Extreme sports: Are they worth the risk?

Our speaking lessons follow a consistent six-stage structure: warm-up, presentation (with video, images, or reading), controlled practice, free conversation, deeper discussion, and a final homework task to introduce in class.

Lessons come with a printable student worksheet and a teacher version containing notes and answers. For online teaching, we provide an editable Google Slides e-lesson that can be downloaded or exported to PowerPoint.

The purpose of this stage is to activate your students' existing knowledge and prepare them for the lesson's theme.

Activity 1: Conduct a warm-up discussion by asking students questions on the topic of extreme sports, gradually narrowing the focus to personal experiences and opinions.

Activity 2: The students have to brainstorm the different extreme sports that fall into each category.

The presentation material for this lesson is several images of people engaging in extreme sports. The activities on the student handout and e-lesson versions support these images.

Activity 3: Students have to write a one-sentence description for each image, focusing on key details and clear communication.

Activity 4: Students now describe the images in more detail by answering guided questions about each scene.

Activity 5: Students will discuss their opinions about the extreme sports in the images, sharing their thoughts and personal experiences.

To reinforce their understanding of the new language or concepts introduced in the lesson, the students will work on a couple of controlled practice activities.

Activity 6: Students match key physical and mental attributes to extreme sports and justify their choices.

Activity 7: Students take part in a role-play phone call where they ask for details about an activity day they have been invited to.

We move into free practice for this stage, where the students apply the language in more open-ended, communicative activities.

Activity 8: The students will discuss their fears related to extreme sports and interview a partner about their thoughts on fear and risk-taking.

Activity 9: Students debate whether extreme sports are worth the risk, taking opposing viewpoints to encourage discussion and argument development.

This stage allows students to explore the lesson’s theme in more depth, tackling complex ideas and expressing their thoughts and opinions on related topics.

Activity 10: Students have to select between two extreme sports-related options and provide a rationale for their choice.

Activity 11: The students will discuss several statements about extreme sports, sharing their opinions and debating different perspectives.

Finally, we'll encourage students to extend their learning outside of the classroom to reinforce the language and concepts covered during the lesson.

Homework task: Students will watch a video about free solo climber Alex Honnold, answer comprehension questions and reflect on its content.