 Free English Lesson Volcanic Eruption This lesson was adapted from Touchy Situations, a Conversation Text for ESL Students Chapter 2 by Glenn A. Penrod. Copyright Diamond Publications. It is used here with the author's permission. Vocabulary Warmup Part 1 Which of the following vocabulary words do you know? When you see the picture, write or say the English word. For example, you will see, you will say or write, volcano. Ready? Let's begin. More words. Answers 1. Jewelry 2. Helicopter 3. Aquarium 4. Microwave 5. Minivan 6. Carpenter 7. Rifle 8. Radius 3. Aquarium 4. Tropical fish tank 4. Microwave 5. Minivan 6. Carpenter 7. Rifle 8. Radius Did you get them all right? Vocabulary Warmup Part 2 What do the following words mean? Explain the ones you know to your partner. For example, eruption. The action of a volcano when it explodes with fire and smoke. Explain the words you already know. I'll repeat them for pronunciation. Resident Residents Threaten Belongings Evacuation Sentimental Document Portrait Breadwinner Equipment Irreplaceable Bulk Or bulky Crucial Vehicle Portable Shelter Heirloom These words will appear in the speaking activity. Feel free to take more time to discuss these with your classmates. Pause the video if you need more time. Conversation Strategies There are many ways to express your ideas and give support for them. The easiest way to express your ideas is to state your opinion, then follow it directly with the supporting statement. For example, opinion. I think we should take the bedding. Reason or support. We could get cold at night. I don't think we need to take the dog. He can run along behind the car. Note. In English, we usually say, I don't think. I think not. For example, I don't think we need to take the dog. Instead of, I think we do not need to take the dog. Expressing opinions and giving support. Always be prepared to back up your statements with supporting details. If group members fail to give support for their opinions, gently remind them by asking, why? Why don't you think? Or why do you think? For example, I think we should take the carpentry tools. Why do you think we need to take them? Because we can use them to build a new house. Making suggestions. Here are some expressions for giving suggestions. Mild suggestions. Why don't we take the first aid kit? Why not take the cooking utensils? Let's take the camping equipment. Let's not take the children's toys. It would be a good idea to take the aquarium. Don't you think we should take the bottled water? Don't you think it would be a good idea to take a camera? Stronger suggestions. We'd better take the kitchen sink. We'd better not forget the children's clothing. Very strong suggestions. We've got to take the microwave oven. We are not leaving the piano behind. We definitely need to take the stamp collection. Expressing different points of view. Not everyone thinks alike. A discussion would not be very interesting if they did. If you have a different opinion than a classmate, it's all right to express it. You may simply say, I agree, or I disagree. Then state your reason. Direct disagreement. Short or abrupt statements often convey rudeness or stubbornness in English. For example, that's a dumb idea. That's wrong. That's not right. It's best not to use these types of expressions in friendly discussions. A better way to express a differing point of view is to use longer statements and give you reasons. For example, I don't think that's such a good idea. Why not? Because someone might get hurt. Another way is to use questions. For example, don't you think it would be better if we took the dining room set and left the lawyer's books? After all, we need to eat. You have a good point there. Are you sure you want to take the house plans? Of course. We can't leave them there to die. Focus and discussion. In a minute, you will be given a situation to discuss with a small group. Use as many of the conversation strategies as you can, but don't feel limited by them. Be creative and try some of your own expressions. Read through the situation together, then be prepared to discuss it in small groups. Here's the situation. Mount Blasthof is threatening to erupt. Scientists estimate that it could blow anytime within the next 24 hours. You and your family live within 5 miles of the volcano. As you sit down to dinner, you hear the following announcement over the radio. Residents of the Mount Blasthof area. The volcano could erupt within the next 5 hours. Everything within a 10 mile radius is in danger of partial or complete destruction. We ask that everyone leave the area immediately. In order to ensure a speedy and orderly evacuation, we ask that residents of this area take Highway 119 north to the government shelter at Safe Haven. Helicopters will be on hand to transport those without their own vehicles. We repeat, evacuate the area immediately. Your objective. The family must make some crucial decisions in a very short time. Luckily, you have a large minivan, which can hold many of your belongings. You estimate that you can have it loaded and ready to go in about 30 minutes. Obviously, you can't take everything with you. You must decide which of the following items you will take and which ones you will leave behind. The van will hold only 3,000 pounds before it breaks down and some bulky items will take up too much space. Don't overload the vehicle. Good luck. The clock is ticking away. The minivan will not hold many bulky items, no more than 35 stars. Stars in the bulk column indicate relative size of objects. Here are the items you can choose from. There are 40 altogether. Make sure you go through the entire list. These are the first 10. Item and description. Weight. Bulk. Value. Number 1. Husband. 45 years old. 220 pounds. Excellent cook. Heart-time carpenter. 2. Wife. 39 years old. Breadwinner. Lawyer. 3. Susan. 9 years old. 4. Billy. 4 years old. 5. Guffy. The family dog. 6. Portrait of deceased, now dead, grandparent. Sentimental value. 7. Six months supply of food. 8. Metal box of documents. Irreplaceable. 9. Children's clothing. 10. Parents' clothing. 11. Stamp collection. 12. Over $7,500. 13. At present. 14. Children's toys. 15. Lawyer's books. 16. Bottle water. 17. Gardening tools. 18. Big screen television. 19. Large decorative vase. 20. Refrigerator. 20. Carpentry tools. 21. Piano. 21. Piano. 22. Family heirloom. 23. Guitar. 24. Cooking utensils. 25. Dishes. 26. Microwave oven. 27. First aid kit. 28. Rifle. 29. Bedding. 30. Sheets, pillows, and blankets. 31. kids' bicycle, 31, tropical fish tank, aquarium, folding table and chairs, exercise equipment, portable stove and fuel, computer and printer, camping equipment, electric lamps, house plants, sofa or couch, kitchen sink, feel free to go back over the list to review the items you can choose from. Choose as many items as you can take with you. Discuss the reasons for taking or not taking each item. Calculate the total weight and bulk of the items. Remember to use the vocabulary and expressions you learned. Have fun. You have 30 minutes for the discussion. Go back over the preceding pages to talk about the items you're going to choose from. Feel free to pause the video to continue your discussion. When you finish the discussion, make a summary list of the items you chose. Be prepared to tell while you chose some items and didn't choose the others. For example, we decided to take the following items because take some time to fill out the list with the top items you chose. Remember to give your reasons. Feel free to pause the video if you'd like more time for this. Hope you had an interesting discussion. Remember to review the new vocabulary words and conversation strategies that you learned. Thanks for watching. If you liked this video, please let us know by giving a thumbs up in the comment section below. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. You can also submit your ideas for our next video at www.eslgold.com. Submit question.