Video: Mo Farah interviewed after marathon win

(B1), B2, C1, (C2)

In February 2013, athlete Mo Farah won the New Orleans half-marathon in the fastest time ever. He is interviewed after the race by a TV presenter who asks him: "Haven't you run before? This isn't your first time?" She clearly hasn't done her homework. What she doesn't know is that Mo was the 2012 Olympic champion in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m.  Video time: 2 minutes 9 seconds. Activity time: 15 - 30 minutes

Task:   1 Watch the video and answer the questions.
a  Do you think Mo Farah
    - doesn't realize she has no idea who he is?
    - realizes but isn't sure how to respond?
b  Do you think the journalist 
    - has no idea he's famous from beginning to end?
    - starts to have doubts?


2  Watch again. Which expressions are used in place of the words in italics?  
    (If you need help, combine words from list A and list B below)

a  It's an incredible exploit
b  Quite a lot of people came to the event
c  It's nice to run the fastest ever time.
d  The crowd really supported us.
e  It's a big distance
f   It's twice as far as what I've done today.
g  You've certainly begun well
h  Do you have any other races in the near future?
i   It's I can't remember exactly when in April.

A  double    break the    long    some    coming    you're off to     got    turned    amazing
B  a great start    feat    the distance    up     time     course record    behind    up    way

Go to the video here..

Check your answers to task 2 here.

Audio: Deciding what NOT to pack

(A2), B1, B2

When you go away on holiday, do you often find that you pack too much? What sort of things do you take with you that you never or rarely need?  In this activity from the elllo site, you will hear Jeff talking about six things he wouldn't pack if he was a traveller. Audio time: 2 minutes 54 seconds. Activity time: 10 to 30 minutes.


Task:  1 Listen to the audio without looking at the script. What six things does he recommend NOT taking with you when you travel? What reasons does he give? Listen again if necessary

2 Read the audio script and listen again to check your answers. If you click on the expressions in blue, you can hear a definition and some other examples in context.

Go to the activity here.

Video: A future astronaut dreams of the stars

(A2), B1, B2, C1
 
On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded just over a minute after takeoff.  On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, only the second African-American to enter space. 

Exactly 25 years later, the public library in Ronald's home town of Lake City, South Carolina was renamed "The Ronald E. McNair Life History Center" In this animated video from Storycorps , you will discover why. Video time: 3 minutes 17 seconds. Activity time: 15 to 30 minutes.


Task:  Say if these sentences are true or false.

1     Ronald asked his mother if he could go to the public library
2     This was in 1959 and he was nine years old
3     "Coloured" people weren't allowed in the library
4     Ronald was afraid when the police were called.
5     The police were very aggressive.
6     Finally, Ronald was allowed to check out the books.
7     Ronald was disappointed that the "Star Trek" series only showed white astronauts.
8     For him, Star Trek was just science fiction.
9     His brother Carl didn't believe Ronald could become an astronaut.
10   Ronald later flew on the Starship Enterprise


Go to the video here.

Check your answers here.

For more information about Ronald E. McNair, go here.