2A

Vocabulary Exercise 3  ​page 18 

• Check the meaning of the adjectives. Practise the
Landscapes pronunciation, especially low /ləʊ/, narrow /ˈnærəʊ/ and
shallow /ˈʃæləʊ/.
Lesson summary • Students find three pairs of opposites.
Vocabulary: Landscape features; landscape adjectives; • Check answers as a class.
prepositions of place
Key
Listening: Four holiday adverts
deep – shallow; low – tall; narrow – wide
Grammar: there is / there are
Speaking: Discussing how students feel in different Exercise 4  ​page 18 
situations • In pairs, students match each adjective with two or more
Speaking: Describing a landscape of the landscape features in exercise 2.
• Check answers as a class.
Shortcut
• To do the lesson in 30 minutes, keep the lead-in brief Key
and spend no more than two minutes on exercise 1. (Possible answers)
Exercises 4 and 7 can be set for homework. deep  cave / ocean / lake / river / valley
icy  lake / river / stream
Lead-in 2–3 minutes low  hill / waterfall
• Write landscape on the board and elicit its meaning narrow  cave / lake / river / stream / valley
(everything you can see when you look across a large rocky  desert / mountain / shore / valley
area of land). Describe the landscape of a place you went shallow  cave / ocean / river / stream
to on holiday using target vocabulary from the unit, e.g. steep  cliff / hill / mountain / valley
Last year when I went on holiday, I stayed in a beautiful tall  cliff / waterfall
village by a river. The village lay at the foot of steep green hills wide  cave / lake / river / shore / stream / valley
and the shallow river ran through the village.
• Ask a few students to describe a landscape.
Extension: Fast finishers
Fast finishers work in pairs and take turns to describe the
Exercise 1  ​page 18  landscape in photos A–E. Encourage them to use as many
• Ask students to describe the photos. Write key words on words for landscape features and adjectives as they can.
the board. (A walking; B hiking; C rock climbing; D cave
diving; E kayaking) You will need them for exercise 5. Exercise 5 $ 1.16   ​page 19 
• Ask: Would you enjoy these activities? Why? / Why not? • Tell students they are going to listen to four holiday
adverts. They must match three of them with three of the
Exercise 2 $ 1.15   ​page 18  photos A–E.
• Focus attention on the words but do not check their • Play the recording for students.
meaning. Ask students to work in pairs and match as
• Check answers as a class. Ask students which words
many words to the photos as they can.
helped them to match the photos to the adverts, e.g.
• Play the recording for students to check their answers. 1 lake, tall mountains, deep valleys; 2 rocky caves, ocean;
• Check answers as a class and check the meaning of any 4 narrow rivers under trees, waterfalls.
unknown vocabulary.
Key
Key 1  E  ​2  D  ​4  A
A forest, waterfall, river, rocks
Transcript
B hill, rocks, valley
1 Bored with the beach? Hungry for adventure? Why not
C cliff, ocean, rocks
spend seven days in a remote and beautiful landscape
D cave, ocean, rocks
in Alaska? Kayak across icy lakes and shallow rivers.
E lake, shore, mountain
See eagles, bears and other fascinating wildlife. Or just
Transcript enjoy the amazing scenery on your journey through tall
A There are two people on a bridge near a forest. There’s a mountains and deep valleys. The view of the mountains as
waterfall and some rocks below them. The bridge goes you kayak across the lake is unforgettable.
across a river. 2 For experienced divers only, this holiday offers an amazing
B There is a man standing on some rocks at the top of a hill. chance to explore the rocky caves along the coast of
He’s looking out over a valley. Mexico. You can only reach some of these areas by boat –
C This man is climbing up a cliff. You can see the ocean and a boat that will be your home for five days. After three
the rocks below. days near the caves, the boat leaves the steep cliffs and
D This diver is inside an underwater cave in the ocean. He’s heads for the ocean for two days – a chance to see some
looking between the rocks. of Mexico’s amazing marine wildlife.
E This person is in a small boat – it’s a kayak. The kayak is 3 On this seven-day walking holiday in the Philippines,
on a lake, near the shore. In the background, there are you’ll see mountains and valleys, lakes and forests. But the
mountains. highlight of the week is the chance to stand beside Lake
Pinatubo, a lake inside a volcano. Thirty years ago, this

