The Supernatural. Discussion. Task 1 Discuss the following statements with a partner. Do you agree or disagree?

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1 Discussion Task 1 Discuss the following statements with a partner. Do you agree or disagree? Example: It s best to stay at home on Friday 13 th and avoid ladders. I don t agree at all. I think only ignorant people are superstitious, Friday 13 th isn t an unlucky day, it s the same as any other day. I don t think it s unlucky to walk under a ladder. 1 Ghosts do not exist. 2 There are some people with special powers who can see into the future. 3 Sometimes dreams can tell you what s going to happen in the future. 4 It s a good idea to read your horoscope every day Page 1 of 10

2 Reading and grammar The Supernatural Task 2 Look at the irregular verbs in italics in the text below. With a partner, write the infinitive forms and check you know the meaning. Example: go went 1 hit 2 sank 3 lost 4 was, were 5 wrote 6 told 7 had 8 saw 9 did 10 found 11 said 12 knew 13 left 14 went The sinking of the Titanic the surprise disaster? The disaster of the Titanic, the trans-atlantic liner that hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage in April 1912 is well known all over the world passengers lost their lives and one of those was William Thomas Stead, a well known journalist. His death aboard the Titanic is ironic because of two of his news articles. He wrote the first one in 1886 where he described the sinking of a liner in which many people died because there weren t enough lifeboats. The second story was about a medium (a person who contacts the spirits of dead people) who was travelling on a ship called Majestic. The medium told the captain (who was actually later the captain of the Titanic) about a dream she had in which another ship was sinking nearby because of a collision with an iceberg. In her dream, three of the passengers survived because they jumped onto another iceberg. The medium told the captain to stop when he saw an iceberg; he did and they found the three shipwrecked people. There are other stories about premonitions regarding the Titanic. Some people didn t travel on the liner because of a dream about a large ship sinking in the Atlantic. One of the survivors, Mrs Hart, said she knew something terrible would happen and she didn t sleep at night on the Titanic. Before the disaster happened, some magazines published stories and poems about a ship which hit an ice-berg and sank. The Titanic left from Southampton. Another strange coincidence is that just before the Titanic sank, all the lights in the port of Southampton suddenly went out Page 2 of 10

3 Task 3 Now read the text and complete each question with words from the box. You won t use all the words. did did did did did do didn t find found lose lost was were survive survived sink write Example: When did the Titanic sink? In April, ) How many people... their lives in the tragedy? About ) What... William Thomas Stead...? He was a journalist. 3) When... he... the first news article about a liner that sank? In ) What... the second story about? It was about a medium who had a dream about a sinking ship. 5) How... three passengers...? They jumped onto an iceberg. 6)... they... the shipwrecked people? Yes, in the end they found the shipwrecked people. 7) Why... some people want to travel on the Titanic? Because they had a dream about a sinking ship Page 3 of 10

4 Discussion: Talking about superstitions Task 4 Look at the illustrations. Write down all the words that you associate with them - English words and words in your own language. Friday 13 th Task 5 In pairs, compare your lists and try to explain the meaning of any words you have written in your own language. Task 6 In pairs, ask and answer these questions. Tell your partner about some superstitions in your country. Do you have these superstitions in your country? Do you believe in these superstitions? Page 4 of 10

5 Jigsaw reading and speaking The Supernatural Task 7 Get into groups of three. Check you know the following words. If you don t, look them up in a dictionary and write their meaning next to them. chest... lung... nails... magician... spell... furniture... curator... haunt... Student A read Story 1 Student B read Story 2 Student C read Story 3 When you have read the story, tell it to the other two people in the group. Try not to look at the story while you are telling it but include as many details as you can remember. Supernatural story 1 Ardi is a doctor from Indonesia. When he was a student he often worked long hours in a hospital in Surabaya in Java. One night a young man came into the hospital with terrible pains in his chest. Ardi did all the normal checks he listened to the patient s breathing, he took his temperature, he took his blood pressure everything was OK. Ardi couldn t understand why the man was suffering such awful pain. Next, Ardi took an x-ray of the man s lungs and got an enormous surprise. The man s lungs were full of small pieces of metal that looked like nails. You know, doctors see some strange things but Ardi had never seen anything like this before. He asked the patient if he had eaten any nails. The patient was very surprised to be asked such a strange question and said he hadn t. Ardi couldn t understand how the pieces of metal could have got into the patient s lungs. Ardi now tried to find out a bit more about the patient s life to understand what might have happened. He discovered that the patient was having problems with his wife, their marriage hadn t been successful and the patient was now living with a new partner. The only solution Ardi could think of was that patient s wife had caused this to happen. Perhaps she had spoken to a magician and asked him to put a spell on the patient. Ardi could do nothing to help the patient. The only thing the patient could do was to see a magician to ask him to remove the spell Page 5 of 10

