Theme: Round-the-world travellers, record breakers
Lexical area: travel, running, sailing, cycling
Instructions for language assistants in Italics.
Introduction
This lesson offers a variety of activities based on recent (2008, 2009) British round-the-world travellers; a cyclist, a running granny and a teenage sailor. Task 1 is a warm up activity that introduces the topic, revises country names and gives students a chance to talk about any round-the-world travel stories they know of. Task 2 presents the vocabulary that appears in the three texts in task 3. In task 3, students read a text for specific information and then share that information in groups. Task 4 involves reading in more detail and checks comprehension. Task 5 is a role-play where students interview each other in pairs, taking turns to be a round-the-world traveller and a journalist. Task 6 asks students to compare ideas on advice to world travellers. Task 7 is a more open discussion about young people, travel and world records.
1. Countries
1. Ask students to work in pairs to write as many countries as possible in 1 minute. Ask the group with the longest list to write their countries on the board. Now invite other students to add any other countries to the list.
2. Tell the students to imagine that they are going to travel around the world starting from the country they live in. Ask them which of the countries listed on the board they would cross. A world map or atlas would be handy here – there might be a map in one of the students’ text books.
3. Ask the students to tell you about news stories they have seen or read about people who have travelled around the world. Tell them that they are going to read about 3 round-the-world travellers but that first they need to look at some vocabulary.
Task 1 Countries
With a partner, make a list of all the countries you know. You have 1 minute.
2. Vocabulary
Tell the students that they are going to sort some words that they need to understand before they read a text. Have students work in pairs to categorize the vocabulary. With a lower level, start the activity as a class to show students what to do, checking that they understand the categories. Have dictionaries available if possible or walk around the class and help students. Check answers by saying each item and having students shout out the correct column number. Now have students repeat each word after you to practice pronunciation. Any pairs that finish very quickly can add more words to each category.
Answers:
Weather – storm, freezing temperatures, blizzard, wind
Travel nouns – voyage, trip, journey
Geographical features – mountain, desert, river, sea, ocean
Cycling – brakes, punctures, to cycle, to pedal
Running – running shoes, to run
Sailing – yacht, rudder, autopilot, to sail
Animals - wombat
Task 2 Vocabulary
With a partner put the words and expressions in the box in the correct column. Use a dictionary or ask your teacher for help if necessary.
blizzard, journey, brakes, desert, to pedal, trip, freezing temperatures, mountain, punctures, river, rudder, running shoes, sea, storm, autopilot, ocean, to cycle, to run, to sail, voyage, wind, wombat, yacht |
| Weather | Travel Nouns | Geographical features | Cycling | Running | Sailing | Animals |
3. Round-the-world travellers: Jigsaw reading
1. Divide the class into three groups – As, Bs and Cs. Give all members of group A the text marked A and so on. Give the students a time limit of 5 minutes to read the text and complete the appropriate column in the chart. You can offer support with vocabulary as students read.
2. Students can now compare their notes with others in the same groups.
3. Re-group the students into groups of three: one student A, one B and one C (have one or two groups of 4 if necessary, depending on student numbers) and ask the students to take turns explaining their text to the others, using the notes they have written on their charts. With a lower level, demonstrate how to start this activity with 3 students at the front of the class. Students can now complete all columns of the chart.
4. With a lower level class, copy the chart on the board and have students write up the missing information to check comprehension. With higher level students, walk round the class checking that the groups have completed their charts.
5.Give the groups (of A, B and C) three minutes to decide which person’s trip was most difficult and why. Ask one or two groups to explain their answer to the class.
Task 3 Round-the-world travellers: Jigsaw reading
Student A
Your text is about a round-the-world traveller. Read the text and complete column A of the chart. Compare your notes with the other students in your group. Your teacher will put you in a different group. Now you can explain your text to your new group and complete all columns of the chart.
| Text A James Bowthorpe, aged 31, became the fastest man to cycle round the globe when he arrived at Hyde Park in London on September 19th 2009. It took him just 176 days to travel through 20 countries on his epic 18 000-mile (29 000 km) journey. James pedalled out of the English capital, his home town, carrying 30 kilos of gear which included a GPS tracking system, camera batteries and a phone; all powered by a dynamo connected to his bike. He was sponsored by a British newspaper and managed to raise over £ 58 000 for research into Parkinson’s disease. He crossed mountains and deserts, rode along terrifying highways, battled against strong winds, collided with a wombat in Australia, broke his back brake and had to fix numerous punctures. In Thailand he was so ill that he lost a fifth of his body weight and had to spend 3 days in bed to recover. His other low points included being attacked by a gang of men (and then thankfully being rescued by a couple of teenagers). Most of his encounters along the way were friendly and James was pleased to find that Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France winner was following his trip via Twitter. "For a couple of days I imagined him watching me with his arms folded, shaking his head at my technique," Bowthorpe says. Information from The Independent, The Guardian |
| Question | A | B | C |
| Who travelled around the world? | | | |
| How did he or she travel? | |||
| How long did the journey take? | |||
| What problems did he or she have? |
Student B
Your text is about a round-the-world traveller. Read the text and complete column B of the chart. Compare your notes with the other students in your group. Your teacher will put you in a different group. Now you can explain your text to your new group and complete all columns of the chart.
