Breaking News English

 
 

WARM-UPS

1. TALL BUILDINGS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about tall buildings. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

tall buildings / Dubai / opening ceremonies / rulers / neighbours / hope / optimism /  a while to come / appetites / ambitious / fireworks / luxury apartments / Armani hotel

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. MOST / BEST: What’s so good about having the biggest/best things in your city? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you heard.

	Good things	Bad things
Tallest building
Biggest mall
Highest rents
Most cosmopolitan
Best football club
Poorest areas

4. BIG IS BEAUTIFUL: Students A strongly believe having the biggest building in your city is a wonderful thing; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. PLACES TO STAY: What building would you like to stay in most? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Change partners and share your rankings again.

most expensive hotel tallest building an Amazon rainforest lodge the Taj Mahal

Buckingham Palace a safari tent in Kenya an igloo a luxury cabin on a luxury cruise liner

6. BUILDING: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘building’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Everyone knew the height of the world’s tallest building ages ago.	T / F
b.	The Burj Khalifa is three times the height of the Empire State Building.	T / F
c.	The building is named after Dubai’s ruler.	T / F
d.	A property developer said the Burj is a symbol of good times to come.	T / F
e.	Another project will soon beat the Burj as the world’s tallest building.	T / F
f.	Between 90 and 100 per cent of space in the Burj has been sold.	T / F
g.	The Burj contains the world’s tallest mosque.	T / F
h.	There will be around 20,000 people living and working in the Burj.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	officially	a.	leader
2	twice	b.	building
3.	ruler	c.	stay
4.	collapse	d.	illuminated
5.	gradual	e.	ruin
6.	remain	f.	formally
7.	appetite	g.	accommodates
8.	construction	h.	desire
9.	lit up	i.	two times
10.	houses	j.	slow

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	kept	a.	world’s highest mosque
2	The oil-rich	b.	difficult times
3.	save Dubai from possible	c.	to come
4.	The world has gone through	d.	construction projects
5.	the beginning of a gradual	e.	a secret
6.	for a while	f.	a success
7.	little appetite for ambitious	g.	emirate of Abu Dhabi
8.	confident the building will be	h.	of offices
9.	The building houses the	i.	move forward
10.	49 floors	j.	financial collapse

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

The world's tallest building ____________ opened in Dubai on January the 4th. The height of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa was ____________ a secret until the opening ceremony. It is ____________ the height of New York’s Empire State Building. Another big surprise at the opening was the ____________ of the tower. The building had always been called Burj Dubai. However, Dubai’s ruler announced it would now be called Burj Khalifa after the ____________ of Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s neighbour. The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi helped save Dubai from ____________ financial collapse. The chairman of the company that built the Burj, Mohamed Alabbar, said the building gives "hope and ____________". He added: “The world has gone through …difficult times… this is the beginning of a gradual ____________ forward.”		renaming officially twice possible kept move ruler optimism
It is likely the Burj will ____________ as the world’s tallest building for a while to come. Since the 2008 global financial ____________, there seems to be little appetite for ambitious construction projects from property developers. The Burj’s owners, however, are ____________ the building will be a success. More than 90 per cent of the ____________ has been sold. It cost $22 billion to build and has broken many ____________. The opening celebrations included the world’s highest fireworks, which ____________ up the sky above the world’s tallest fountain. The building ____________ the world’s highest mosque and swimming pool, located on floors 158 and 76. Burj Khalifa has 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 ____________ of offices and the 160-room Armani hotel. Around 12,000 people will  live and work in the tower.		crisis records floors space remain houses confident lit

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The world's tallest building __________________ Dubai on January the 4th. The height of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa was __________________ the opening ceremony. It is twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building. Another big surprise at the opening __________________ the tower. The building had always been called Burj Dubai. However, Dubai’s ruler announced it would now be called Burj Khalifa __________________ Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s neighbour. The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi helped save Dubai ____________________ collapse. The chairman of the company that built the Burj, Mohamed Alabbar, said the building gives "hope and optimism". He added: “The world has gone through …difficult times… this is the beginning __________________ forward.”

It is likely the Burj __________________ world’s tallest building for a while to come. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there seems to be __________________ ambitious construction projects from property developers. The Burj’s owners, however, are confident the building will be a success. More than 90 per cent __________________ been sold. It cost $22 billion to build and has broken many records. The opening celebrations included the world’s highest fireworks, which __________________ the world’s tallest fountain. The building houses the world’s highest mosque and swimming pool, __________________ 158 and 76. Burj Khalifa has 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 __________________ and the 160-room Armani hotel. Around 12,000 people will live and work in the tower.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘keep’ and ‘secret’.

keep

secret

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

height twice surprise ruler neighbour move

remain appetite space lit houses floors

STUDENT TALL BUILDINGS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about tall buildings in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

