Are playgrounds too safe?
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson plan is ideal to get your students talking about parenting, their own childhood, games the used to play and how much risk children should be allowed to take. Students will learn vocabulary related to games and activities, watch an interesting video about an alternative playground and also work on word formation. You can combine it with other lessons related to parenting, such as “Should we give children an allowance”, “Paternity leave“, and “Extracurricular activties“, as well as the lessons “Adventure tourism and extreme tourism“, “Idioms: risk and danger“, and “Phrasal verbs: adventure“.
The lesson starts with an initial discussion about playgrounds. Students look at different adjectives they can use to describe playground and talk about the playgrounds in their area, good and bad playground design.
Vocabulary: Students match the words given to the pictures of different objects that could be found at a conventional and adventure playground. The next activity is dedicated to classic children’s games. After completing the 2 activities, students discuss their own childhood, the games they used to play and the games that are popular nowadays.
Pre-listening: Students look at the definitions of 6 words and expressions (overprotective, helicopter parents). They match the words to their definitions. Then they complete a gap-fill exercise. Lastly, they have a short conversation using the questions given.
Video: Before they watch the video, students look at 2 photos (of a conventional and an adventure playground). They compare them and try to predict the information they are going to hear. Then they watch a video “Why safe playgrounds aren’t great for kids“, which is divided into 3 parts and complete the activities given. After watching the video, students have a discussion on adventure playgrounds and how much they agree with the points made in the video.
Word formation: Students learn how to use the suffix “-proof” and the most common words they can form with it (childproof, waterproof, bulletproof etc). They complete a gap-fill activity and practise with the conversation questions given.
3 research questions are suggested as homework to develop the topic further. Students can also reinforce the vocabulary from the lesson by exploring the additional resources provided on www.theenglishflows.com
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
All video-based ESL lesson plans include online pre-class activities, which are FREE and can be completed without registration. Perfect for teachers who wish to embrace the blended learning approach. By providing students with resources and engagement opportunities before the actual class session, educators can foster active participation, enhance comprehension, and optimise in-class discussions.
The pre-class activities are optional: if you choose not to assign them, or your students don’t complete them, it will not disturb the flow of the class. You can find and review the pre-class activities for this lesson plan here:
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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