Flying Car or Marketing Hype?

In this lesson, students will explore whether a widely reported "flying car" is a genuine breakthrough or marketing hype, using the ABC News video of the 2026 Roadster demonstration as the hook and the language of certainty as the real target. They start by agreeing on the conditions a car must meet to be called "flying", then watch the report, choose the description that matches what they saw and sort nine news sentences into fact, claim or prediction. The language focus presents four registers for the same statement, from direct to cautious, and a certainty ladder from is bound to to it remains to be seen whether, followed by eight transformations with reporting verbs and hedges. Students then build vocabulary for evaluating innovation through a ten-word hype scale, eight collocations and a one-minute defence of their three words for the Roadster, before rewriting six advertising lines as neutral news. In The Hype Test, they rate six technologies against six criteria and discuss which will become widespread first, and in The 2035 Transport Meeting they advise a city council on whether flying vehicles should be approved, restricted or banned, answering a sceptical councillor's questions while completing a language challenge. The package includes a teacher version with keys and sample answers, a fillable student PDF, a 20-slide deck, 20 flashcards and 24 speaking cards, and homework with a from-memory task, a choice of news report, product review or voice note, and a real-world mission. By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to separate facts, claims and predictions in a news report, report a claim without presenting it as true, and evaluate a new technology with precise, hedged language instead of "it's cool but dangerous".