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Pompeii thieves say relics are cursed (17th October, 2015)

The Reading / Listening - Level 3

The ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. It is one of Italy's top tourist destinations. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site with happy memories, photos and souvenirs. However, some visitors take more. They take historic relics from the city – things like small statues, stones or mosaic tiles. However, many of these people are now regretting their actions. They say the relics are cursed and have filled their lives with bad luck since bringing them home. A senior official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning what they had taken. Many people apologised and wrote stories about their bad luck.

The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters about some of the stories he had received. One man from Latin America explained that his life was full of traumas after he got home from Italy with a small tile he had put in his pocket. A person from Spain returned five packages containing stolen items, including a bronze statue that went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "a curse on his entire family". Mr Osanna is thinking about setting up an exhibition of all the letters he has received. He explained that the letters might be more interesting than the relics. He said: "It's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting or valuable. It's more the letters."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 0, Level 1 or Level 2

Sources

telegraph.co.uk

thelocal.it

wikipedia.org

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. OLD CITIES: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about old cities. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

ancient / tourists / destinations / memories / souvenirs / historic relics / packages / stories / trauma / stolen / statue / complained / exhibition / interesting / valuable

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

3. TOURIST DESTINATIONS: Complete this table and share what you wrote with your partner(s). Change partners often.

	How good is it?	Why do people visit it?
Pompeii
Statue of Liberty
Great Wall of China
Machu Picchu
The Pyramids
Sydney Opera House

4. NO-GO AREAS: Students A strongly believe ancient sites should be no-go areas – people should not be allowed inside them; Students B strongly believe everyone should be allowed in. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. CITIES: Rank these with your partner. Put the best cities for tourists at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• Naples

• London

• Sydney

• Rio

• New York

• Tokyo

• Cairo

• Bangkok

6. TOURIST: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "tourist". 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.	The article says Pompeii receives millions of visitors a year.	T / F
b.	Pompeii is over 3,000 years old.	T / F
c.	People had bad luck after stealing things from Pompeii.	T / F
d.	People returned relics along with letters of apology.	T / F
e.	A Latin American man said he got lots of good luck from Pompeii relics.	T / F
f.	A Spanish man complained about being cursed by a golden statue.	T / F
g.	A Pompeii official wants to set up an exhibition of the letters.	T / F
h.	The official said the letters are more interesting than the relics.	T / F

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

1.	ancient	a.	said sorry
2.	tourists	b.	sent back
3.	relics	c.	top
4.	senior	d.	sightseers
5.	apologised	e.	upsets
6.	received	f.	whole
7.	traumas	g.	very old
8.	returned	h.	precious
9.	entire	i.	got
10.	valuable	j.	objects

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

1.	The ancient	a.	official
2.	hundreds of thousands	b.	tourist destinations
3.	one of Italy's top	c.	of all the letters
4.	They say the relics	d.	valuable
5.	A senior	e.	are cursed
6.	a bronze	f.	city of Pompeii
7.	put a curse	g.	than the relics
8.	setting up an exhibition	h.	statue
9.	more interesting	i.	of tourists
10.	highly interesting or	j.	on his entire family

GAP FILL

The (1) ____________ city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. It is one of Italy's top tourist (2) ____________. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site with happy memories, photos and (3) ____________. However, some visitors take more. They take historic relics from the city – things like small (4) ____________, stones or mosaic tiles. However, many of these people are now (5) ____________ their actions. They say the relics are cursed and have filled their lives with bad luck since bringing them home. A (6) ____________ official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of (7) ____________ from across the world from people returning what they had taken. Many people apologised and wrote stories about their (8) ____________ luck.

regretting
destinations
statues
packages
ancient
bad
senior
souvenirs

The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters about some of the stories he had (9) ____________. One man from Latin America explained that his life was (10) ____________ of traumas after he got home from Italy with a small tile he had put in his (11) ____________. A person from Spain returned five packages (12) ____________ stolen items, including a bronze statue that went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "a (13) ____________ on his entire family". Mr Osanna is thinking about setting up an (14) ____________ of all the letters he has received. He explained that the letters might be more interesting than the (15) ____________. He said: "It's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting or (16) ____________. It's more the letters."

