Inside Out Web Guides
Pre-intermediate
Unit 14
Phone history
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/indext.shtml#telephone
Unit 14 takes a look at phones. What do your students know about the invention of the telephone? Start off by asking them some questions, e.g. Who invented the telephone? When was it invented? What does telephone mean? etc. Then check out the answers on the web site.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/tech1900/phone.html
This site takes a look at the first telephone operators. Again set a number of comprehension questions for your students to answer or a series of true/false questions, e.g. The first operators were teenage boys. True or false? Alternatively, you could use the texts here as the basis of a jigsaw reading activity.
http://www.museumphones.com/index2.html
Ask your students what a telephone looks like. Then ask them what they think they used to look like. Finally, take a look at the pictures in this online museum – how old do they think each phone is? If you hold the cursor over each picture the date will appear. Which do they like the most? Why?
Texting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/so/hotstuff/mobiles/index.shtml
Of course the modern way of phoning is texting. This BBC site takes a novel look at texting by asking you to contribute. Find out when texting started, have a look at some of the text messages and try the online quiz. You can also look at the latest gadgets.
Unit 16
Life expectancy
http://www.hksrch.com.hk/life_old.html
The first reading text in unit 16 is entitled ‘How not to die before you get old’ and looks at Chiako, a centenarian from Japan. Here is an interesting life expectancy quiz. Your students simply answer the on-screen questions (a few may require explanations or the use of a dictionary) and at the end they are told how long they will live. Collect the results and then have a discussion about how accurate such a quiz can be.
Unit 17
Animal quiz
http://www.kidsplanet.org/games/quiz/
How much do your students know about animals? Try out this fantastic quiz – although the pictures are a bit childish the content is excellent. Put your students into teams and set a time limit of about fifteen minutes. Start them off, monitor and see which team can get the highest score. Again, as with many quizzes, the value is not so much the quiz itself as the discussion that can be generated from it.
Unit 18
Crop circles
http://www.circlemakers.org/
The definitive site on this weird phenomenon contains everything you could ever want to know about crop circles and much more; the perfect companion to pages 106-107. If you go to the ‘New documents’ section and click on ‘Top of the crops 2002’ you can find some amazing pictures. Ask your students how they think each one was made.
Coincidences
http://coincidences.nawaz.org/
On page 108 there are three stories about coincidences. Start off by finding out if your students have ever had any similar experiences – if so, get them to tell the class about them (if they are willing). Next, ask them to take a look at a few of the stories on this site – you might want to pre-select a few before you do this in class (on the basis of topic and language level) as there are quite a few (over 50 at the moment).
Reincarnation
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa041700a.htm
On page 109 there is a short text about reincarnation. Start off your lesson by finding out if your students believe in reincarnation. Before the students look at this site, divide the class into groups and give each group a set of questions, such as What was the name of the person? When did they live? Where? Who did they think they had been? etc. Allocate each group a different story – there are seven to choose from on the site – and get them to read the story and answer the questions. Next, regroup your students and ask them to exchange information. Finally, see if your students have changed their opinions about reincarnation.
Unit 19
Cars
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/indexf.shtml#Ford
http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1993/Henry_Ford_main.htm
Unit 19 is all about cars, but how much do your students know about the origin of the modern car?
Start off by writing up the name Henry Ford on the board and then elicit as much as your students know, writing their ideas up on the board. Now click on these sites and find out how much of what they offered is correct.
Bill Bryson
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/
http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/bryson.html
http://books.guardian.co.uk/firstchapters/story/0,6761,557450,00.html
http://www.smallisland.co.uk/
On page 116 there is a short extract from The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. If your students enjoy this why not give them a chance to find out more about the writer and also read some more extracts from his books?
Gene
http://www.gene-pitney.com/home.html
http://www.history-of-rock.com/gene_pitney.htm
Who is Gene Pitney? What do you know about Gene? Find out all you could ever want to know on this official site which includes a short biography as well as the opportunity to listen to more Gene Pitney songs. Alternatively, take a look at the History of Rock web site.