6 Supernatural story 2 Two Americans, Susanne and Wade, had just bought a house in Baton Rouge near New Orleans. It was Saturday and they wanted to take some furniture to the house. They went to the house and started to carry in the furniture. After a while they felt a bit tired so they decided to have a rest and lay on the bed for a while. While they were resting an old lady with grey hair came into the room and asked them if they wanted a cup of tea. They said they did. The lady then said that she was happy that they had bought her house and that she was sure they would look after the house very well. My friends didn t know the lady but they weren t frightened at all. They said the lady was very kind and friendly. But the lady didn t come back and they didn t get any tea. Later that day they told a neighbour what had happened. They described the old lady to the neighbour. The neighbour was very surprised. They had described the lady who lived in the house before they bought it, but she had died in the house two years earlier. My friends said that this story didn t frighten them. The house always had a warm friendly feeling. They were sure that it was the kind lady who offered them tea who gave the house this nice feeling. They never saw the lady again. They were very happy in the house. Now they live in Houston. Supernatural story 3 In 1910, a plane crashed into a mountain in Alabama, U.S.A. This was one of the first plane crashes. A few years later, an aeroplane museum was built near the site of the crash and the wrecked plane was put in the museum. Over the years, the curators of the museum have sometimes seen people in old-fashioned clothes staring at the ruins of the plane. They think that they are the ghosts of the victims of the plane crash. When the curators try to speak to them, they disappear. The museum contains lots of different planes from wars which took place during the twentieth century. A curator of the same museum has seen men in flying suits wandering around the area containing planes from the second world war. He says they are the ghosts of men who were killed in air battles during the second world war. A cleaner in the museum was very frightened and left his job when he saw a pilot sitting in a Vietnam war plane. People who want to work in this museum must not be afraid of ghosts! Page 6 of 10

7 Discussion The Supernatural Task 8 Do you believe the stories? Read all the stories. Which story do you prefer? Task 9 Answer the questions. Which story...: 1)...is about a friendly ghost? 2)...is about more than one ghost? 3)...is set in a hospital? 4)...is about someone who had an unhappy marriage? 5)...is about the ghosts of people who died tragically? 6)...is not about ghosts? Task 10 Do you know a good ghost story? Tell the story to the people in your group. Writing Task 11 You ve read three supernatural stories, now it s your turn to write a short ghost story. First, look at the supernatural stories again and underline any words that you think may be useful for your story. Now, look at the sentence below. It was a cold winter s night. Robert was sleeping when suddenly... Think about how to complete the story in 200 words or four short paragraphs. Before you start writing decide what to include in each paragraph. Look at this example: Paragraph 1: when Robert saw the ghost and what he saw Paragraph 2: Robert s reaction Paragraph 3: who Robert told about the ghost story and their reaction Paragraph 4: the explanation for the ghost Decide what to write in each of your paragraphs and share your ideas with your partner. Now write your story in pairs Page 7 of 10

8 Speaking Role play Task 12 Work with a partner. Read the information on the card your teacher gives you. Work in groups of three. Tell the others in your group what you think about supernatural things. Role card A You don t believe in the supernatural. You think there are explanations for all supernatural things like ghosts. You don t read horoscopes, you don t believe that when you are born can influence your future. You don t believe that it s possible for someone to look at your hand and that person can then know your future life. Try to persuade the others in your group that you are right. Role card B You have no opinion at the moment on ghosts or the supernatural. You listen to the others in your group and decide who has the best argument. Ask the others in your group questions about what they think. Role card C You are a great fan of horoscopes and you read your horoscope every day and believe what it says. You ve seen a ghost and believed it was real. Sometimes you pay people to look at your hand and tell you your future they re always right! Try to persuade the others in your group that your ideas are true Page 8 of 10

9 Quirky English dead (dɛd) or died (daɪd)? dead is an adjective. He s been dead for many years died is the past tense of the verb to die. He died in 1965 Task 13 Complete the sentences with dead or died. 1) Princess Diana... in a car crash in Paris. 2) Elvis Presley is.... 3) Mahatma Gandhi... on January 30 th, ) He isn t...! I saw him this morning! 5) All my plants... during the cold winter. Dictionary work Task 14 Look up the adjective dead and find out how many other meanings it has apart from the opposite of alive. Write some of them down below Page 9 of 10

10 Teacher s key LEVEL: Pre-intermediate GRAMMAR: Irregular verbs in the simple past & revision of simple past question forms. Assume students are already acquainted with the regular form of the simple past. SKILLS PRACTISED IN THIS WORKSHEET: speaking, reading, writing Task 2 Key 1 hit hit 2 sink sank 3 lose lost 4 be was, were 5 write wrote 6 tell told 7 have had 8 see saw 9 do did 10 find found 11 say said 12 know knew 13 leave left 14 go went Task 3 Key 1. lost 2. did / do 3. did / write 4. was 5. did / survive 6. Did / find 7. didn t Task 13 Key 1. died 2. dead 3. died 4. dead 5. died Page 10 of 10