Sports injuries
Lesson plan overview
With this engaging ESL lesson plan, students explore the topic of sports injuries, how they occur, and how to talk about symptoms, treatment, and prevention. Through a mix of vocabulary-building, video-based listening, roleplays, and personal reflection, learners develop confidence in using real-life medical and sports-related English. This lesson is best suited for B2-level learners and is ideal for students interested in sports, health, and fitness, or anyone preparing to study or work in an English-speaking medical or athletic environment. Other lessons you might like are “The importance of good posture“, “What happens to your brain when you have a concussion“, “First aid“, “Winter sports“, and “Phrasal verbs: at the gym“.
Speaking: The lesson begins with thought-provoking warm-up questions about sports injuries and risk in athletics. Students reflect on personal experiences, ethical dilemmas (e.g., playing through pain), and how injuries can impact athletes’ careers.
Vocabulary: Students learn useful expressions like “twist an ankle”, “land awkwardly”, and “receive a blow to the head.” to talk about how injuries happen, as well as essential injury and treatment vocabulary, including terms like sprain, fracture, dislocation, concussion, and muscle strain.
Speaking: A discussion-based ranking task helps students evaluate the relative danger of various sports and use injury-related vocabulary in context. After that, they engage in roleplays between a doctor and an injured athlete, practicing the language of symptoms, diagnoses, and treatment plans.
Listening: Students watch a video titled “Most Sports Injuries Are Preventable: Here’s What You Should Know” and answer True/False and multiple-choice comprehension questions. The video emphasizes prevention tips, common causes of injury, and stretching routines, helping learners understand authentic spoken English in a medical-sports context. Listening tasks target comprehension and build students’ confidence in understanding health advice.
Speaking: Post-listening, students reflect on key takeaways from the video, share surprising facts, and evaluate their own exercise habits.
For more speaking practice, you can use the printable conversation cards.
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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.
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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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