What is Pilates?

Lesson overview

This B1 ESL Pilates lesson helps students develop essential fitness, health, and wellness vocabulary while learning about the origins and techniques of Pilates. The lesson integrates a video-based ESL Pilates activity, reading tasks, and discussion questions to strengthen comprehension and speaking skills. Learners practice accurate exercise and body parts vocabulary, describe Pilates movements, and explore how Joseph Pilates created the method. Through matching tasks, timelines, and true-or-false questions, students build strong Pilates reading comprehension at the intermediate level. By the end, learners can confidently discuss Pilates and other wellness activities in English as part of an engaging ESL sports lesson.

Teaching guide

Lead-in

This B1 ESL Pilates lesson opens with a communicative lead-in that helps learners activate prior knowledge about exercise, Pilates, yoga, and fitness routines. Students answer warm-up questions that introduce key exercise and body parts vocabulary, which supports the topic of health and wellness. Following ESL best practices, the lead-in encourages personalization and fluency while preparing students for more structured tasks. Learners then compare six different fitness and wellness activities, choosing the option they find most appealing—an excellent speaking task for an intermediate ESL sports lesson.

Video, Comprehension, Speaking

In this video-based ESL Pilates activity, students watch historical footage of Joseph Pilates demonstrating early Pilates exercises. The video provides a rich visual context for workout vocabulary, body movements, and fitness equipment, helping learners describe what they see using accurate Pilates vocabulary for ESL. After discussing the activities in pairs, students complete a comprehension task where they choose the most accurate summary, reinforcing their ability to identify key details in an intermediate ESL health and wellness lesson. A final speaking activity encourages learners to express opinions about whether they would enjoy this type of exercise routine, supporting fluency and confidence.

Vocabulary, Reading, True or False, Questions, Timeline

Students work with ten essential Pilates fitness terms in a vocabulary-matching task that builds form–meaning connections typical of strong ESL fitness vocabulary lessons. They then read two sections about the history and origin of Pilates, focusing on how Joseph Pilates developed the method and how it evolved into a widely practiced wellness and strength-training discipline. Learners check comprehension through true-or-false statements and targeted questions that strengthen their Pilates reading comprehension in ESL. The sequence concludes with a timeline activity where students arrange events in order, reinforcing reading for detail in a structured B1 health and wellness ESL lesson.

Odd One Out, Homework

The odd-one-out activity extends students’ exercise and sports vocabulary, encouraging them to analyze groups of terms related to fitness, workouts, and wellness activities. They must justify their choices, which promotes deeper vocabulary processing and clear communicative output—ideal for an intermediate ESL sports lesson. For homework, students research a fitness activity such as CrossFit, Zumba, or hot yoga, using a guided structure that builds autonomy and real-world engagement. This task supports long-term retention of wellness vocabulary and connects the lesson to authentic, everyday fitness culture.