Unit 2 2
 lake didn’t exist at all. But when Mount Pinatubo erupted Lesson outcome
in 1991, the top of the volcano blew off. A shallow lake • If you are using iTools, first do the round-up activity to
formed, which soon became deep because of all the rain. review what has been covered in this lesson.
Take a break from the tropical heat by enjoying a swim in • Ask students: What have you learned today? What can
this beautiful and exotic natural feature! you do now? and elicit answers: I can describe landscapes.
4 Join Forest Trekkers on a Canadian adventure you’ll I understand descriptions of holiday adverts using landscape
never forget. We offer a two-week journey through the features, adjectives and prepositions of place.
spectacular scenery of Canada. See the parts of the country
that most tourists never reach:  kayak down narrow
rivers under the trees or walk across narrow, wooden 2B Grammar
bridges.  Find dark caves behind tall waterfalls. We promise
you’ll fall in love with this exciting and magical landscape, Past continuous
with its tall trees, clean waters and clear blue skies.
Lesson summary
Exercise 6 $ 1.16   ​page 19  Grammar: Past continuous
• Play the recording again for students to complete the Speaking: Asking and answering questions in the past
sentences. continuous
• Check answers as a class. Writing: The opening paragraph of a story
Key Shortcut
2 through, tall, valleys
3 rocky, along
• To do the lesson in 30 minutes, keep the lead-in brief and
spend no more than two minutes on exercise 1. Exercises
4 near, cliffs
3 and 8 can be set for homework and exercise 9 can be
5 beside, inside, volcano
done in the next lesson.
6 shallow, deep
7 down, under Lead-in 2–3 minutes
8 caves, behind, waterfalls • Remind students of the basic structure for telling a story
Transcript or describing an event: set the scene, describe the event,
See exercise 5. describe your feelings about it.
• Describe something that happened to you this morning,
Exercise 7  ​page 19  e.g. It was raining this morning and I was running to the bus
• Go through the Recycle! box together. stop. But I was too late and the bus left without me. I was
• With a weaker class, elicit countable and uncountable really annoyed!
nouns from the photos and write them on the board, • Ask a few students to describe something that happened
e.g. mountains, water, snow, rocks. Then elicit sentences to them this morning.
describing the photos with there is / there are and
countable and uncountable nouns. Exercise 1  ​page 20 
• Students complete the sentences. • Ask students to look at the scene in the photo. Ask: Where
• Check answers as a class. is it? What are the people doing?
Key
• Ask a student to read out the text. Then ask: Why does the
narrator notice the tall man?
1  There’s  ​2  There’s, there are   ​3  There are   ​
4  There’s Key
(Possible answer) Because the man is standing very still,
Exercise 8  ​page 19  wearing summer clothes and staring at the narrator.
• Go through the instructions together. Give an example,
e.g. In this area there are wide beaches. They stretch for Exercise 2  ​page 20 
hundreds of miles and there are steep rocky cliffs near them. • Go through the Learn this! box together.
(the Baltic Sea) • Ask: Do we use the past continuous to describe the main events
• Students take turns to describe and guess the areas. of a story or the background events? (the background events)
Monitor and help with vocabulary and grammar where • Students find the past continuous verbs in the text.
necessary. • Check answers as a class. With a weaker class, revise the
structure of the past continuous: was / were + -ing form
Extra activity of the verb.
• In pairs, students discuss their ideal activity holiday. • Ask: What were you doing before the class began? Check
They should think of different activities they could do
that students form the past continuous correctly.
and describe their perfect landscape(s) for the holiday.
• Ask a few students to share their ideas with the class. Key
were hurrying, were sitting, was talking, wasn’t looking,
was singing, (was) playing, were shouting, (were) waving,
(were) carrying, (were) running, was standing, was he
wearing, was looking

Unit 2 3
 For further practice of the past continuous: Extra activity: Fast finishers
Grammar Builder 2B  ​page 126  • Ask fast finishers to think about their story. Who will be
1 1 was texting   ​2  were … laughing   ​ the main characters? What will be the main event?
3  weren’t paying, was speaking   ​ • Students write their story for homework.
4  was walking, eating   ​
5  was watching, was reading   ​6  was … doing Lesson outcome
2 1 was shining   ​2  were singing   ​3  were getting   ​ • If you are using iTools, first do the round-up activity to
4  was putting   ​5  were making   ​6  was talking review what has been covered in this lesson.
3 1 were you doing   ​2  was watching   ​ • Ask students: What have you learned today? What can you
3  were … watching   ​4  wasn’t paying   ​ do now? and elicit answers: I can use the past continuous to
5  was your husband doing   ​6  was making   ​ set the scene of a story. I can write the opening paragraph of
7  was going a story using the past continuous.

