Why the human back is a design disaster

Advanced lesson plan (B2 and above): Why the human back is a design disaster -  BUY ME A COFFEE if you like my FREE ESL content

Back pain is a uniquely human complaint. It is the price of standing up straight. One scientist said balancing our big heads on top of our vertebrae is like trying to stack 26 teacups and saucers. In short, the human back is an engineering nightmare.

In this B2+ worksheet, students will 

• Learn back-related idioms; 
• Do a short exercise about transport prepositions; 
• Match six phrasal verbs (to BACK out of something, to BACK into something, to BACK down etc.) with corresponding pictures 
• Study a video and article about back pain. 

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 Lesson objectives:

1) To match phrasal verbs with pictures (to BACK away, to BACK down, to BACK something up, etc.)

2) To complete a short exercise about transport prepositions (i.e. the difference between "in" and "on").

3) To understand nuance and puns with three back-related jokes about a jellyfish, a doctor and a quarterback.

4) To explain how the human spine's structure leads to back pain, shrinking as we age and pregnant women waddling, based on information gathered from a video.

5) To expand the students' repertoire of idioms, matching six back-related idioms/phrasal verbs with their definitions. 

6) To practise reading comprehension by studying an article about healthy sitting habits in the office.