TALL BUILDINGS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘tower’?
c)	Are you impressed by tall buildings?
d)	Would you like to live on the top floor of the Burj Khalifa?
e)	Do you think the people of Dubai would like the name change?
f)	Are you good at keeping secrets?
g)	Why do you think the name changed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa?
h)	Why does the new building provide "hope and optimism"?
i)	What difficult times has the world been through?
j)	Would you like the world’s tallest building in your city?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Why will the Burj Khalifa be the world’s tallest building for a while?
c)	Would you like to design buildings?
d)	What was the last ambitious project you worked on?
e)	What is the most important thing for the world’s tallest building to have?
f)	What are the pros and cons of living in the world’s tallest building?
g)	Which of the 165 floors would you like to live on?
h)	Why do people build such tall big buildings?
i)	Will there be a building that reaches space one day?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Mohamed Alabbar about the Burj?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The world's tallest building officially opened in Dubai on January the 4th. The (1) ____ of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa was kept a (2) ____ until the opening ceremony. It is twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building. Another big surprise at the opening was the (3) ____ of the tower. The building had always been called Burj Dubai. However, Dubai’s ruler announced it would now be called Burj Khalifa after the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s neighbour. The oil-(4) ____ emirate of Abu Dhabi helped save Dubai from possible financial collapse. The chairman of the company that built the Burj, Mohamed Alabbar, said the building gives "(5) ____ and optimism". He added: “The world has gone through …difficult times… this is the beginning of a (6) ____ move forward.”

It is (7) ____ the Burj will remain as the world’s tallest building for a while to come. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there seems to be (8) ____ appetite for ambitious construction projects from property (9) ____. The Burj’s owners, however, are confident the building will be a success. More than 90 per cent of the space has been sold. It cost $22 billion to build and has broken many records. The opening celebrations included the world’s highest fireworks, which (10) ____ up the sky above the world’s tallest fountain. The building (11) ____ the world’s highest mosque and swimming pool, located on floors 158 and 76. Burj Khalifa has 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 (12) ____ of offices and the 160-room Armani hotel. Around 12,000 people will  live and work in the tower.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	highly	(b)	high	(c)	highness	(d)	height
2.	(a)	secret	(b)	secrecy	(c)	secretive	(d)	secrets
3.	(a)	renamed	(b)	renaming	(c)	renames	(d)	named
4.	(a)	wealth	(b)	money	(c)	rich	(d)	loaded
5.	(a)	hopeful	(b)	hopefully	(c)	hope	(d)	hoping
6.	(a)	gradually	(b)	gradual	(c)	graded	(d)	grades
7.	(a)	liked	(b)	likelihood	(c)	liking	(d)	likely
8.	(a)	little	(b)	few	(c)	low	(d)	small
9.	(a)	developing	(b)	developers	(c)	develops	(d)	developed
10.	(a)	lighting	(b)	lightening	(c)	lights	(d)	lit
11.	(a)	apartments	(b)	flats	(c)	houses	(d)	villas
12.	(a)	floors	(b)	flooring	(c)	floored	(d)	floor

WRITING

Write about tall buildings for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about the Burj Khalifa. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. TALL BUILDINGS: Make a poster about tall buildings. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. RESIDENT: Write a magazine article about people who live on the top floor of the Burj Khalifa. Include imaginary interviews with them.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the owner of the Burj Khalifa. Ask him/her three questions about the building. Give him/her three suggestions on what they should offer people who live there. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

F

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

F

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	officially	a.	formally
2	twice	b.	two times
3.	ruler	c.	leader
4.	collapse	d.	ruin
5.	gradual	e.	slow
6.	remain	f.	stay
7.	appetite	g.	desire
8.	construction	h.	building
9.	lit up	i.	illuminated
10.	houses	j.	accommodates

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	kept	a.	a secret
2	The oil-rich	b.	emirate of Abu Dhabi
3.	save Dubai from possible	c.	financial collapse
4.	The world has gone through	d.	difficult times
5.	the beginning of a gradual	e.	move forward
6.	for a while	f.	to come
7.	little appetite for ambitious	g.	construction projects
8.	confident the building will be	h.	a success
9.	The building houses the	i.	world’s highest mosque
10.	49 floors	j.	of offices

GAP FILL:

World’s tallest building opens in Dubai

The world's tallest building officially opened in Dubai on January the 4th. The height of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa was kept a secret until the opening ceremony. It is twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building. Another big surprise at the opening was the renaming of the tower. The building had always been called Burj Dubai. However, Dubai’s ruler announced it would now be called Burj Khalifa after the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s neighbour. The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi helped save Dubai from possible financial collapse. The chairman of the company that built the Burj, Mohamed Alabbar, said the building gives "hope and optimism". He added: “The world has gone through …difficult times… this is the beginning of a gradual move forward.”

It is likely the Burj will remain as the world’s tallest building for a while to come. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there seems to be little appetite for ambitious construction projects from property developers. The Burj’s owners, however, are confident the building will be a success. More than 90 per cent of the space has been sold. It cost $22 billion to build and has broken many records. The opening celebrations included the world’s highest fireworks, which lit up the sky above the world’s tallest fountain. The building houses the world’s highest mosque and swimming pool, located on floors 158 and 76. Burj Khalifa has 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 floors of offices and the 160-room Armani hotel. Around 12,000 people will live and work in the tower.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

 

Back to the top

Help Support This Web Site

• Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

• Download a sample of my book "1,000 Ideas & Activities for Language Teachers".
  

Copyright © 2004-2019 by Sean Banville | Links | About | Privacy Policy

 
 

SHARE THIS LESSON:

E-Mail

RSS