The Reading / Listening - Balloons and Aliens - Level 0

Strange things are happening 12,000 metres above the USA. Fighter jets have shot down four balloons. They were a danger to airplanes. The White House said the balloons were not linked to aliens. It said the American people didn't need to worry about aliens because of the balloons.

The USA and China sent each other tit-for-tat messages. The US thinks the balloons are spy balloons. There is no proof of this. China said the balloons are for checking the weather, not for spying. China said US balloons have flown in China's airspace over ten times in the past year. The USA said this was not true.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Balloons and Aliens - Level 1 Balloons and Aliens - Level 2   or  Balloons and Aliens - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-14/spy-balloon-alien-white-house-china-surveillance-aircraft/101969384
  • https://theconversation.com/no-indication-of-aliens-spy-balloon-saga-continues-to-surprise-amid-rising-us-china-tension-199769
  • https://english.news.cn/20230205/fbbeecffa7ff48119880de4170d97495/c.html


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. Strange things are
  2. 12,000 metres
  3. fighter
  4. shot
  5. They were a danger
  6. the balloons were not linked
  7. American people didn't
  8. because
  1. down four balloons
  2. to aliens
  3. of the balloons
  4. above the USA
  5. need to worry
  6. jets
  7. to airplanes
  8. happening

Paragraph 2

  1. sent each other tit-for-tat
  2. the balloons
  3. There is no proof
  4. the balloons are for checking
  5. not for
  6. US balloons have flown
  7. over ten times in
  8. The USA said this
  1. the past year
  2. spying
  3. are spy balloons
  4. was not true
  5. messages
  6. the weather
  7. in China's airspace
  8. of this

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

(1) ___________________ happening 12,000 metres above the USA. (2) ___________________ shot down four balloons. They were (3) ___________________ airplanes. The White House said the balloons were (4) ___________________ aliens. It said the American (5) ___________________ to worry about aliens (6) ___________________ balloons.

The USA and China (7) ___________________ tit-for-tat messages. The US (8) ___________________ are spy balloons. There is (9) ___________________ this. China said the balloons (10) ___________________ the weather, not for spying. China said US balloons (11) ___________________ China's airspace over ten times in the past year. The USA said this (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Strangethingsarehappening12,000metresabovetheUSA.Fighterjets
haveshotdownfourballoons.Theywereadangertoairplanes.TheWhite
Housesaidtheballoonswerenotlinkedtoaliens.ItsaidtheAmericanpeo
pledidn'tneedtoworryaboutaliensbecauseoftheballoons.TheUSAand
Chinasenteachothertit-for-tatmessages.TheUSthinkstheballoonsar
espyballoons.Thereisnoproofofthis.Chinasaidtheballoonsareforchec
kingtheweather,notforspying.ChinasaidUSballoonshaveflowninChi
na'sairspaceovertentimesinthepastyear.TheUSAsaidthiswasnottru
e.

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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