Date: March 7, 2005
Level: Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

Someone other than Michael Schumacher won the season’s Formula One Grand Prix opener at Melbourne, Australia. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, driving a Renault, cruised to his second F1 victory in his 142-race career. The Italian lead the race from start to finish, having taken pole position after the practice laps. He said, "It was easy from the beginning to the end." Fisichella won the race by 5.5 seconds and said he never really had to push himself for the victory, "I was quite conservative, never pushed to the limit except at the end when Rubens [Barrichello] was catching me and I went a little quicker." Fischella’s win is good news for Formula One, which has repeatedly been trying to make the sport more exciting - the recent dominance of Michael Schumacher has turned many race fans away. The German driver won 13 of last season’s 18 Grands Prix. If he had won the Australian Grand Prix today, the season would have started with an unwelcome air of predictability. Schumacher failed to finish, after being shoved off the track. It is the worst start of any F1 season for him. Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello finishes second, in a Ferrari, while Fisichella's Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso came third. India’s first ever F1 driver, Narain Karthikeyan, finished 15th driving for the team Jordan.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Michael Schumacher / Ferrari / F1 / driving fast / motor sports / Grands Prix / Indian sports stars / …

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. F1 BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the Formula One. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. F1 LIFESTYLE: With a partner, write down 5 reasons why being a Formula One driver would mean having a good lifestyle. Change partners and compare your reasons. Change partners again and compare reasons again. Return to your original partner and decide on the five best reasons of those you wrote down / heard.

4. 2-MINUTE F1 DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:

1. F1 is boring to watch on TV. vs. It’s exciting from start to finish.
2. F1 is environmentally unfriendly. vs. I don’t think 20 cars will add to global warming.
3. F1 isn’t a sport. Drivers are not athletes. vs. It’s a motor sport. Drivers need great mental skills and physical reactions.
4. F1 is sexist – male drivers and cheerleaders in swimsuits. vs. Netball is female-dominated – is that sexist.
5. F1 is bad for kids – it advertises cigarettes. vs. Governments desperately need the tax revenue from cigarettes.
6. Only rich people can become F1 drivers. It’s not fair. vs. Only rich people can become King or Queen.
7. F1 is dangerous. Too many drivers are killed. vs. You can say that about any sport. Crossing the road is also dangerous.
8. F1 brings millions of dollars to local communities. vs. They are all rich communities – race in Africa, not Monaco or Melbourne.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘formula’ and ‘one’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Michael Schumacher won the season’s F1 Grand Prix opener at Melbourne.  T / F
2. A Ferrari car won the season’s F1 Grand Prix opener at Melbourne.  T / F
3. The race winner snatched victory by taking the lead in the final lap.  T / F
4. The race winner started the race in pole position.  T / F
5. F1 authorities have tried to make the sport more exciting because Michael Schumacher keeps winning.  T / F
6. Michael Schumacher won 18 out of 18 Grands Prix last year.  T / F
7. Schumacher failed to finish this Grand Prix after being shoved off the track.   T / F
8. India’s first ever F1 driver finished in 15^th position.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	opener	barrier
(b)	cruised	supremacy
(c)	pole	coasted
(d)	push	finished
(e)	limit	pushed
(f)	repeatedly	starter
(g)	dominance	feeling
(h)	air	force
(i)	shoved	top
(j)	came	over and over

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	Someone other	to the limit
(b)	Formula One Grand Prix	predictability
(c)	lead the race from	to the end
(d)	taken pole	start to finish
(e)	It was easy from the beginning	off the track
(f)	never pushed	than Michael Schumacher
(g)	turned many race	start
(h)	an unwelcome air of	fans away
(i)	shoved	opener
(j)	the worst	position

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Australian Grand Prix success for Italian

