?
3.     Do you tell "little white lies" if it will keep you out of trouble?
4.     Do you exaggerate in repeating things you have heard?
5.     Can you remember how often you lie? When did you lie last time?

Offer the students to read some statements  of  David Livingstone Smith, co-founder and director of the University of  New England's Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology about lying.

1. "Lying to oneself promotes psychological well-being. Research shows that depressed people deceive themselves less than those who are mentally healthy. Frankly, if we did not deceive ourselves, I think we would go mad from distress. For example, the simple fact that we're all going to die, that there are various people in the world out to get us, that a good deal of the world lives in unrelenting misery and hunger - it's all enough to drive everyone bonkers."  
2. "Is it advantageous to be a good liar? I'd say without a doubt, yes. People who deceive effectively get ahead in life."  
3. "Dishonesty is pervasive. And that's often a good thing, because the world would collapse under the weight of too much honesty."

Ask the students what they think about the statements.

Summarizing the discussion ask if anyone would like to change his mind and go to the other group. The students regroup (if they want to).

V. Fun time. “Are you a good liar?”

Ask your students if

• they think of  themselves  as  good liars
• can  confuse other people
• know how to detect a liar

Tell them three facts about you.  One of the facts should be not true. Ask the students to detect the untrue information.

After that the students should think of two true things about them and one lie and tell the class. The rest of the students should guess what is not true. They can ask more questions to find out which answer is untrue, for example “What type of a car did you buy? “ Give them five minutes to do this.

Ask the students who correctly identified the lie (if there were any) if there were any signs or signals that indicated to them that their classmates were lying.

VI. Summing up

At the end of the lesson suggest your students to come up to the blackboard and write down some words expressing their impression of the lesson or their attitude to the topic. You may help them by offering some unfinished sentences.

I have never thought that …

It’s funny enough that …

It’s shocking that ...

Now I know that …

VII. Homework

1) Vocabulary practice

Fill in the gaps using the words given below in the correct form.

1. A young woman's ___________ leads to unforeseen complications.
2. You know I really don't know why I waste so much of my energy trying to ____________.
3. When giving a presentation the right tone of voice and ____________ are as important as what you are saying.
4. They __________us into thinking they would come back later with our money.
5. I think you're ____________ him with someone else.
6. Don't _______ - it wasn't that expensive.
7. I have no reason to ________her honesty

2) Writing an essay on “Is it possible to live without lying?”