pocket
received
curse
relics
full
containing
valuable
exhibition

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	It is one of Italy's top ______
	a. tourist destination b. touristy destinations c. tourist destinations d. touristy destination
2)	They take historic relics from the city – things like small statues, stones ______
	a. or mosaic tie ails b. or mosaic tails c. or mosaic tiles d. or mosaic toils
3)	They say the relics are cursed and have filled their lives ______
	a. within bad luck b. with bad luck c. wither bad luck d. withered bad luck
4)	A senior official at Pompeii said he has had ______
	a. hundreds off packages b. hundreds for packages c. hundreds from packages d. hundreds of packages
5)	Many people apologised and wrote stories about ______
	a. their bad luck b. their bad lucks c. their bad lucky d. their bad lucked
6)	The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters about some of the stories ______
	a. he has received b. he have received c. he heard received d. he had received
7)	One man from Latin America explained that his life was ______
	a. full of traumas b. full of traumatic c. full off traumas d. full of dramas
8)	A person from Spain returned five packages ______
	a. contain in stolen items b. contained in stolen items c. containing in stolen items d. containing stolen items
9)	The writer complained that the statue had put a curse on ______
	a. his entire family b. his entirely family c. his yen tire family d. his Zen tire family
10)	It's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting ______
	a. or valuables b. nor valuable c. ore valuable d. or valuable

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The (1) ___________________ Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. (2) ___________________ Italy's top tourist destinations. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site (3) ___________________, photos and souvenirs. However, some visitors take more. They take historic relics from the city – things like small statues, stones or mosaic tiles. However, many of these people (4) ___________________ their actions. They say the relics are cursed and have (5) ___________________ with bad luck since bringing them home. A senior official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning what (6) ___________________. Many people apologised and wrote stories about their bad luck.

The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters (7) ___________________ stories he had received. One man from Latin America explained that (8) ___________________ traumas after he got home from Italy with a small tile he had put in his pocket. A person from Spain returned (9) ___________________ stolen items, including a bronze statue that went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "(10) ___________________ family". Mr Osanna is thinking about setting up an exhibition (11) ___________________ he has received. He explained that the letters might be more interesting than the relics. He said: "It's not that the stolen (12) ___________________ interesting or valuable. It's more the letters."

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	How many tourists does Pompeii get every year?
2.	How old is the ancient city of Pompeii?
3.	What part of mosaics do tourists take?
4.	How do many people now feel about taking the relics?
5.	What kind of stories have people being writing and sending to Pompeii?
6.	Where was the man from whose life was filled with traumas?
7.	What was the statue made of that the Spanish man took?
8.	What did a statue put on a man's family?
9.	What does Mr Osanna want to set up?
10.	What did Mr Osanna say was more interesting than the relics?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	How many tourists does Pompeii get every year?	6.	Where was the man from whose life was filled with traumas?
	a) hundreds of thousands b) hundreds of millions c) a hundred thousand d) thousands and thousands		a) Spain b) Australia c) the USA d) Latin America
2.	How old is the ancient city of Pompeii?	7.	What was the statue made of that the Spanish man took?
	a) 3,500 years old b) 3,000 years old c) 2,000 years old d) 2,500 years old		a) marble b) gold c) bronze d) plaster
3.	What part of mosaics do tourists take?	8.	What did a statue put on a man's family?
	a) faces b) the centre c) frames d) tiles		a) good luck b) a curse c) a medal d) a proud feeling
4.	How do many people now feel about taking the relics?	9.	What does Mr Osanna want to set up?
	a) good b) they regret it c) happy d) depressed		a) a charity b) a foundation c) an exhibition d) a city called New Pompeii
5.	What kind of stories have people being writing and sending to Pompeii?	10.	What did Mr Osanna say was more interesting than the relics?
	a) bad luck stories b) long ones c) funny ones d) short stories		a) Naples b) letters c) tourists d) history

ROLE PLAY

Role A – London

You think London is the best city to visit. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them things that aren't so good about their cities. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): New York, Tokyo or Cairo.

Role B – New York

You think New York is the best city to visit. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them things that aren't so good about their cities. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): London, Tokyo or Cairo.

Role C – Tokyo

You think Tokyo is the best city to visit. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them things that aren't so good about their cities. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): New York, London or Cairo.

