20th Century Lives British English Teacher 2
20th Century Lives British English Teacher 2
20th Century Lives British English Teacher 2
20TH
CENTURY
LIVES
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1 Warm up
Match the beginnings and endings of these phrases about people’s lives.
1. to be born in a. 1965
3. to be from c. Japanese
4. to be a d. his paintings
5. to be Canadian or e. London
6. to be married or f. writer
7. to be beautiful or g. poor
8. to be rich or h. divorced
2 Reading
These photos show three famous people from the 20th century. Match the photos to the texts. Then
complete the life story of each person using the words in the box.
A B C
1 2
He was a famous American . He was famous for his . He
3 4
was born in in Mississippi, USA. His parents were very - it
was a difficult time in the American economy.
1
He was a German . He was famous for his theory of relativity. He was born
2
in 1879 in Germany. His father was a businessman and his mother was a .
1
He was the prime minister of from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955. He was born
2
in England in 1874. His parents were and famous - his father was a politician
and his mother was the daughter of an American millionaire.
3 Language point
Study these sentences.
Was and were are the past tense forms of the irregular verb to be.
were we/you/they
were they
1. In the past tense, we use different / the same forms of to be with I and he/she/it.
2. We make / don’t make contractions with positive sentences with to be in the past tense.
4. We repeat / don’t repeat the adjective when we give a short answer to a yes/no question.
How are the past and present forms of to be different? Compare the number of forms and contractions.
4 Practice
Read the life stories of two famous African-American women. Use the information to write the
missing questions or answers. Write full sentences. The examples will help you.
Text A
Aretha Franklin was a famous singer and songwriter. She was the first woman in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. She was born in 1942 in Memphis. She was from a big family. Her parents
were friends with lots of famous singers.
Text B
Althea Gibson was a famous sportswoman. She was the first African American woman to
play tennis internationally. She was born in 1927 in South Carolina, USA. Her parents were
farmers. She was the winner of Wimbledon in 1957 and 1958.
Read about two more famous women. Work in A/B pairs. Student A, read about Agatha Christie and
Student B, read about Tove Jansson.
• There is some information missing from your texts and your partner has the answers. Work alone
to write questions to ask your partner. Use the words you are given.
• Then ask and answer questions together and write the missing information in the text.
• After you finish speaking, show your partner the pictures on your page. Then tell your partner if
you know these writers and enjoy their books.
Student A
Read and write questions about Agatha Christie. Give information about Tove Jansson
1. Agatha Christie was ....
2. She was ....
3. She was born in ....
4. She was famous for .................................... Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
5. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were ....
6. She was married ....
1. Who ...
2. Where ...
3. When ...
4. What ...
Use this text to answer your partner’s questions. Speak in full sentences.
Text 1
Tove Jansson was a writer and artist. She was born in 1914. She was from Finland. She was
famous for her books about the Moomins. The Moomins were little animals who lived in the
forest. Jansson’s parents were artists too.
Student B
Read and write questions about Tove Jansson. Use the words you are given to help you make
questions. Give information about Agatha Christie.
1. Tove Jansson was a ....
2. She was born ....
3. She was from ....
4. She was famous for .................................... the Moomins.
5. The Moomins were ....
6. Jansson’s parents were ....
1. Who ...
2. When ...
3. Where ...
4. What ...
6. Were ...too?
Use this text to answer your partner’s questions. Speak in full sentences.
Text 2
Agatha Christie was a famous writer. She was English. She was born in 1890. She was famous
for her books about Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. They were very clever detectives. She
was married twice.
6 Extra practice/homework
Read the life stories of two politicians and the questions about them. Find ten grammar mistakes and
correct them. Three of the sentences are correct.
4. She was a Member of Parliament for the Labour party for 34 years.
6. She and her husband Ted were very interested in their nieces and nephews.
7 Optional extension
In English, we stress the information words in a sentence. This means we say these words more
strongly: louder and longer. If some words are stressed, other words sound weak, or unstressed
(softer and shorter). Unstressed words are usually grammar words. Understanding stressed and weak
words helps you listen and speak better in English.
Listen again to the sentences about Elvis Presley and notice the strong and weak words. Then practise
saying the sentences like the recording.
• He was a famous American singer.
• He was famous for hismusic.
• He was born in 1935 in Mississippi, USA.
• His parents were very poor– it was a difficult time in the American economy.
Now mark the strong and (weak) words for these sentences about Albert Einstein. Listen and check
your ideas. Practise saying the sentences with stressed and weak words.
• He was a German scientist.
• He was famous for his theory of relativity.
• He was born in 1879 in Germany.
• His father was a businessman and his mother was a pianist.
Transcripts
2. Reading
Historian: He was a famous American singer. He was famous for his music. He was born in 1935 in
Mississippi, USA.
Historian: His parents were very poor - it was a difficult time in the American economy.
Historian: He was a German scientist. He was famous for his theory of relativity. He was born in
1879 in Germany.
Historian: His father was a businessman and his mother was a pianist.
Historian: He was the prime minister of Britain from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955.
Historian: He was born in England in 1874. His parents were rich and famous - his father was a
politician and his mother was the daughter of an American millionaire.
