T E A C H E R

’ S N O T E S A N D K E Y

September 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 1 -

S

TARTING OFF

/F

IRST READING

It is, of course, rather unlikely that the students will be individually familiar with all of the items but collectively they may be

able to make intelligent guesses at them. The best way to structure the activity, therefore, would be pairs => whole group,

getting their collective suggestions onto the board to serve as a focus for the reading. The task here is a scanning task,

so a time limit would not be inappropriate.

S

ECOND READING

This is a skimming task more than a detailed reading task so the students should still be reading quite quickly. See the

Teacher’s Copy of the text for the key.

V

OCABULARY

1

Key:

1. conquer

2. initially

3. wealth

4. after all

5. plenty

6. acquire

7. tribe

8. infamously

V

OCABULARY

2

Key:

1. initially

2. plenty

3. wealth

4. tribes

5. after all

6. infamous

7. conquered

8.

acquired

T

HIRD READING

This is a more challenging task, requiring quite careful reading of the text. Give the students time to work individually and

then time to discuss their answers before conducting feedback. The key in feedback is to get the students to justify their

answers with reference to the text, asking them to quote the relevant word, phrase or sentence.

Key:

1. False. It is ‘far from’ a large island

2. False. It was discovered by an Englishman working for a Dutch company.

3. True. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the US.

4. It does not go to or from anywhere. The M25 is a circular motorway ‘around London’.

5. True. They were the last Manhattan buildings to hold that record.

6. True. The park was very ‘carefully designed’.

S

PEAKING

There are no correct or incorrect answers to these questions, of course, so the goal is for the students to express

themselves and offer their opinions, perhaps first in groups and then in open class. You might consider revising some

functional language here - expressing opinions, for example, or justifying them.

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 2 -

“This land may be

profitable to those that

will adventure it.”

Henry Hudson, explorer

The most famous island
in the world?

Is there a more famous

island which is not a
country in the world than
Manhattan? It seems
unlikely.

After all

,

Manhattan, part of New
York City, on the Hudson
River, is one of the richest
parts of the richest
countries in the world; it is
the location of the
headquarters of the United
Nations; it holds the largest
financial industry in the
world (based around Wall
Street) and it has probably
the most famous park in the
world (Central Park). And
yet it is far from a large
island - only 60km2 in total.

Manahachtanienk to New
Amsterdam; New
Amsterdam to New York

Manhattan was possibly

first seen by a European
400 years ago in 1609,
when the English explorer
Henry Hudson sailed up
what is today called the
Hudson River and met the
local

tribe

, the Lenape,

who called the

island ‘Manahachtanienk’.
Henry Hudson was
working for a Dutch
company and the region
was

initially

called ‘New

Netherland’ and the fort
built on Manhattan in
1625 was called ‘New
Amsterdam’. It was only
when the British

conquered

New

Netherland in 1664 that it

acquired

its present-day

name.

Landmarks of
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of

the richest parts of the
United States and is also
one of its most densely
populated areas: almost
28,000 people live in
every square kilometre.
These two facts -

wealth

and crowdedness -
explain the architectural
phenomenon for which
Manhattan is most

the skyscraper. The
island’s skyscrapers are
some of the most famous
in the world, including the
Empire State Building and
the Chrysler Building,
amongst many others.
From 1890 to 1973, the
world’s tallest building
was in Manhattan, with
nine different buildings
holding the record in that
time. The last record-
holders in Manhattan
were the twin towers of
the World Trade Centre,

infamously

destroyed in

the terrorist attacks of
September 2001.

Central Park: An Island
of Green

Manhattan is also

home to Central Park.
The park is almost 4km2
and has some 25 million
visitors every year.
Central Park has

appeared in hundreds of
films, including Men in
Black, Spiderman,
Ghostbusters and
Highlander.

Central Park looks

natural but is in fact very
carefully designed. The
whole park was planned
by an English architect,
Calvert Vaux and an
American writer, Frederick
Olmsted, to look as
natural as possible. The
park took 16 years to
build in total.

There are many ways

to visit Central Park.
Cycling, rollerblading,
jogging or simply walking
are all very popular, but
perhaps the best way for
a first-time visitor is to
take one of the many
horse-drawn carriages in
the park. Just make sure
you have

plenty

of time...

on a ship like this Henry

Hudson sailed to Manhattan in

1609

Manhattan is famous for its

hundreds of skyscrapers

Central Park is one of the most
famous landmarks of New York