Behind the wheel

Kinga | Jul 10, 2026Jul 09, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on driving are to:

• talk about experiences and thoughts related to traffic;
• practise key driving vocabulary;
• create a collaborative story involving driving scenarios.

In this lesson, students answer the questions, review driving and traffic vocabulary (e.g. pull over, head-on, tailgate) and discuss driving attitudes and experiences. They debate the causes and effects of driving behaviours, share their thoughts and listen to dialogues involving traffic issues. Students suggest definitions for words, work in pairs and play the ‘Taboo’ game. They also create a driving story together, adding one sentence at a time.

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This ESL lesson on driving starts with a warm-up. Students look at a diagram with the question ‘Do you drive?’ and discuss experiences, attitudes and stressors related to driving. Moving on, they read sentences about stressful and challenging driving situations. Students match useful words and phrases (e.g. reverse, pull over, swerve) with their definitions. Afterwards, they think of possible answers to questions about driving behaviours and scenarios. Following that, students choose three situations from the previous exercise that would be the most stressful for them and explain why. Next, they listen to dialogues involving driving behaviours and traffic situations. Students say what they think happened in each situation using the vocabulary from the previous task.  

MORE VOCABULARY AND DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson on driving, students match the halves of sentences involving dangerous driving incidents. They then suggest definitions for key words and phrases (e.g. pile-up, road rage, hard shoulder) using the context. Moving on, students use the situations from the previous task to evaluate the causes and effects of different driving scenarios. After that, they complete sentences by choosing the correct options. Then, students say to what extent they agree or disagree with the statements. Following that, they play ‘Taboo’ in pairs. Students get word cards and take turns explaining them to their partner without using the forbidden terms. The student with the most points wins. Finally, in pairs, they choose a title (e.g. the most chaotic road trip imaginable) and create a story together, adding one sentence at a time. Students use the target vocabulary.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on driving also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete the gaps in sentences involving driving situations. They then choose four statements and add a follow-up sentence using the target vocabulary from the lesson. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

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