The outbreak of war

This lesson uses information gaps to create a speaking activity in which students recount three different eyewitness accounts of the outbreak of war in 1914. Students work in groups of three, with each describing the experiences of a different person. The lesson then features study of the past tenses used in these three accounts, and students again compare notes in groups of three to check their answers.

Austro-Hungarian soldiers mobilise © IWM (Q 81808)

The texts are based closely on authentic eyewitness accounts of the outbreak of war in 1914 from the Imperial War Museum’s collection of podcasts: http://www.1914.org/podcasts/podcast-2-outbreak-4-august-1914-2/.

Austria-Hungary began mobilizing its army on 26 July 1914. As shown here, many soldiers were excited about the prospect of war. But the Austro-Hungarian Army contained men of a number of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, and not all of them were equally as enthusiastic. © IWM (Q 81808)

Topic: Europeans at the outbreak of the First World War

Level: B2

Time: 85 minutes

Aims:

To review and consolidate the form, meaning and use of the past narrative tenses (past simple, past continuous and past perfect)
To develop students’ knowledge about the outbreak of the First World War in Europe

Copyright - please read

All the materials on these pages are free for you to download and copy for educational use only. You may not redistribute, sell or place these materials on any other web site without written permission from the BBC and British Council. If you have any questions about the use of these materials please email us at: teachingenglish@britishcouncil.org.

Downloads

The outbreak of war

You are here

The outbreak of war

Add new comment