The Highest Levels of Human Performance (Upper-Intermediate)

ESL/EFL Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2/C1)
Lesson Topics: specialization, human performance, education
Skill Focus: Speaking, Vocabulary, Listening
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: peak-performers-study-upper-intermediate-032026.docx
Lesson Overview:

  • Students first warm up with questions about childhood and talent.
  • This lesson's input is a 250-word reading passage about a new (Dec, 2025) academic study on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance. The study investigates the relationship between early specialization in youth and later peak-level performance as adults. The findings suggest that there is a negative correlation, and instead of pushing our children to become experts in one field, we should encourage a multidisciplinary approach.
  • The passage is followed by comprehension questions.
  • Next, students review phrases from the video and match key vocabulary to definitions. Once complete, students use some of the new vocabulary to complete discussion questions.
  • The lesson has one debate prompt on the value of pushing children to specialize in a particular area.
  • In the first speaking activity, students imagine they are part of a university admission panel. They have one more seat to grant and must choose between four remaining applicants who have varying qualifications, merits, and demerits.
  • As a roleplay activity, a child has a 'hard talk' with his parent and tries to persuade them to let him quit chess and focus on other interests.
  • After three famous quotations, students then review vocabulary and the lesson's collocations.
  • As usual, the lesson ends with a few final discussion questions.

A kid being yelled at by coaches

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Peak Performers

Warm-up Questions  

  1. In what areas were you talented when you were a child?
  2. In your childhood, what did your parents want you to become? Did they push you to do anything?
  3. Did any of your friends or classmates grow up to become experts or top performers in their fields?

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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.

Comprehension questions:

  1. ...
  2. Most top adult achievers performed lower than many of their peers in childhood.
  3. Both likely practiced a broad range of activities early in life rather than specializing in one area.
  4. Universities may need to place less importance on early-age performance when selecting students.
  5. ...
  6. ...

Vocabulary answer key: 1-f, 2-k, 3-e, 4-h, 5-g, 6-b, 7-j, 8-d, 9-c, 10-i, 11-a

Collocations: 1-c, 2-b, 3-a, 4-e, 5-d

[1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt7790

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