Life
on other planets
Topic: Space exploration to find habitable
planets, call of the wild
Aims:
Educational (виховна):
To bring up the future leaders
and citizens of the 21st century with deep awareness of their
essential role in the solution making process of human life not only on the
Earth but in the whole Universe in comparison with their daily life today.
Developing: (розвиваюча):
- To help students understand a text
about space exploration
- To develop students’ vocabulary on
the topic of astronomy and space exploration
- To develop students’ communication
and discussion skills
- To learn
about the planet’s problems
- To learn how
to help the planet, wild life
- To teach
students to compare and analyze and to make their own conclusions
Learning (навчаюча):
- To review the use of modal verbs
(must, have to, should/ought to, mustn’t)
- To increase Ss knowledge in other
school subjects: Physics, Biology, and Astronomy.
- To develop
reading and speaking skills
- To learn new
vocabulary ( the names of planets)
Level: Pre-Intermediate
Introduction
This lesson looks
at recent developments in the search for habitable planets, opens up the topic
of the possibility of life on other planets, summarises the topic “Call of the wild”
based on unit 2, textbook Upstream – level B1+
Procedure
1. Warming up: / 5
min. Individual work/
A teacher asks students:
Do you know the names of the planets in our solar system?
(Students could shout them
out or discuss the names in pairs).
A teacher hands out the worksheet (task 1).
T. – You have to put the planets on order in Worksheet Task 1 and do it in pairs. Pay attention
that the clue is a mnemonic.
My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas.
The first letter of each word represents a
planet - in the correct order.
T
- Let’s quickly drill the planet names now.
What do you know about Pluto? (It’s been
reclassified as a dwarf planet or ‘plutoid’).
Worksheet
Task 1
These are the planets that orbit the sun:
Can you put the
planets in order? Here’s a clue: My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas
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T. –Let’s use a map of the Solar system. Point out to the planets.
Students – The eight planets that orbit the Sun are (in
order from the Sun): Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Another large body is Pluto, now
classified as a dwarf planet or plutoid.
2. Pre-reading activities.
/5 minutes, Individual and pair work/
Speaking.
T. - You have to look at the word cloud in Worksheet Task 2 and underline the planets (there are 3 –
Earth, Neptune and Mars).
All
these words are from a text that you are going to read later.
Circle
the largest words (these are the ones that occur most frequently in the text)
and tell them
Ss – They tell
the words
T - Could you guess what it is “Kepler?”
Ss - It’s the
name of a telescope and space mission as well as a person.
T – Do in pairs, complete the sentence ‘I think
the text is about…’ with your ideas.
Write up the different ideas/predictions
on the board to refer to later.
(A teacher uses
the Internet connection and a projector to display the word cloud on
the screen: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1893302/Untitled)
Worksheet
Task 2
Look at the word cloud. The words are from a text. Circle the biggest
words then complete this sentence:
I think the text is about ………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
The word cloud was created
here: http://www.wordle.net/
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3. Reading /10 minutes. Critical thinking, work in
pairs /
T. - I give you a
time limit of 2 minutes to read the text in Worksheet Task 3 (they’ll
read it again in more depth later) and check whether any of the predictions on
the board were correct.
Ss – They read a
text silently and then aloud (in order to work independently and then practise
better pronunciation)
Worksheet
Task 3
T. - Now read the text. Was your prediction in
Task 2 correct?
How many
planets are there in our galaxy? That’s a tricky question to answer.
Are there other planets that support life? That’s exactly what the Kepler
mission hopes to discover.
NASA launched
the Kepler space telescope, designed to find habitable planets, in 2009. So
far it has discovered five new Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system.
These planets are hotter than the Earth – much too hot for life as we know
it. The Kepler team predict that they will need at least three
years (and possibly longer) to find an Earth-like planet.
The simplest
requirement for a planet to have life (carbon-based life like on Earth) is
for there to be liquid water (not frozen or gas) so the distance from the
planet’s sun and therefore temperature are important. There also needs to be
the correct amount of air. If a planet is as small as Mars (half the size of
Earth) its weak gravity means that it can’t hold on to air molecules.
If a planet is
The cost of the
mission is approximately six hundred million dollars. It is scheduled to
observe until 2013 but this could be extended. Will we be sad if we discover
we are alone in our galaxy or happy if we find that we share it with
other life forms?
Glossary
tricky –
difficult
at least three
- three or more
weak – the
opposite of strong
size –
dimension, if a thing is big or small
alone – with no
other people
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- – Could you do the matching activity
in Worksheet Task 4 and then compare answers with a partner.
