Lesson plan

School: Liceul Teoretic Bratca

Teacher: Sturz Ioana
Coursebook: Advanced expert CAE (L1)
Grade: 12th
Lesson: Against the odds
Type: Consolidation of language and skills
Skill focus: reading, speaking, listening
Aids/Materials: coursebook, the internet, laptop
Methods: conversation, pair/group work, explanation
Time: 50’
Date: 25th February 2011
Aims: - to introduce the idiom “Against(all) the odds”
- to practise reading comprehension
- to enable students to talk about personal challenges
- to introduce vocabulary related to motivation
- to enable students to express their opinions about disabled people and their
determination to succeed

Procedure
1
 Activity 1
Aims: - to check the attendance
- to check the homework ( Dangerous activities)

 the teacher greets the students and checks the attendance

 some students read their homework

Interaction: T-Ss; Ss-T
Timing: 6’

Activity 2
Aims: - to introduce the idiomatic expression “against the odds”
- to introduce the topic of the new lesson

 the teacher asks the students to talk about something they have done which was
considered very difficult, demanding or dangerous; a time they were successful “ against
the odds”;

 the teacher makes sure that the students have understood the idiom “Against the odds” by
eliciting answers and examples from the students ( difficulties that make success
unlikely: He survived against the odds. / Against all the odds, we won the case.);

 the students answer the questions from exercise 1, p. 104 and try to explain the meaning
of the word demon (a powerful force);
Interaction: T-Ss; Ss-Ss
Timing: 5’

Activity 3
Aim: - to practise reading comprehension

 the students read the article Demons that drive us to row it alone and perform the task
from ex. 3 ( Multiple-choice questions-group work);

 the teacher checks the students’ answers

Interaction: T-Ss; Ss-Ss
Timing: 12’

Activity 4
2
 Aims: - to talk about the desire to succeed against all the odds and about personal
challenges
 the students answer the questions from exercise 5/p.105 ( According to the writer of the
article, “ The desire to succeed against the odds is a shallow, selfish and, I believe,
ultimately destructive force.” How far do you agree? / If you decided to set yourself a
personal challenge, what would it be?)
Interaction: T-C, Ss-Ss, Ss-C
Timing: 10’

Activity 5
Aims: - to introduce vocabulary related to motivation
- to talk about disabled people and their determination to succeed
 the students perform the tasks from ex. 1/p. 106 ( pair work)
 the students watch the video with Erik Weihenmayer reaching the top of the Everest and
express their opinions about his determination to succeed

 the students express their opinions about people’s attitude towards disabled people (pair
work)
Interaction: T-Ss; Ss-Ss
Timing: 15’

Activity 6
Aim: - to assign homework
Timing: 2’

 as homework the students have to write about people who have made it to the top in spite
of a disability

ERIK WEIHENMAYER
3
 Erik Weihenmayer from Denver, USA, was born with a condition that
meant he was partially sighted through his childhood and totally blind from
the age of 13.

A great athlete, he also runs, cycles and scuba dives. In addition to

climbing and writing, he works as a high school teacher and wrestling coach
and is one of about 100 people to have climbed the “seven summits”, the
highest peaks on the seven continents. There is a film of his ascent of
Everest called Farther than the eye can see.