Debate Versailles & the League: Turn Your Class into the 1919 Peace Conference

The Versailles Treaty & League Debate – Readers Theater Script gives Grades 11-12 students immersive Treaty of Versailles lesson plans. Learners embody Wilson, Clemenceau and Henry Cabot Lodge to wrangle over reparations, Article X and isolationism.

Standards Connection

Links to CCRA.R.2 (central ideas) and SL.11-12.4 (formal presentation).

Lesson Flow

• Readers Theater script (≈ 9 pages, 10 scenes, 15 characters)
• Teacher Guide with scene summaries, primary-source context & answer keys
• Student Worksheet (25 Slides) — vocab, short-answer, analysis, extension
• Self-grading Google Forms quiz (20 questions)

Optional Extension (Teacher-Created)

Not included in the product PDF.

• Assign teams to draft alternative peace terms, then vote on the most sustainable plan.
• Hold a mock Senate hearing where Lodge questions Wilson about Article X.

Ready for heated diplomacy? Download the script and use the FREE Lusitania resource as a primer on neutrality.