HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

GENERAL ENGLISH · VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH
AND LIES
QrrkoD Scan to review worksheet

Expemo code:
1FEG-31LF-637

1 Warm up

In small groups, discuss the questions below.

1. In which situations is it OK to tell lies?

2. Why do people lie even when they don’t need to?
3. Who do you think lies more, men or women? Why?
4. Do you think it is difficult to be honest? Why/why not?
5. Do you think you can tell when someone is lying? How?
6. Have you lied today?

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 1/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

2 Vocabulary
Complete the dialogues with the words below.
beans clean economical level
lie mind teeth truth

1
Person A: Listen, I need to come about something: it was me that broke
your headphones.
Person B: But I asked you about it yesterday and you simply lied through your
2
!
3
Person C: I’m going to with you: nobody liked the theme of the party.
4
Person D: Really? I wish you had spoken your earlier: it’s a bit late to
change it now.
5
Person E: Have you heard that Angela was caught being, let’s say, with
the truth at work?
6
Person F: No, I haven’t. Come on then: spill the !
Person G: Jake told me he was going ‘on tour’ with his band, when in fact he has only
7
two gigs scheduled. Talk about stretching the !
8
Person H: Come on, it was just a white : he was trying to impress you!

3 Listening: part 1
Listen to a podcast about lying and answer the question below.

Self-deception is when you...

a. tell others something you yourself don’t believe in

b. you trick yourself into truly believing in a lie

c. you believe in lies because you want them to be true

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

4 Listening: part 2

Listen to the podcast again. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1. Elizabeth Holmes worked with Steve Jobs.

2. Anna Sorokin was a noble but didn’t have any money.

3. The podcaster can’t understand how these people manage to lie so much.

4. Dr Bartosz says people often are good at lying because they are lying to themselves too.

5. People who commit self-deception truly believe in the lies they tell other people.

6. People trick themselves so they don’t feel guilty and to be able to persuade others.

7. People who self-deceive are aware of the lies they tell themselves.

8. In the study, people who were given the answers still thought they would do just as well in a
second test.

5 Reading: part 1

Read the online forum about people telling lies. Write the letters A-D next to each question.

Which person ...

1. ... copied a piece of artistic work and claimed authorship?

2. ... lied to a close relative?

3. ... lied for romantic purposes?

4. ... was caught out in a professional environment?

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 3/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

White lies?
We asked our followers to share a story in which they told a white lie and got caught. Here are some
of their fibs.
A. When I go out with my friends, I usually stretch the truth about me to people I meet. Doesn’t everyone?! It’s just
for fun! But once I was talking to a girl I was interested in and I told her that I was in the basketball team of the
university I studied at. She seemed very interested and asked a lot of pretty specific questions. It was only when
we said goodbye that she revealed that her dad was the coach of that team. I looked her up when I got home and
it was true! I mean, how unlucky is that?!

Matthew, Manchester

B. I don’t lie much, but when I do, it’s usually for a good cause. I’m very passionate about animals and have brought
countless dogs home, but at one point my dad drew the line and said no more stray dogs. A few months later, I
was volunteering at the animal shelter and they brought in this cute little guy, I just had to take him home! So I
told my dad the dog was just lying in our porch. He even put up missing dog posters around the neighbourhood!
I only spilled the beans years later when I thought it was safe enough! We still have him to this day!

Lily, Bath

C. I still remember a lie I told when I was at primary school. We had to write this poem, but I completely forgot
about it, and English was the first class. So I just scribbled down the lines of a song that I knew, but was quite
confident the teacher wouldn’t. In fact she didn’t, but as it happened, she liked it so much that she asked me to
read it out to the whole class. Sure enough, someone called me out in front in everyone. I can’t remember being
so embarrassed in my whole life!

Jacob, Edinburgh

D. In my first week of training in my new job, the new employees were in a group session and we had to say something
‘interesting’ about ourselves. I never know what to say in these things, so I lied that I did karate. This girl next to
me got all excited and asked where I did it. I knew only one gym that had classes, near my house, so I said that
one, and she said she went there too, but had never seen me. I tried to get away saying that I hadn’t been there
much lately, but she just wouldn’t drop it: she said she’d been doing it for years. Luckily at that point the trainer
asked the next person and I got off the hook.

