A 16-year-old boy is seriously ill in hospital after being attacked by a shark. It was the second shark attack in three days off of Florida’s coast. Craig Hutto was fishing in waist-deep water when the shark attacked. It bit deep into his right thigh. His brother managed to fight the shark off and carry Craig to the shore. Luckily, there was a doctor and two nurses on the beach. They gave Craig first aid and saved his life.

At the hospital, surgeons discovered that Craig’s leg was too badly damaged to save. They made a decision to cut it off. The youngster is in critical condition but is expected to recover because he is young. There is a danger he may have brain damage because he lost a lot of blood. On June 26, 14-year-old Jamie Daigle died from her injuries when a shark attacked her off the north Florida coast.

Craig is very lucky to be alive. A witness, Jody Levin, said the scene was very scary and reminded her of a horror movie. She said: “At first I thought it was school kids messing around in the water. When I saw the red spray coming out of the water, I realized it was a shark attack. The doctors on the beach performed a miracle.” Florida sees up to 30 shark attacks every year, although few are deadly.

WARM-UPS

1. DANGERS: In pairs / groups, talk about the dangers that surround us. Do you live in a country that has many dangerous animals? What dangerous things are there in the sea? What dangers are there in the mountains or rivers? What are the dangers in towns and cities? Compare and decide on who lives in the most dangerous place.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Sharks / shark attacks / fishing / swimming / the beach / lucky to be alive / first aid / miracles / horror movies / Jaws

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. SHARK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with sharks. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

4. SWIMMING IN FLORIDA: In pairs / groups, talk about which of these statements you agree with:

1. I would never, ever go swimming in the sea in Florida.
2. I’d go swimming. The chances of being attacked are very slim.
3. The coastguards reopened the beaches, so they think it’s safe. I’d trust the coastguards.
4. I’d like to go scuba diving with the sharks in Australia’s Sydney Harbour.
5. I think the coastguards shouldn’t reopen the beaches in Florida.
6. I’m not sure if I want to swim in the sea anywhere in the world.
7. I think the movie Jaws frightened a lot of people away from swimming in the ocean.
8. If you are careful, sharks won’t attack you.

5. SCARY THINGS: In pairs / groups, talk about which of these beasts and creatures are scariest. Which are fascinating? Which would you like to hold or touch?

Sharks Snakes Rats Cockroaches Bats

Tarantulas Lions Centipedes Dogs Other?

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A second shark attack in three days occurred in Florida.	T / F
b.	The shark came into the water near a crowded beach.	T / F
c.	Luckily, a doctor and nurses were on the beach at the time.	T / F
d.	A boy was attacked by a shark and lost his leg.	T / F
e.	The boy is young, so he is likely to live.	T / F
f.	There is a chance the boy may have brain damage.	T / F
g.	An eyewitness thought the boy was fooling around in the water.	T / F
h.	Thirty people die every year in shark attacks off of Florida’s coast.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	seriously	doctors
b.	thigh	understood
c.	first aid	critically
d.	surgeons	get better
e.	critical	onlooker
f.	recover	emergency treatment
g.	injuries	fooling
h.	witness	leg
i.	messing	bites
j.	realized	serious

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	seriously	water
b.	fishing in waist-deep	to be alive
c.	They gave Craig first	damage
d.	saved his	condition
e.	in critical	a horror movie
f.	he may have brain	life
g.	died from	ill
h.	lucky	her injuries
i.	reminded her of	performed a miracle
j.	doctors on the beach	aid

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WORD ORDER: Put the underlined words back into the correct order.

Another shark attack in Florida

A 16-year-old boy seriously is in ill hospital after being attacked by a shark. It was the second shark attack three off days in of Florida’s coast. Craig Hutto was fishing in waist-deep water when the shark attacked. It bit right deep into his thigh. His brother managed to fight the shark off and carry Craig to the shore. Luckily, there was a doctor and two nurses on the beach. They gave Craig aid and saved first his life.

At the hospital, surgeons discovered that Craig’s leg was too save badly to damaged. They made a decision to cut it off. The youngster is in critical condition but recover is to expected because he is young. There is a danger he may have brain damage because he lost a lot of blood. On June 26, 14-year-old Jamie Daigle died from her injuries when a shark attacked off the north her Florida coast.

Craig is very alive to lucky be. A witness, Jody Levin, said the scene was very scary and reminded her of a horror movie. She said: “At first I thought it was school kids messing water the around in. When I saw the red spray coming out of the water, I realized it was a shark attack. The doctors on the beach performed a miracle.” Florida sees up to 30 shark attacks every year, deadly few although are.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘shark’ and ‘attack’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. WORD ORDER: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers.

