October 20, 2009Topic: “Challenges”

Language focus: Past Simple reg. & irr. verbs

Focus on pronunciation: final ‘ed’

Watch and listen to Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, then answer the following question:

What is the Eden Project?

A private park

A scientific project to preserve the natural world

A landfill site (=where people throw their waste)

Answer:

The Eden Project is a scientific project to preserve the natural world.

The Eden Project shows the importance of plants and how we depend on them for the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, and for our food and medicines.

In the biomes there are 80,000 plants from around the world.

The Humid Tropics Biome is the world’s largest greenhouse, 50 metres high and 240 metres long, with giant rainforest trees and a 25-metre-high waterfall. It has plants and products from the Amazon, West Africa, Malaysia, and Oceania.

The Warm Temperate biome has plants from three different areas of the world with the same climate: South Africa, the Mediterranean, and California. There are also olive groves, grapevines, and orange and lemon trees.

The Roofless biome outside has plants from Chile, the Himalayas, Australasia, and Cornwall. Works of art tell the story of the plants and their use in food, medicine, and construction.

Match the words in column A with the explanations in column B:1. Biome

2. Roofless

3. Greenhouse

4. Works of art

5. Rainforest

6. Giant

7. Waterfall

8. Olive groves

9. Grapevines

a. Without a roofb. A place where a river falls

from a high cliff or rockc. A group of olive treesd. A thick forest in areas that

have a lot of raine. Very large, hugef. Common name for the plants

of grapesg. A painting or a statueh. Plants & animals that exist in

a particular environment e.g. forest or desert

i. A building with glass sides and a glass roof for growing plants in

Answers: 1 – h 2 – a 3 – i 4 – g 5 – d 6 – e 7 – b 8 – c 9 – f

Listening practice 1:Listen to an interview with Tim Smit, the man who first had the idea of the Eden Project and complete the datafile:

The idea of the Eden Project began with a discussion in a 1______.

The idea became a reality 2 ________ years later.

The project cost £ 3 ________.

The Millennium Commission gave £ 4 ________.

When work began in 5 ______, it rained every day for 6 _____ days.

In its first year, Eden had 7 _______ visitors.

Answers:

The idea of the Eden Project began with a discussion in a 1 pub

The idea became a reality 2 3 years later

The project cost £ 3 86m

The Millennium Commission gave £ 4 43m

When work began in 5 1998, it rained every day for 6 100 days

In its first year, Eden had 7 a million visitors.

Listening practice 2:

Listen to the interview again and answer the following questions:

1. What did Tim Smit and his friend want to do for Cornwall?

2. Where did the idea of a rainforest in a greenhouse come from?

3. Did they expect to have so many visitors in the first year?

4. In Tim Smit’s opinion, what was the reason for Eden’s success?

Answers:

1. They wanted to bring more visitors to the area and create more

jobs.

2. From newspapers and TV.

3. No, they didn’t. It was the best thing that happened.

4. The fact that they had a wonderful team of people who worked

incredibly hard to make it a success.

Language Focus

Look back at the verbs in both Listening practice 1 & 2. They are all in the Past Simple.

WHY?

Answers:

They all refer to finished actions or situations in the past.

Past SimpleRead the examples and then complete the grammar rules on the next slide:Positive We wanted to bring more visitors to the area We had a wonderful team of people

Negative The weather certainly didn’t help us. The workers didn’t make any progress for three months.

Questions Did you have a good team of people? Did you expect so many visitors?

Short answers Yes, we did. No, we didn’t.

Now complete the rules by writing finished or unfinished, -ed, did, infinitive or past

participle: Use the Past Simple for ________ actions and situations in the

past.

To make the Past Simple of regular verbs, add ____

For the Past Simple of irregular verbs, see lists of irregular verbs in

grammar books.

To make the negative use ____ + not (contracted form ______) +

________.

To make questions use _____ + subject + _______.

To make short answers use ______ (positive) or ______ (negative).

