W4D1 - Antarctic Exploration
Materials
Main Aims
-
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify the main sequence of ideas in a short lecture about Antarctic exploration and recognize key factual details related to past exploration and extreme conditions.
Subsidiary Aims
-
Students will review and use vocabulary related to danger, survival, exploration and natural environments.
Procedure (43-56 minutes)
The teacher writes 4 survival choices: "very cold weather", "little food", "dangerous landscape", "difficult breathing". Students stand in the corner of the room that represents the condition they think is the most dangerous. They explain their choice to a partner. Then, the teacher asks 2 or 3 students to share.
Students look at the vocabulary box: alert, disaster, landscape, mission, survive, crew, failure, leadership, rescue, trap. First, the teacher plays the words or models pronunciation. Students repeat and mark stress. Then, students complete sentences 1-10 individually. They compare answers in pairs before checking as a class.
Students discuss the 4 questions from section B with a partner. The teacher asks them to use at least 3 vocabulary words in their answers. Example: "A natural disaster in my city is..." or "Good leadership means..." The teacher monitors and helps with past tense forms when needed.
The teacher explains: "Today, we are not only listening for facts. We are listening for the order of ideas." The teacher writes these signpost phrases on the board: Today we are going to discuss... / But before... / First... / Also... / And then... / Ok, so now... Students predict what kind of information may come after each phrase.
Students listen once with pencils down. Their task is to answer: "What is the lecture mainly about?" and "Does the speaker talk about explorers first or Antarctica's conditions first?" Students compare answers quickly.
Students read the True / False statements before listening. The teacher plays the audio again. Students write T or F. Then, they compare answers in pairs and underline the part of the sentence that helped them decide. The class checks answers together.
The teacher gives pairs a set of sentence strips or projects them scrambled. Students number them in the order they hear them: 1. The speaker introduces Antarctic exploration. 2. The speaker says some explorers did not survive. 3. The speaker explains that Antarctica is the highest continent. 4. The speaker says Antarctica is covered by ice but very dry. 5. The speaker explains why breathing is difficult. 6. The speaker describes the extreme cold. 7. The speaker explains that explorers need many calories. 8. The speaker says they will look at the explorers next. Students listen one final time to confirm.
