The Reading / Listening - Borders - Level 0

Governments spend many years making borders. A farmer in Belgium changed the border between Belgium and France in a few minutes. He made Belgium about 1,000 square meters bigger. He moved a border stone 2.29 metres inside France. He moved it so he could drive his tractor around his field more easily.

Moving a border can lead to war. Luckily, Belgium and France saw the funny side of this. The mayor of the Belgian town said the stone was put there in 1819. He said he would find the person who moved the stone. The mayor added: "We know exactly where the stone was before. It was right next to a tree."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Borders - Level 1,  Borders - Level 2   or  Borders - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/belgium-farmer-moves-french-border/index.html
  • https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/04/belgium-gains-territory-after-farmer-moves-french-border
  • https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/167925/belgian-farmer-moves-accidentally-french-border-erquelinnes-napoleon-boundary-marker-aurelie-welonek-mayor-bousignies-sur-roc-david-lavaux/


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. Governments spend many years
  2. A farmer in
  3. changed the border between
  4. in a few
  5. He made Belgium about 1,000
  6. He moved a border
  7. 2.29 metres
  8. drive his tractor
  1. stone
  2. Belgium and France
  3. square meters bigger
  4. inside France
  5. making borders
  6. minutes
  7. around his field
  8. Belgium

Paragraph 2

  1. Moving a border can
  2. Belgium and
  3. the funny
  4. The mayor of the
  5. put there
  6. the person who
  7. We know exactly where
  8. It was right
  1. side
  2. the stone was
  3. France
  4. next to a tree
  5. Belgian town
  6. in 1819
  7. lead to war
  8. moved the stone

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Governments (1) ___________________ making borders. A farmer in Belgium (2) ___________________ between Belgium and France in (3) ___________________. He made Belgium about 1,000 (4) ___________________. He moved a border stone 2.29 metres inside France. (5) ___________________ so he could drive his tractor around his (6) ___________________.

Moving a border can (7) ___________________. Luckily, Belgium and France saw (8) ___________________ of this. The mayor of the Belgian town said the stone (9) ___________________ in 1819. He said he (10) ___________________ person who moved the stone. (11) ___________________: "We know exactly where the stone was before. It (12) ___________________ to a tree."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Governmentsspendmanyyearsmakingborders.AfarmerinBelgiumch
angedtheborderbetweenBelgiumandFranceinafewminutes.Hemade
Belgiumabout1,000squaremetersbigger.Hemovedaborderstone2.2
9metresinsideFrance.Hemoveditsohecoulddrivehistractoraroundhi
sfieldmoreeasily.Movingabordercanleadtowar.Luckily,BelgiumandF
rancesawthefunnysideofthis.ThemayoroftheBelgiantownsaidthesto
newasputtherein1819.Hesaidhewouldfindfindthepersonwhomoved
thestone.Themayoradded:"Weknowexactlywherethestonewasbefo

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.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Back to the top

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You