Exercise 3  ​page 20  2C Listening

• Ask students to read the paragraph and complete it.
• Check answers as a class. Adrenaline junkies
Key Lesson summary
1  was shining   ​2  was rising   ​3  were carrying   ​ Vocabulary: Adjectives to describe people, sports and
4  was lying   ​5  wasn’t sleeping   ​6  were sitting   ​ landscapes
7  sharing  ​8  were they listening
Matura topic: Synonyms in listening exercises
Exercise 4  ​page 20  Listening: An interview about BASE jumping
• Revise the structure of past continuous questions. Speaking: Talking about BASE jumping
• Students make questions about the people. They then Shortcut
work in pairs to ask and answer the questions. Monitor
and check that students are asking and answering
• To do the lesson in 30 minutes, keep the lead-in brief,
spend no more than two minutes on exercise 2 and omit
correctly.
exercise 7. Exercise 8 can be set for homework.
Exercise 5  ​page 20  Lead-in 2–3 minutes
• Go through the instructions together and invite a student • Focus attention on the photo and the title. Ask:
to make a sentence, e.g. Some schoolchildren were walking What is adrenaline? (a substance that your body produces
to school. They were smiling and laughing. when you are very angry, frightened or excited and that
• Students set the scene. Remind them to omit the subject makes your heart goes faster)
if it is not needed. Monitor and help with vocabulary and Why do the people in the photo need adrenaline? (They are
grammar where necessary. doing something exciting and dangerous.)
What is an adrenaline junkie? (a person who is unable to
Exercise 6  ​page 20 
stop being in exciting and dangerous situations)
• Students swap notebooks with a partner. They choose Are you an adrenaline junkie? Why? / Why not?
three things they want to know more about.
• Students then swap notebooks again so that they can Culture note: BASE jumping
write their questions. BASE jumping is a sport in which participants jump from
fixed objects and use a parachute to help them land
Exercise 7  ​page 20  safely. BASE stands for the type of objects from which
• Students ask and answer their questions. They then write people can jump: building, antenna (tower), span (bridge)
the answers in their partner’s notebook. Explain that these and Earth (cliff ). The sport was invented by Carl Boenish in
additional pieces of information can make a description of the 1970s. Boenish died while BASE jumping in 1984. The
a scene more interesting. sport has featured in several James Bond films.
Exercise 8  ​page 20 
Exercise 1  ​page 21 
• Students use their own sentences from exercise 5 and
their partner’s questions and answers from exercise 7 to • Focus attention on the adjectives and ask students
write the opening paragraph of a story. Monitor and help whether they describe people, extreme sports or
with vocabulary and grammar where necessary. landscapes. Explain that some may be used to describe
more than one category.
Exercise 9  ​page 20  • Check answers as a class.
• Students take turns to read their opening paragraphs to Key
the class. The class then vote for the best one. People  athletic, brave, impressive, strong, terrifying
• Alternatively, students read each other’s paragraphs in Extreme sports  risky, spectacular, terrifying, thrilling
groups and decide on the best paragraph in the group. Landscapes  impressive, remote, spectacular

Unit 2 4
 Solutions Third Edition
2 Pre-Intermediate 21st Century Skills Project
Presentation: choosing a study holiday
21ST Century Skills Collaboration: making decisions
Key Competences Learning to learn, Cultural awareness and expression, Mathematics, science and technology
Useful language 4A weather, 4B comparison, 4D superlative adjectives, too and enough, 5B will and going to,
from the units 5D first conditional, 5G making contrasts, 6A describing visitor attractions

TASK
STEP 1: UNDERSTAND THE TASK   Work in pairs. Your class is going to visit an English-speaking country this
Read the task. What two things do you have summer. Your teacher has asked you to help choose the
to do? What do you think is important when
destination. Choose a city and give a presentation explaining
choosing a destination for a study holiday?
why you think it’s the best for your study holiday.
Make a list of factors.

• Opera H
rty ouse
• Statue of Libe • Harbou
Building r Bridge
• Empire Stare • Sydney
Harbour
• Broadway • Bondi B
odern Art each – s
• Museum of M urfing

a New York, USA b Sydney, Australia

film equipment
swimming pool
1 to 1 teaching
• Buckingham
language lab

Palace
• Tate Modern
• Oxford Stre
et School facilities
• Saint Paul’s
Cathedral Sydney, Australia ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓
London, UK ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
New York, USA ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗

Weather hottest coldest wettest

Sydney, Australia Jan July March
c London, United Kingdom London, UK July Jan Oct
New York, USA July Jan May
family
hostel
hotel

Accommodation Return flight

Sydney, Australia Y Y N Sydney, Australia £800

London, UK Y Y N London, UK £150

New York, USA N N Y New York, USA £500

SOLUTIONS THIRD EDITION Pre-Intermediate 21st Century Skills Project 2 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press­  1
 Solutions Third Edition

