ESL Discussion: Why Socrates Hated Democracy

To be honest, I think the title of the video “Why Socrates Hated Democracy” is a bit of a misnomer (a point your students will discuss while doing the worksheet, by the way), but it definitely worked as click bait. This video comes from The School of Life which has a lot of nice videos about all sorts of topics. Not everyone agrees with their philosophies or lessons, but they make for great Ted-Ed-esque video material. Your students will learn about Socrates’ own qualms with one of his own civilization’s greatest achievements: democracy. Like most philosophers, he makes very good points! And offers very few solutions. Maybe your students can take a crack at it? An ESL discussion on democracy and Socrates, what could go wrong?

• Warm-up question: What do you think of this quote: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”- Winston Churchill
• Watch the video once: Ask your students the first question from the reading comprehension questions on the PDF: The title of the video is “Why Socrates Hated Democracy.” Do you think this is an appropriate title? If not, how would you change it?
• Watch the video again: Answer the questions on the PDF in pairs.
• Speaking Activity: Put students in pairs to complete the speaking activity – directions on the PDF.
• If you’ve still got time left over, put your students in small groups to discuss the group activity.
• For homework, think about assigning the go further article on the back page for a reading and writing assignment.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJBzhcSWTk

Something related?

ESL Agree and Disagree Activity – Have an Argument in English