Adventure tourism and extreme tourism

This ESL lesson plan is about adventure tourism and extreme tourism – a topic which, following the recent implosion of the Titanic submersible, has been widely discussed in the media. Students will learn useful vocabulary to talk about this type of tourism that has been gaining popularity, and will discuss various aspects of adventure and extreme tourism. You can combine this topic with the lessons: “Dark tourism“, “Travel destinations“, “Where do phobias come from?“, “Are playgrounds too safe?“, “Phrasal verbs: travel“, “Phrasal verbs: adventure“, and “Idioms: fear“.

Speaking: The lesson starts with a few conversation questions about adventure tourism and extreme tourism. Then, students brainstorm adventure tourism activities and place them in a scale (from least to most extreme).

Vocabulary: Students learn 16 adventure tourism activities by matching them to the correct photo (skydiving, BASE jumping, paragliding, exploring the wreckage of Titanic, zip lining, running with the bulls, etc). Then they choose 3 activities and discuss different questions about them.

Next, students learn expressions used when talking about adventure tourism by completing the expressions with the word given (uncharted territory, adrenaline rush, adrenaline junkie, get a high, wilderness expedition, etc.). Then they match the halves of 6 questions and discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. 

Listening: Before watching the video provided, students try to answer the questions given. Then they watch the video “Adventure tourism scrutinized after Titanic submersible tragedy” and write down the answers of the questions. After that they engage in a post-listening discussion.

Vocabulary: The last 2 activities are focused on vocabulary review.First, students are given 4 sentences and are asked to replace a word in each one with a synonym from the lesson. Then they complete a word formation task: they read 3 opinions about adventure tourism l, complete them with the correct form of the words given, and then discuss the opinions.

You can use the conversation cards to review and practise the target vocabulary from this lesson.