Mountaineering

How’s challenge represented in the pictures?

 What

do you think attracts people to mountain climbing?  If you were climbing with someone, what kind of person would you want him/her to be?

Mountain climbing English File – UpperIntermediate’s 3B.

How do you pronounce...? Mountain /’mawn-t ̇ ən/  Mountaineer /,mawn-tə-’nir/  Climb - Climbed /klaym/– /klaymd/  Climber /klay.mer/  Mountain climbing /,mawn-t ̇ ən ‘klay-miŋ/ 

You’re going rockclimbing. What are some things you cannot forget to take?

Climbing Gear

More

Do you know the words for...?   









a path an organized journey a place where food and general supplies are kept, especially for people climbing a mountain injury to fingers or feet caused by extreme cold to arrive at the top of the mountain the act of rising or mounting upward a high edge along a mountain

 asc_nt  b_se

c_mp  e_p_d_t_on  fr_stb_te  r_ _ch s_mm_t  r_dge  r_ _te

Do you know the words for...?   

   

a path an organized journey a place where food and general supplies are kept, especially for people climbing a mountain injury to fingers or feet caused by extreme cold to arrive at the top of the moutain the act of rising or mounting upward a high edge along a mountain

 ascent  base

camp  expedition  frostbite  to reach summit  ridge  route

Who’s this man?

What about him?

(a) He holds the record of oldest climber ever. (b) He was Everest’s first conqueror, in 1953. (c) He sponsored the first Everest expedition.

Watch Hillary’s interview and answer.

a) What are the commercial climbs? b) Why does he criticize those climbs? c) What is mountaineering in his opinion? d) What was the effect of tourism on the local community?

Hillary laments Everest changes The first man to 1._________ conquer Everest 50 years ago 2._________ has said many modern climbers do not subscribe to the true philosophy of mountaineering. Speaking to the BBC, Sir Edmund Hillary criticised many commercial climbers today who pay large sums of money to be helped to the top of the world's highest peak. 3._________ living But he said 4._________ standards of local Sherpas had improved considerably as more people visited the Everest region. currently on the Record numbers of people are 5._________ mountain to mark the golden anniversary of the firston ever ascent 6._________ 29 May 1953.

Changes Sir Edmund said 7.______________ mountaineering was a challenge between the mountain and the mountaineer and accused some people of paying their way to the summit 8._________. He said this was one of the most significant changes ascent with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in since his 9._________ 1953. be led "Having people pay $65,000 and then 10._________ experienced up the mountain by a couple of 11.____________ far guides, I personally think, is 12._________ less attractive. It isn't really mountaineering at all," he said. But he was quick to concede that the vast numbers of people attracted by Everest had had spin-offs for local people.

said He 13._________ schools and hospitals had been built and fresh water could now be piped to the villages. These benefits came much more from tourism as a rather than whole, 14.______________ from mountaineering alone, Sir Edmund said. "I think these are things that give the young people overcome the opportunity to step forward and to 15._________ the harshness of their environment."

Credits to  www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com (There you’ll find a session on gear in case your students start questioning you about all those little thingies)

 http://gorp.away.com

http://away.com

  

&

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_as http://dictionary.cambridge.org www.m-w.com

Climbing gear - extra

More

Vocabulary 

climb down phrasal verb UK to change your opinion or admit that you were wrong: The government has been forced to climb down over the issue of increased taxes. climbdown noun [C] UK Saying she was wrong was a difficult climbdown for Sarah.



a mountain of sth a large amount of something: I've got a mountain of work to do.



make a mountain out of a molehill to make a slight difficulty seem like a serious problem: You're making a mountain out of a molehill. You wrote one bad essay - it doesn't mean you're going to fail your exam.

Teacher’s Guide



You can start the lesson by giving Gloria Estefan’s song “Reach”, which is also about overcoming challenges. Cut out the stanzas and have pairs try to put them in order. Ask what the relationship is between the song and the Olympic spirit (the song was theme to an Olympics) and if they have ever overcome challenges or consider themselves persevering people. Then put them in small groups to discuss slides 1 and 2.



Slides 4-8 recycle vocabulary learnt on the first page of the book chapter and pre-teach a couple of words they’ll hear. On slide 4, click on the sound button to open a Merriam-Webster sound file. This can take a short while. The worksheet has a very similar version of the exercise on slide 7.



Slides 9 & 10 are a pre-listening activity.



While listening (interrupt after 6’36”), students should focus on the questions that are on slide 11.



Hand out the worksheet with the cloze exercise. They should check their answers to the listening with the text and their partners. Then T. classchecks it. If by any chance you can’t play the listening, make this a reading activity only.



Finally, have them do the cloze exercise – possibly as homework – and use the 10th slide to check it.



If you want to learn more climbing vocabulary, take a look at the websites slide 15 shows. There’s also an extra vocabulary section at the end, in case your students are interested in mountain climbing. In case they aren’t, you can teach them the expressions on the last slide.