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Key
1. Warm up
5 mins.
Explain that the context of this language is famous people’s life stories. Demonstrate the exercise with the first
item and then give students a minute to complete other phrases. Note that the items are presented as infinitives.
You should call attention to the bold words in the first four items as these prepositions or articles determine
the completion of the phrase; the final four items are all adjectives. Elicit or explain the meaning of any unknown
words. Drill the pronunciation of all items – be careful with beautiful /’bju:tIf@l/. Then pose the follow-up questions.
You could also teach students the word to be single (not married or in a relationship). For the final questions, accept
any reasonable responses: any year, activity, cities or countries, jobs or nationality adjectives.
1. → a. 2. → d. 3. → e. 4. → f.
5. → c. 6. → h. 7. → b. 8. → g.
Answers:
Which adjectives are opposites? 7→ Married and divorced, rich and poor.
Which pair of adjectives refer to women and men? 7→ Beautiful refers to women and handsome to men.
Think of one more way to end the first five phrases. 7→ Student’s own answers.
2. Reading
10 mins.
Work with the whole class to match the photos to the names/texts. Then students can work alone to complete
the gap-fill. They can check answers in pairs and then listen to the recording. If students need to listen again,
that’s fine. Finally, check answers with the whole class and pose the follow-up question.
Text 1: C
Text 2: B
Test 3: A
Elvis Presley
1. singer
2. music
3. 1935
4. poor
Albert Einstein
1. scientist
2. pianist
Winston Churchill
1. Britain
2. rich
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3. Language point
10 mins.
Students have already covered the basic forms and uses of to be in the present simple. In this lesson, they are
introduced to the past simple of this extremely important irregular verb. Go through the examples and questions
with students. Then pose the follow-up question - –students may find this challenging so you could give them
some support if they need it. Finally, drill the target language in all the example sentences with the students.
There are three forms of to be in the present (am, is, are) and only two in the past (was/were). In the present we
make contractions with the positive forms (I’m, you’re, he’s, etc) but we do not do this with the past (I was, you
were, he was, etc).
4. Practice
10 mins.
The aim of this exercise is to provide practice with a range of question and answer forms using was/were. This
activity also prepares students for the writing and speaking activity that follows. Go over the instructions and
the examples. Point out that students need to write full sentences and correct any wrong information, as in the
example. Students work alone and then check answers in pairs. Finally, check answers with the whole class. This
is a good opportunity to revise rising intonation for yes/no questions and falling for question-word questions,
which students have studied in an earlier unit.
NOTE: If students are finding this difficult, skip the speaking stage and do the extra practice/homework exercises
in class for additional support.
Text A:
13 mins.
In this stage, students will activate the vocabulary and grammar from the lesson in an information-gap activity.
Go over the instructions and set up A/B pairs. For the first stage, each student should work alone to read their
own gapped text and prepare questions to ask their partner to find the missing information. They should use the
words they are given to write their questions. Monitor and support as necessary. Variation: at the end of this
stage, students could compare the questions they have prepared with a student who has the same role (A or B).
In the second stage, students work in A+B pairs. They take turns to ask their prepared questions and record the
missing information. Their partner can answer by finding the information in the second text that they have on
their page. Encourage students to give their answers in full sentences.
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Finally, check both the questions that students prepared and the answers with the whole class. Encourage
students to use full sentences and correct their own/each other’s mistakes. You could also elicit or explain the
meaning of clever detectives. (Note: Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries.)
Early finishers can answer the follow-up question.
Student A questions:
6. Extra practice/homework
2 mins to explain.
These exercises can be assigned for homework or used instead of the speaking activity if the class needs more
support. If you use these for homework, make sure that you mark the exercises in a future class, or collect them
from students and mark them yourself outside class. If you prefer, you can make the answers available to students
and they can check their own answers.
Shirley Chisholm:
1. (correct)
2. She was born in New York in 1924.
3. Her parents were from Barbados and Guyana.
4. She was the first African American woman to join the US Congress.
5. She was famous for helping women and children.
6. Where were Shirley Chisholm’s parents from?
Barbara Castle:
7. Optional extension
10 mins.
These exercises are designed as a cooler activity if you have time in your lesson. In this activity, students recognise
and produce stressed and unstressed words in sentences from the lesson. Go over the information and the
sentences about Elvis Presley. You could elicit that grammar words include prepositions, articles and to be verbs.
Play the recording of the Elvis Presley sentences once for students to notice the stress and then again for them
to copy - pause the recording after each sentence for them to repeat. You can also drill the students in various
ways. Then ask students to mark stressed and unstressed words for the sentences about Albert Einstein -– they
can put unstressed words in brackets and underline stressed words or highlight them in different colours. Check
answers and then students can then practise the sentences in pairs. Depending on their L1, students may find
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these exercises difficult or strange. Reassure them that pronunciation is an important part of language learning and
encourage them to have fun with the activities. They will improve receptive and productive skills with practice.
(He was a) German scientist. (He was) famous (for his) theory (of) relativity. (He was) born (in) 1879 (in) Germany.
(His) father (was a) businessman (and his) mother (was a) pianist.
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