I.       TÓM TẮT LÝ THUYẾT

Vocabulary: Memories; forget remember, remind, etc. Key phrases: Finding out more information

Reading: A fact file. Vocabulary plus: Phrasal verbs

Language Focus: Past Perfect

Vocabulary and Listening: Describing objects – fragile, rare, valuable, etc. Pronunciation: Stress in adjectives

II.   BÀI TẬP ÁP DỤNG

READING: A fact file

Read and listen to the fact file. How many types of vehicles are mentioned? What are they?

Land transport in Viet Nam – then and now

Over the years, there have been significant changes to land transport in Viet Nam. People used to rely heavily on bicycles, but modern forms of transport have replaced them.

Bicycles

Had bicycles been an important means for many years before the advent of motorized vehicles? This was definitely true because they had played an essential role in Vietnamese daily life by the mid – 20th century. Bicycles were used to get around, commute to work, transport goods to markets, and even to travel long distances. Streets full of bicycles made it a common sight.

Motor vehicles

As the economy grew, there was a need for faster and more efficient transport. This led to the introduction of motorbikes due to their speed and convenience. The motor vehicles on the roads had not increased dramatically until the 1990s. At the time, the government was trying to invest in new infrastructure, like highways and railways. People then had a greater variety of transport choices.

Read the text again. Find out the adjectives that describe the forms of transport.

Answer the questions.

1. When were bicycles the important means of transport in Viet Nam?

2. Why did people ride motorbikes instead of bicycles?

3. What was the government trying to do during the 1990s?

4. What vehicles do city dwellers prefer?

5. What services are becoming more competitive?

Match the phrasal verbs in blue with the following meanings.

Complete the sentences with the correct forms of phrasal verbs in the text.

1. My grandmother is finding it harder to ______________ these days.

2. The city plans to ______________ its educational system this year.

3. Reducing speed limits has ______________ fewer deaths on the roads.

4. Many people now ______________ the internet for news.

5. His difficulty in walking ______________ a childhood illness.

Work in pairs. Discuss the questions. Then share your ideas with another pair.

1. How many different kinds of transport have you used?

2. Which transport do you prefer- air, road or water?

3. Have you got a smartphone app to call a taxi?

4. How do you travel to school every day?

LANGUAGE FOCUS: Past perfect

Study these sentences from the text. Then choose the correct options to complete the rules.

Had bicycles been an important means for many years before the advent of motorized vehicles?

They had played an essential role in Vietnamese daily life by the mid – 20th century.

The motor vehicles on the roads had not increased dramatically until the 1990s.

RULES

1. The past perfect describes a past action or event that took place before / after another past action or event.
2. We form the past perfect with was / had + a past participle.
3. We use not or never to make affirmative / negative sentences.
4. The question form is auxiliary verb + subject + infinitive / past participle.

Choose the correct options.

1. After Tom read / had read the email, he turned off / had turned off his computer.

2. Did Jane learn / Had Jane learnt to read and write before she started / had started school?

3. We didn’t have / hadn’t had a foreign holiday until last summer.

4. We were / had been tired because we played / had played football all afternoon.

5. I visited / had visited five cities in southern Viet Nam by 2001.

Complete the sentences with the past perfect form of the verbs in brackets.

1. They ________________ (never / play) football until last week.

2. ________________ (you / buy) a ticket before you arrived at the station?

3. I was sad because she ________________ (forget) my birthday.

4. ________________ (he /leave) the house when you called?

5. The children ________________ (not /do) their homework, so they were in trouble.

Work in pairs. Take turns to say what you think had happened before each situation.

1. Peter apologized to his brother. Perhaps they had had an argument.

2. Anna didn’t go to the cinema with her friends.

3. When Sally met her father at the station, she didn’t recognize him.

4. George was late for school on Tuesday.

5. Ben and Helen were very excited.

VOCABULARY AND LISTENING: Describing objects

Read the text and match the words in blue with their opposites (1 – 7).

How to … make a time capsule

Use a metal or tough plastic container.

Otherwise, objects can become damaged.

Think of a few objects which are fashionable right now.

You don’t need to put brand new objects into your capsule, or your valuable collection of action figures.

Common objects show people what normal life was like.

Put some newspaper stories about important events into your capsule.

Put some clips from popular films, TV programs and songs on a memory stick.

Include a personal message. It will be useful for people to know who you were.

fragile – tough

1. unpopular ___________                  

2. worthless   ___________                  

3. old – fashioned   ___________                  

4. undamaged ___________

5. rare ___________

6. used ___________

7. useless ___________

Listen and repeat. How many syllables are there in each adjective? Copy and complete the table with the adjectives.

Listen to the beginning of a podcast. What is it about?

a. a drama about the discovery of a time capsule

b. a show about how to make a time capsule

c. a documentary about different time capsules that have been found

Now listen to the whole podcast. Write true or fake and correct the false statements.

1. Workers opened the Boston capsule. _________

2. The historic documents and rare coins were almost undamaged. _________

3. A university president found the Crypt of Civilization in the 1930s. _________

4. The opening date for the crypt is soon. _________

5. People put rare objects into the crypt. _________

Think of things which people sell. Write adverts for objects and put them on your classroom wall.

LANGUAGE FOCUS: Past narrative tenses

Match rules 1-3 with the examples of tenses a – c. Then find more examples of these tenses in the text on pages 12-13.

RULES

1. This tense describes a finished action.

2. This tense describes an action in progress in the past.

3. This tense describes an action which was finished when another action happened.

a.   past continuous: Some workers were repairing the building.

b.   past simple: Some experts opened the box.

c.   past perfect: Water had destroyed the documents a long time before           they opened the box.

