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March – Spring is in the Air!

Spring and Easter Crossword – Spelling and Vocabulary A1 → A2

How many Spring and Easter vocabulary can you identify and spell out correctly? Look at the

crossword clues in the list below and then, fill it out on page 3. You can do this in pairs or in

teams, as a competition.

ACROSS DOWN 1 Something that protects you from the

rain. 1 A red insect with black spots.

2 An insect with big colourful wings that feeds on flower nectar.

2 An insect which lives in a hive and makes honey.

3 A green plant that grows on wide areas of parks, gardens and yards. Many animals eat it, for example cows, deer or horses.

3 A baby frog.

4 A typical flower that grows in May. It can be red, yellow or pink. 4

A tiny insect which stores food underground in the spring and summer in order to survive in the winter.

5 People like spring because there are many …………………. growing outside. 5

A weather condition of strong wind, rain, lightning and thunder.

6 The third month of the year. 6 On sunny days, many families have lunch

in the park. In English, we call this a …………………………..

7 The Easter ………………. comes to children and brings them chocolate eggs and candy.

7 A special coat you wear when it´s raining.

8 It is very beautiful and there is a popular song about it: red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. I can sing a ………………..

8 When trees start to flower, we say that they ………………

9 It has numerous legs, and after living in a cocoon for some time, it turns into a butterfly.

9 A type of sweet snack which comes in many shapes and sizes and is made of sugar.

10 In Easter, children usually go on a scavenger ……………………. in which the look for candy and chocolate.

11 In Easter, we put chocolate eggs wrapped in colourful paper in a …………………..

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B2 → C1 Reading into Speaking / Writing – 8th March is International Women´s Day, a day

when we celebrate women´s equality all over the world. Commemorate this special day in

the English classroom with the following activity about notable female adventurers,

activists, scientists and politicians whose lives inspired us throughout the XXth and XXIst

century! First, ask your pupils to look at the images of influential women on page 4. Can

your students identify any of them? In pairs, have them guess and discuss who these

women might be and what they may have accomplished. They can speculate by using the

following expressions:

She might have / could have …

I think she could have been / in my opinion she is (was) …

It looks like she is (was) a politician / author / singer / mountaineer / scientist…

It´s very likely / unlikely that she was…

My guess is that she …

Then, look at page 5, read the biographies and match the correct name to its photograph.

After having completed the Reading task, have your students discuss the following as a

speaking/writing activity:

How have these women influenced history and our everyday lives?

What are their principal accomplishments?

Were any of these women controversial? Why do you think so?

Whose life particularly impressed you and why?

In your opinion, which woman from page 4 was the bravest? Why?

What other powerful, inspirational (or both) women do you know? Tell your class

about them!

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A. GABRIELLE CHANEL, nicknamed “Coco”, was a French fashion designer who founded the Chanel fashion house. She began her career by setting up a hat shop in Paris and extended it in 1921 into a boutique. Recent documents have shown that she gained social and political influence during World War II by collaborating with the Nazis.

B. ROSA PARKS was an African American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger upon the request of bus driver James F. Blake. She was subsequently arrested and charged with the violation of the segregation law. She was defined by the United States Congress as “the first lady of civil rights”.

C. AUNG SAN SUU KYI is a Burmese politician who struggled for the implementation of democracy in Myanmar, a military dictatorship. The political party she founded, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the general elections in 1990, but Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for many years. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but couldn´t attend the ceremony and give her acceptance speech until after her release, in 2012. Last year, the NLD won the 2015 Myanmar general elections.

D. DIAN FOSSEY was a famous primatologist who studied the endangered mountain gorilla for over eighteen years in Rwanda, where she founded the Karisoke Research Centre in 1967. After discovering that heavy poaching of the animal was widespread in the mountains of Rwanda, she established the Digit Fund in order to finance patrols in which she and her team destroyed poachers´ traps. She is the author of “Gorillas in the Mist”.

E. EMMELINE PANKHURST was Britain´s most prominent member of the suffragette movement. She actively campaigned for women´s right to vote as well as the improvement of their civil and labour rights, and was arrested several times for doing so. In 1903 she founded the Women´s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

F. MALALA YOUSAFZAI is an eighteen year old Pakistani activist who is best known for speaking out against the discrimination of girls and fighting for children’s right to go to school. When she was eleven, she was asked to write a blog for the BBC in which she exposed the reality of living under the Taliban rule. She is the youngest person to have ever received the Nobel Peace Prize.

I. MOTHER TERESA was an Albanian nun and missionary who founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic congregation. She worked in India for many years, where she tended to the sick, the poor and the starving. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

H. EDURNE PASABAN is a Basque Spanish mountaineer and the first woman to successfully climb all fourteen eight-thousander summits. She achieved this in May 2010 after having successfully climbed the Shishapangma peak.

G. MARIE CURIE-SKLODOWSKA was a Polish scientist who undertook an extensive study of radioactivity and discovered two chemical elements, polonium and radium. She carried out most of her research in France where she was a professor at the University of Paris. She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, which she won twice in different fields: in 1903 (physics) and 1911 (chemistry).

