English Language · Secondary 2

Active learning ideas

Ethos: Establishing Credibility

Active learning builds credibility in a way lectures alone cannot. When students practice constructing ethos themselves, they move from passive observers to active evaluators of persuasive techniques. Role-plays and media analysis let them test ideas with peers, reinforcing understanding through immediate feedback and real-world connections.

• MOE Syllabus Outcomes
• MOE: Persuasive Writing and Rhetoric - S2
• MOE: Reading and Viewing for Information - S2

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 35 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Ethos Speeches

Pairs select a school policy debate topic. One student delivers a 2-minute speech emphasizing ethos elements like credentials and empathy. The partner notes effective techniques on a checklist, then switches roles. Conclude with whole-class sharing of strongest examples.

How does an orator establish credibility when addressing a skeptical audience?

Facilitation Tip

In Peer Edit: Build Ethos in Writing, provide a checklist with specific ethos-building moves so students can apply targeted feedback to peers' drafts.

What to look for

Provide students with a short excerpt from a speech or article. Ask them to identify two specific ways the author or speaker attempts to establish ethos and explain why each method might be effective for a skeptical audience.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 45 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Media Ethos Hunt

Display printouts of ads, articles, and speech excerpts around the room. Small groups visit three stations, annotating ethos markers with sticky notes. Groups rotate twice, then vote on the most credible example and justify choices.

Analyze the different ways an author can build ethos in a written argument.

What to look for

Present students with a scenario: 'A new student joins your class and claims to be an expert on a popular video game.' Ask students to list three questions they would ask this student to gauge their credibility, focusing on aspects of expertise, character, and goodwill.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 40 min · Pairs

Video Audit: Credibility Check

Show two short TED-style clips on similar topics. In pairs, students score each speaker's ethos on a rubric covering expertise, character, and goodwill. Pairs present findings, debating which clip persuades more effectively.

Evaluate the impact of a speaker's reputation on the audience's reception of their message.

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'How might a speaker's reputation, whether positive or negative, influence whether an audience listens to their message, even before they start speaking?' Encourage students to share examples from news or social media.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 30 min · Pairs

Peer Edit: Build Ethos in Writing

Individuals draft a persuasive paragraph on a current issue. Exchange with a partner to highlight ethos gaps and suggest additions like evidence or concessions. Revise based on feedback and share improvements.

How does an orator establish credibility when addressing a skeptical audience?

What to look for

Provide students with a short excerpt from a speech or article. Ask them to identify two specific ways the author or speaker attempts to establish ethos and explain why each method might be effective for a skeptical audience.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach ethos by starting with students' prior knowledge of trust in everyday interactions, then layering academic concepts. Avoid framing credibility as a fixed trait; instead, show how speakers adapt their ethos in real time. Research in argumentation suggests students grasp ethos more deeply when they analyze failures as vividly as successes, so include examples where ethos was lost due to weak evidence or tone.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently identify ethos-building techniques in speeches, articles, and social posts. They will craft their own credible arguments using evidence-based appeals and revise drafts with a sharper eye for audience trust.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: Ethos Speeches, watch for students assuming that famous speakers automatically build ethos. Redirect by asking them to justify their character's expertise or goodwill with specific examples.

  During Role-Play: Ethos Speeches, have students include a brief 'credentials slide' at the start of their speech to show how they earned their audience's trust, even if they are not famous.

• During Gallery Walk: Media Ethos Hunt, watch for students dismissing written arguments as less credible than speeches. Redirect by highlighting author credentials and citations in opinion pieces.

  During Gallery Walk: Media Ethos Hunt, provide a worksheet with columns for 'Expertise,' 'Character,' and 'Goodwill' so students actively search for written credibility markers in articles.

• During Video Audit: Credibility Check, watch for students believing a speaker's initial reputation cannot change mid-speech. Redirect by analyzing how tone or evidence shifts audience perception.

  During Video Audit: Credibility Check, pause videos at key transitions and ask students to note how the speaker's ethos either strengthens or weakens with new information.

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Methods used in this brief

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• Gallery Walk