plik

T E A C H E R ’ S N O T E S A N D K E Y

October 2009

- 1 -

TARTING OFF

The vocabulary task should be useful for the questions so you might want to deal with that first before putting the class
into pairs for the discussion. Key:

ride a horse / a motorbike / a bike

take a bus / a coach / a taxi / a boat/ship / a plane / a train

miss the bus / the coach / the plane / the train

fly on a plane

drive a car

sail on a boat / ship

come / go by bus / coach / taxi / boat/ship / plane / motorbike / car / bike / train

come / go on the bus / the coach / the plane / a motorbike / a bike / the train

catch the bus / the coach / the train

NB - these are things we generally do; obviously somebody can drive a bus but we will generally be passengers

EFORE YOU READ

IRST READING

This is a prediction/scanning task so the reading itself should be done at speed, possibly with a time limit. Remember to

tell the learners that they will have the chance to read more carefully later on. Key:

1. 34km

2. 1994

3. is not

4. less

5. are not

ECOND READING

The titles are marked on the Tea

cher‟s Copy of the text.

OCABULARY

Key:

1. slightly

2. during

3. unenthusiastic

4. (the) mainland

5. (the) entrance

6. (a) wonder

7. artificial

8. (an) island

9. (a) link

OCABULARY

Key:

1. links

2. artificial

3. entrance

4. wonders

5. slightly

6. during

7. islands

8. mainland

9. unenthusiastic

T E A C H E R ’ S N O T E S A N D K E Y

October 2009

- 2 -

HIRD READING

Key:

1. False - the British have never felt part of Europe

2. False - the ceremony was in Calais

3. True - 80% over budget

4. False - there have been three fires

5. True - the British were still unenthusiastic

6. False - the bridge already exist

EXT COHESION

This is a challenging task which will take the learners some time. It is a worth spending some time on this, however, as

the task requires them to consider the text from many angles - grammatical, lexical, stylistic etc. The answers are marked

on the teacher‟s copy of the text.

PEAKING

The discussion task is fairly straightforward and would be suited to a reporting stage after the learners have discussed the

questions in groups.

XTENSION

A possible extension would be for the learners to plan improvements to their town, considering communication (bridges

and tunnels), amongst other aspects (beautification, pedestrianisation etc.). If you can provide groups of learners with

local maps then it may be helpful. After the discussion each group could present its ideas to the rest of the class.

- 3 -

The end of an island?
British people have never really felt part of
Europe. You can even hear it in the words
they use. They talk about „the continent‟ as
something different from Great Britain: “I’m
holidaying on the continent next year

”.

Perhaps it is because they live on an

island

. The English Channel (or La

Manche as the French call it) may only be
34km wide but it makes a big difference to
the British.

The last time Great Britain was connected
to the

mainland

of Europe was the time of

mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers, some
10,000 years ago

during

the Ice Age. But

on May 6th 1994, President Mitterrand took
a train from Paris to the tunnel

entrance

Calais and Queen Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom took a train from London through
the  tunnel  to  meet  him;  together,  they
officially  opened  the  tunnel  and  joined
Great  Britain  to  the  mainland  of  Europe
once again.

An engineering wonder

The Channel Tunnel is an engineering

wonder

. It is over 50km long and goes

more  than  75m  below  sea  level.  It  is
actually  two  tunnels,  side  by  side,  each
more than 7.5 metres wide. The cost of the
whole  construction  was  ₤4650  million  -
80% more than its budget.

The tunnel is not the longest in the world -
the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is

slightly

longer  -  but  it  is  the  longest  undersea
tunnel  in the  world  and one of the busiest:
in  1998  over  18  million  passengers  used
the  tunnel.  The  trains  are  quite  fast  -  they
can travel at up to 160km/h - but very safe.
There  has  never  been  a  train  crash  in  the
Channel  Tunnel,  though  there  have  been
three fires.

A long wait
Building a

link

between Great Britain and

the continent is not a new idea. More than
200 years ago, in 1802, a French engineer
called Albert Mathieu

called  Albert  Mathieu  made  plans  for  a
tunnel  under  the  Channel.  Of  course,  his
tunnel  was  very  different  from  today‟s:
instead  of  electric  trains  and  lights
Mathieu‟s

plan

had

horse-drawn carriages and oil lamps, and
he wanted to build an

artificial

island

in  the  middle  of  the  Channel  where
the  carriages  could  get  new  horses.
F o r   m a n y   y e a r s   t h e   B r i t i s h
were

unenthusiastic

but, in 1974, work

finally started… and then stopped again in
1975. The British were still not too
enthusiastic, it seems.

After that there were many different ideas
for how to connect the two countries. Some

suggested

a bridge, some, others a road

tunnel. Work started in 1988 and this time

the British did not change their minds: six
years later the tunnel was finished.

Tunnels and bridges to come
Great  Britain  and  France  are  not  the  only
countries  to  be  connected  by  amazing
tunnels.  The  Oresund  Bridge  and  Tunnel
connecting Sweden to Denmark opened in
2000  and  there  are  even  projects  to

join

Africa  and  Europe  (a  tunnel  between
Morocco  and  Spain)  and  North  America
and Asia (Alaska to Siberia). In a few years
it  might  be  possible  to  drive  your  car
around the world, over bridges and through
tunnels,  without  ever  getting  out.  Truly  the
world is getting smaller and smaller.