Answers: Use the Past Simple for finished actions and situations in the past.

To make the Past Simple of regular verbs, add -ed

For the Past Simple of irregular verbs, see lists of irregular verbs in

grammar books.

To make the negative use did + not (contracted form didn’t) +

infinitive.

To make questions use did + subject + infinitive.

To make short answers use did (positive) or didn’t (negative).

Language Practice 1Complete the following text about Tim Smit’s life with the correct Past Simple form: Tim Smit ____ (be) born in 1955 in the Netherlands of an English mother

and a Dutch father. Because his father ______ (work) for KLM airlines his parents _______ (live) abroad. Tim ______ (not live) with them but _________ (go) to an English boarding school, which he ________ (hate). On holidays in Turkey he ________ (become) interested in archaeology and ________ (study) it at university. After university he ________ (get) a job as an archaeologist at a museum in the north of England.

He ________ (love) the job but he _________ (not earn) a good salary so instead he _________ (begin) a career as a rock musician in London and ________ (start) a band. In 1982 the band _______ (have) a number one hit in thirteen countries.

Five years later he ________ (move) to Cornwall with his wife and three young children, and this move __________ (bring) the biggest change in his life.

Answers:Tim Smit was born in 1955 in the Netherlands of an English mother and a

Dutch father. Because his father worked for KLM airlines his parents lived

abroad. Tim didn’t live with them but went to an English boarding school,

which he hated. On holidays in Turkey he became interested in

archaeology and studied it at university. After university he got a job as an

archaeologist at a museum in the north of England.

He loved the job but he didn’t earn a good salary so instead he began a

career as a rock musician in London and started a band. In 1982 the band

had a number one hit in thirteen countries.

Five years later he moved to Cornwall with his wife and three young

children, and this move brought the biggest change in his life.

Language practice 2Past Simple quick test. Complete the table:

INFINITIVE become begin come cost do find get give____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE

INFINITIVE have make think see cut forget grow learn_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE

INFINITIVE write teach tell throw wear lose feel win___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE

INFINITIVE become begin come cost do find get give____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE

Answers:

INFINITIVE become begin come cost do find get give____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE became began came cost did found got gave

INFINITIVE have make think see cut forget grow learn ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE had made thought saw cut forgot grew learnt*

INFINITIVE write teach tell throw wear lose feel win____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST SIMPLE wrote taught told threw wore lost felt won

* learned is also possible.

Eden – key dates: November 1994: The Eden Project received its first grant* of £ 25,000 When_______? May 1997: The Millennium Commission gave Eden a grant of $ 37.5m

How much________? May 2000: Thousands of people watched the construction of the biomes

What__________? October 2000: The ‘green team’ planted the first trees in the Humid Tropic

BiomeWhere________?

March 2001: 7,000 visitors arrived at Eden for the official openingWhy________?

June 2001: Eden welcomed its one millionth visitorWhen________?

* grant= money given for a particular purpose

Now prepare questions to the above e.g. When did the Eden Project receive its first grant?

In Nov. 1994

Answers: May 1997: The Millennium Commission gave Eden a grant of

$ 37.5m

How much did the Millennium Commission give Eden? May 2000: Thousands of people watched the construction of the

biomes

What did thousands of people watch? October 2000: The ‘green team’ planted the first trees in the

Humid Tropic Biome

Where did the ‘green team’ plant the first trees? March 2001: 7,000 visitors arrived at Eden for the official opening

Why did 7,000 visitors arrive at Eden? June 2001: Eden welcomed its one millionth visitor

When did Eden welcome its one millionth visitor?

Further reflection on topic & language: You can find explanations and further practice on Past

Simple in “Working with Grammar Gold” (Longman) – Unit 10 ‘The past’ (from 10.1 to 10.4).

You can also find lots of practice on the following websites:

www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_past.htm http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/tensesimpast.htm#

tense You can find lots of info on the Eden Project on its

official website: www.edenproject.com