In
today’s lesson, we are going to look at a few past mysterious
events and I am going to introduce you to some important words and phrases
which describe different types of mysteries.
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2.-
Teacher Talk (video)
There
are lots of different mysteries in the world. There are problems which
have been unsolved. Strange occurrences which have no meaning.
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2.1.-
Your teacher is now going to talk to you about a strange occurrence
that happened to her a few years ago.
I have
experienced one particular mystery which I will refer to as a case of
mistaken identity. One day I went to buy a new mobile phone and when
I went to pay and register for the new phone, they said that there was
a problem and that I couldn’t buy a phone with them. They said
that I had a bad credit rating. I was obviously very worried so I made
a few phone calls to see what the problem was. When I got to the bottom
of the problem, I found out that there was a girl who lived in the same
street as me with the exact same name and she was in really bad debt.
For that reason I had not been able to buy a new mobile phone. It was
a case of mistaken identity.
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3.-
Your turn…
Answer
the following questions out loud giving as much details as possible:
Have you
ever experienced a case of mistaken identity?
What are
the positive and negative effects of having your identity mistaken?
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4.-
Key Vocabulary
Learn
the following words that refer to strange events
A
coincidence
A premonition
A ghost story
A phenomenon
A hoax
A miracle
A disappearance
Telepathy
A trick
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5.-
Pronunciation Practice (Video)
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5.1.-
How many syllables do the following words have?
(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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5.2.-
Listen and repeat. Where is the primary word stress in each word? Fill
in the following table.
(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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5.3.-
Match the words with the situations.
A coincidence / A trick / Telepathy / A natural phenomenon
(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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5.4.-
Do you find any of the above situations…
a. amazing?
b. disgraceful?
c. disturbing?
d. ridiculous?
e. spooky?
f. suspicious?
Why?
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6.-
Listening
You
are going to listen to a newspaper article which appeared in The Guardian
newspaper in December 2009. The title of the article is “Spanish
archaeologists fail to find Federico Garcia Lorca’s grave”.
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6.1.-
Questions
Before
listening, answer the following questions:
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(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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6.2.-
Listen and check your answers.
Som
Listen
again and answer the following questions.
(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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7.-
Practice Reading Aloud
When
we speak, we have to take regular pauses to breath. These pauses are
important and help the listener digest what the person is saying.
7.1.-
Look at the following paragraphs which have been taken from the article
and identify where the pauses should take place by including a comma
(,) in the place where the speaker should pause for breath.
(Para
ver as respostas fazer click no texto; duplo click volta a posição
original)
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7.2.-
Tapescript
Spanish
archeologists fail to find Federico García Lorca's grave
The
poet and playwright killed by death squads during civil war was thought
to have been buried in Alfacar.
One
of the greatest mysteries of recent Spanish history will remain unsolved
for the foreseeable future, after a team of archeologists admitted they
had failed to find the grave of poet and playwright Federico García
Lorca.
"There
was not a single bone, or fragment of bone," said Francisco Corrión,
leader of the team that has spent six weeks digging at the site where
Lorca was thought to be buried. "There is no chance of it being
there."
García
Lorca was the most famous victim of the death squads operating in territory
controlled by General Francisco Franco's rightwing nationalists during
the Spanish civil war.
Until
today he was assumed to have been buried in a mass grave with several
other death squad victims on a hillside in Alfacar, overlooking his
home city of Granada.
The spot was identified three decades ago by a man who claimed to have
helped dig the grave into which the author of Blood Wedding and Yerma
was thrown, after being shot by a dawn firing squad of rightwing radicals
in 1936.
After
years of debate about what to do with the site, which had been turned
into a park bearing Lorca's name, local authorities ignored opposition
from the poet's family and began to excavate.
Today,
however, the scientists involved said a thin layer of soil gave on to
hard rock, leaving no space for anyone to dig a grave.
"No
human remains have appeared, nor are there any signs of civil war graves,"
the team from Granada University, which investigated six potential grave
spots, said in a report. "We believe that no graves were ever dug
in the area we have studied. The study is conclusive and leaves no room
for doubt."
The
failed dig has brought the official quest for Lorca's remains to an
end. "We are not going to be drilling holes all over Granada,"
said Juan Gallo of the regional government of Andalucia, which funded
the dig.
"It
is a challenge," said Maribel Brenes, head of an NGO dedicated
to finding the graves of Franco's victims. "The investigation will
have to start again from the very beginning."
Article featured in the Guardian UK Friday 18th December 2009
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8.-
Your turn…
Answer
the following questions out loud giving as much information as possible.
Do you
know any spooky ghost stories? Tell the story.
Do you
know of any ridiculous hoaxes? What are they?