The Reading / Listening - Corpse Flower - Level 0

Thousands of people went to a botanic garden in Australia to smell a corpse flower. It is the world's smelliest flower. A corpse is a dead body. The smell is bad, so some people held their nose. Other people coughed and held their breath. Some people said the smell was like a dead mouse or rotting garbage.

The corpse flower is very rare. It is an endangered species. There are only a few hundred of the flowers left in the wild. A lot of the forests where it grows have been cut down. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It lives to be over 40 years old. However, it flowers once every ten years and opens for a day or two.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Corpse Flower - Level 1 Corpse Flower - Level 2   or  Corpse Flower - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/travel/geelong-australia-corpse-flower-intl-hnk/index.html
  • https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/corpse-flower-rare-bloom-pungent-scent-geelong-botanic-gardens/104590534
  • https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/natural-wonders/thousands-turn-out-to-smell-the-foul-stench-of-a-rare-flower-at-the-geelong-botanic-garden/news-story/df29e2622f7330bf7490753fd2f14e0e


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. Thousands
  2. a botanic
  3. smell a corpse
  4. It is the world's
  5. A corpse is a dead
  6. some people held
  7. Other people coughed and
  8. rotting
  1. smelliest flower
  2. held their breath
  3. garden in Australia
  4. garbage
  5. their nose
  6. of people
  7. flower
  8. body

Paragraph 2

  1. The corpse flower is very
  2. It is an endangered
  3. There are only a few hundred of
  4. in the
  5. the forests where
  6. one of the biggest
  7. it flowers once
  8. for a day
  1. every ten years
  2. the flowers
  3. or two
  4. species
  5. in the world
  6. rare
  7. it grows
  8. wild

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Thousands (1) ___________________ to a botanic garden in Australia (2) ___________________ corpse flower. It is the world's smelliest flower. A corpse (3) ___________________ body. The smell is bad, (4) ___________________ held their nose. Other people coughed and (5) ___________________. Some people said the smell was like a dead (6) ___________________ garbage.

The corpse flower (7) ___________________. It is an endangered species. There (8) ___________________ few hundred of the (9) ___________________ the wild. A lot of the forests where it grows have (10) ___________________. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It (11) ___________________ over 40 years old. However, it flowers (12) ___________________ years and opens for a day or two.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

ThousandsofpeoplewenttoabotanicgardeninAustraliatosmellacorps
eflower.Itistheworld'ssmelliestflower.Acorpseisadeadbody.Thesme
llisbad,sosomepeopleheldtheirnose.Otherpeoplecoughedandheldth
eirbreath.Somepeoplesaidthesmellwaslikeadeadmouseorrottingga
rbage.Thecorpseflowerisveryrare.Itisanendangeredspecies.Therea
reonlyafewhundredoftheflowersleftinthewild.Alotoftheforestswhere
itgrowshavebeencutdown.Theflowerisoneofthebiggestintheworld.I
tlivestobeover40yearsold.However,itflowersonceeverytenyears
andopensforadayortwo.

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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