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT SHARK SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about sharks, swimming and the ocean.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

seriously waist-deep thigh aid surgeons critical

brain injuries lucky messing spray miracle

 DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you read this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the story?
3. What adjective do you think describes this story best?
4. Did you think it was sensible of the boy to go into the water?
5. Would you swim in the water off of the Florida coast?
6. Have you seen the movie Jaws?
7. Are there any animals you are afraid of?
8. What would you do if you were in the water and you saw a shark?
9. Would you know what to do if someone needed first aid?
10. What should authorities do to prevent shark attacks?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. What do you think of sharks?
4. Do you think the coastguards should do more to warn swimmers of the dangers from sharks?
5. Do you ever think about sharks when you swim in the sea?
6. If you were Craig, would you go back into the water?
7. Can you think of anything scarier than being attacked by a shark?
8. Would you like to go scuba diving to observe sharks?
9. Which movie was better, Finding Nemo or A Shark’s Tale?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

SHARK FEAR: You are an expert on fear and phobias. It is your job to create a step-by-step program (USA) programme (UK) to help the victim of a shark attack to overcome his/her fear of sharks and of swimming in the sea. (You may change the fear/phobia if you prefer to create a different program.)

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6

Change partners. Show each other your programs and give feedback. Combine the best parts of your programs to create a “super program”.

Return to your original partner(s) and compare your “super programs”.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Another shark attack in Florida

A 16-year-old boy is _________ ___ ___ hospital after being attacked by a shark. It was the second shark attack __ _____ ____ ___ of Florida’s coast. Craig Hutto was fishing __ _____-____ _____ when the shark attacked. It
___ ____ ____ his right thigh. His brother managed to _____ ___ _____ ___ and carry Craig to the shore. Luckily, there was a doctor and two nurses on the beach. They gave Craig _____ ___ ___ _____ his life.

At the hospital, surgeons discovered that Craig’s leg ___ ___ _____ damaged to save. They made a decision __ ___ __ ___. The youngster is __ ________ _________ but is expected to recover because he is young. There is a danger he may have brain damage because __ ____ __ ____ ___ blood. On June 26, 14-year-old Jamie Daigle ____ ____ ____ injuries when a shark attacked her off the north Florida coast.

Craig is very _____ __ __ _____. A witness, Jody Levin, said the scene was very scary and _________ ___ __ a horror movie. She said: “At first I thought it was school kids _______ ______ __ the water. When I saw the red spray coming out of the water, __ _________ __ was a shark attack. The doctors on the beach performed a miracle.” Florida sees up to 30 shark attacks every year, although ___ ___ ________.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on sharks and shark attacks. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. SWIMMING SAFETY: Create a poster outlining how to keep safe in the water. Give advice on what to do to reduce the risk of being attacked by a shark. Show and explain your posters to your classmates in your next lesson.

4. LETTER: Write a letter to the coastguards to give your opinion on the shark attacks. Tell them what they should do to prevent further attacks. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. T

d. T

e. T

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	seriously	critically
b.	thigh	leg
c.	first aid	emergency treatment
d.	surgeons	doctors
e.	critical	serious
f.	recover	get better
g.	injuries	bites
h.	witness	onlooker
i.	messing	fooling
j.	realized	understood

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	seriously	ill
b.	fishing in waist-deep	water
c.	They gave Craig first	aid
d.	saved his	life
e.	in critical	condition
f.	he may have brain	damage
g.	died from	her injuries
h.	lucky	to be alive
i.	reminded her of	a horror movie
j.	doctors on the beach	performed a miracle

WORD ORDER:

Another shark attack in Florida

A 16-year-old boy is seriously ill in hospital after being attacked by a shark. It was the second shark attack in three days off of Florida’s coast. Craig Hutto was fishing in waist-deep water when the shark attacked. It bit deep into his right thigh. His brother managed to fight the shark off and carry Craig to the shore. Luckily, there was a doctor and two nurses on the beach. They gave Craig first aid and saved his life.

At the hospital, surgeons discovered that Craig’s leg was too badly damaged to save. They made a decision to cut it off. The youngster is in critical condition but is expected to recover because he is young. There is a danger he may have brain damage because he lost a lot of blood. On June 26, 14-year-old Jamie Daigle died from her injuries when a shark attacked her off the north Florida coast.

Craig is very lucky to be alive. A witness, Jody Levin, said the scene was very scary and reminded her of a horror movie. She said: “At first I thought it was school kids messing around in the water. When I saw the red spray coming out of the water, I realized it was a shark attack. The doctors on the beach performed a miracle.” Florida sees up to 30 shark attacks every year, although few are deadly.

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