1. Vocabulary and topic introduction
Introduce the topic of Winter sports. Put the students into groups of three. Each group writes as many words as they can under the three headings: winter sports, equipment, places. Set a time limit of about two minutes. When finished, students join together with a second group and define some of their words for the other group to guess e.g. It’s a sport in which you come down a mountain on two long, thin pieces of wood or plastic, one attached to each foot. (skiing). They are plastic glasses which protect the eyes from the wind and snow. (goggles).
When finished, elicit all the students words and write them on the board. Make sure the students understand all the words and have noted any that they didn’t know before.
2. Introduction of extreme sports.
Put the students into pairs and give each pair a list of ten words about one extreme sport (A, B or C). The students make sure they understand what all the words mean then discuss what the sport might be called and what it might entail. Elicit ideas and then give the students the actual description of their sport. Students read it to understand.
Now change the groups so that students are in groups of three, one each from A, B and C. Each in turn tells the other two students about their extreme sport.
3. Personalisation and questions.
Ask the students if they have ever done any extreme winter sport and, if they have, ask for details.
In their groups of three, the students discuss the three extreme sports they read about and work together to order them from most to least interesting, giving reasons for their choices. Now, write some different words on the board: danger, excitement, cost, difficulty, Students then order the activities again by each of these criteria. When finished, ask the students to summarise what makes a good extreme winter sport. E.g. It should be exciting but not too dangerous. It shouldn’t be too difficult and it shouldn’t be very expensive.
4. Design and presentation
Students stay in the same groups of three to design a new extreme sport. They should discuss their ideas as a group and then make a poster which sets out:
The name of the sport
The equipment required
The rules of the sport
The reasons why it is worth doing
Advice for anyone thinking of taking up the sport (safety advice)
When the students have finished, they take it in turns to present their sport to the class, explaining as much as they can about it and answering any questions that the other students might have.
© Pearson Central Europe 1
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