Teaching vocabulary connected with lying is always fun — students usually have plenty to say about white lies, honesty, trust, and funny situations where somebody was “caught red-handed.” 😄

This new B1 ESL lesson focuses on:

• lies and honesty,
• values and trust,
• idioms connected with lying,
• speaking and discussion,
• and famous “truth or lie” facts from history and science.

Students practise useful expressions such as:

• bend the truth,
• pull the wool over someone’s eyes,
• lie through one’s teeth,
• a pack of lies,
• and caught red-handed.

The lesson is designed to encourage conversation naturally while also building vocabulary and confidence with idiomatic English.

What’s Included?

Full Version

The extended version includes:

• warm-up discussion questions,
• vocabulary connected with honesty and trust,
• noun/adjective/opposite word families + a gap-fill story + discussion,
• idiom meaning tasks matching and sentence reorder exercises,
• a “Truth or Lie?” quiz,
• and final discussion questions using the target language.

Shorter Version

The shorter version focuses mainly on:

• idioms connected with lying and matching exercises,
• a “Truth or Lie?” quiz,
• and final discussion questions using the target language.

Why Students Enjoy This Topic

Lying is a surprisingly engaging topic in the ESL classroom because everyone has opinions about it. Students love discussing:

• whether lying is sometimes acceptable,
• how to recognise dishonesty,
• funny misunderstandings,
• and ridiculous myths people still believe.

The idioms are also memorable and highly useful in everyday English.

Perfect For:

• B1+ learners,
• teen and adult students,
• speaking-focused lessons,
• vocabulary expansion,
• and idioms practice.

If you’re looking for a lively lesson full of discussion, humour, and practical language, this topic works wonderfully.

If you like what I do, consider supporting me. Thank you!

Sharing is caring!