The Reading / Listening - Chips - Level 2

Visitors to a beach saw a strange sight this week. The beach was covered in French fries ("chips" in British English). Thousands of bags of chips washed up on a beach in England. The bags were in containers that fell off ships. Bad weather caused three of the containers to fall into the sea. Tides carried one of the containers to the shore. A local man found the chips. He said: "From a distance, it looked like the golden sand of a Caribbean beach, but on closer inspection, we saw not just the chips, but chip bags." He said the chips were 75 cm deep in some places.

Many volunteers went to the beach to help clean it up. The local man said the chips were a danger to the environment. He said: "Removing the plastic bags is a priority." He is worried about seals that live near the beach. He said: "If the seals see the bags, they will...try to eat them." A local official warned people to be careful if they go to the beach. She said: "Some of the food items washing on to the shoreline may be harmful." She asked people to report any new food. The chip spill is the second such event recently. Last month, thousands of bananas washed ashore.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Chips - Level 0 Chips - Level 1   or  Chips - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lxkl3gd6jo
  • https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/nothing-compares-to-this-locals-left-stunned-after-thousands-of-chips-wash-up-on-sussex-beach/ar-AA1UtVyx
  • https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/25775185.thousands-bags-chips-wash-beachy-head/


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. Visitors to a beach saw
  2. The beach was covered
  3. "chips" in
  4. The bags were in shipping
  5. cargo
  6. currents and
  7. from a
  8. In some areas, the chips
  1. tides
  2. British English
  3. were 75 cm deep
  4. in French fries
  5. distance
  6. containers
  7. a strange sight
  8. ships

Paragraph 2

  1. volunteers went to the beach
  2. the chips were a danger to
  3. Removing the plastic
  4. seals that live
  5. If the seals
  6. a local
  7. The chip spill is the second
  8. thousands of
  1. the environment
  2. near the beach
  3. official
  4. bananas washed ashore
  5. such event
  6. bags is a priority
  7. to help clean it
  8. see the bags

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Visitors to a beach saw a (1) _________________________________________________ week. The beach was covered in French fries ("chips" in British English). Thousands of bags of chips (2) _________________________________________________ a beach in England. The bags were in containers that fell off ships. Bad weather (3) _________________________________________________ the containers to fall into the sea. Tides carried one of the containers to the shore. (4) _________________________________________________ found the chips. He said: "(5) _________________________________________________, it looked like the golden sand of a Caribbean beach, but on closer inspection, we saw not just the chips, but chip bags." He said the chips were 75 cm (6) _________________________________________________ places.

Many volunteers went to the beach to help (7) _________________________________________________. The local man said the chips were a danger to the environment. He said: "Removing the plastic bags is a priority." He is worried (8) _________________________________________________ live near the beach. He said: "If the seals see the bags, they will...try to eat them." (9) _________________________________________________ warned people to be careful if they go to the beach. She said: "Some of the food items washing on to the shoreline (10) _________________________________________________." She asked people to (11) _________________________________________________ food. The chip spill is the second such event recently. Last month, thousands of (12) _________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Visitorstoabeachsawastrangesightthisweek.Thebeachwascoveredi
nFrenchfries("chips"inBritishEnglish).Thousandsofbagsofchipswas
heduponabeachinEngland.Thebagswereincontainersthatfelloffships
.Badweathercausedthreeofthecontainerstofallintothesea.Tidescarri
edoneofthecontainerstotheshore.Alocalmanfoundthechips.Hesaid:
"Fromadistance,itlookedlikethegoldensandofaCaribbeanbeach,but
oncloserinspection,wesawnotjustthechips,butchipbags."Hesaidthe
chipswere75cmdeepinsomeplaces.Manyvolunteerswenttothebeach
tohelpcleanitup.Thelocalmansaidthechipswereadangertotheenviro
nment.Hesaid:"Removingtheplasticbagsisapriority."Heisworriedab
outsealsthatlivenearthebeach.Hesaid:"Ifthesealsseethebags,theyw
ill...trytoeatthem."Alocalofficialwarnedpeopletobecarefuliftheygoto
thebeach.Shesaid:"Someofthefooditemswashingontotheshoreline
maybeharmful."Sheaskedpeopletoreportanynewfood.Thechipspillis
thesecondsucheventrecently.Lastmonth,thousandsofbananaswash
edashore.

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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