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ENGLISH FOR TEENAGERS · GENERAL ISSUES · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

LIVING IN A
SPACE
STATION
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1 Warm up

Look at the homepage of a website and try to answer the questions below.

1. What organization does it belong to? Do you know anything about it?

2. What is the website about?

3. What can you see in the biggest photo?

4. What do the numbers in the blue stripe show?

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2 The International Space Station

Part A: Read the questions and make guesses. Use the numbers to help you with your guesses.

The 10 most frequently asked questions about the ISS

17,000 249 250 256

3,000 354 72 90

a. How far away from Earth is the International Space Station? → mi.

b. How big is the station? → feet long.

c. How fast does it move? → mi/h.

d. How long does it take the ISS to make one orbit around Earth? → minutes.

e. What is the temperature inside the station? → degrees Fahrenheit

f. How many people have visited the station? →

g. How many spacewalks have the astronauts done? →

h. How many experiments have they done? →

Now, listen to the podcast and check how many answers you got right. Correct your mistakes.

Part B: Complete the sentences with one of the words.

circle provide solar panels sunlight

1. The room has no windows so there is no .

2. We get electricity from the on the roof.

3. A lot of satellites our planet all the time.

4. Rivers water for many cities.

Part C: Answer the questions.

1. What does the Moon circle?

2. Can wind provide electricity?

3. What happens to your skin if you stay too long in sunlight?

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3 Space routines

Part A: Think about living in space. Answer the questions.

1. What do you think is different when you live on a space station?

2. Which everyday activities are easier and which are more difficult?

Part B: You are going to read the text, Living in zero gravity – from an interview with an astronaut.
Before you do, scan the sentences and tick which you think might be true about Earth and which are
true about space. Read the text and check your choices.

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Living in zero gravity – from an interview with an astronaut

Astronauts on the International Space Station live like people on the

ground. We sleep, get up, wash, eat, work and relax. But there is
one big difference – there is almost no gravity in the station.
Because of that, we don’t walk but float around.

This makes some things easier to do. For example, lifting heavy
things is easy and dropping things to the floor is not a problem. But
there are things which can cause problems, for example eating
cookies or cutting hair.

Tiny pieces of cookies or hair float everywhere and they can get
inside the equipment and damage it.

We don’t cook. That’s why we eat dried food or liquid food out of
tubes. Because of zero gravity, our muscles don’t have to work very
hard and as a result, they get weak, so we have to exercise at least
two hours a day.

Another problem is water. There is very little of it in the station. We

produce our own water and over 90% of used water is recycled.
There is no running water, taps or sinks because in zero gravity
water floats everywhere.

We drink using straws. We don’t take baths or showers. We have to

wash up with special washcloths.

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4 Language focus: can, can’t, have to, don’t have to

Match the sentence functions (1-4) to the example sentences (a-d) below.

When we want to talk about what is impossible or unnecessary, we can use

these modal verbs:

can, can’t, have to, don’t have to

Which of the sentences below talks about what is

1. possible? a. They can’t take a shower.

2. necessary? b. Astronauts can lift big objects.

3. impossible? c. Their muscles don’t have to work hard.

4. unnecessary? d. They have to recycle water.

Now write the sentences in a different way. Use one of the modal verbs and don’t change the meaning.

1. It is possible to use solar energy to heat our homes.

2. It is not necessary to cut down trees to keep warm.

3. It is necessary to protect our skin from solar radiation.

4. It is not possible for us to live on the Moon.

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5 Practice
Part A: Decide if the statements about astronauts on the ISS are true (T) or false (F).

1. They can’t walk.

2. They have to drink with straws.

3. They don’t have to drink out of cups.

4. They can’t do exercise.

5. They have to recycle water.

6. They can wash with washcloths.

Part B: Complete the sentences about living in the space station with the correct modal verb.

can’t can have to don’t have to

1. They use water for washing.

2. They bring water from earth. They produce and recycle water.

3. They put things on a table because they float away.

4. They stick things to walls.

5. They use their legs to move around the station.

6. They bring food from Earth.

7. They relax without sitting down or lying down. There is really no up or down in
space.

8. They fix their sleeping bags to walls so they don’t float around when they are
asleep.

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6 Let’s play

Play in a group (or multiple groups) with an even number of players. Try to explain the words provided
by the teacher to the other players in your group.

7 Optional task: living on another planet

Work in groups. Imagine that you live on an imaginary planet in another galaxy. What is life like there?

• Choose a name for your planet.

• Complete the boxes with some ideas.

We can We can’t

We have to We don’t have to

Now present your planet to the class.

8 Homework

Is living in a space station fun? List the nice and not-so-nice things about living in the space station.

Living on the station is nice because

Living on the station can be difficult because

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Transcripts

2. The International Space Station

Narrator: The Space Station flies 250 miles above Earth. We can see it at night as a bright light
moving across the sky. It moves at a speed of over 17,000 mi/h. How fast is it? Well,
it takes the station only 90 minutes to make one orbit around our planet. It means the
station circles the Earth 16 times each day – that is in every 24 hours.

