Persuasion & Influence

B2 · Upper-intermediate48 minConversation SkillsLesson 6 of 8 · Outline

Aims

Goal: build a case with all three pillars — Ethos (credibility), Pathos (emotion), Logos (logic) — and know which one your listener needs.

The lesson, stage by stage

  1. Warm up5 min

    Warm-up: The three pillars

    2 warm-up questions

  1. Reading10 min

    Reading: The Ancient Art of Persuasion

    Read a 209-word text about The Ancient Art of Persuasion

  2. Framework6 min

    Framework: Ethos–Pathos–Logos

    Ethos–Pathos–Logos, 3 steps

  3. Practice7 min

    Practice: Persuasion Vocabulary Practice

    Gap-fill exercise, 5 items

  4. Dialogue10 min

    Dialogue: Persuading a Team to Adopt a New Approach

    Role-play: Your team currently uses a traditional waterfall approach for project management. You want to persuade them to try agile sprints instead. Some team members are sceptical because they've 'always done it this way.' Use Ethos–Pathos–Logos to build a compelling case. (4 lines)

  5. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Your mission: all three pillars

    5 discussion questions

Open the full lesson

The remaining 5 stages of this lesson, with the procedure, the examples and the exercises, are included with Starter, along with the interactive version you can teach from. Lesson 1 of this course is free: the full plan is on this site, and a free account opens it in the interactive player.

This plan comes from the Advanced Conversation Techniques course in the Tuton library. Browse all free lesson plans.