A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English

September 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 1 -

S

TARTING OFF

Work with a partner and look at the names below. All of them are connected with Manhattan in some way. How?

W

ALL

S

TREET

C

ENTRAL

P

ARK

T

HE

U

NITED

N

ATIONS

H

ENRY

H

UDSON

T

HE

L

ENAPE

T

HE

H

UDSON

R

IVER

N

EW

A

MSTERDAM

N

EW

Y

ORK

F

IRST READING

Read the text quickly to check your answers.

S

ECOND READING

Below are the headings for each paragraph in the text. Match each to the correct paragraph

A. LANDMARKS OF MANHATTAN

B. CENTRAL PARK: AN ISLAND OF GREEN

C. MANAHACHTANIENK TO NEW AMSTERDAM; NEW

AMSTERDAM TO NEW YORK

D. THE MOST FAMOUS ISLAND IN THE WORLD

V

OCABULARY

1

Eight items in the text are

highlighted

. Find them in the text and use the context to help you work out what they might

mean.

AFTER ALL

TRIBE

INITIALLY

CONQUER

ACQUIRE

WEALTH

INFAMOUSLY

PLENTY

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

September 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 2 -

Now match the items to the correct definitions.

1. get control of a country by fighting the people who
control it or live there (VERB)

2. in the beginning (ADVERB)

3. the money and property a person, a company or a
country owns (WEALTH)

4. when you want to say something which explains what
your have just said (ADVERB)

5. a large quantity that is enough or more than enough
(PRONOUN)

6. get something by buying it or being given it (VERB)

7. a group of people of the same race, living in the same
area, with the same leader (NOUN)

8. well known for being bad or evil (ADVERB)

V

OCABULARY

2

Now use one of the words above to complete each sentence. You might need to change the word to make it fit.

1. ________________ we had problems, but later on everything went well.

2. The house is very big, with ________________ of room for our family.

3.

The country’s ________________ comes from its oil.

4. There were many different ________________ of native americans living in America before Europeans arrived.

5. You must help me! ________________, we are family.

6. Al Capone was an ________________ gangster in Chicago in the 1920s.

7. Genghis Khan ________________ much of Central Asia.

8. I ________________ some land a few years ago when my uncle died.

V

OCABULARY

1

Read the text once again and decide if the sentences below are true or false.

1. Manhattan is a large island.

T ☐

F ☐

2. Manhattan was discovered by a Dutchman.

T ☐

F ☐

3. Manhattan has a very high population density.

T ☐

F ☐

4. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre were once th

e world’s tallest buildings.

T ☐

F ☐

5. Central Park is man-made.

T ☐

F ☐

S

PEAKING

Work in a small group to discuss the questions below.

What are the most famous parts of your city?

What are your personal favourite parts of your city?

What would you like to change about your city and why?

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 3 -

“This land may be

profitable to those that

will adventure it.”

Henry Hudson, explorer

1. ___________________

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.

2. ___________________

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.

3. ___________________

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.

4. ___________________

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