T E A C H E R ’ S N O T E S A N D K E Y

October 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 1 -

S

TARTING OFF

The vocabulary task should be useful for the questions so you might want to deal with that first before putting the class
into pairs for the discussion. Key:

ride a horse / a motorbike / a bike

take a bus / a coach / a taxi / a boat/ship / a plane / a train

miss the bus / the coach / the plane / the train

fly on a plane

drive a car

sail on a boat / ship

come / go by bus / coach / taxi / boat/ship / plane / motorbike / car / bike / train

come / go on the bus / the coach / the plane / a motorbike / a bike / the train

catch the bus / the coach / the train

NB - these are things we generally do; obviously somebody can drive a bus but we will generally be passengers

B

EFORE YOU READ

/F

IRST READING

This is a prediction/scanning task so the reading itself should be done at speed, possibly with a time limit. Remember to

tell the learners that they will have the chance to read more carefully later on. Key:

1. 34km

2. 1994

3. is not

4. less

5. are not

S

ECOND READING

The titles are marked on the Tea

cher‟s Copy of the text.

V

OCABULARY

1

Key:

1. slightly

2. during

3. unenthusiastic

4. (the) mainland

5. (the) entrance

6. (a) wonder

7. artificial

8. (an) island

9. (a) link

V

OCABULARY

2

Key:

1. links

2. artificial

3. entrance

4. wonders

5. slightly

6. during

7. islands

8. mainland

9. unenthusiastic

T E A C H E R ’ S N O T E S A N D K E Y

October 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 2 -

T

HIRD READING

Key:

1. False - the British have never felt part of Europe

2. False - the ceremony was in Calais

3. True - 80% over budget

4. False - there have been three fires

5. True - the British were still unenthusiastic

6. False - the bridge already exist

T

EXT COHESION

This is a challenging task which will take the learners some time. It is a worth spending some time on this, however, as

the task requires them to consider the text from many angles - grammatical, lexical, stylistic etc. The answers are marked

on the teacher‟s copy of the text.

S

PEAKING

The discussion task is fairly straightforward and would be suited to a reporting stage after the learners have discussed the

questions in groups.

E

XTENSION

A possible extension would be for the learners to plan improvements to their town, considering communication (bridges

and tunnels), amongst other aspects (beautification, pedestrianisation etc.). If you can provide groups of learners with

local maps then it may be helpful. After the discussion each group could present its ideas to the rest of the class.

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 3 -

The end of an island?
British people have never really felt part of
Europe. You can even hear it in the words
they use. They talk about „the continent‟ as
something different from Great Britain: “I’m
holidaying on the continent next year

”.

Perhaps it is because they live on an

island

. The English Channel (or La

Manche as the French call it) may only be
34km wide but it makes a big difference to
the British.

The last time Great Britain was connected
to the

mainland

of Europe was the time of

mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers, some
10,000 years ago

during

the Ice Age. But

on May 6th 1994, President Mitterrand took
a train from Paris to the tunnel

entrance

at

Calais and Queen Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom took a train from London through
the tunnel to meet him; together, they
officially opened the tunnel and joined
Great Britain to the mainland of Europe
once again.

An engineering wonder

The Channel Tunnel is an engineering

wonder

. It is over 50km long and goes

more than 75m below sea level. It is
actually two tunnels, side by side, each
more than 7.5 metres wide. The cost of the
whole construction was ₤4650 million -
80% more than its budget.

The tunnel is not the longest in the world -
the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is

slightly

longer - but it is the longest undersea
tunnel in the world and one of the busiest:
in 1998 over 18 million passengers used
the tunnel. The trains are quite fast - they
can travel at up to 160km/h - but very safe.
There has never been a train crash in the
Channel Tunnel, though there have been
three fires.

A long wait
Building a

link

between Great Britain and

the continent is not a new idea. More than
200 years ago, in 1802, a French engineer
called Albert Mathieu

called Albert Mathieu made plans for a
tunnel under the Channel. Of course, his
tunnel was very different from today‟s:
instead of electric trains and lights
Mathieu‟s

plan

had

horse-drawn carriages and oil lamps, and
he wanted to build an

artificial

island

in the middle of the Channel where
the carriages could get new horses.
F o r m a n y y e a r s t h e B r i t i s h
were

unenthusiastic

but, in 1974, work

finally started… and then stopped again in
1975. The British were still not too
enthusiastic, it seems.

After that there were many different ideas
for how to connect the two countries. Some

suggested

a bridge, some, others a road

tunnel. Work started in 1988 and this time

the British did not change their minds: six
years later the tunnel was finished.

Tunnels and bridges to come
Great Britain and France are not the only
countries to be connected by amazing
tunnels. The Oresund Bridge and Tunnel
connecting Sweden to Denmark opened in
2000 and there are even projects to

join

Africa and Europe (a tunnel between
Morocco and Spain) and North America
and Asia (Alaska to Siberia). In a few years
it might be possible to drive your car
around the world, over bridges and through
tunnels, without ever getting out. Truly the
world is getting smaller and smaller.