Breaking News English

        

1. TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about traffic accidents. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

highway police / crash scene / mess / vehicles / road surface / speed limit / wreckage / convoy / supercar rally / eyewitnesses / seriously hurt / motorists / Ferrari

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. CAR CRASH: How can we reduce them? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Method	Pros	Cons
Speed limits
Road radar
Extra police
In-car video
Limit engine size
Education

4. CRASHES: Students A strongly believe technology will mean no more car crashes in the future; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. SUPER: What super things do you think are best? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

supercar supercomputer superhero superpower

superstore super-meal super-English lesson super-job

6. SUPERCAR: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘supercar’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	An artist put many supercars one top of each other as an art exhibit.	T / F
b.	Police who arrived at a car crash were shocked at what they saw.	T / F
c.	There were several fatalities in the traffic accident.	T / F
d.	Bits of the cars were spread over a 40-metre area.	T / F
e.	The driver of the first car that crashed was 70 years old.	T / F
f.	Someone said it was miraculous that there were no injuries.	T / F
g.	One of the cars bounced.	T / F
h.	A police officer expressed surprise at the number of Ferraris involved.	T / F

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

1.	twisted	a.	onlookers
2	among	b.	reasons
3.	causes	c.	motorcade
4.	central	d.	debris
5.	wreckage	e.	enormous
6.	convoy	f.	included in
7.	eyewitnesses	g.	driver
8.	huge	h.	tangled
9.	motorist	i.	seldom
10.	rarely	j.	middle

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	crash	a.	surface
2	a twisted mess	b.	in this huge mess
3.	a $4-million	c.	into one another
4.	a wet road	d.	of control
5.	cars all ploughed	e.	scene
6.	part of a	f.	such large numbers
7.	spun out	g.	insurance bill
8.	they all ended up	h.	was seriously hurt
9.	a miracle no one	i.	of supercars
10.	Ferraris rarely travel in	j.	convoy

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Highway police who went to a crash (1) ____________ in Japan on Sunday couldn’t believe their eyes – a twisted mess of supercars. Japanese police say eight top-of-the-(2) ____________ Ferraris, two Mercedes sports cars and a Lamborghini were (3) ____________ the vehicles that crashed into each other, causing a $4-million insurance (4) ____________. No one died in the 14-car pile-up but ten people were injured and taken to hospital. Police believe speeding and a wet road (5) ____________ could have been the causes of the accident. Police believe the cars were traveling at a speed of 160kph on a road with an 80kph limit. The (6) ____________ car hit the central barrier and the following cars all (7) ____________ into one another. TV (8) ____________ shows wreckage from the cars spread across 400 metres of road.		lead range bill footage surface scene ploughed among
The cars were part of a (9) ____________ heading to a supercar rally in Hiroshima. The leading Ferrari that (10) ____________ out of control was driven by a 60-year-old man. Several eyewitnesses told local TV crews what they saw. One said: “A group of cars was (11) ____________ 140kph to 160kph. One of them spun and they all ended up in this (12) ____________ mess. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.” Another (13) ____________ described how he (14) ____________ avoided becoming part of the accident, saying: “The front car crashed into the left embankment and (15) ____________ off towards me.” A crash scene police officer explained what he saw. Lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told the AFP news agency: “I've never seen such a thing. Ferraris (16) ____________ travel in such large numbers.”		bounced rarely spun huge narrowly convoy doing motorist

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Highway police who ______________________ in Japan on Sunday couldn’t believe their eyes – ______________________ supercars. Japanese police say eight top-of-the-range Ferraris, two Mercedes sports cars and a Lamborghini were ______________________ that crashed into each other, causing a $4-million insurance bill. No one died in the 14-car pile-up but ten people were injured and taken to hospital. Police believe ______________________ road surface could have been the causes of the accident. Police believe the cars were traveling at a speed of 160kph on a road with an 80kph limit. The lead car ______________________ and the following cars all ploughed into one another. TV ______________________ from the cars spread across 400 metres of road.

The cars were ______________________ heading to a supercar rally in Hiroshima. The leading Ferrari that spun out of control was driven by a 60-year-old man. ______________________ told local TV crews what they saw. One said: “A group of cars was doing 140kph to 160kph. One of them spun and ______________________ this huge mess. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.” Another motorist described how ______________________ becoming part of the accident, saying: “The front car crashed into the left embankment and ______________________ me.” A crash scene police officer explained what he saw. Lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told the AFP news agency: “I've never seen such a thing. Ferraris ______________________ large numbers.”