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Match the following words and expressions from the text with their meaning:

1. Fashion designer A. Animals or plants which are slowly disappearing due to climatic change, the destruction of their habitat or human activities such as excessive hunting or poaching

2. Civil rights activist B. A formal expression of someone´s (often political) choice

3. To give up C. To give someone a prize for something outstanding they have achieved

4. Democracy D. Women who publicly called for women´s right to vote at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century

5. To arrest someone E. Someone who designs clothing for men, women and children

6. To release someone F. To do something

7. Endangered species G. To study something in great detail, usually for a long time

8. To poach H. To be weak of hunger

9. Trap I. To organise a series of public activities in order to achieve something

10. Prominent J. A political system in which people decide who rules their country by voting for political representatives

11. Suffragette K. To stop trying, stop doing something, OR to give sth to someone

12. To campaign for L. To try very hard to achieve something

13. Vote M. To take someone to jail or a police station

14. To face discrimination N. To hunt animals illegally

15. To undertake O. To allow someone to leave a place where their freedom was limited, such as a prison

16. To award P. Someone who is very well known; notable

17. Summit Q. A tool used to catch an animal

18. Starving R. To not be treated equally

19. To research S. Someone who fights for the equal rights of all people, regardless of what their gender, race or social status may be.

20. To struggle T. The very top of a mountain

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Vocabulary practice – fill in the gaps in the sentences below with a word or expression

from page 6:

1. Poachers and hunters set up to catch animals.

2. Scientists must undertake extensive if they want to make an important discovery.

3. At school, Mary really with maths.

4. Never on your dreams!

5. Nowadays, there are many on the planet, such as the giant panda.

Did you know …? Talk about these facts with your students to make sure they understand

the text on page 5:

Myanmar… …is a country in Asia, which borders with India, Thailand, Laos

and Bangladesh. It is also known as Burma. People who live in Myanmar speak Burmese.

The Nobel Prize…

…is a prestigious award given to notable people whose contributions in a certain field have been particularly outstanding. The Nobel Prize is awarded every year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in six different areas: Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Economic Sciences and Physiology or Medicine.

Rwanda… …is a small country in central Africa which borders with nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The native language of Rwanda is Kinyarwanda, but you can also speak English and French there!

An eight-thousander… …is a mountain which is 8,000 metres high or more above sea level. There are only 14 eight-thousander summits in the world, and all of them are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Pakistan, India, China (Tibet), Bhutan and Nepal.

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Reading comprehension. Read the text on page 5 again and decide whether the sentences

below are TRUE or FALSE.

TRUE OR FALSE ?

1. Gabrielle Chanel developed her career in Paris. T F

2. Rosa Parks spoke out against the discrimination of African Americans. T F

3. Aung San Suu Kyi gave her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1990.

T F

4. Dian Fossey was an author who travelled to Rwanda to write a book about gorillas.

T F

5. Thanks to suffragettes, women were finally allowed to vote. T F

6. Malala Yousafzsai was a journalist who worked for the BBC. T F

7. Malala thought it was important that all children received an education.

T F

8. Mother Teresa joined a religious congregation in India. T F

9. The last peak that Edurne Pasaban reached in the race to become the first woman in the world to climb all eight-thousanders was Mount Everest.

T F

10. Marie Curie-Sklodowska made some important discoveries in chemistry and physics.

T F

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Endangered animals PROJECT – A2 → B1 Speaking into Writing

Spring is a month in which we celebrate wildlife and nature. Unfortunately, many animals

are vulnerable or even endangered. This means that each year there is less and less of them,

due to factors such as climate change, the destruction of their natural habitat or excessive

hunting and poaching. Talk about this problem briefly with your students and ask them if

they know any endangered animals. Then, tell them they are scientists and that they will be

preparing a research project about their favourite endangered species (they can work in

pairs). On a large A3 or A2 coloured piece of paper, have them draw or stick a photo of the

animal they will be “researching”. Then, ask them to write down as many facts as possible

in a fun and interactive way (for example, they can include a map to show which parts of the

globe are inhabited by the animal they are working on). Below you can find examples of the

information your students can include in their project:

What is this animal called?

Where does it live?

Why is it endangered?

What needs to be done and what is currently being done in order to stop this animal

from becoming extinct?

What does it eat?

What are its common behaviours?

Is it active at night (nocturnal) or during the day (diurnal)?

The tiger

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Answers

Crossword (p. 2)

ACROSS DOWN 1. UMBRELLA 1. LADYBUG 2. BUTTERFLY 2. BEE 3. GRASS 3. TADPOLE 4. TULIP 4. ANT 5. FLOWERS 5. STORM 6. MARCH 6. PICNIC 7. BUNNY 7. RAINCOAT 8. RAINBOW 8. BLOSSOM 9. CATERPILLAR 9. CANDY

10. HUNT 11. BASKET

Vocabulary from Reading activity (p.6)

1 E 2 S 3 K 4 J 5 M 6 O 7 A 8 N 9 Q 10 P

11 D 12 I 13 B 14 R 15 F 16 C 17 T 18 H 19 G 20 L

Vocabulary practice (p.7)

1. traps 2. research 3. struggles 4. give up 5. endangered species

Reading comprehension (p. 8)

1. True 2. True 3. False – she made her acceptance speech in 2012 after being released from house

arrest 4. False – she was a primatologist who researched gorillas in Rwanda 5. True 6. False – Malala wrote a blog for the BBC but didn´t work for them as a journalist 7. True 8. False – Mother Teresa founded a religious congregation in India 9. False – the last summit she climbed was Shishapangma

10. True

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