News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 1 July 2012 Level >= Lower intermediate Style >= Lesson plan Welcome to the Guardian Weekly's special news-based materials to support learners and teachers of English. Each month, the Guardian Weekly newspaper selects topical news articles that can be used to practise English language skills. The materials are graded for two levels: advanced and lower intermediate. These worksheets can be downloaded free from guardian.co.uk/weekly/. You can also find more advice for teachers and learners from the Guardian Weekly's Learning English section on the site. Feeding Olympics is a cooking marathon Materials prepared by Janet Hardy-Gould Instructions Lesson focus: Materials: Time: reading; countables/uncountables; saying numbers student tasks, article, 50 minutes caterers? Answers: a How much; 31 tonnes b How many; 24,000 c How many; two dozen d How many; 800 e How much; 25,000 loaves f How much; 82 tonnes g How many; 5,000 h How many; 130. 4 Students read again and underline information they found surprising. Class feedback. 7 mins 5 Students now watch an animation about Olympic numbers at: bit.ly/guardianolympic. Pre-teach: audience, venue, capacity. Students watch twice and try to remember numbers without writing notes. If you don't have internet access in your class use the stills from the animation on page 3-4. Prepare as sets of 12 individual cards. Divide your class into groups of four and hand out a set of cards, face down, to each group. Give groups three minutes to reveal, read, memorise and turn over each card individually. Direct learners to the sentences in student task 2. In groups students agree answers. Watch again or turn over cards to check. Class feedback. 15 mins a London has had the Olympics _____ times. b The workforce at the Olympics will be _____. c There are _____ Olympic sports venues. d Londoners paid a total of ?_____ towards the Olympics. e _____ people will watch the opening ceremony. f The capacity of the main stadium is _____. Answers: a 3 b 200,000 c 28 d ?625m e 4 billion f 80,000. 1 Start this Olympic-themed lesson by writing up: a 9.58 seconds b 19.19 seconds c 43.18 seconds d 2:15:25 hours e 2.09 metres f 72.8 metres. Ask: What do the numbers represent? (World athletics records.); Why are these important now? (Because of the London 2012 Olympics.) In pairs, students guess the event for each record - a, b, c are men's records; d, e, f are women's. Class feedback. Ensure students say the numbers correctly eg "Nine point five eight seconds is the ... record". 10 mins Answers: a 100 metres b 200 metres c 400 metres d marathon e high jump f javelin. 2 Write the headline on the board: Feeding Olympics is cooking marathon. Ask: Why is it a cooking marathon? What is the article about? (Olympic catering.) 3 mins 3 Direct learners to student task 1. Check unknown words. Revise countables/uncountables. Students complete the questions with How much/How many. Students read article and find answers. 15 mins a _____ poultry has the head of catering ordered? b _____ athletes and officials will come to the Olympics? c _____ eggs did Michael Phelps eat for breakfast at the last Olympics? d _____ chefs will work at the Olympic park? e _____ bread will the competitors eat? f _____ seafood will people consume? g _____ people can sit in the Olympic dining room? h _____ environmental health officers will inspect the >=2 News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 2 July 2012 Student task 1 Complete these questions with How much/ How many. Read the article and find the answers. a poultry has the head of catering ordered? Article: Feeding Olympics is a cooking marathon 1 Jan Matthews knows that Usain Bolt likes chicken, and she's made sure to get plenty in. The head of catering at the London Olympics has ordered 31 tonnes of poultry for the 24,000 athletes and officials who will come to the Olympic Village this summer. 2 The fastest man on earth famously eats chicken nuggets before every race and Matthews isn't taking any chances. "We are not going to turn round to Usain Bolt and say, 'You can't have any more chicken'," she said. 3 Matthews knows all about the runaway appetites of the world's leading sportsmen and women. "I remember seeing reports on the Beijing games that the American swimmer Michael Phelps was having two dozen eggs for breakfast." 4 Bolt and Phelps are among the athletes expected to consume more than a million meals during the Olympics and Paralympics. Over 800 chefs will cook 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 5 The competitors are expected to eat 25,000 loaves of bread, more than 82 tonnes of seafood, a quarter of a million eggs and more than 330 tonnes of fruit and vegetables. The dining room alone seats 5,000. At the busiest times, the chefs are expected to serve 65,000 meals a day. 6 Food poisoning is also a potential problem. "If you have an athlete who alleges they have food poisoning and they can't compete ... we have to be sure we have done everything we could that we didn't cause it," Matthews said. 7 To avoid this, a team of 130 environmental health officers will inspect all the caterers across the park and any food outlet thought to be a risk will be shut down. 8 But the catering is more than just numbers. Matthews believes that food can comfort young people who are far from home, often for the first time. It is also the essential fuel that will power athletes to Olympic medals and world records. Original article by Robert Booth, rewritten by Janet Hardy-Gould b to the Olympics? athletes and officials will come c eggs did Michael Phelps eat for breakfast at the last Olympics? d park? chefs will work at the Olympic e f g dining room? bread will the competitors eat? seafood will people consume? people can sit in the Olympic h environmental health officers will inspect the caterers? 2 In groups agree answers to these questions. a London has had the Olympics times. b The workforce at the Olympics will be . c There are Olympic sports venues. d Londoners paid a total of ? towards the Olympics. people will watch the opening e ceremony. f The capacity of the main stadium is . >=3 News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 3 July 2012 of b r i d g e s >=4 News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 4 July 2012 p eo p le capacity of Graphics: Mariana Santos/Guardian