The Reading / Listening - Flying Taxis - Level 2

There will soon be a new form of transport - flying taxis. Many of us grew up watching sci-fi movies with these. Science fiction is becoming science fact. The Japanese airline ANA and a U.S. tech start-up called Joby Aviation will start operating air taxis at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. They are currently building the flying vehicle. They need to work out what traffic rules the taxis will follow, and what kind of training flying taxi pilots will need. The five-seat, all-electric taxi will take off and land vertically. It will fly as far as 241 kilometers and have a top speed of 321kph.

Joby's CEO said the taxis are good for the environment. He said people will save time and reduce their carbon footprint. He added that Japan was a great place to test the taxis. This is because 92 per cent of the population live in towns and cities, and Tokyo is one of the most congested cities in the world. The president of ANA was excited about the project. He said: "ANA has 70 years of experience delivering safe and reliable flights.…Being able to provide customers with the option to travel rapidly, and sustainably, from an international airport to a downtown location is very appealing."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Flying Taxis - Level 0 Flying Taxis - Level 1   or  Flying Taxis - Level 3

Sources
  • https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220215/p2g/00m/0bu/026000c
  • https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/14/joby-aviation-partners-with-japanese-airline-to-launch-air-taxi-service/
  • https://www.flightglobal.com/airframers/joby-and-ana-team-up-to-bring-aerial-ridesharing-to-japan/147513.article


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. There will soon be a new
  2. Many of us grew up watching sci-
  3. Science fiction is becoming science
  4. a U.S. tech
  5. start operating
  6. They are currently building
  7. flying taxi
  8. have a top speed
  1. air taxis
  2. fact
  3. start-up
  4. pilots
  5. the flying vehicle
  6. form of transport
  7. of 321kph
  8. fi movies

Paragraph 2

  1. the taxis are good
  2. people will save
  3. reduce their carbon
  4. Japan was a great place to
  5. one of the most congested
  6. ANA was excited
  7. delivering safe and
  8. travel rapidly and
  1. cities
  2. footprint
  3. reliable flights
  4. time
  5. about the project
  6. for the environment
  7. sustainably
  8. test the taxis

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

There will soon be a (1) ___________________ transport - flying taxis. Many of us grew up watching (2) ___________________ these. Science fiction is becoming science fact. The Japanese airline ANA and a U.S. (3) ___________________ Joby Aviation will start operating air taxis at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. They are currently building (4) ___________________. They need to work out what traffic rules the taxis will follow, and what kind of training flying taxi (5) ___________________. The five-seat, all-electric taxi will take off and land vertically. It will fly as far as 241 kilometers and have a (6) ___________________ 321kph.

Joby's CEO said the taxis (7) ___________________ the environment. He said people will save (8) ___________________ their carbon footprint. He added that Japan was a great place to test the taxis. This is because 92 per cent of the population live in (9) ___________________, and Tokyo is one of the most congested cities in the world. The president of ANA was excited about the project. He said: "ANA has (10) ___________________ experience delivering safe and reliable flights....Being able to provide customers with the (11) ___________________ rapidly, and sustainably, from an international airport to a downtown location (12) ___________________."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Therewillsoonbeanewformoftransportflyingtaxis.Manyofusgrewup
watchingsci-fimovieswiththese.Sciencefictionisbecomingscienc
efact.TheJapaneseairlineANAandaU.S.techstart-upcalledJobyAv
iationwillstartoperatingairtaxisatthe2025WorldExpoinOsaka.Theya
recurrentlybuildingtheflyingvehicle.Theyneedtoworkoutwhattraffic
rulesthetaxiswillfollow,andwhatkindoftrainingflyingtaxipilotswillnee
d.Thefive-seat,all-electrictaxiwilltakeoffandlandvertically.Itwillflya
sfaras241kilometersandhaveatopspeedof321kph.Joby'sCEOsaidth
etaxisaregoodfortheenvironment.Hesaidpeoplewillsavetimeandred
ucetheircarbonfootprint.HeaddedthatJapanwasagreatplacetotestth
etaxis.Thisisbecause92percentofthepopulationliveintownsandcities
,andTokyoisoneofthemostcongestedcitiesintheworld.Thepresidento
fANAwasexcitedabouttheproject.Hesaid:"ANAhas70yearsofexperie
ncedeliveringsafeandreliableflights....Beingabletoprovidecustomer
swiththeoptiontotravelrapidly,andsustainably,fromaninternational
airporttoadowntownlocationisveryappealing."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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