Mireia, London

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 4/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

6 Reading: part 2
Complete the sentences below with a word or short phrase from the text.

1. The girl asked Matthew very because she was the coach’s daughter.

2. Matthew though it was very that he was talking to that specific girl.

3. Lily’s father had prohibited her to bring any back home.

4. Lily only told her father about her white lie , when she knew he wouldn’t be angry.

5. Jacob’s most embarrassing lie happened at .

6. Jacob copied part of a he thought the teacher wouldn’t recognise.

7. Mireia said she went to the same as another person in the group did.

8. Mireia was saved by , who asked another person to talk.

7 Speaking
In groups, follow the instructions below.

1. Write down on a piece of paper two things that are true about you (e.g. abilities, experiences,
possessions, etc) and one that is a lie.
2. One student reads out their sentence, and the others ask questions to decide if they are telling
the truth or lying.
3. Once the student has read out all their sentences and answered the questions, the other students
have to decide which one is a lie. The ‘liar’ then says which one is not true.
4. Move on to the next student and repeat steps 2-4.

8 Extension activity 1: lying verbs

Use the correct form of the verbs in each of the sentences below.

betray deceive exaggerate mislead pretend rip off

1. Oliver felt when he saw his girlfriend kissing another man.

2. Tiago knew he had been . The repairs cost thousands more than they should have.

3. Juan often . His stories are a bit unbelievable.

4. Edwin that he had a science degree, but his employer soon discovered the truth.

5. The man knew he was being when the caller asked for his account details.

6. The public was about the new product. It wasn’t safe to eat at all.

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 5/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

9 Extension activity 2

Complete the script from the podcast with one word in each gap. Then listen again and check.

Podcaster: Hi everyone. This episode of our podcast Psychology around you is all about
lying. We all tell white lies here and there, but we sometimes see in the
1
cases of people who are very economical with the truth to get
what they want. You might remember Elizabeth Holmes, who was once called
2
the Steve Jobs. She founded a medical tech company that was
supposedly bringing about a revolution in diagnosing disease. But it was all lies and
now she’s facing a long time in prison for fraud. Then there was Anna Sorokin, who
pretended to be a German noble and tricked many people into giving her money,
3
and Shimon Hayut, also as the Tinder Swindler. I don’t know about
4
you, but I always ask myself: how do these people to lie through
their teeth? So today, I brought in a renowned psychologist, Dr Adrian Bartosz, to
talk a little bit about lying. Dr Adrian, let me ask you: how do these people pull it
off?
5
Dr Bartosz: Well, it’s more about the lies they tell themselves those they tell
6
others. It’s not that they believe in the lies they tell, but that
their reasons for lying are justified and that they will not be caught. This is called
self-deception, and it’s a mark of good liars.
Podcaster: And why do people deceive themselves, as you say?
7
Dr Bartosz: Well, one reason is to protect the image we have of . Rather than
feeling ashamed of doing something wrong, we change the reality around us to
8
accommodate that lie and keep a conscience. Another reason to
9
trick yourself is to be more persuasive - if you truly in something,
it gets much easier to convince others.
10
Podcaster: And is there any academic research to up the self-deception
theory?
Dr Bartosz: It’s hard to prove because it only works unconsciously - if you know you are tricking
11
yourself, then your self-deception didn’t . So you can’t really ask
someone about it. But there are studies that show the phenomenon indirectly. A
study at Yale University, for instance, gave a test to two groups, but one of them
12
has the printed at the bottom of the page. This group obviously
13
did than the other one, but when they interviewed this second
14
group, they all predicted they would get the result if they did a
similar test again, even when there was a financial benefit in getting the prediction
15
. So it could be said they persuaded themselves that the answers
they received didn’t help much.
Podcaster: That’s fascinating! Now, why do people...

