Starting off/First 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.

Second 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.

Vocabulary 1

Key:

1. conquer

2. initially

3. wealth

4. after all

5. plenty

6. acquire

7. tribe

8. infamously

Vocabulary 2

Key:

1. initially

2. plenty

3. wealth

4. tribes

5. after all

6. infamous

7. conquered

8. acquired

Third 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'.

Speaking

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.

TEACHER'S NOTES AND KEY

September 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

A C T I V I T I E S S H E E T

September 2009

“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 famous:

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

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

Manhattan is famous for its hundreds of skyscrapers

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