25 OCTOBER 2026 · B2 · LESSON

Joseph Smith: Prophet or Social Engineer?

Learning aim: discuss evidence about a historical figure, separating facts, beliefs and interpretation, using modal perfects.

By the end you can: use six collocations in your own sentences · make deductions about the past with modal perfects · separate verifiable facts from interpretation in a two-minute argument.

Lesson map

1 · Warm-up · retrieval

2 · Hook · predict

Watch the first minute, then pause. Is Joseph Smith more like a prophet, a manipulator, or both?

3 · Vocabulary · six collocations in use

· tap the card to turn it

4 · Input · listen and notice

5 · Language lab · modal perfects

Context → Meaning → Form → Controlled practice. Ask: how sure am I about the past?

must have + V3

Strong inference from evidence.
His followers must have found the message convincing.

might / may / could have + V3

Possible; the evidence is inconclusive.
He might have believed his own claims.

can't / couldn't have + V3

Strong inference that it was impossible or very unlikely.
He can't have predicted every consequence.

should have + V3

Criticism or regret about a past action.
The leaders should have addressed the criticism openly.

Careful claims

It appears that… / The evidence suggests… / We cannot establish whether…
Do not present guesses about motives as facts.

6 · Interactive practice

7 · Communicative challenge

Prophet or social engineer? Take a position and argue it for two minutes. Use at least two chunks and one modal perfect.

2:00

Tap chunks in the order you say them.