Role D – Cairo

You think Cairo is the best city to visit. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them things that aren't so good about their cities. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): New York, Tokyo or London.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'ancient' and 'city'.

ancient

city

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:

near
top
photos
now
since
wrote

Latin
pocket
Spain
family
setting
valuable

OLD CITIES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about old cities 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.

OLD CITIES DISCUSSION

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

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the word 'tourists'?
3)	What do you know about Pompeii?
4)	What famous old places have you visited?
5)	How important are archaeological sites?
6)	What do you think about what you read?
7)	What are your favourite tourist destinations?
8)	What do you think of people taking things from Pompeii?
9)	Do you believe in things like good and bad luck?
10)	What things have you done that you later regretted?

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

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

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	What do you think about the stories in the second paragraph?
13)	What traumas have you had in life?
14)	Are you generally a lucky or unlucky person?
15)	Should the people who stole things from Pompeii be arrested?
16)	What do you think of the idea of an exhibition of the letters?
17)	When was the last time you wrote a letter of apology?
18)	What advice do you have for people who visit Pompeii?
19)	Do you think the letters or the relics would be more interesting?
20)	What questions would you like to ask the official at Pompeii?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

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

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

The (1) ____ city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. It is one of Italy's (2) ____ tourist destinations. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site with happy (3) ____, photos and souvenirs. However, some visitors take more. They take historic relics from the city – things like small statues, stones or mosaic (4) ____. However, many of these people are now regretting their actions. They say the relics are cursed and have (5) ____ their lives with bad luck since bringing them home. A senior official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning what they had (6) ____. Many people apologised and wrote stories about their bad luck.

The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters about some (7) ____ the stories he had received. One man from Latin America explained that his life was full of traumas after he (8) ____ home from Italy with a small tile he had put in his pocket. A person from Spain returned five packages containing stolen items, (9) ____ a bronze statue that went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "a curse (10) ____ his entire family". Mr Osanna is thinking about setting up an exhibition of all the letters he has received. He explained that the letters might (11) ____ more interesting than the relics. He said: "It's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting or valuable. It's (12) ____ the letters."

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

1.	(a)	ancient	(b)	scented	(c)	Arctic	(d)	lost
2.	(a)	above	(b)	over	(c)	top	(d)	summit
3.	(a)	memory	(b)	memorable	(c)	memories	(d)	memorise
4.	(a)	trials	(b)	tails	(c)	toils	(d)	tiles
5.	(a)	filling	(b)	fills	(c)	filled	(d)	filler
6.	(a)	took	(b)	taken	(c)	taking	(d)	takes
7.	(a)	for	(b)	of	(c)	by	(d)	on
8.	(a)	was	(b)	got	(c)	be	(d)	had
9.	(a)	inclusive	(b)	included	(c)	including	(d)	includes
10.	(a)	of	(b)	by	(c)	in	(d)	on
11.	(a)	being	(b)	been	(c)	was	(d)	be
12.	(a)	much	(b)	many	(c)	most	(d)	more

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	The tnnaeic city of Pompeii
2.	one of Italy's top tourist oteantisdnsi
3.	happy memories, photos and nsoersuvi
4.	small eustsat, stones or mosaic tiles
5.	A senior aiffcloi at Pompeii
6.	hundreds of kapsgaec
Paragraph 2
7.	his life was full of aatsmru
8.	The writer ciomlnpead that…
9.	his einert family
10.	setting up an boiitxnehi
11.	the stolen seicpe
12.	highly interesting or lavauelb

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	statues, stones or mosaic tiles. However, many of these people are now regretting their actions. They say the relics are
( )	from Latin America explained that his life was full of traumas after he got home from Italy with a small tile he had put
( )	and souvenirs. However, some visitors take more. They take historic relics from the city – things like small
( )	than the relics. He said: "It's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting or valuable. It's more the letters."
( )	in his pocket. A person from Spain returned five packages containing stolen items, including a bronze
( 1 )	The ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. It is one
( )	The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters about some of the stories he had received. One man
( )	official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning
( )	of Italy's top tourist destinations. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site with happy memories, photos
( )	statue that went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "a curse on his entire
( )	what they had taken. Many people apologised and wrote stories about their bad luck.
( )	family". Mr Osanna is thinking about setting up an exhibition of all the
( )	letters he has received. He explained that the letters might be more interesting
( )	cursed and have filled their lives with bad luck since bringing them home. A senior

