Unit 12

Activity 1
A Pair work
Look at these pictures from the TV news.
What do you think each story is about?
Use the words in the box and your own ideas.
Competition lost prize reunited sign waves
Flood ocean rescue rowboat trophy winner
I think the woman is the boy’s mother.
She looks happy. Maybe the boy was lost
Maybe. Can you read the sign behind them?
B Listen
You will hear four news reports. Complete the summaries.
1. Brennan Hawkins, 11 , got _____in the mountains
of Utah while camping with the Boy Scouts. Over
_______ people quickly joined the search after the
family created a Web site asking for __________
He was found ________ days later, hungry and , but fine
2. Ollie Hicks, 23, is the ________ person to row across the
Atlantic Ocean from west to east. His time of ____days is
also the ________On the beach to meet him on arrival in
Cornwall, England, was his old_____Friend, prince William.
3. The number one speller in the United States is Katharine
Close 13, from Spring Lake, New Jersey. She won the Scripps
National ________Bee on her ________ attempt. She won more
than $ _______ in cash and prizes. She practices her spelling
every________.
4. There were bad ________ when the Red _______ burst
its banks in Grand Forks, North Dakota. One family lost their home
._________ days later, Scott Frederick heard barking from the
family’s _________. He saved the dog in his boat
C Group work
Discuss these questions.

Which story had the happiest ending?
Which story did you like the best?
Have you read or heard about any similar stories?

Activity 2
A Pair work
Choose one picture. Use the questions below to make a story
B Jon another pair
Tell your story. Whose story is
more interesting?

Activity 1
A Work alone
Complete this survey
B Pair work
Compare your answers.
Then discuss these questions.

How are you and your partner similar? How are you different?
If you read a newspaper, which section do you read first?
Is it important for you to learn about current events? Why or why not?
What news sources do you trust the most? the least?

“We both bet some of our news from…”
You spend more time learning
about the news than me. I only spend..
Activity 2
A Pair work
What were the five most important stories from the past year?
B Join another pair
Compare your lists. Try to agree on
a single list.
We think the election was an important story
Really? We think …was more important because……”
C Group work
Discuss these questions.
Which story from the past year do you think got too much attention?
Why? What is this week’s “big” story? Why is it important?
Activity 3
A Pair work
Read these news articles. Try to guess the missing words.

Dog Helps Burglar
Bruce Green of Brisbane, Australia, trained his dog to _______ the front door from inside the house. The dog learned to______
up and pull the handle down with its paws. But last weekend, the house was _______

A burglar stole $100 in _________and a computer from the house. Because there was no sign of a break-in the________are sure that the dog opened the door.

.
Time is money

Mary Brown of Chicago was very ______________ when
her ex-husband remarried. She still had the _________to his
apartment. While he and his new wife were on their __________,
she went to the apartment and called the Speaking Clock in
London for the ___________. She didn’t hang up the phone.
When the couple returned two weeks later, the phone was
still on. The phone bill was $____________

Clever Octopus

Frieda, an octopus as the Munich Zoo in Germany, has learned
how to open jars of her favorite____________ snacks.
More and more _____________ are coming to the zoo
to watch her open jars of shrimp and clams.
“All we did was open some jars ________ where she could see us,” says a zoo attendant. “Frieda learned ___________ and how opens all the jars herself. But she refuses to open _____________ jars.

B Listen
Two people are talking about the news stories.
Write the missing words. Did you guess any words correctly?
C Group work
Discuss these questions.
Which story did you like the best? Why?
Do you believe everything you read? Why or why not?
“I liked the story about the... the best.”
Activity 4
Communication task Work in groups of three. One of you should
look at Task 14 on page 81, another at Task 34 on page 89,
and another at Task 39 on page 91. You’re going to read and hear
about more new stories.
Self-study
For extra grammar, listening, and vocabulary practice,
go to pages 116-117.