Someone __________ than Michael Schumacher won the season’s Formula One Grand Prix opener at Melbourne, Australia. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, driving a Renault, __________ to his second F1 victory in his 142-race career. The Italian lead the race from start to finish, having taken pole __________ after the practice laps. He said, "It was easy from the beginning to the end." Fisichella won the race by 5.5 seconds and said he never really had to __________ himself for the victory, "I was quite conservative, never pushed to the limit except at the end when Rubens [Barrichello] was catching me and I went a little quicker." Fischella’s win is good news for Formula One, which has __________ been trying to make the sport more exciting - the recent dominance of Michael Schumacher has turned many race fans __________. The German driver won 13 of last season’s 18 Grands Prix. If he had won the Australian Grand Prix today, the season would have started with an unwelcome air of predictability. Schumacher failed to finish, after being __________ off the track. It is the worst start of any F1 season for him. Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello finishes second, in a Ferrari, while Fisichella's Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso came third. India’s first __________ F1 driver, Narain Karthikeyan, finished 15th driving for the team Jordan.

position away cruised shoved push ever repeatedly other

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘FORMULA’/ ‘ONE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What was interesting in this article?
2. Are you an F1 fan?
3. Who is your favorite driver?
4. Would you like to drive a Formula One car?
5. Is F1 a real sport?
6. Don’t you think F1 is sexist – macho male drivers and young women in swimsuits?
7. Why are there no female F1 drivers?
8. Should tobacco advertising be banned in Formula One?
9. What do you think of Michael Schumacher?
10. Which is the best team?
11. Would you allow your children to become F1 drivers?
12. Would you like F1 to come to your city / town / village?
13. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. QUESTIONS BASED ON TEXT VOCABULARY

1. Should someone other than George W. Bush be US president?
2. Have you ever cruised to victory in a race?
3. Have you ever lead a race from start to finish?
4. When have you had to push yourself to the limit?
5. What have you repeatedly been trying to do recently?
6. Have you been turned away from anything or anyone because you lost interest in it / them?
7. What do you do when you are shoved off a train or bus?
8. What would be the worst start of any day for you?
9. Can you remember your first ever English teacher?

 

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB 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 Formula One. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. RACE REPORT: Write your own race report on yesterday’s Australian Grand Prix.

4. LETTER TO MICHAEL: Write a letter to Michael Schumacher about his not finishing the Australian Grand Prix.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE

1. Michael Schumacher won the season’s F1 Grand Prix opener at Melbourne.  F
2. A Ferrari car won the season’s F1 Grand Prix opener at Melbourne.  F
3. The race winner snatched victory by taking the lead in the final lap.  F
4. The race winner started the race in pole position.  T
5. F1 authorities have tried to make the sport more exciting because Michael Schumacher keeps winning.  T
6. Michael Schumacher won 18 out of 18 Grands Prix last year.  F
7. Schumacher failed to finish this Grand Prix after being shoved off the track.   T
8. India’s first ever F1 driver finished in 15^th position.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	opener	starter
(b)	cruised	coasted
(c)	pole	top
(d)	push	force
(e)	limit	barrier
(f)	repeatedly	over and over
(g)	dominance	supremacy
(h)	air	feeling
(i)	shoved	pushed
(j)	came	finished

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Someone other	than Michael Schumacher
(b)	Formula One Grand Prix	opener
(c)	lead the race from	start to finish
(d)	taken pole	position
(e)	It was easy from the beginning	to the end
(f)	never pushed	to the limit
(g)	turned many race	fans away
(h)	an unwelcome air of	predictability
(i)	shoved	off the track
(j)	the worst	start

 

GAP FILL

Australian Grand Prix success for Italian

Someone other than Michael Schumacher won the season’s Formula One Grand Prix opener at Melbourne, Australia. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, driving a Renault, cruised to his second F1 victory in his 142-race career. The Italian lead the race from start to finish, having taken pole position after the practice laps. He said, "It was easy from the beginning to the end." Fisichella won the race by 5.5 seconds and said he never really had to push himself for the victory, "I was quite conservative, never pushed to the limit except at the end when Rubens [Barrichello] was catching me and I went a little quicker." Fischella’s win is good news for Formula One, which has repeatedly been trying to make the sport more exciting - the recent dominance of Michael Schumacher has turned many race fans away. The German driver won 13 of last season’s 18 Grands Prix. If he had won the Australian Grand Prix today, the season would have started with an unwelcome air of predictability. Schumacher failed to finish, after being shoved off the track. It is the worst start of any F1 season for him. Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello finishes second, in a Ferrari, while Fisichella's Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso came third. India’s first ever F1 driver, Narain Karthikeyan, finished 15th driving for the team Jordan.