LESSON OVERVIEW
• Topic: Seasonal shift EXAM FILE p17
Learning objective: Students will be better able to understand how to identify different ways of expressing ideas and how paraphrase works when expressing ideas in a text.
Extra resources
C1 Advanced Exam Trainer
• Reading and Use of English — Part 8 Multiple matching pp44—46
Digital resources
• Presentation tool pp38—39
• Video: About C1 Advanced: Reading and Use of English Part 8
BEFORE YOU START
Read through the Exam reference on page 17 of the Exam file before starting the lesson. This will give you information about the specific exam part as well as which particular strategies and skills are important.
DYSLEXIA FOCUS
Dyslexic students may struggle with the exam task reading text (Ex 5) on p39. You can allow students to listen to the audio recording of the text to help support them in this task. Alternatively, if appropriate, ask students to read the text in advance of the lesson, but not to do any related activities. Allow enough time for all students to read it and use the fast finisher activity for those who finish early.
Dyslexic students may also benefit from the structured checklist in the Exam file (p17) to check their
preparedness for this exam part.
Warmer
Books closed. Write these two questions on the board:
1 Which season do you prefer?
2 If the seasons didn’t change and the weather was the same all through the year, do you think this would have a positive or negative effect on people’s moods?
Put students into small groups to discuss the questions.
Take brief feedback from the class.
3 4.2 Explain to students that the sentences form a summary of the recording about afternoon tea. Put students into pairs and ask them to read the sentences, ignoring the gaps, and to think about their meanings. They should underline the verbs and add the preposition that completes each verb. Play the recording for them to check their answers.
Answers
1 off 2 down 3 back 4 over 5 back 6 up 7 with 8 on 9 on 10 up
4 Ask students to rewrite the questions using the phrasal verbs from Ex 3, then compare their answers with a partner.
Take class feedback. Ask students to discuss what they would say in answer to each question with their partner.
Take feedback on some of the answers and ask which was the easiest/most interesting question.
Answers
1 dates back to 2 tide you over 3 rustle up 4 lay on 5 set you back 6 pass on
Flexible follow-up
Ask students to write their own questions using the remaining phrasal verbs from Ex 3. They can share their questions with the class, or discuss them with a partner.
5 Write the following on the board, and ask students to complete the sentence:
I find the healthiest way to stave off hunger pangs between meals is to … (e.g. eat an apple; drink a glass of milk; go for a walk)
Then go through the example in Ex 5 with the class. Put students into pairs and ask each student to write the first part of their sentence. They can either read their sentence half for their partner to complete orally or they can exchange their sentences to write their answers. Monitor, helping where necessary before taking class feedback.
Answers
Students’ own answers
Cooler
Ask students to write two sentences about their own meals, using two of the phrasal verbs from the section.
One sentence should be true, and the other should be made up. Put students into pairs to read their sentences to their partner, who should guess which one is true.
Flexible follow-up
Write the following sentences on the board. Ask students what the writer is doing in each case.
1 It was the worst meal I’ve ever eaten. (complaining about the meal)
2 The show was spectacular. (praising the show) 3 I’m not sure how good a job the builder did on
the house. (questioning the quality of the building work)
4 What you do first is read the text. (explaining a process)
EXAM BOOST
The exercises on page 16 in Section A of the Exam boost provide more practice of identifying paraphrase. These could be done in class or for homework.
Answers
1 1 questions 2 criticises 3 compliments 4 compares
2 Possible answers:
‘because of their job’ — ‘for work purposes’
the ‘people’ who live in these houses — ‘the residents’
‘the council’ — ‘the authorities’
‘congestion charge for through-traffic’ — ‘traffic control initiative’
‘city-centre hotels’, ‘bed and breakfast places’ —
‘accommodation’
‘nearby’ — ‘in the same location’
4 Focus students’ attention on the texts on page 39.
Explain the task, pointing out that they should scan the texts quickly for the answers rather than reading them in detail.
Put students into pairs to compare their answers. Check answers as a class, encouraging students to justify them.
Answers A and B
EXAM FILE Section A p16 1 Focus students’ attention on the picture on page 39 and
elicit what they can see (polar bears walking across pieces of ice floating in the sea). Put students into pairs to discuss the questions. For the second question, encourage them to think about both their own country and other countries around the world. Take brief feedback from each pair.
Answers
Students’ own answers
2 4.3 Tell students they are going to listen to a talk by an environmental reporter. Before they listen, ask them to read the questions and write down one thing they think the speaker will mention for each one. Write their ideas on the board. Play the recording, and get students to make brief notes for each question based on what they hear. If necessary, play the recording a second time. Then, ask them to compare their notes first with their own ideas from Ex 1, and then with their predictions.