Answers:
1d, 2a, 3f ,
4b, 5b, 6e
Ss. - They read their answers
Worksheet
Task 4
Read and match 1-6 with a-e to make sentences about the text.
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4.
Follow up reading activities. Peer discussions and writing
/ 8
minutes. In groups/
T. - Find and underline the numbers in the
text in Worksheet Task 5.
First cover the text and then try to
remember what the numbers refer to.
You could do this
in pairs Look at numbers written on the board. I allow you to have a sneaky
look at the text if necessary. Then check your answers by looking back at the
text and write them down in your copy-books
Ss - Answers:
2009 - This is
the year that NASA launched the Kepler space telescope
5 – The Kepler
telescope has discovered five new Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system
3 – the number
of years that the Kepler team predict that they need to find an Earth-like
planet
½ - Mars is
half the size of Earth
4 - Neptune is
four times bigger than Earth
600 000000 –
The cost of the mission in dollars
2013 –The
mission is scheduled to observe until 2013
Worksheet
Task 5
A) Underline
these numbers in the text:
2009 - This
is the year that………………………………………………………….
5 -
…………………………………………………………………………………….
3 -
…………………………………………………………………………………….
½ -
……………………………………………………………………………………
4 - ……………………………………………………………………………………
600 000000 -
……………………………………………………………………….
2013 -
……………………………………………………………………………….
B) Cover the
text. Work with a partner and try to remember what the numbers refer to. Make
notes then look at the text to check.
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5. Discussion (in pairs, in groups,
personal opinions)
/
10 minutes. Group presentation/
A teacher asks
students the question in the last paragraph of the text
‘Will
we be sad if we discover we are alone in our galaxy or happy if we find that we
share it with other life forms?’ as a lead in to the discussion in Worksheet
Task 6.
Students - discuss the question in pairs or small groups.
T. – I can give you a few minutes to make notes of what you want to say
before you speak.
Ss – Write down and make notes
(A teacher circulates around the room and makes notes of any
common errors and pronunciation problems for class correction later. A teacher
also notes any particularly good use of language they hear, puts this on the
board at the end of the activity and draws students’ attention to it).
T. – Let’s ask a
few students to report their discussions back to the class.
Worksheet
Task 6
Discuss these
questions with a partner:
Do you think
the Kepler mission will find life on other planets?
What other
things do you know about space exploration?
Is it a good
idea to spend $600 million on space exploration?
Why do you
think NASA wants to find habitable planets?
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- -
Why do you think that NASA (an imaginary NASA!) has chosen the
items in Worksheet Task 7 to represent Earth for the new planet?
In pairs you have to add more items to the
list.
(A teacher splits
Ss in groups of 4 and asks them to justify their choices then monitors and notes
common errors and ‘good ‘language for feedback to the class as above).
Worksheet
Task 7
Imagine that
the Kepler mission finds life on a distant planet. NASA wants to send some
objects representing Earth to the new planet. Add more items to NASA’s list
of objects:
an
encyclopaedia
a computer
photographs of
world leaders
a bottle of sea
water
…………………………………….
……………………………………..
…………………………………….
……………………………………..
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5.
Wrap up. Summerizing.
/ 5 minutes. The
whole class/
T.
- I want to draw your attention to everything what had been
done during our lesson and I want you to try to remember the language in the
text , which is closely connected with the topic of our lesson–ex 1,4 p.20 (as
an example of a grammar focus exercise – modals:
must, have to, should/ought to , can, mustn’t…) What have we learnt today?
What did
we learn yesterday?
What was the same during the
lessons?
Ss – We should save our
planet in order…
People must take care of … because
We must protect….
T. - You could underline examples of ex 4, p. 28 as an example of
active
attitude
Ss - (Choosing the answers) Helping the
environment doesn’t really require
Enough/ too much / not have enough/ too much effort.
Let’s the three Rs be our
guide: Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle
T. - How to write a letter asking for information?
We talked about it at the previous
lesson. Are you interested in
protecting the local wildlife?
You saw such a poster on your school
notice book. Ex 4,p 24
Ss - share their ideas on this
question paying attention to conditionals:
We will be sad if we discover….
Ss- They do the tasks of the exercises in Worksheet Task 8, 9,10
7. Self-studies / 2
minutes. Individual tasks/
Project: home
task- 1.
Collect information about our planet (Power
Point Presentation)
2. Prepare a
three-minute speech about the ‘3 rs’.
(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) p.28, ex.3, 5 (using
Model verbs)
3.
Write a letter asking for information p.24 ex 1-
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