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 6/6

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

Transcripts

3. Listening: part 1

Podcaster: Hi everyone. This episode of our podcast Psychology around you is all about lying. We
all tell white lies here and there, but we sometimes see in the media cases of people
who are very economical with the truth to get what they want. You might remember
Elizabeth Holmes, who was once called the next Steve Jobs. She founded a medical tech
company that was supposedly bringing about a revolution in diagnosing disease. But it
was all lies and now she’s facing a long time in prison for fraud. Then there was Anna
Sorokin, who pretended to be a German noble and tricked many people into giving her
money, and Shimon Hayut, also known as the Tinder Swindler. I don’t know about you,
but I always ask myself: how do these people manage to lie through their teeth? So
today, I brought in a renowned psychologist, Dr Adrian Bartosz, to talk a little bit about
lying. Dr Adrian, let me ask you: how do these people pull it off?

Dr Bartosz: Well, it’s more about the lies they tell themselves than those they tell others. It’s not
that they believe in the lies they tell, but rather that their reasons for lying are justified
and that they will not be caught. This is called self-deception, and it’s a mark of the good
liars.

Podcaster: And why do people deceive themselves, as you say?

Dr Bartosz: Well, one reason is to protect the image we have of ourselves. Rather than feeling
ashamed of doing something wrong, we change the reality around us to accommodate
that lie and keep a clean conscience. Another reason to trick yourself is to be more
persuasive - if you truly believe in something, it gets much easier to convince others.

Podcaster: And is there any academic research to back up the self-deception theory?

Dr Bartosz: It’s hard to prove because self-deception only works unconsciously - if you know you are
tricking yourself, then your self-deception didn’t work. So you can’t really ask someone
about it. But there are studies that show the phenomenon indirectly. A study at Yale
University, for instance, gave a test to two groups, but one of them has the answers
printed at the bottom of the page. This group obviously did better than the other one,
but when they interviewed this second group, they all predicted they would get the same
result if they did a similar test again, even when there was financial benefit in getting
the prediction right. So it could be said they persuaded themselves that the answers
they received didn’t help much.

Podcaster: That’s fascinating! Now, why do people ... (volume fading)

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
Learn without forgetting! i
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
In small groups, students discuss the questions. Encourage them to provide reasons, examples and arguments to
support their opinions.

2. Vocabulary

10 mins.
Students complete the dialogues with the words from the box. When correcting, elicit the full expression (e.g.
stretch the truth) and its meaning.

1. clean 2. teeth 3. level 4. mind

5. economical 6. beans 7. truth 8. lie

3. Listening: part 1

5 mins.
Students listen to the recording and choose the best definition. In pairs, students compare answers and remember
what was said that helped them decide. Correct as a whole class.

Self-deception is when you... → b.

4. Listening: part 2

10 mins.
Students read the sentences and try to remember if they are true or false, then listen to the podcast again and
check. When correcting, elicit what the speakers actually said and what is wrong with the false sentences.

1. F 2. F 3. T 4. T
5. F 6. T 7. F 8. T

5. Reading: part 1

5 mins.
Students skim the text to answer the questions. After correcting, ask in which situation they would feel the most
embarrassed.

1. C 2. B 3. A 4. D

6. Reading: part 2

10 mins.
Students complete the sentences with words from the text. Correct as a whole class.

1. specific questions 2. unlucky 3. stray dogs 4. years later

5. primary school 6. song 7. gym 8. the trainer

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXLEFT
Learn without forgetting! ii
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

TRUTH AND LIES

7. Speaking

15 mins.
This task is ideally done in groups of three students so that it’s not too long. While students play the game, monitor
and give assistance when necessary. At the end, ask each group who was the best liar.

8. Extension activity 1: lying verbs

15 mins.
Students complete the sentences with the verbs. Remind them that they will have to change the form of the verb.
There may be different answers for this as the words can be interchangeably used in some of the sentences. After
correcting, ask students to make short dialogues using the verbs.

1. betrayed 2. ripped off 3. exaggerates

4. pretended 5. deceived 6. misled

9. Extension activity 2

15 mins.
Students think of a word that can fit each gap, then listen again to check. After correction, students either read
out the podcast in pairs or write a couple more questions and answers to extend it.

1. media 2. next 3. known 4. manage 5. than

6. rather 7. ourselves 8. clean 9. believe 10. back
11. work 12. answers 13. better 14. same 15. right

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
Learn without forgetting! iii
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in You Will School's lessons.