Tag Archives: reading

Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , , , , , , , , ,

When last week I asked my students:

Have you ever put your life at risk? or Have you ever done any extreme sports? I began to wonder whether I’ve ever had .
The truth is I’ve never been an adventurous person; maybe I was a bit more in the past when I was younger. I remember I used to like horror films and talking about paranormal phenomena with my friends. I even played the Ouija Board once or twice and went with some peers to visit a mansion ghost, which was said to live in a house in ruins in my own hometown; but I, at least, was pushing the limits of my own courage although I pretended otherwise. I remember the rush of adrenaline I experienced and the feeling of being amazingly brave. But these can be hardly be named extreme sports although some people would say that playing with the unknown is much worse than risking your life doing bungee jumping or sky diving something, I know, I’ll never have the guts to try.

Come to think of it, I’ve sometimes put my life at risk like when I hitchhiked in England being only 19, or refusing to cross the road when seeing a gang of punks drinking and I had to walk past. This counts as risky , doesn’t it?

But the maddest thing I’ve ever done was about 10 years ago in the Wagner Bros Park, in Madrid, when I rode in one of these ride thrill attractions. It was a vertical tower of about 60metres. You are launched up and , believe or not, you take off from your seat and you literally fly before dropping in a breathtaking descent. When I think about it, it still gives me the creeps… Well, I warned you , I’ve never been a thrill seeker!!

And you… Do you live on adrenaline rushes? Are you hooked on the buzz of the extreme?

If you would like to do a lesson on Extreme Sports and Taking Risks , click HERE

Weird Hotels: Lesson Plan

Funny Stuff, Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, Listening, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you planned your summer holidays yet? Are you in the mood for something different? Weird and even wacky? Are you tired of the conventional hotels everybody goes to? Have a look at these photographs.

These are some of the weirdest hotels you will ever see. But don’t hold your breath …some of them are very expensive and most of them are fully booked for this summer; so I guess, it must definitely be an experience for some people  sleeping in one of those but, trust me on this… you won’t find me there!

Given the chance I don’t know whether it‘d be easy to choose one of them to spend a nice relaxing holidays. I guess you think it would be a rush of adrenaline sleeping in a cabin hanging from a slender tree but I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink waiting for the branch to crack.

And an underwater hotel… are they paying me???

In my humble opinion, the Survival Pod Hotel in The Hague, this orange alien-shaped thing, seems to invite people to choose to die if the option is living in these claustrophobic capsules. Can’t imagine having to pay for it!

Some other picturesque pictures show the Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim in Austria and I have to admit that, at least, it has been cheap to build. The idea is that you sleep inside a piece of concrete sewage pipe and guess what?? This is cheap …’cause you pay only what you think they are worth!!

As for me, I’ve always felt an attraction for luxurious hotels where the service is impeccable, the views from the balcony breathtaking, the place a haven of peace and relaxation and the bed as comfortable as a bed should be. I  don’t want to spend the night killing cockroaches or freezing to death just to have the time of my life, thank you very much.

Anway, why this post on Weird hotels?  ’cause my students are about to study this lesson and I came across some of these pictures while looking for different things on the web. I prepared a lesson about hotels this morning, which I thought I’d share with you. So, if you are interested, and you’re not one of my Pre-Intermediate students (we’ll be doing this lesson on Monday, God willing!) Click here .

If you are one of my pre-intermediate students and still want to do something about hotels, you can click here and listen to this postcast about Weird Hotels.

And then watch this video… but don’t expect it to help you with your English!!!



Related Posts:

Listen a minute

Audio, Listening, Resources, , , , , ,

That’s the name of this superb website for pre-intermediate students to practise listening

and this is what they promise. This site is still growing  and at the moment of publishing this post you could only  find alphabetically-listed topic- based activities going  from A to H. That’s it, you can find listenings about Airports and Harry Potter  but don’t try Vegetarians yet.

You can do the quizzes about the listening on line and it also gives you some writing ideas. What’s more,  you don’t even need to register. It’s completely free!!

One  minute a day… that’s all they are asking and in return… you’ll be passing your listening tests with flying colours.

Related posts:

Podcards

BBC Learning English

Practise reading and listening

ELLA: English Language Lab in Asturias

How To Pass the Test When You Haven’t Read the Book

Funny Stuff, Listening, Writing, ,

Hey! Hold on a sec… this is not what you think it is but just the opposite .
As the writing test is nearing some of you are probably beginning to wonder whether you’ll have time to finish your novel or whether it might be necessary to find help somewhere else. In case you are considering the infinite possibilities the Internet offers, watch this video… I’ve watched it too. 😉

Related entries:

Practise reading and listening

Audio, Listening, Reading, Resources, ,

If it ever entered your mind I was going to let you go on holiday without recommending some websites for you to keep on learning, then you don’t know me at all. That’s the first cool one I’ve bumped into, some others will follow.
The purpose of this site is to help adults improve basic skills like reading and spelling using real-life stories on topics of interest to adults.The stories are based on real life situations of interest to adults.
Pick a story to hear the story, click the “Listen” button below the story. When you are done reading the story, click the “Next” button to start doing some activities based on the story .

http://www.cdlponline.org/