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	is tourist one destinations of Italy's It top .
2.	old the site 2,000- with happy memories year- Tourists leave .
3.	small statues Historic relics from the city – things like .
4.	relics luck lives have are with filled cursed The bad their and .
5.	packages from across the world He has had hundreds of .
6.	of traumas after he got home His life was full .
7.	packages items stolen . five Returned containing
8.	put on family had curse entire statue a his The .
9.	exhibition an up Setting received has he letters the all of .
10.	more the The be than might interesting relics letters .

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

The ancient / ancestor city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, receives hundreds of thousands / thousand of tourists every year. It is one of Italy's topped / top tourist destinations. Most tourists leave the 2,000-year-old site with happy memory / memories, photos and souvenirs. However, some visitors take more / most. They take historic relics from the city – things like / alike small statues, stones or mosaic tiles. However, many of these people are now regrets / regretting their actions. They say the relics are cursed and have filled / filling their lives with bad luck since bringing them home. A senior official at Pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning what / that they had taken. Many people apologised and wrote stories / story about their bad luck.

The senior official, Massimo Osanna, told reporters around / about some of the stories he had received. One man from Latin America explained that his life was / had full of traumas after he got home from Italy with a small tile he has / had put in his pocket. A person from Spain returned five packages containing stolen / stealing items, including a bronze statue that gone / went missing in 1987. The writer complained that the statue had put, "a curse in / on his entire family". Mr Osanna is thinking / thought about setting up an exhibition of all / whole the letters he has received. He explained that the letters might be most / more interesting than the relics. He said: "It's not that the stolen pieces are highly / high interesting or valuable. It's more the letters."

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

Th_ _nc__nt c_ty _f P_mp___ n__r N_pl_s, _t_ly, r_c__v_s h_ndr_ds _f th__s_nds _f t__r_sts _v_ry y__r. _t _s _n_ _f _t_ly's t_p t__r_st d_st_n_t__ns. M_st t__r_sts l__v_ th_ 2,000-y__r-_ld s_t_ w_th h_ppy m_m_r__s, ph_t_s _nd s__v_n_rs. H_w_v_r, s_m_ v_s_t_rs t_k_ m_r_. Th_y t_k_ h_st_r_c r_l_cs fr_m th_ c_ty – th_ngs l_k_ sm_ll st_t__s, st_n_s _r m_s__c t_l_s. H_w_v_r, m_ny _f th_s_ p__pl_ _r_ n_w r_gr_tt_ng th__r _ct__ns. Th_y s_y th_ r_l_cs _r_ c_rs_d _nd h_v_ f_ll_d th__r l_v_s w_th b_d l_ck s_nc_ br_ng_ng th_m h_m_. _ s_n__r _ff_c__l _t P_mp___ s__d h_ h_s h_d h_ndr_ds _f p_ck_g_s fr_m _cr_ss th_ w_rld fr_m p__pl_ r_t_rn_ng wh_t th_y h_d t_k_n. M_ny p__pl_ _p_l_g_s_d _nd wr_t_ st_r__s _b__t th__r b_d l_ck.

Th_ s_n__r _ff_c__l, M_ss_m_ _s_nn_, t_ld r_p_rt_rs _b__t s_m_ _f th_ st_r__s h_ h_d r_c__v_d. _n_ m_n fr_m L_t_n _m_r_c_ _xpl__n_d th_t h_s l_f_ w_s f_ll _f tr__m_s _ft_r h_ g_t h_m_ fr_m _t_ly w_th _ sm_ll t_l_ h_ h_d p_t _n h_s p_ck_t. _ p_rs_n fr_m Sp__n r_t_rn_d f_v_ p_ck_g_s c_nt__n_ng st_l_n _t_ms, _ncl_d_ng _ br_nz_ st_t__ th_t w_nt m_ss_ng _n 1987. Th_ wr_t_r c_mpl__n_d th_t th_ st_t__ h_d p_t, "_ c_rs_ _n h_s _nt_r_ f_m_ly". Mr _s_nn_ _s th_nk_ng _b__t s_tt_ng _p _n _xh_b_t__n _f _ll th_ l_tt_rs h_ h_s r_c__v_d. H_ _xpl__n_d th_t th_ l_tt_rs m_ght b_ m_r_ _nt_r_st_ng th_n th_ r_l_cs. H_ s__d: "_t's n_t th_t th_ st_l_n p__c_s _r_ h_ghly _nt_r_st_ng _r v_l__bl_. _t's m_r_ th_ l_tt_rs."

