Morality in the First World War

Lesson plan

Topic:
Level:
Time:
Aims

Morality in the First World War

B2
75 minutes
To develop students ability to argue for and against
To develop students ability to contrast different ideas
To give practice of speed reading.

Introduction
This lesson is about morality in the First World War. It covers some of the wars controversial events,
and asks the students to assess whether they were morally justified or not.
Procedure
Warmer the morality of war (5 mins)
In pairs, ask students to read the quotation and discuss it. After a couple of minutes, get some
feedback on how students feel by asking those students you noticed with a lot to say to tell the
class what they think about the quote.
Pre-teach the words morality/moral/morally during your discussion and feedback.
Task 1 A call to arms! (10 mins)
Ask students to look at the two posters from the First World War. Explain any of the
vocabulary they might not know:
o enlist join the army
o avenge hurt someone in return for hurting you or another
Ask them to discuss the two questions as a group. Elicit student ideas before explaining some
of the information in the suggested answers section below.
Ask students Would these posters make you want to enlist? and Only looking at these
posters, do you think it would be morally right to fight? Hopefully students will agree that the
pictures portray the decision to fight as a moral issue, and that, according to the posters, to
fight is totally justified given what the enemy did.
Answers:
In the first poster we can see the bombed UK coastal town of Scarborough burning in the
background, while the British figure of justice, wearing a Roman helmet, points to it. Behind him
are angry men ready to fight. Scarborough was bombed by German naval forces in December
1914, one hundred and thirty-seven people were killed, and many of them were civilians.
In the second poster we see the great ship, the Lusitania, burning and sinking. In the water are
civilians (no soldiers) swimming for their lives. The poster refers to the Irish because the ship was
destroyed off the coast of Ireland, but also, perhaps, because a lot of American citizens could
trace their ancestry back to Ireland. Arguably, it may have been a way to try to persuade the
neutral USA to support Britain in the war.
The Lusitania
The Lusitania was a British cargo ship sunk by
Germany; one thousand two hundred people
died. The incident helped change Americas
opinion of the war in Europe and may have
contributed to them joining the fighting.

The bombing of Scarborough

Scarborough was bombed by German naval
forces in December 1914; one hundred and
thirty-seven people were killed, and many of
them were civilians. It caused outrage
throughout the UK.

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Morality in the First World War

Lesson plan

Task 2 Morally justified? (10 mins)

Get students to read the speech by Arthur Winnington-Ingram and ask them to ask and
answer the questions in pairs. Elicit answers from the class when they have finished.
Suggested answers:
1. The British side / against the Germans.
2. Because the enemy had killed innocent people; because it was morally justified.
3. Students may feel surprised that a Christian bishop appeared to be encouraging people to kill,
given the established Christian commandment Thou shalt not kill.
Bishop Arthur Winnington-Ingram strongly supported the war and, like many at the time, believed
that killing the enemy was absolutely and morally the right thing to do. He saw the war as a great
crusade to defend the weak against the strong and uncritically accepted stories of German atrocities.
He was a gifted public speaker and vocally supported the war effort.
Task 3 Vocabulary (5 mins)
Ask students to look through the vocab list and match the items and their descriptions. Do this
in pairs if you are short of time.
Answers: 1a
2c
3b
4d
Task 4 Essay (10 mins)
Students read the gist question before they start, making sure they understand. Now students
skim read the essay to answer the gist question allow 35 minutes for this.
Elicit answers from the class as a group and ask students to clarify why they think the writer
agreed or disagreed with the statement.
Answers: The writer agrees that all sides can feel that their actions are justified, but that war is
morally wrong and so, really, none of their actions can be justified at all.
Task 5 Arguments for and against (15 mins)
Explain the idea of for and against to your students.
Put students into small groups or pairs and ask them to lift the ideas from the essay to fill in
the table. They can use their own language if they want to or they can copy words from the
text. Monitor students as they do this, visiting each group or pair, making suggestions or just
listening in. Allow ten minutes for this.
Feedback on the answers together. Write the answers on the board as students suggest them.
Use student language (if its correct).
Suggested answers:
The bombing of Scarborough:
For: To get British boats out of hiding in ports and to stop the British blockade. To stop the British
controlling the North Sea.
Against: Its wrong to kill civilians.
The British blockade
For: It prevented Germany from having the food and material needed to fight the war.
Against: Civilians went hungry and faced disease. Four hundred thousand Germans died.

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Morality in the First World War

Lesson plan

The sinking of the Lusitania

For: Germany wanted to end the British blockade. The Germans warned the Lusitania not to sail.
Against: One thousand two hundred people died, many of them innocent civilians.
The USA profiting from the war
For: America was not fighting the war, why not make money?
Against: Their goods and equipment were allowing both sides to kill each other and innocent
civilians.
Task 6 Contrasting language (10 mins)

Explain the idea of contrast by writing the following sentence on the board. The bombing of
Scarborough was a crime for the British, but for Germany it was just part of the war. Elicit the
contrasting word from the sentence but.
Now write these other contrasting devices on the board and make sure students understand
them:
o although / even though:
Many soldiers went to fight although / even though they didnt want to.
The students went running although / even though the weather was very bad
o despite:
Despite the weather warning, the ship still made the journey.
The car still made the long journey despite engine problems.
o on the other hand:
The soldiers wanted to stop and rest, but on the other hand they did not want to lose
the battle.
o however:
The soldiers wanted to capture the town. However, they didnt want to kill any innocent
people.
You might like to explain with sample sentences, but dont use any of the sentences from the
text as these are the target language in this task.
Now ask students to complete the questions in Task 6 by choosing the correct word. Elicit
answers from the group when students have finished.

Answers
1. on the other hand; 2. even though; 3. Although; 4. however; 5. although
Teaching contrasting and linking language can be difficult and its probably best to try to use lots of
example sentences to explain, and if needs be get students to look up the words in their dictionaries.
You can also use an online dictionary like www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com where there are lots of
simple example sentences for students to read.

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Morality in the First World War

Lesson plan

Task 7 Discussion (10 mins)

In pairs or small groups, ask students to discuss the questions together. Give them five
minutes (or less if they arent talking).
Get students to feedback their ideas to the class.
For question 4, its interesting to note that lots of medical advances were made due to the
treatment of war wounds. The first kind of internet was built for military research and many
aviation and transport advances were in fact made in the name of war.

The United Kingdoms international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).