The Reading / Listening - Eiffel Tower - Level 0

The Eiffel Tower is world famous. It gets millions of tourists every year. However, it is getting old. It is 133 years old. Engineers found it is full of rust. They said it was "in a poor state". The tower needs many repairs. If it is not repaired, it might not be safe. Its designer, Gustave Eiffel, would be sad if he saw it today.

The Eiffel Tower opened in 1889. It was built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. It contains 10,100 tons of iron. It was built just for 20 years. The French government decided to keep it. The tower is being repainted for the 2024 Olympics. Engineers say new paint will not make the rust go away.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Eiffel Tower - Level 1 Eiffel Tower - Level 2   or  Eiffel Tower - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/eiffel-tower-paris-needs-repairs/index.html
  • https://news.sky.com/story/eiffel-tower-reportedly-riddled-with-rust-and-in-need-of-full-repairs-12645960
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/04/eiffel-tower-riddled-with-rust-and-in-need-of-repair-leaked-reports-say


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. The Eiffel Tower is
  2. It gets millions
  3. it is getting
  4. It is 133
  5. it is full of
  6. The tower needs many
  7. it might not
  8. if he saw
  1. it today
  2. be safe
  3. years old
  4. of tourists
  5. repairs
  6. world famous
  7. rust
  8. old

Paragraph 2

  1. The Eiffel Tower
  2. the 1889 World's
  3. It contains 10,100
  4. It was built just
  5. The French government decided
  6. The tower is being
  7. new
  8. make the rust go
  1. to keep it
  2. paint
  3. Fair
  4. away
  5. opened in 1889
  6. for 20 years
  7. repainted
  8. tons of iron

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

The Eiffel Tower (1) ___________________. It gets millions of tourists every year. However, it (2) ___________________. It is 133 years old. Engineers (3) ___________________ full of rust. They said it was "in (4) ___________________". The tower needs many repairs. If (5) ___________________ repaired, it might not be safe. Its designer, Gustave Eiffel, would (6) ___________________ he saw it today.

The Eiffel Tower opened in 1889. It (7) ___________________ the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. It contains 10,100 (8) ___________________. It was built just (9) ___________________. The French government (10) ___________________ it. The tower is being repainted for the 2024 Olympics. Engineers (11) ___________________ will not make the (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

TheEiffelTowerisworldfamous.Itgetsmillionsoftouristseveryyear.Ho
wever,itisgettingold.Itis133yearsold.Engineersfounditisfullofrust.T
heysaiditwas"inapoorstate".Thetowerneedsmanyrepairs.Ifitisnotre
paired,itmightnotbesafe.Itsdesigner,GustaveEiffel,wouldbesadifhe
sawittoday.TheEiffelToweropenedin1889.Itwasbuiltforthe1889Wor
ld'sFairinParis.Itcontains10,100tonsofiron.Itwasbuiltjustfor20year
s.TheFrenchgovernmentdecidedtokeepit.Thetowerisbeingrepainte
dforthe2024Olympics.Engineerssaynewpaintwillnotmaketherustgo
away.

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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