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

the ancient city of pompeii near naples italy receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year it is one of italy's top tourist destinations most tourists leave the 2000-year-old site with happy memories photos and souvenirs however some visitors take more they take historic relics from the city – things like small statues stones or mosaic tiles however many of these people are now regretting their actions they say the relics are cursed and have filled their lives with bad luck since bringing them home a senior official at pompeii said he has had hundreds of packages from across the world from people returning what they had taken many people apologised and wrote stories about their bad luck

the senior official massimo osanna told reporters about some of the stories he had received one man from latin america explained that his life was full of traumas after he got home from italy with a small tile he had put in his pocket a person from spain returned five packages containing stolen items including a bronze statue that went missing in 1987 the writer complained that the statue had put "a curse on his entire family" mr osanna is thinking about setting up an exhibition of all the letters he has received he explained that the letters might be more interesting than the relics he said "it's not that the stolen pieces are highly interesting or valuable it's more the letters"

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

TheancientcityofPompeiinearNaples,Italy,receiveshundredsofthous
andsoftouristseveryyear.ItisoneofItaly'stoptouristdestinations.Mos
ttouristsleavethe2,000-year-oldsitewithhappymemories,photosan
dsouvenirs.However,somevisitorstakemore.Theytakehistoricrelicsf
romthecity–thingslikesmallstatues,stonesormosaictiles.Howev
er,manyofthesepeoplearenowregrettingtheiractions.Theysaytherel
icsarecursedandhavefilledtheirliveswithbadlucksincebringingthemh
ome.AseniorofficialatPompeiisaidhehashadhundredsofpackagesfro
macrosstheworldfrompeoplereturningwhattheyhadtaken.Manypeo
pleapologisedandwrotestoriesabouttheirbadluck.Theseniorofficial,
MassimoOsanna,toldreportersaboutsomeofthestorieshehadreceive
d.OnemanfromLatinAmericaexplainedthathislifewasfulloftraumasaf
terhegothomefromItalywithasmalltilehehadputinhispocket.Aperso
nfromSpainreturnedfivepackagescontainingstolenitems,including
bronzestatuethatwentmissingin1987.Thewritercomplainedthatthes
tatuehadput,"acurseonhisentirefamily".MrOsannaisthinkingabouts
ettingupanexhibitionofallthelettershehasreceived.Heexplainedthatt
helettersmightbemoreinterestingthantherelics.Hesaid:"It'snotthatt
hestolenpiecesarehighlyinterestingorvaluable.It'smoretheletters."

FREE WRITING

Write about old cities for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

Nobody should be allowed into ancient cities. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 Pompeii. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. OLD CITIES: Make a poster about old cities. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. POMPEII RELICS: Write a magazine article about the stolen relics of Pompeii. Should people be paid for returning the relics? Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against this.

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. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on Pompeii. Ask him/her three questions about it. Give him/her three of your ideas on how to keep it in good condition for another 2,000 years. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

Buy my book

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

F

b

F

c

T

d

T

e

F

f

F

g

T

h

T

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	ancient	a.	very old
2	tourists	b.	sightseers
3.	relics	c.	objects
4.	senior	d.	top
5.	apologised	e.	said sorry
6.	received	f.	got
7.	traumas	g.	upsets
8.	returned	h.	sent back
9.	entire	i.	whole
10.	valuable	j.	precious

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	Hundreds of thousands
2.	2,000 years old
3.	Tiles
4.	They regret it
5.	Bad luck stories
6.	Latin America
7.	Bronze
8.	A curse
9.	An exhibition
10.	The letters

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

a

2.

c

3.

d

4.

b

5.

a

6.

d

7.

c

8.

b

9.

c

10.

b

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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Pompeii thieves say relics are cursed (17th October, 2015)

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