2 Pre-intermediate 21st Century Skills Project

Presentation: choosing a study holiday

STEP 2: PREPARE   Positives ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Study the information on the locations and the slides from a student’s
presentation and answer the questions.
• Cheaper flight £ 
1 What reasons does the
student give for their choice?
Negatives ✗ ✗ ✗
• Interesting city 4
• Can visit Tate Modern t
2 Do you think these are
valid reasons for choosing • Oxford Street – great shopping |
a destination for a study • Weather – British summer 55 • Interested in British culture  
holiday?
3 Choose a city from from page • No swimming pool at
1 and make a list of reasons
language school     ✕
f
for visiting it. • Been there before
4 Are there any negative factors
associated with visiting this
city? Make a list.

STEP 3: ANALYZE  
Work in pairs. Read the presentation.
How has the student developed their We’d prefer to visit this summer for the following reasons.
points from the slides in Step 2 to the Firstly, the flight is a lot cheaper and it is the nearest city.
presentation. Think about:
Secondly, this is a spectacular city with impressive art galleries like the Tate
1 The opening and conclusion
Modern. We’re all really keen to explore all the culture this city has to offer.
2 Grammar and tenses
Furthermore, in our free time, we can also go shopping on Oxford Street.
3 Adjectives
4 Linking words On the other hand, the summer here is very unpredictable. Showers and thunder
storms are likely. There is no swimming pool at the school here, but this facility is
not essential to improving our English.

While it’s true that some of the class have been here before, in spite of this, I would
recommend this city for our study holiday for the reasons I have mentioned.

STEP 4: CREATE   Work in pairs. Write a presentation about one

of the cities on page 1. Use your list of reasons from Step 1
and positive and negative factors from Step 2. Develop them
into a presentation using the criteria in Step 2.

STEP 5: PRESENT AND DECIDE  

Give your presentation to the class. When you have
heard all the presentations, decide which city to KEY PHRASES
visit. Use the key phrases below. Did a particular
presentation persuade you?

STEP 6: SELF-EVALUATION   Copy the statements into your notebook and score yourself from 1–4. 1 very well
a I can interpret data from a range of sources. 2 well
b I can give reasons for choosing a study holiday 3 needs practice
c I can present data in a presentation and give my opinion on it 4 not very well
d I can discuss different presentations and make decision on where to go.

SOLUTIONS THIRD EDITION Pre-Intermediate 21st Century Skills Project 2 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press­  2
 1 The British and the weather

Before you watch

1 SPEAKING   Work in pairs. Answer the questions.
1 Have you ever visited Britain? If so, what was it like? If not, would you like to go?
2 Do you know any British people? How would you describe their personalities?
3 What do you think foreigners think about people from your country?

Comprehension check
2 ⊲   Watch the DVD clip. Choose the correct answers.
1 Which of these is a stereotype about British people?
a They are polite.
b They are happy.
c They are generous.
2 What do most British people like talking about?
a sport   b politics   c  the weather
3 What percentage of people check the weather forecast every day?
a 17%   b 57%   c 70%

3 ⊲   Watch again. Number the types of weather in the order you first see them (1–4).

A rainy B snowy

C sunny D windy

4 ⊲   Watch again. Complete the sentences with the words below. There are two extra words.
embarrassed extreme finish interesting mild phrases start words
1 British people are to talk about certain things.
2 Some people talk about the weather because it is an  subject.
3 The weather in Britain is usually  .
4 In Britain, weather is unusual.
5 People often conversations by talking about the weather.
6 There are hundreds of weather in the English language.

Round-up
5 SPEAKING   Work in groups. Answer the question.
How do you think people in your country are different to British people?

photocopiable © Oxford University Press

 Vocabulary
6 RECYCLE   Match the adjectives below with the sentences that they describe.
confused embarrassed relieved shocked upset
1 I don’t understand what he just said about the meeting.
2 Oh dear, that’s so sad. I think I’m going to cry.
3 You’ve found my phone and my keys! Phew! I was really worried I’d lost them.
4 I can’t believe I forgot the words to the song. Everyone in the audience saw me!
5 Did you see the news? There’s a fire at the school! I can’t believe it.

7 Complete the text with the words below.

awkward controversial emotion stereotype

A different view of the British

Visitors to Britain often say the food is terrible, it rains all the time and the British
people never show 1  . But this is a 2 that many foreign people
who live in Britain don’t agree with. While British people may seem 3 or
shy at first, once they become friends, they can be warm and friendly. And don’t worry,
you can talk about more than the weather, as British people enjoy talking about more
4
topics like politics and religion with their friends.

