Hot Air Balloon Festival

WORKSHEET

1. Suggested Use 

Tourism and culture focus, followed by A2-level vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation activities.

2. Suggested Activities 

A. Project-based learning 
Students create a short travel experience proposal where they imagine a fun air or sky-based activity in their country - such as a balloon ride, helicopter tour, zipline adventure etc. They include where it takes place, what visitors can see or do, why people would want to visit and who would enjoy it. They present it as a short spoken travel pitch or write it as a mini brochure paragraph using language from the video.

B. Mediation task: Note taking + relaying specific information 
Have students imagine their classmate missed the video and needs to write a summary about it. They need to use your notes. Play the video again and have students note down the most important information. Have them compare their notes in pairs then work together to discuss how they would explain the notes to their missing classmate. 

C. Pronunciation task: Rising and falling intonation for expressing excitement 
Model two kinds of intonation - rising (↗) for enthusiasm, surprise, or unfinished thoughts and falling (↘) for facts, statements, or admiration. Students listen or read aloud example sentences from the video using this intonation, marking ↑ or ↓, e.g. It’s beautiful! ↑; This is just perfect for flying. ↓ In pairs, students practise saying short sentences with the correct intonation.

3. Vocabulary 

Travel and events 

• festival

• event

• activity / activities

• tourism

• plan

• area

• views

• adventure

• place

Adjectives

• beautiful

• perfect

• brilliant

• different

• annual

• popular

• southern

• special

Verbs 

• fly 

• take part

• watch

• promote

• discover

• help

• rise

• look

4. Grammar

Present simple:
Hot air balloons rise into the sky; This is Wadi Rum, a popular place for visitors.

Present continuous:
People are here for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival; Pilots are flying balloons from different countries.

Prepositions of place:
In southern Jordan; At the festival; From different countries

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TRANSCRIPT
Hot Air Balloon Festival

NARRATOR:
In southern Jordan, hot air balloons rise into the sky. This is Wadi Rum, a popular place for visitors. People are here for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. One of the pilots, Remko Wigger from the Netherlands, says Wadi Rum is the perfect place for this event.

SOUNDBITE - Remko Wigger:
"I think Wadi Rum is just the perfect area for flying balloons, and it's beautiful. If you look at the surroundings, it's perfect. People flying balloons, they are always looking for nice places to fly the balloons. And this is just perfect for flying. Absolutely brilliant."

NARRATOR:
This year, there are 20 balloons from different countries. Pilots come from places like Germany, Britain, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The festival also has other fun activities. There is paragliding and an air show by the Royal Jordanian Falcons. The event is part of a plan to promote tourism in this area.

SOUNDBITE – Nayef al-Fayez:
"With these events and activities, we shed light on the beautiful areas in Jordan, especially Wadi Rum."

NARRATOR:
It’s a good way to help tourists discover the beautiful views of Jordan.  And at this festival, people don’t just watch—they take part in the adventure.