2016-03-05 Saturday: 8 Weird News

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
“2016-03-05 Saturday: 8 Weird News”
This is the same level and book as the “Core” class.
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Letter puzzle warm-up.
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In your group, try to guess what each thing might have been used for in the past. What explanation do you think is most likely?
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p. 94 - What are the things in these three pictures?
The first picture might be aurora borealis or aurora australis.
part 2 - Listen to the three explanations, and write the number from the explanation (1-3) next to each of the words used in that explanation.
ants 2, 3
atmosphere 1
beetles 3
butterflies 2
flies 3
insects 3
nitrogen 1
oxygen 1
particles 1
predators 2
radiation 1
species 2
spikes 3
stem 2

Leaves and grass can have spikes.
Roses have thorns.
Cactuses have spines.
Pine trees have needles.
Porcupines have quills.

Flowers have stems.
Trees have trunks.

If the soil where plants grow doesn’t have nutrients, the plants might eat insects.
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p. 95 part 6
1 The colors are so vivid that you think they can’t be natural.
2 You imagine that they must be man made.
3 This might be a painting or a work of art.
4 It may not seem logical, but there are indeed plants that eat insects.
What do the bolded parts mean?
a 2 “They must be man-made.”
b 1 “They can’t be natural.” (Not only false, but impossible.)
c 3 “This might be a painting.”
d 4 “It may not seem logical.”
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Modals for obligation and for speculation are similar:

You must come on time. = You have to come on time. = This is the only option.
They must be man-made. = They have to be man-made. This is the only reasonable explanation.

You must not be late. = This is not an option.
They must not be natural. = This is not a reasonable explanation.

You could take the train to New York. = This is one of your options.
This could/may/might be a painting. = This is one of the reasonable explanations (but there are others).

This may/might not be natural. = It’s possible that it’s unnatural.

This can’t/couldn’t be natural. = It’s impossible that it’s natural.
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Modals about speculation in the present:
modal + base form
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part 8 - Read the paragraph about navigation and choose the correct options. (Sometimes both are okay.)
1 must be
2 (both are okay)
3 (both are okay)
4 could mean
5 can’t be

flock = a group of birds together
(You can look for lists of collective nouns for other words like this.)
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Remember, after every modal verb, the next verb is always in the base form.
will/would, can/could, shall/should, may/might, must, ought to, had better
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If simple past isn’t an option (for example because we need to use the base form, gerund, or infinitive of a verb), we usually use perfect = [have] + past participle.
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They must have been man-made. = This is the only reasonable explanation (about the past).
	= I’m pretty certain that they were man-made.
They must not have been natural. = This is not a reasonable explanation. = I’m pretty sure they weren’t natural.
This could/may/might have been a painting. = Maybe it was a painting.
This may/might not have been natural. = It’s possible that it was unnatural.
This can’t/couldn’t have been natural. = It’s impossible that it was natural.
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BREAK
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In groups of 3, speculate about what the items on the handout might have been.
1 This might have been a baby seat. It could be an object where you keep a person’s ashes. It could have been a nap pillow.
2 It might have been a belt buckle. It could have been a big button. It may have been a bracelet or cufflink.
3 These may have been used to cut meat. It could have been a spade for digging in the sand. They might have been a mirror and a razor.
4 It could be a slingshot. This may have been used to make fire. It could be a musical instrument. It could have been special glasses for snow.
5 It must be a basket. It can’t be a basket because it’s flat. It might have been some kind of map (of the stars, for example). It could be a strainer. It can’t be a strainer because it’s a basket. It could have been a trap for small animals.
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p. 96 part 1 - With a partner, complete the sentences and then ask and answer the questions.
1 ancient / sacred
2 period
3 prehistoric
4 century (1000 years = millennium, 10 years = decade)
5 sacred
6 society
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Do you know anything about what you see in the picture?
Read the article about the Nazca lines.

What are the theories about the Nazca lines?
They could have been landing strips for alien spacecraft.
The lines must have been part of an astronomical calendar.
They might have been ancient Inca roads or irrigation systems.
The Nazca lines may have been part of a long tradition of ceremonial activities connected to water and religious beliefs.

What other sentences speculate or draw conclusions about the past?
This must have seemed an astonishing, even sacred phenomenon.
Water must have had an incredible significance to these societies.
The same group of people can’t have created them.
The Nazca people couldn’t have seen them from above.
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Speculation about the past:
modal + have + past participle
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p. 97 part 8 - Choose the correct modal and rewrite the sentences so they have the same meaning.
1 Water can’t have been easy to find. / Water must have been hard to find. / Water must not have been easy to find.
2 The rivers might have dried up.
3 The lines must have been very important.
4 The lines may have had a religious significance.
5 The animal drawings couldn’t have been roads.
6 The animals must have lived in the region.
7 The Nazca people could have used simple tools.
8 People must have maintained the lines carefully.
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p. 101 - Read the news story. Do you think it’s a true story?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/06/georgian-woman-cuts-web-access - real newspaper article about this story
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part 3a - match the adverbs with the definitions
part 3b - cross out any options that are not possible
accidentally = by mistake
unfortunately = by bad luck
temporarily = for a short time (opposite: permanently)
immediately = at once
apparently = it seems that
1 Quickly
2 (both are okay)
3 amazingly
4 Rapidly
5 sadly
6 Slowly
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Homework: Write a fake news story in the same style of the article on p. 101. (You can use one of the headlines from p. 100 part 1.) (You can look at http://pastebin.com/b3PudCps for more work on this page.)
	Read p. 111 and do p. 110 parts 3, 4, 5