The “balloon debate” is an ESL classic. How does it work? You get your students to think of a hot air balloon up in the sky… There are people in the balloon, but not all of them can stay! So who gets kicked out?
In this lesson, the students discuss success and fame. In the PPT below, I’ve outlined a pretty simple 45 minute class, beginning with a brainstorm session on success, followed by discussion of some quotes on success, and ending in a balloon debate.
As my students are Chinese, the next step looks at celebrities including Jack Ma, Fan Bingbing, and G-Dragon (who’s Korean, of course, but super popular in China), but I strongly recommend editing to use celebrities your students will care about. It is a major boost for student participation. You can download and edit the PPT to change for regionally specific celebrities. I finished up the PPT with a homework task. Of course, if you want to do this in class you can do it.
This lesson is intended for lower-intermediate students, but can be tailored up or down with minimal changes.
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