OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This ESL lesson plan on politics and Donald Trump’s third indictment contains activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials for B2 upper intermediate and C1 advanced students. By the end of the lesson, students will understand and be able to use and understand a range of legal English and law-related vocabulary in the context of criminal charges that Donald Trump is facing in 2023.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

This lesson on Trump’s 2023 indictments and trials starts out by having students assess a quote that they will hear in the video by a news anchor. They then participate in some discussion questions about the indictments against Trump in addition to a vocabulary activity in which they try to match vocabulary terms related to his indictment to their definitions, and use them in the context of the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.

VIDEO & LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Students watch a video of a news report about Trump’s third indictment and additional details about the case. There is a listening for gist comprehension activity followed by a listening for detail activity that include short questions and answering them.

DISCUSSION & VOCABULARY

After watching the video, students discuss some questions about the video and the information. They then proceed to do a vocabulary activity that includes some prefixes used in the video. Students then match these vocabulary terms with their definitions, and do one final follow-up discussion about the vocabulary term “to be convicted of” in the context of Trump’s case.

POLITICS DEBATE & RESEARCH TASKS

Students have the choice to move on to some debate or research about a variety of related topics involving:

• Convictions
• Overturning elections
• Insurrections
• Journalism and media
• Other indictments
• High-profile trials
• Impeachment

This lesson is sure to spark some interesting conversation in your ESL lessons, especially if you and your students like to cover current affairs and want to learn some practical legal and law related vocabulary. Get in on the action and find out what your students think about Trump’s legal situation in this lesson plan on his criminal charges. Don’t hesitate to download this lesson plan now!

Benefits of using this ESL politics lesson plan on Trump’s indictment:

In this lesson students learn a variety of complex but important vocabulary words related to law, politics, and legal English in the context of courts, trials, indictments, etc. Current events topics also tend to drive student engagement and fuel rich conversation and debate in the classroom. Students can think critically about important political and legal issues and implications of an important legal case that has far-reaching global impacts.