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Date: April 27, 2005 Listening (1:48 - 211.7 KB - 16kbps) THE ARTICLEThe number of deaths in the horrific rail crash in Japan has risen to 89. More bodies were being pulled from the wreckage nearly 48 hours after the crash. Rescue workers at the scene near Osaka fear the number of dead will rise as they reach the front of the train. The first carriage smashed into an underground parking area of an apartment building. The second car wrapped itself around the corner of the building. Japanese police said it is highly unlikely anyone else will be found alive. Twenty people are still reported as missing. It is Japan’s worst rail disaster since 1963. Investigators are now looking through the evidence to find the causes of the crash. It seems more than one factor led to the fatal accident. Driver error appears to be the main reason. Japan Railways has said their 23-year-old driver was speeding so he wouldn’t be 90 seconds late. The bosses of Japan Railways are also under investigation for putting too much pressure on their drivers. Ex-workers have said on television that drivers are often punished for being one minute late. Japanese trains are famous for arriving on time. WARM UPS1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: trains / train safety / Japanese trains / bullet trains / rail crashes / human error… For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently. 2. BULLET TRAIN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with bullet trains. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them. 3. TRAINS AND MY LIFE: Talk with your partner about how important trains are in your life. Do you worry about safety? Does your country have a good rail network / safety record? Is traveling by train the safest mode of transport? 4. TWO-MINUTE TRAIN DEBATES: Face each other in pairs and engage in the following 2-minute debates. Students A take the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
PRE-READING IDEAS1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘rail’ and ‘crash’. 2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:
3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES1. UNSCRAMBLE: Put the words in the underlined parts of the article back into the correct order: Japan rail death toll at 89The number of deaths in the horrific rail crash in Japan has risen to 89. More bodies were being pulled from the wreckage nearly 48 hours after the crash. Rescue workers at the scene near Osaka fear dead will number the rise of as they reach the front of the train. The first carriage smashed into an underground parking area of an apartment building. The second car wrapped itself around the corner of the building. Japanese police said it is else unlikely anyone highly will be found alive. Twenty people are still reported as missing. It is Japan’s worst rail disaster since 1963. Investigators are now looking through the evidence to crash the causes of the find. It seems more than one factor led to the fatal accident. Driver error reason to the main be appears. Japan Railways has said their 23-year-old driver was speeding so he wouldn’t be 90 seconds late. The bosses of Japan Railways are also under investigation for putting too much pressure on their drivers. Ex-workers have said on television that drivers are often punished late one for being minute. Japanese trains are famous for arriving on time. 2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise. 3. SYNONYM MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise. 4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise. 5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article. 6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. POST READING IDEAS1. UNSCRAMBLE: Check your answers to this exercise. 2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share. 3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above. 4. STUDENT TRAIN SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down questions about trains, or on the article. Ask other classmates your questions and report back to your original partner/ group to compare your findings. 5. ‘RAIL’ / ‘CRASH’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions. 6. DISCUSSION:
7. RAIL SAFETY ROLE PLAY: Students A are bosses of a rail company that has no money and a bad safety record. To keep your jobs you must improve safety. Students B belong to a train passengers’ group. You need safer trains. Students C are politicians. You could become leader of your country if transport safety is improved. But… you own 25% of the rail company and you need money. Make notes in the following table with the other rail bosses, passengers or politicians in your group. These notes might help you in the role play.
Students A, B and C come together for a rail safety meeting. You must all agree on three changes that must be made to make trains safer. 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 information on your country’s railways. Share your findings with your class next lesson. 3. MY IDEAS: Write a list of ideas that could make train travel safer. Share your list with your classmates in your next class. They will give you feedback on your ideas. 4. LETTER: Write a letter to the bosses of a public transportation company telling them of their responsibilities to passengers. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases fro m the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
UNSCRAMBLE: Japan rail death toll at 89The number of deaths in the horrific rail crash in Japan has risen to 89. More bodies were being pulled from the wreckage nearly 48 hours after the crash. Rescue workers at the scene near Osaka fear the number of dead will rise as they reach the front of the train. The first carriage smashed into an underground parking area of an apartment building. The second car wrapped itself around the corner of the building. Japanese police said it is highly unlikely anyone else will be found alive. Twenty people are still reported as missing. It is Japan’s worst rail disaster since 1963. Investigators are now looking through the evidence to find the causes of the crash. It seems more than one factor led to the fatal accident. Driver error appears to be the main reason. Japan Railways has said their 23-year-old driver was speeding so he wouldn’t be 90 seconds late. The bosses of Japan Railways are also under investigation for putting too much pressure on their drivers. Ex-workers have said on television that drivers are often punished for being one minute late. Japanese trains are famous for arriving on time.
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