The Reading / Listening - Potholes - Level 5

Roads in the U.K. are in a dire condition. A village has decided to mock them with a "pothole theme park". Pothole Land opened last week in a remote area of Wales. Park visitors get to experience the thrill of driving along one of the UK's thousands of badly potholed roads. The park promises its potholes are "the deepest, longest and widest in Wales". Motorists will get to navigate "two kilometres of potholes, with very little actual road to spoil the fun". Some of the potholes are almost 50 cm deep. One villager joked that, "they're not potholes, they're bomb craters".

Decades of underinvestment have left British roads in a mess. It is almost impossible to drive without having to negotiate craters. This risks damage to the car. A resident complained that no repairs had been done to his village's roads in five years. Another villager complained about the "phenomenal" cost of car repairs because of potholes. Conditions are so bad that refuse collection drivers refuse to drive to one area. The U.K. government has set aside $1.95 billion over the next two years to provide "immediate fixes" to repair seven million potholes.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Potholes - Level 4 or  Potholes - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62q74xyq15o
  • https://uk.news.yahoo.com/what-causes-potholes-why-uk-123458351.html
  • https://www.gov.uk/government/news/seven-million-more-potholes-to-be-filled-next-year-as-public-urged-to-report-roads-in-need-of-repair


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. Roads in the U.K. are in a dire
  2. A village has decided to mock
  3. in a remote
  4. experience the thrill
  5. the UK's thousands of badly
  6. Motorists will get to navigate
  7. very little actual road to spoil
  8. they're bomb
  1. potholed roads
  2. craters
  3. condition
  4. two kilometres
  5. area of Wales
  6. the fun
  7. them
  8. of driving

Paragraph 2

  1. Decades of
  2. left British roads
  3. drive without having to negotiate
  4. complained that no
  5. the "phenomenal" cost
  6. refuse
  7. The U.K. government has set
  8. provide immediate
  1. aside $1.95 billion
  2. craters
  3. of car repairs
  4. underinvestment
  5. fixes
  6. repairs had been done
  7. in a mess
  8. collection drivers

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Roads in the U.K. are in (1) ________________________________________________. A village has decided to (2) ________________________________________________ a "pothole theme park". Pothole Land opened last week in a (3) ________________________________________________ Wales. Park visitors get to experience the thrill of driving along one of the UK's (4) ________________________________________________ potholed roads. The park promises its potholes are "the deepest, longest and widest in Wales". Motorists will get to navigate "two kilometres of potholes, with (5) ________________________________________________ road to spoil the fun". Some of the potholes are almost 50 cm deep. One villager joked that, "they're not potholes, (6) ________________________________________________".

Decades of underinvestment have left British roads (7) ________________________________________________. It is almost impossible to drive without having (8) ________________________________________________. This risks damage to the car. A (9) ________________________________________________ no repairs had been done to his village's roads in five years. Another villager complained about the (10) ________________________________________________ car repairs because of potholes. Conditions are so bad that refuse collection drivers refuse to drive to one area. The U.K. government (11) ________________________________________________ $1.95 billion over the next two years to provide (12) ________________________________________________ repair seven million potholes.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

RoadsintheU.K.areinadirecondition.Avillagehasdecidedtomockthe
mwitha"potholethemepark".PotholeLandopenedlastweekinaremot
eareaofWales.Parkvisitorsgettoexperiencethethrillofdrivingalongon
eoftheUK'sthousandsofbadlypotholedroads.Theparkpromisesitspot
holesare"thedeepest,longestandwidestinWales".Motoristswillgetto
navigate"twokilometresofpotholes,withverylittleactualroadtospoilt
hefun".Someofthepotholesarealmost50cmdeep.Onevillagerjokedth
at,"they'renotpotholes,they'rebombcraters".Decadesofunderinvest
menthaveleftBritishroadsinamess.Itisalmostimpossibletodrivewith
outhavingtonegotiatecraters.Thisrisksdamagetothecar.Aresidentco
mplainedthatnorepairshadbeendonetohisvillage'sroadsinfiveyears.
Anothervillagercomplainedaboutthe"phenomenal"costofcarrepairs
becauseofpotholes.Conditionsaresobadthatrefusecollectiondriversr
efusetodrivetoonearea.TheU.K.governmenthassetaside$1.95billio
noverthenexttwoyearstoprovide"immediatefixes"torepairsevenmill
ionpotholes.

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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