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘crash’ and ‘scene’.

crash

scene

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

eyes range 14 wet limit TV

part 60 doing miracle front never

STUDENT TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about traffic accidents in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘traffic accident’?
c)	How safe are roads like in your country?
d)	What do you think when you see people speeding?
e)	Why do people drive so carelessly and dangerously?
f)	What do you think of the supercar pile-up?
g)	How can we make the roads safer?
h)	Should supercars with a top speed of 300kph be allowed on the roads?
i)	Would you like to drive around in a supercar?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Should older people have to retake regular driving tests?
c)	What punishment should the speeding motorists get?
d)	Should laws view cars as deadly weapons?
e)	Do you ever worry about being involved in a traffic accident?
f)	What three adjectives describe this story?
g)	Will there be fewer or more traffic accidents in the future?
h)	Have you ever been in a traffic accident?
i)	What questions would you like to ask a traffic police officer?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Highway police who went to a crash (1) ____ in Japan on Sunday couldn’t believe their eyes – a twisted (2) ____ of supercars. Japanese police say eight top-of-the-(3) ____ Ferraris, two Mercedes sports cars and a Lamborghini were among the vehicles that crashed into each other, causing a $4-million insurance bill. No one died in the 14-car pile-up but ten people were injured and taken to hospital. Police believe speeding and a wet road (4) ____ could have been the causes of the accident. Police believe the cars were traveling at a speed of 160kph on a road with an 80kph limit. The lead car hit the central (5) ____ and the following cars all ploughed into one another. TV (6) ____ shows wreckage from the cars spread across 400 metres of road.

The cars were part of a (7) ____ heading to a supercar rally in Hiroshima. The leading Ferrari that spun out of control was driven by a 60-year-old man. Several (8) ____ told local TV crews what they saw. One said: “A group of cars was doing 140kph to 160kph. One of them spun and they all ended (9) ____ in this huge mess. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.” Another motorist described how he (10) ____ avoided becoming part of the accident, saying: “The front car crashed into the left embankment and bounced (11) ____ towards me.” A crash scene police officer explained what he saw. Lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told the AFP news agency: “I've never seen such a (12) ____. Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	scene	(b)	seen	(c)	scenery	(d)	sane
2.	(a)	less	(b)	pass	(c)	mess	(d)	amass
3.	(a)	regular	(b)	ragged	(c)	renegade	(d)	range
4.	(a)	edge	(b)	surface	(c)	side	(d)	top
5.	(a)	border	(b)	lane	(c)	stop sign	(d)	barrier
6.	(a)	eyeball	(b)	bodyline	(c)	footage	(d)	backup
7.	(a)	advance	(b)	convoy	(c)	revolver	(d)	envoy
8.	(a)	eyewitnesses	(b)	kneecaps	(c)	handlers	(d)	nose jobs
9.	(a)	up	(b)	on	(c)	by	(d)	as
10.	(a)	narrowed	(b)	narrows	(c)	narrowly	(d)	narrow
11.	(a)	under	(b)	via	(c)	in	(d)	off
12.	(a)	thingy	(b)	thing	(c)	thingamajig	(d)	things

 
 

WRITING

Write about traffic accidents for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

1. 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 out more about supercars. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS: Make a poster about traffic accidents. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. SUPERCAR PILE-UP: Write a magazine article about the supercar pile-up. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to a supercar owner. Ask him/her three questions about traffic accidents. Give him/her three of your opinions on them. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

F

d.

F

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	twisted	a.	tangled
2	among	b.	included in
3.	causes	c.	reasons
4.	central	d.	middle
5.	wreckage	e.	debris
6.	convoy	f.	motorcade
7.	eyewitnesses	g.	onlookers
8.	huge	h.	enormous
9.	motorist	i.	driver
10.	rarely	j.	seldom

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	crash	a.	scene
2	a twisted mess	b.	of supercars
3.	a $4-million	c.	insurance bill
4.	a wet road	d.	surface
5.	cars all ploughed	e.	into one another
6.	part of a	f.	convoy
7.	spun out	g.	of control
8.	they all ended up	h.	in this huge mess
9.	a miracle no one	i.	was seriously hurt
10.	Ferraris rarely travel in	j.	such large numbers

GAP FILL:

$4 million supercar pile-up in Japan

Highway police who went to a crash (1) scene in Japan on Sunday couldn’t believe their eyes – a twisted mess of supercars. Japanese police say eight top-of-the-(2) range Ferraris, two Mercedes sports cars and a Lamborghini were (3) among the vehicles that crashed into each other, causing a $4-million insurance (4) bill. No one died in the 14-car pile-up but ten people were injured and taken to hospital. Police believe speeding and a wet road (5) surface could have been the causes of the accident. Police believe the cars were traveling at a speed of 160kph on a road with an 80kph limit. The (6) lead car hit the central barrier and the following cars all (7) ploughed into one another. TV (8) footage shows wreckage from the cars spread across 400 metres of road.

The cars were part of a (9) convoy heading to a supercar rally in Hiroshima. The leading Ferrari that (10) spun out of control was driven by a 60-year-old man. Several eyewitnesses told local TV crews what they saw. One said: “A group of cars was (11) doing 140kph to 160kph. One of them spun and they all ended up in this (12) huge mess. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.” Another (13) motorist described how he (14) narrowly avoided becoming part of the accident, saying: “The front car crashed into the left embankment and (15) bounced off towards me.” A crash scene police officer explained what he saw. Lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told the AFP news agency: “I've never seen such a thing. Ferraris (16) rarely travel in such large numbers.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - a

2 - c

3 - d

4 - b

5 - d

6 - c

7 - b

8 - a

9 -a

10 - c

11 - d

12 - b

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