Look again at examples a-c in exercise 1. Answer the questions.

1. Which word is a regular past simple form?

2. Which word is a past participle?

3. Which word is a past form of be?

4. How do we form the past continuous?

5. How do we form the past perfect?

Read the story and choose the correct verb forms. Explain your answers.

A true story

A long time ago in Sweden, there was a sailor called Ake Viking. He worked on a boat, but because of his work, he didn’t meet many people. He

1 hadn’t had / wasn’t having a girlfriend for a long time. One day he was feeling / had felt lonely and romantic, so he decided / was deciding to write a letter. He addressed it to someone beautiful and far away, then he put / was putting the letter into a bottle and he threw / had thrown it in the sea.

One day a fisherman in Italy emptied / was emptying his net when he found the bottle and the message. He gave / was giving it to his daughter Paolina, and she started / had started writing to Ake. Three years after Ake had written / was writing the letter, he finally travelled to Sicily and married / had married his true love.

Complete the sentences using the verbs in brackets. Include a past simple form and a past perfect form in each sentence.

1. I _____________ (remember) that I _____________ (see) her somewhere before.

2. We _____________ (be) late because we _____________ (forget) the tickets.

3. We _____________ (not meet) before I _____________ (see) her at the party.

4. After we _____________ (have) breakfast, we _____________ (go) for a walk.

5. When we _____________ (arrive) at the station, we were late and the train _____________ (leave).

Complete the questions with the correct verb forms. Then ask and answer the questions with a partner.

1. What _________ you doing at this time yesterday?

2. _________ you do anything interesting last weekend?

3. When _________ you last to the cinema?

4. _________ you studied much English before you to this school?

5. Who _________ talking to you before you came into this class?

Work in pairs. Invent a “cooperative story”. Take turns to say sentences. Listen to your partner and continue their ideas.

SPEAKING: Telling an anecdote

Look at the photos and read sentences a – d. Which three sentences describe the experience of the boy in the photos? Compare your ideas in pairs.

a. When I got home, I saw a beautiful brand new bike in the living room.

b. The first thing I did was to go outside and try out my new bike.

c. We were swimming in the sea when I realized that I’d lost my watch.

d. There I was, all dirty and crying, and my brand new bike was damaged.

Watch or listen to Theo’s anecdote and check your answers to exercise 1. What happened to Theo?

When we tell an anecdote, we need to give details that help the other person understand (time, place, people and events). Watch or listen again. Complete 1 – 4 in the Key Phrases.

KEY PHRASES

Have I told you about the time _______________?

It was the day of _______________

I remember feeling _______________

And that’s it!

All in all, it was / wasn’t a / an _______________ experience

Luckily / Thankfully / Sadly, …

Work in pairs. Follow the steps in the Speaking Guide.

SPEAKING GUIDE

A TASK. Read the Tell me about… topics. Choose one of the topics. Then tell your partner about your experience.

Tell me about …

a childhood birthday that you clearly remember.

a holiday that you remember really well.

the first time that you came to this school.

a time that you got lost.

an interesting place or object that you found.

B THINK AND PLAN.

1. Think about what you’re going to say. Make notes about these things:

time                       place                      people

events – background and actions         feelings

2. Decide which key phrases you want to use.

C SPEAK. Practice your anecdote and then tell it to a friend. Try to memorize your story.

D CHECK. Record yourself telling your anecdote. Then watch or listen back.

WRITING: A blog post

What are the best and worst experiences you’ve had on holiday?

Read Mary’s blog post. Was this a good, bad or mixed experience for her? Why?

An eventful day

We had a great camping holiday in Germany last week, but there were some ups and downs Tuesday was definitely the biggest adventure.

It all started at about seven in the morning, when my dad decided that we should go to a theme park. While we were still waking up, he started packing the car for a day out, including food fora picnic.

The moment that we left the campsite, it started raining, and by the time we arrived at the theme park two hours later, it was terrible. We couldn’t even walk to the entrance. So, we stayed in the car and ate our sandwiches. Meanwhile, my baby brother started crying because we had forgotten his teddy.

Perfect! After that we drove straight back to the campsite again. When we finally got back there, we’d been in the car for five hours. Amazingly, just as we were getting out of the car, the rain stopped. So, we went for a swim in the lake and played some football with the other kids at the campsite.

Afterwards we had a barbecue, and we stayed outside chatting until one in the morning, so it was all OK in the end.

Read the text again and answer the questions.

1. Who had the idea to go to a theme park?

2. Why didn’t they go into the theme park?

3. What were they doing when the rain stopped?

Check the meaning of the words in blue in Mary’s blog post. Then choose the correct options in 1 – 5.

1. We went shopping and afterwards / meanwhile I went to a cafe.

2. I stayed in the cafe just as / until it closed.

3. By the time / Finally we arrived home, I was really tired.

4. We had made some sandwiches while / before we left home.

5. In the end / The moment that we said goodbye, I felt sad.

Follow the steps in the Writing Guide.

WRITING GUIDE

A. TASK. Write a blog post (100 – 120 words) about a good or bad experience which you had on holiday.

B. THINK AND PLAN. Copy and complete the ideas map with notes about your story.

C. WRITE

Paragraph 1: Set the scene. What had happened before the main action started?

Paragraph 2: What were the main events and what was happening in the background?

Paragraph 3: What happened at the end? How did everyone feel?

D. CHECK

variety of verb tenses

time connectors