The Reading / Listening - Colosseum - Level 4

Rome has the green light to refurbish the ancient Colosseum. The iconic site is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built. It was completed over two millennia ago. A new floor will give visitors the chance to stand where Roman gladiators once fought for their lives. Gladiators entertained audiences during the Roman Empire by fighting to the death with swords against other gladiators and wild animals.

Italy said the project will open to the public by 2023 and will cost around $22.2 million. The Colosseum has no floor. Archaeologists removed the original one in the 19th Century to expose a network of underground tunnels. The new floor will allow visitors to see "the majesty of the Colosseum". A spokesperson said the project would, "aid the conservation of the archaeological structures while getting back to the original image of the Colosseum".

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Colosseum - Level 5 or  Colosseum - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-unveils-new-hi-tech-floor-design-colosseum-area-2021-05-02/
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/02/rome-colosseum-to-gain-hi-tech-arena-floor
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56966365


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Rome has the green
  2. The iconic
  3. the largest ancient amphitheatre
  4. It was completed over two
  5. give visitors the
  6. stand where Roman gladiators
  7. Gladiators entertained
  8. fighting to the
  1. chance
  2. ever built
  3. audiences
  4. once fought
  5. light to refurbish
  6. death
  7. site
  8. millennia ago

Paragraph 2

  1. open to the public
  2. cost around
  3. Archaeologists removed
  4. expose a network of underground
  5. The new floor will
  6. aid the
  7. archaeological
  8. the original image
  1. $22.2 million
  2. allow visitors to see
  3. of the Colosseum
  4. conservation
  5. structures
  6. tunnels
  7. by 2023
  8. the original one

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Rome has the green (1) ___________________ the ancient Colosseum. The (2) ___________________ one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is (3) ___________________ amphitheatre ever built. It was completed over two millennia ago. A new floor will give visitors the (4) ___________________ where Roman gladiators once fought for their lives. Gladiators entertained (5) ___________________ Roman Empire by fighting to the death with swords against (6) ___________________ wild animals.

Italy said the (7) ___________________ to the public by 2023 and will cost around $22.2 million. The Colosseum (8) ___________________. Archaeologists removed the (9) ___________________ the 19th Century to expose (10) ___________________ underground tunnels. The new floor will allow visitors to see "(11) ___________________ the Colosseum". A spokesperson said the project would, "aid the conservation of the archaeological structures (12) ___________________ to the original image of the Colosseum".

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

RomehasthegreenlighttorefurbishtheancientColosseum.Theiconicsi
teisoneoftheNewSevenWondersoftheWorld.Itisthelargestancienta
mphitheatreeverbuilt.Itwascompletedovertwomillenniaago.Anewfl
oorwillgivevisitorsthechancetostandwhereRomangladiatorsoncefou
ghtfortheirlives.GladiatorsentertainedaudiencesduringtheRomanE
mpirebyfightingtothedeathwithswordsagainstothergladiatorsandwi
ldanimals.Italysaidtheprojectwillopentothepublicby2023andwillcos
taround$22.2million.TheColosseumhasnofloor.Archaeologistsremo
vedtheoriginaloneinthe19thCenturytoexposeanetworkofundergrou
ndtunnels.Thenewfloorwillallowvisitorstosee"themajestyoftheColos
seum".Aspokespersonsaidtheprojectwould,"aidtheconservationoft
hearchaeologicalstructureswhilegettingbacktotheoriginalimageofth
eColosseum".

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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