Reading

Before-reading

1.  Read the title of the text. What do you think it is about? Tell us in a comment what was your opinion before your read the text.

2. Read the text above and answer the questions.

“A Cold Day”      It is a frigid January day in York, Pennsylvania. The temperature is below freezing. Snow is starting to fall. Dr. James turns on the television to check the weather. He must leave for his work at the hospital soon. “Today is going to be very cold,” says the TV weatherman. “Be sure to wear very warm clothes when you go outside. Also, be careful driving on the roads. Snowfall will make them slippery. In fact, if you can stay home today, do it!” Dr. James cannot stay home. Very sick people are waiting to see him at the hospital. He goes to his closet. He takes out the warmest clothes he has. He puts on a sweater, jacket, gloves, socks, boots and a hat. He opens his front door to go to work. A gust of cold air blows inside. “Wow, it is very cold outside,” Dr. James says. He is from Miami and does not like the cold. “The weatherman was right!” Before he can drive to work, Dr. James must clear the snow off his car. He does this very fast. He hops in the car. He shivers. His neck feels especially cold. Dr. James drives slowly to work. Everyone else is driving slowly, too. There is a lot of traffic on the road. There are cars in front and behind. Suddenly, the cars in front of Dr. James come to a stop. There has been an accident! Dr. James hurries from his car to check on the driver of the car that has swerved off the road. “Is everyone okay?” Dr. James asks. “Yes, yes, we are fine. We slipped on a patch of ice,” the driver says. “This would have been a good day to stay home in bed.”

After-reading

1. Choose the correct answer

1)  What does it mean if the weather is ‘frigid’?

a)    It is very cold.

b)    It is very rainy.

c)    It is very windy.

d)    It is very slippery.

2)  In what city does this story take place?

a)    Florida.

b)    Miami.

c)    Pennsylvania.

d)    York.

3)  Why doesn't Dr. James stay home today?

a)   There are sick people waiting for him.

b)   He does not believe the weatherman.

c)   He has to clear the snow off his car.

d)   He must help the people in the accident.

 

2.  Find synonyms in the text for the following terms:

a)  Freezing

b)  Wardrobe

c)  Jump

Please, paste all your answers in a comment below.

WRITING

1. Imagine you have a travel agency and you are preparing your next year organized trip. Choose a city or a country, look for its weather forecast and write about it. Write 150 words approximately.

      Please, paste your composition in a comment to this entry.

Writing structure

Introduction:	1 paragraph introducing the topic.
Body:	2-3 paragraphs developing the topic, advantages and disadvantages, main characteristics…
Conclusion:	1 paragraph giving you conclusions and your personal opinion about the topic.

Useful expressions

Connectors

First, - Second, - Then, - Later, - Next, - Since then, Finally, - Moreover, - Whereas, - For instance, - Furthermore, - such as, - Although, - However, - In contrast,

  

 

2.  After the teacher has corrected your composition, use the table provided below to correct your mistakes. Then, re-write it, and paste it in a comment again.

Correction formula

1	Punctuation mistake
2	Vague pronoun reference
3	Wrong word
4	Wrong or missing endings
5	Wrong or missing preposition
6	Possessive apostrophe error
7	Tense shift
8	Sentence fragment
9	Wrong tense or verb form
10	Subject-verb agreement
11	Pronoun agreement error
12	Dangling or misplaced modifier
13	Its/it's error

 

Check

These are some self-evalution exercises to check what you have learnt in this unit.

1. Look at the pictures and put these weather words into the correct gaps:

blowing – cloud – cloudy – cold – hot – rain – raining – rainy – shining – sun – sunny – wind – windy

The sun is ______ today.

                        It is _______ today.

                        The earth needs the ________.

                        The weather is great today. It's nice and _________.

 The wind is _________ today.

                        It will be _________ tomorrow.

                        The strong _______ will come from the south.

It will _______ tomorrow.

                      The weather will be ______ next week.

                      The ______ will come from the _______.

It is _______ hard today.

It will _______ tomorrow.

It will probably be ______ for the whole day tomorrow.

I hope it won't be ________ tomorrow.

Look at that _________!

2. Test your knowledge on the Future Simple (will)

a)       Harry / cause / trouble

* Positive:

* Negative:

*Question:

b)       you / copy / the homework

* Positive:

* Negative:

*Question:

c)       the clouds / disappear

* Positive:

* Negative:

*Question:

d)       he / marry / his girlfriend

* Positive:

* Negative:

*Question:

e)       the snowman / melt

* Positive:

* Negative:

*Question:

3. Put the verbs into the correct form (future I). Use be going to.  

a)       It (rain) .

b)       They (eat)  stew.

c)       I (wear)  blue shoes tonight.

d)       We (not / help)  you.

e)       Jack (not / walk)  home.

f)        (cook / you)  dinner?

g)       Sue (share / not)  her biscuits.

h)       (leave / they)  the house?

i)         (take part / she)  in the contest?

j)         I (not / spend)  my holiday abroad this year.

4. Test yourself

Did you enjoy the ‘Weather’ tasks and activities?

Give it a mark from 0 to 10 and write it your comment.

Please, paste all your answers in a comment below.