Extension
8 Work in groups. Make a presentation that gives advice to foreign people who want to live in your country.
Think about the following:
• how to introduce yourself
• how to make friends
• what to do when you go to someone’s house
• what is polite and impolite in your country

9 Give your presentation. Use the key phrases for giving advice.

Giving advice
I think / don’t think you should …
You need to …
You have to …
You should …
That’s my advice.

photocopiable © Oxford University Press

1 DVD teacher’s notes

DVD clip summary

The DVD clip is about British people and their favourite topic of conversation: the weather.

Background
Britain has a temperate maritime climate. This means that it is quite mild compared to the rest of Europe,
with temperatures rarely dropping below 0 degrees Celsius or getting above 32 degrees. The warmest
months are July and August and the coldest months are December and January. In July, the average
temperature in London is 20 degrees, and in January, it is 7 degrees. The British climate is also quite wet:
on average, it rains on one in every three days.

Before you watch

Exercise 1
• Read the questions with the class and elicit answers from individual students. Encourage the students to
guess the answers they do not already know and use their suggestions to start a class discussion.
• Answers: Students’ own answers

Comprehension check
Exercise 2
• Pre-watching: Go through the questions with the students.
• ⊲   Play the whole DVD clip. The students choose the correct answers. Check their answers.
• Answers: 1  a  ​2 c  ​3 c
Exercise 3
• Pre-watching: Ask the students to look at the pictures and to try and remember the order that they saw the types of
weather in the DVD clip.
• ⊲   Play the DVD clip to check the answers.
• Answers: A 2  B 4  C 1  D 3
Exercise 4
• Pre-watching: Ask the students to try and complete the sentences before they watch the DVD clip again.
• Weaker classes: Play the DVD clip first and pause after each answer.
• ⊲   Play the DVD clip to check the answers.
• Answers: 1  embarrassed  ​2 interesting  ​3 mild  ​4 extreme  ​5 start  ​6 phrases

Round up
Exercise 5
• Put the students in groups. Give them a few minutes to discuss the question.
• Answers: Students’ own answers

photocopiable © Oxford University Press

Vocabulary
Exercise 6
• Ask the students to read through the sentences first, then match the adjectives with the sentences.
• Answers: 1  confused  ​2 upset  ​3 relieved  ​4 embarrassed  ​5 shocked
Exercise 7
• Ask the students to read through the text first, then complete the sentences. With a weaker class,
you could elicit the meanings of the words first.
• Answers: 1  emotion  ​ 2 stereotype  ​3 awkward  ​4 controversial

Extension
Exercises 8 and 9
• Materials needed: None
• Preparation: Put the students in groups of three. Tell them you are a visitor from England and that you
don’t know anything about how to behave in their country.
• Language: Elicit the word advice. Then focus on the key phrases. Decide which phrases to use for actions
that are a good idea (should), and which for actions that are essential (have to, need to).
• Activity: Ask the students to nominate two presenters and one note-taker in the group. Give the students
8–10 minutes to talk about the questions and make notes. Then ask them to present their ideas to the class
and also to you, the pretend visitor from England.
• Extension: After all the groups have presented their advice, ask the students to compare the different
ideas. For homework, you could ask them to write a guide for foreign visitors for a blog or web page.

photocopiable © Oxford University Press

1 DVD script

The British and the weather

There are lots of stereotypes about British people. All over the world, people think
that the British are shy and polite. The stereotype is that they’re embarrassed to talk
about certain things and don’t show much emotion at all.
In fact, stereotypically British people are usually quite quiet, except when they talk
about one thing – the British weather.
For some reason almost all British people enjoy talking about the weather. A recent
survey found that half of all British people mention the weather every six hours! 70%
of British people check the weather forecast every day and they are often still shocked
when it predicts rain. Even though it rains a lot!
So, why are British people obsessed with the weather? According to the survey, there
are a few different reasons for this. Some people said they talked about the weather
because it changed all the time. There is always something new and interesting to
talk about. However, others disagreed. They talked about the weather because it’s
usually mild, so it’s an easy topic of conversation.
While Britain sometimes has extreme weather this is very unusual, so the weather
is a safe and easy conversation topic. Everybody can join in and nobody will get
confused or upset. It is a perfect conversation starter for socially awkward Britons,
and many people are often relieved when they can chat about the weather rather
than more controversial topics, like politics.
And this weather talk is nothing new. There are hundreds of weather phrases and
idioms in the English language, and some of these are very old. So British people often
mention the weather – even when they aren’t talking about it!

photocopiable © Oxford University Press