Off the beaten track

The main goals of this ESL lesson plan are to:

• • – Master warning and recommendation language including phrases like “you’ll regret it” and “highly recommend” while building travel idioms vocabulary in this C2 lesson plan.
  • – Explore ecotourism concepts through videos about Northern Sumatra and readings about Madagascar’s environmental challenges for advanced ESL lessons.
  • – Develop sustainable travel awareness by distinguishing ecotourism from greenwashing and organizing eco-friendly trip preparations using these English teaching materials.

In this C2 lesson plan, students will acquire language related to ecotourism. They will learn expressions to make recommendations and give warnings.

Introduction

The lesson starts with a paragraph about going on a holiday, containing phrases related to giving warnings and making recommendations. 

Warning and recommending

The student learns some common phrases used to give warnings (you’ll regret it, I strongly advise you, shouldn’t go near, etc.) and make recommendations (highly recommend, strongly suggest, you’d be crazy not to do it, etc.).
They practice using these expressions by completing sentences containing warnings and recommendations. They also practice using proper adverbs (highly, strongly, utterly, etc.).

Idioms about traveling

The student learns some idioms they can use to talk about traveling (a rolling stone, hit the road, catch the red eye, etc.). Then, they use these idioms to fill in the gaps.

Reading: Ecotourism

The student reads a text about ecotourism and answers the reading comprehension questions. New words are extracted from the text for the student to match them with their meanings/synonyms (cognizant, myriad, endemic, etc.).

Video: Ecotourism in Northern Sumatra

The student watches a video about ecotourism in Northern Sumatra and answers the video comprehension questions. New vocabulary introduced through the video appears in a matching exercise (grapple, instill, on the flip side, etc.).

Reading: Ecotourism or greenwashing?

The student reads a text which criticizes ecotourism and presents it as greenwashing. Then, they answer questions based on the text.  

Preparing a trip

The student is presented with a list of activities to prepare for an eco-trip, which they need to put in the correct order.

Building sustainable traveling options

The student puts the travel actions into the correct category to develop sustainable behavior during their eco-trip.

Reading: Madagascar

The student reads and answers questions about Madagascar’s environmental problems.

Language review

The student revises the main vocabulary points by completing sentences with the missing words. Then, they complete a word family table.