| My
1,000 Ideas e-Book |
Breaking News EnglishHOME | HELP MY SITE | 000s MORE FREE LESSONS |
|
13-Page Class Handout
|
GAMES |
Polish President Killed in Plane Crash (10th April, 2010)Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski died this morning in a plane crash in Russia. He was on his way to the town of Smolensk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. This was the killing of 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet security forces near Smolensk during WWII. Dozens of other high profile Polish officials also died in the air disaster, which no one survived. Among the 96 who lost their lives were Poland’s army chief, the governor of Poland’s central bank, politicians, bishops and leading historians. Details are emerging of the cause of the crash. Safety officials believe it might have been due to human error. The plane hit trees in thick fog as it approached the airport’s runway. The crash has caused great anguish in Poland. One comment on Twitter by a Polish woman said it was the biggest disaster for Poland in the past 50 years. Another tweeter said Poland is now facing its worst political crisis since it escaped from communism in 1989. Two dozen of the country’s top politicians were on board the plane. The BBC's Adam Easton, reporting from Warsaw, said the crash was a catastrophe for the Polish people. He reported that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was in tears at the news of the tragedy. British leader Gordon Brown said the whole world was “saddened”. The country must now announce a presidential election in the next two weeks. The poll will take place within two months of the announcement. WARM-UPS1. PLANE CRASHES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about plane crashes. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. AIR TRAVEL: What worries you about air travel? Complete this table with your partner Change partners and share what you heard.
4. AIR SAFETY: Students A strongly believe air travel will be totally safe one day; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. LOSS: Rank these according to who is the biggest loss to a country. Share your rankings with your partner. Change partners and share your rankings.
6. PRESIDENT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘president’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.
3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gapsPoland’s President Lech Kaczynski died this morning in a plane crash in Russia. He ____________________ the town of Smolensk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. This ____________________ Polish officers by Soviet security forces near Smolensk during WWII. Dozens ____________________ Polish officials also died in the air disaster, which no one survived. Among the ____________________ were Poland’s army chief, the governor of Poland’s central bank, politicians, bishops and leading historians. Details are emerging ____________________. Safety officials believe it might have been due to human error. The plane hit trees in thick fog ____________________ airport’s runway. The crash ____________________ in Poland. One comment on Twitter by a Polish woman said it was the biggest disaster for Poland in the past 50 years. Another tweeter said Poland ____________________ political crisis ____________________ communism in 1989. Two dozen of the country’s top politicians were ____________________. The BBC's Adam Easton, reporting from Warsaw, said the crash was a catastrophe for the Polish people. He reported that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was in tears at the ____________________. British leader Gordon Brown said the whole world was “saddened”. The country must now announce a presidential election in the next two weeks. The ____________________ within two months of the announcement. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘plane’ and ‘crash’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT PLANE CRASHES SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about plane crashes in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICEPoland’s President Lech Kaczynski died this morning in a plane crash in Russia. He was (1) ____ his way to the town of Smolensk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. This was the (2) ____ of 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet security forces near Smolensk during WWII. Dozens of (3) ____ high-profile Polish officials also died in the air disaster, which no one survived. Among the 96 who lost their (4) ____ were Poland’s army chief, the governor of Poland’s central bank, politicians, bishops and (5) ____ historians. Details are emerging of the cause of the crash. Safety officials believe it might have been due to human error. The plane hit trees in (6) ____ fog as it approached the airport’s runway. The crash has (7) ____ great anguish in Poland. One comment on Twitter by a Polish woman said it was the biggest disaster for Poland in the past 50 years. Another tweeter said Poland is now (8) ____ its worst political crisis since it escaped from communism in 1989. Two dozen of the country’s top politicians were (9) ____ board the plane. The BBC's Adam Easton, reporting from Warsaw, said the crash was a catastrophe for the Polish people. He reported that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was (10) ____ tears at the news of the tragedy. British leader Gordon Brown said the whole world was “saddened”. The country must now announce a presidential election in the next two weeks. The (11) ____ will take place (12) ____ two months of the announcement. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITINGWrite about plane crashes for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. 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 out more about this plane crashes. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. PLANE CRASHES: Make a poster about plane crashes. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. LOSS: Write a magazine article about what happens when many leaders of a country die. Include imaginary interviews with a leader who survives and a member of the public. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. LETTER: Write a letter to the head of an air safety company. Ask him/her three questions about plane crashes. Give him/her three ideas to make flying safer. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Polish President killed in plane crashPoland’s President Lech Kaczynski died this morning in a plane crash in Russia. He was on his way to the town of Smolensk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. This was the killing of 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet security forces near Smolensk during WWII. Dozens of other high-profile Polish officials also died in the air disaster, which no one survived. Among the 96 who lost their lives were Poland’s army chief, the governor of Poland’s central bank, politicians, bishops and leading historians. Details are emerging of the cause of the crash. Safety officials believe it might have been due to human error. The plane hit trees in thick fog as it approached the airport’s runway. The crash has caused great anguish in Poland. One comment on Twitter by a Polish woman said it was the biggest disaster for Poland in the past 50 years. Another tweeter said Poland is now facing its worst political crisis since it escaped from communism in 1989. Two dozen of the country’s top politicians were on board the plane. The BBC's Adam Easton, reporting from Warsaw, said the crash was a catastrophe for the Polish people. He reported that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was in tears at the news of the tragedy. British leader Gordon Brown said the whole world was “saddened”. The country must now announce a presidential election in the next two weeks. The poll will take place within two months of the announcement. LANGUAGE WORK
Help Support This Web Site
Sean Banville's Book
Thank YouCopyright © 2004-2019 by Sean Banville | Links | About | Privacy Policy
|