Text B |
| Question | A | B | C |
| Who travelled around the world? | | | |
| How did he or she travel? | |||
| How long did the journey take? | |||
| What problems did he or she have? |
Student C
Your text is about a round-the-world traveller. Read the text and complete column C of the chart. Compare your notes with the other students in your group. Your teacher will put you in a different group. Now you can explain your text to your new group and complete all columns of the chart.
| Text C Mike Perham was just 16 when he set off to circumnavigate the globe. He celebrated his 17th birthday alone in the Indian Ocean on his 50-foot (15 m) racing yacht. A birthday party for one might not sound like much fun to the average teen. Other less enjoyable parts of the trip included numerous stops to repair the yacht’s rudder and autopilot, accidentally falling overboard into the water and terrible storms in open sea. One of the most tedious aspects of the trip was having to put up with a diet of ‘icky’ freeze-dried food. Against these odds British teenager, Mike completed his 28 000 mile (45 000 km) sea voyage in 9 months and became the youngest person to sail solo around the world in August 2009. Many people say that 16 is too young to sail around the world alone. But Mike’s father was confident that his son had the physical strength, mental capacity and technical ability necessary for the trip. Information from The Guardian, The Adventure Blog |
| Question | A | B | C |
| Who travelled around the world? | | | |
| How did he or she travel? | |||
| How long did the journey take? | |||
| What problems did he or she have? |
4. Round-the-world travellers: Read all the stories.
Tell the students to read the other two texts and then answer the questions in pairs. Point out that the questions can be answered with one, two or three names. Walk around the class and offer help with vocabulary as the students read. Pairs can compare with another pair before checking answers as a class.
Answers:
1 James(176 days)
2 Mike (28 000 miles)
3 James(by a British newspaper)
4 Rosie, James(Rosie – for a Russion orphanage, James – for research into Parkinson’s disease)
5 James, Rosie (James – Thailand , 3 days in bed, Rosie – pneumonia)
6 Mike (fell overboard)
7 James, Mike, Rosie (James –brake, punctures, Mike – rudder, autopilot, Rosie – running shoes)
8 Rosie (because she had 29 marriage proposals)
9 James (Lance Armstrong, Tour de France cyclist)
Task 4 Round-the-world travellers: Read all the stories.
Read the article and then answer the questions with a partner. Write James, Mike or Rosie. You can write more than one name for some of the questions.
1 Who travelled around the world the faster?
2 Who travelled furthest?
3 Who was sponsored?
4 Who raised money for charity?
5 Who got ill?
6 Who fell in the sea?
7 Who repaired or replaced equipment?
8 Who had the most romantic trip?
9 Who was followed on the internet by a famous sports person?
5. Interviews.
1. Ask students to complete the questions with the words in the box and then check answers as a class. Have the students repeat the questions after you to practice correct intonation.
2. Demonstrate the activity to the class with 2 stronger students. Student A can choose to be either the cyclist, the runner or the sailor, student B is a journalist. B asks questions and A responds using the appropriate text and his/her imagination.
3. Optional: Students can write up one of their interviews for a wall display.
Answers:
How did you travel around the world?
How long did it take?
What problems did you have?
What were the best times on your trip?
Who helped you?
With a stronger class, have the students think of more questions and write them on the board.
E.g.,
Were you ever scared?
How did you feel when you finished?
Did you break a record?
What are your plans for the future?
Task 5
Complete the questions with the words in the box. Do interviews in pairs. Student A is a round-the-world traveller, student B is a journalist. Take turns to be the cyclist, runner, sailer and journalist.
How(x2) What(x2) Who
______ did you travel around the world?
______ long did it take?
______ problems did you have?
______ were the best times on your trip?
______ helped you?
6. Advice for round-the-world travellers.
Have a class vote on the first statement and ask some students to justify their opinions. Give students 5 minutes to read the rest of the advice and underline agree/ disagree /not sure for each statement. Put students in groups of three or four to discuss their ideas. Ask two or three students to tell the class which statements their group agreed or disagreed with and why. Early finishers can write two more pieces of advice in pairs.
Task 6 Advice for round the world travellers
Here is some advice for round-the-world travellers from the ‘World traveller’ website. Read the advice and decide if you agree or disagree with each statement. Compare your list with your group and explain your ideas.
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7. Discussion
These questions are more suitable for a higher-level class. Give students a few minutes to read the questions and make notes of their answers. Students discuss the questions in pairs. Ask some students to tell the class what their partner said about 1 or 2 questions.
Task 7 Discussion
Discuss these questions:
Would most parents allow their teenage son or daughter to travel round the world alone? Why/ Why not?
How dangerous is it to travel in different countries?
Would you like to travel round the world? Why/ Why not?
How do you think it feels to break a world record?
Have any world records have been broken recently in your country? Which?
Can world records always be broken?
Internet Links
See James’s route round the world here
http://whereintheworldisjames.com/
Watch James on You tube on his trip round the world here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Hv8hoNRkg&feature=channel_page
Visit the Guinness book of records here
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
Find out more about Rosie Swale Pope and see photos
http://www.rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk/links%20page.htm
Read an interview with Mike and his father here
http://yachtpals.com/youngest-sailing-7013
This site is a lesson about cycling
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/cycling
This site is a lesson about fundraising and charities
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/fundraising-uk-style
This site is a lesson about the adventure and exploration
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/spirit-adventure
By Sally Trowbridge
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| round the world.pdf | 129.35 KB |
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Comments
This looks absolutely brilliant! Just wish that my students were capable enough to undertake this - they would be engaged from start to finish no doubt!