ESL Discussion: Urban Exploration

When I did the test run for this topic with my advanced adults, I really wasn’t sure how well it was going to work. The activity itself is definitely geared towards adolescents or young adults looking for a bit of excitement and thrill. But, I was interested in the subject so I gave it a whirl. I shouldn’t have doubted myself! This ESL discussion on urban exploration was a huge hit with my group of professionals in their 30’s and 40’s. Their discussions took interesting twists and turns and they seemed really excited to be talking about it. It’s also a very light subject, which was a nice change of pace.

This is a one-page printable and online friendly PDF discussion worksheet that will save you a lot of planning time and paper. There is a link to the authentic material for student reference, listening comprehension and discussion questions, a speaking activity for pairs where they react to controversial or thought-provoking statements, a task-based group activity and, of course, 6 useful vocabulary words from the video to help color in their discussions.

I usually spend the first 20 minutes with a warm-up question, watching the video twice, and discussing the vocabulary. Then I spend about 20 minutes on the three sections of the worksheet. The final 10 minutes can be for presentation of the group activity or delayed error correction.

I hope you and your students enjoy this ESL discussion on urban exploration!