Unit Objectives
Forces of Nature

Students use and are exposed to vocabulary in order to describe subjects related to extreme weather conditions and natural disasters.

Describing Past Events & Stories

Students study the Past Simple, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect Simple tenses in the context of narrating both simple past events and longer and detailed stories.

Compound Sentences

Students are introduced the basic mechanics of writing compound sentences.

Listening
Natural Disasters

Activity based on recording of several people describing experiences with natural disasters. Activity reinforces student understanding of unit vocabulary.

Hiro's Story

Grammar-based listening activity serving as a comprehension-check of the past tenses. Activity is based on one man's story of surviving the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Hurricanes

Activity based on one man’s description of his experience with a hurricane. Activity contains several unit vocabulary words.

Speaking
Unit Introduction Discussion

Unit introduction conversation activity.

Vocabulary Discussion

Vocabulary discussion activity.

Role-Plays

Students improvise dialogues according to prompts.

Story Creation

Students work in groups and prompt each other in an effort to orally recite stories in the past simple and continuous tenses.

Discussion

Students discuss answers to questions that focus on the use of the Past Simple and/or the Past Continuous.

Explain Why

Students work with a partner and give fictional reasons for doing things in the past. Activity targets the use of the Past Perfect Simple.

In What Order?

Students work with a partner and use the Past Perfect Simple to figure out the order in which their partner did activities listed on their page.

Recalling Details

Students read short stories to their partner and then quiz them on their comprehension targeting responses in the passive voice.

What Happened?

Students present situations to each other in order to prompt sentences in the passive voice.

Grammar
The Past Simple & Continuous

Students review and reinforce their comprehension of the past simple and continuous tenses. Page also covers the rules along with several audio examples of the three ways to pronounce “...ed” in past forms of regular verbs.

Past Perfect Simple

Students learn the meaning, form, and usage of the past perfect simple tense and its role in narration.

Past Passive

Students practice using the three tenses studied in Unit 3 in the passive voice.

Reading
Three Stories about Natural Disasters

Reading activity containing examples of unit grammar and vocabulary.

Use of English
We'd Been There Before

Four short conversations that serve as a lead in to Grammar 3-2.

ReliefWeb

Students use ReliefWeb.int, a digital service provided by the United Nations, to learn about areas of the world experiencing problems with natural disasters.

Writing
Compound Sentences

Students learn how to write compound sentences.

Transition Words & Phrases

This lesson focuses on linking devices used to connect ideas between sentences or within compound sentences. Students practice using these transitions.

Paragraph

Students write a paragraph describing a natural disaster.

Vocabulary

appear

backpack

blizzard

bomb

cause

chase

choke

climb

coast

damage

destroy

direction

disaster

earthquake

find out

float

flood

floor

force

freezing

frightening

frightened

go off

ground

harsh

hill

hit

hurricane

interrupt

kite

land

landslide

measure

natural

nature

pass by

prepare

rebuild

rescue

Richter Scale

roof

scream

shake

shout

storm

tsunami

typhoon

underwater

wall

wave

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