Narrator: The station is 354 feet long – as big as a football field. Large solar panels, which turn
sunlight into electricity, provide energy for the station. The temperature inside is usually
72 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s never too cold or too hot. Unlike, the temperature outside,
which can be as high as 250 degrees and as low as minus 303 degrees.

Narrator: 256 people from 20 different countries have visited the station so far. There are between
3 and 6 astronauts on the station at one time and they usually stay on a mission for 6
months. However, sometimes it can be much longer. Scott Kelly stayed in the station for
340 days. The astronauts are very busy, working inside and outside the station. They have
done 249 spacewalks and about 3,000 experiments and they are doing more every day.

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Key

1. Warm up

3-5 mins.
After the students answer the questions, encourage them to share any other things/words on the page they can
understand. If possible, visit the website and explore it together. You need to go to the main page and then choose
SPACE STATION. There will be different photos and the timer will show a different number.

1. NASA, it’s an American government organization which explores space

2. space/the International Space Station (the ISS)/astronauts
3. outside of the space station/an astronaut on a spacewalk
4. how long the ISS has been in orbit
Website: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

2. The International Space Station

15–20 mins.
Elicit a few guesses with the whole class, then let the students work on their own or in pairs. After listening,
make sure everybody has the right answers. Accept short answers like ‘250 miles’ or ‘354 feet long’ or, if you
want to consolidate the language from previous lessons, ask the students to write complete sentences. Exercise
2c clarifies the meaning of some vocabulary from the recording.
Note: The podcast was recorded in March 2022, so some of the data may not be accurate when you use the
worksheet.
EXTENSION – speaking practice/memory challenge
Students don’t look at the worksheet. You say one of the numbers from 2b and they have to say what it refers to,
for example:
You: 72 Students: The temperature inside the station is 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
Students can also test each other in pairs.
Part A:

a. 250 b. 354 c. 17,000 d. 90

e. 72 f. 256 g. 249 h. 3,000

(updated information: April 2022)

Part B:

1. sunlight 2. solar panels 3. circle 4. provide

Part C:

1. The Moon circles Earth.

2. Yes, windmills produce electricity from the wind.
3. Your skin gets red/sunburnt.

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3. Space routines

12 -15 mins.
The students learn more about life in the station.

Start by making them predict what life on a space station is like. You may expand the predictions and use
brainstorming and provide them with themes to think about, eg. food, water, sleeping, walking, washing, cooking.
Elicit ideas and answers to the questions before the reading. Accept any reasonable ideas and encourage group
or class discussion. You might want to write some of the ideas on the board and come back to them after the
reading.

There are a lot of videos from NASA presenting the daily life of the astronauts there that you can use (several links
below). The text also revises the modal verbs can, can’t, have to, don’t have to in context. They are the focus of
the Language Focus. Finish this section by asking the students to list the three best and three worst things about
living in a space station.
Video links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZx0RIV0wss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwv6Hcn-0HY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5FuPC6nsH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFYgeE32f0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goZM9NbH_40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bCoGC532p8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjH3k5gODI

Part A:
students’ own answers

The biggest difference is zero gravity, which makes some things easier (lifting, moving around) and some more
difficult (using water for drinking or washing, cutting hair, eating biscuits).
Part B:
True on Earth – 2, 5, 7;
True in space – 1, 3, 4, 6, 8.

4. Language focus: can, can’t, have to, don’t have to

5-7 mins.
The students consolidate what they have learned about the two modal verbs so far. The meaning is clarified.
Sentence functions:

1. → b. 2. → d. 3. → a. 4. → c.
Sentences:

1. We can use solar energy to heat our homes. 2. We don’t have to cut down trees to keep warm.
3. Humans have to protect their skin from solar 4. Humans can’t live on the Moon.
radiation.

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5. Practice

10-12 min. Students practice the modal verbs. For each point in 5c elicit examples from two or three students
and ask follow-up questions if possible. Make sure the students use ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ for possibility and not ability
or permission.
Part A:

1. True 2. True 3. False

4. False 5. True 6. True
Part B:

1. can’t 2. don’t have to 3. can’t 4. have to

5. don’t have to 6. have to 7. can 8. have to

6. Let’s play

10 mins.
Cut out the words below and distribute them among the students. The students then try to explain the vocabulary
to their groupmates. Circulate and help as needed.

7. Optional task: living on another planet

15 min.
Divide the students into small groups (4-6). They start by choosing a name for their planet. Set a time limit for
the preparation. The groups present their planets orally and then the class can ask questions. With big classes,
the groups can prepare posters with one representative standing next to it and answering questions, while the
other students walk around and look. At the end, the class can choose the planet which is more/most interesting,
dangerous, funny.

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8. Homework

5-10 mins.
The task summarizes the content of the unit.
Extension: If your students like drawing, they can be asked to draw the imaginary planet they described in class
and write the basic facts about it. In the next lesson the students are going to create a script for a science-fiction
movie and such drawings could be an inspiration.

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