Answers
1 Four distinct seasons north and south of the tropics.
Two seasons in the tropics: hot and dry, hot and rainy.
2 Planting and harvesting, animal life cycles
3 In four-season countries, summers are longer and winters are shorter — almost two main seasons with transitional months.
EXAM FOCUS
3 Explain to the students that they are going to do a Reading and Use of English Part 8 task. Tell students that this is a scanning activity and they have to identify information quickly. Explain that the information will not be expressed in the same way in the text as it is in the options. Go through the Exam focus with the class. Look at the exercise and do the first one together, then put students into pairs to complete the exercise. Take feedback and ask them to explain how they reached their answers.
Answers
1 b The reporter refers to changes in the way scientists describe the seasons.
2 b The speaker blames people for creating the current problems.
3 b The speaker points out how personal experience is bringing the issues home to us.
4 b The speakers warns of the extensive impact if seasonal shift disrupts natural cycles.
Flexible follow-up
Pick out the following phrases from the text and ask students what they mean.
Text A:
knock-on effect (the consequences of something) Text B:
distinct season (each season is clearly different from the others)
Text D:
snow-reliable (you can be sure that there will be snow) seasonal shifts (changes in the timing of the seasons) viable business (a business that is capable of being successful)
Speaking or writing
6 Put students in pairs to discuss the two questions.
Monitor the discussions, then elicit the overall class opinion on what the focus should be. Encourage students to justify their arguments with examples.
Answers
Students’ own answers
Alternative
Divide the class into three or four groups. Each group discusses the two questions, then one student from each group briefly summarises the main opinions expressed.
7 Tell students they are going to write a short report on climate change. Put students into pairs to discuss the effects of climate change on their own area (either where they live or where they are from) and make notes on information they could include in their report. Students write their report in pairs. They then exchange their report with another pair to comment on the ideas and the language. If time allows, discuss the most important effects mentioned with the whole class.
Answers
Students’ own answers
Cooler
Ask students to suggest a phrase or title they know which includes either the word season(s) or the name of one of the seasons (autumn, winter, summer, spring).
This could be from music, film titles or everyday life (e.g. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; football season; flu season;
season ticket; Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale).
Do this as a quick brainstorm in small groups, or with the whole class.
4.0 This reading text has been recorded. To help support them in this task, you can allow dyslexic students to listen as they read the text.
5 Ask students what they think would be the best way of approaching the task (e.g. read the options before looking at the texts; look at the function words to identify what kind of information they’re looking for; go through each option with each text one by one). Refer students to the tips in the Exam reference notes on page 17 of the Exam file if necessary.
Do the first question as a class, and discuss why the answer is correct. Then put students into pairs to complete the exam task. Allow 10—15 minutes for this. Encourage them to highlight the words or phrases in the text that helped them decide on their answer. When students have finished, check answers as a class and ask students to justify their choices.
Answers
1 D (‘… obviously involves higher costs, and smaller resorts have had to close; … resorts have refocused and are promoting activities less dependent on reliable snowfall …’)
2 B (‘(that is — a large region on the planet with its own range of living things)’)
3 A (‘… that this is only the most obvious and well-known indication of the hardship …’)
4 C (‘… such as Dr Leslie Field’s research into sprinkling a particular type of sand over the Arctic ice to prevent the shrinking. The idea of using sand to reflect the sun …’) 5 A (‘… guided by the names of the months which were taken from the weather; the name for March meaning hot and dry, for example. Now sadly, that correlation is gone.’)
6 B (‘… and this has, in effect, slowed down global warming for us.’)
7 A (‘… increased numbers of pests and weeds that thrive in the hot conditions.’)
8 D (‘… “snow-reliable” resorts. To those not in the know, these are resorts providing a continuous 100-day ski season with at least 30 centimetres of snow …’) 9 C (‘… showing how scientists are trying to find ways
through the problems — such as Dr Leslie Field’s research into sprinkling a particular type of sand over the Arctic ice to prevent the shrinking. The idea of using sand to reflect the sun links ideally to basic physics lessons, too … a real life-changing application of scientific theory!’)
10 B (‘You’re much better informed than I was before starting a project last month.’)
Fast finishers
Ask students to read the texts again to check their answers. Encourage them to highlight any words they don’t know and see if they can work out their meaning from the context. If there’s time, they can check in a dictionary.
EXAM TASK