Title: Future travels

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

Future travels. On visions of the future and the mysterious Philadelphia Project.

Target group:

8th‑grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Pupil:

1) searches for the necessary information in the text and cites relevant parts of journalistic, popular or scientific texts;

2) organizes information depending on their function in the message;

3) interprets works of art (painting, graphics, sculpture, photography);

4) recognizes the differences between the fine literature and scientific literature, popular science, journalism and determines the functions of these types of writing;

6) defines the aesthetic values of the learned cultural texts.

2. Differentiation of language. Pupil:

1) recognizes the diversity of vocabulary, including recognizing national vocabulary and limited vocabulary (eg scientific terms, archaisms, colloquialisms); recognizes native and borrowed words, knows types of abbreviations and abbreviations - defines their functions in the text;

2) recognizes personal and local names, types of local names, uses correct grammatical forms of names, surnames, local names and names of residents;

3) knows ways to enrich vocabulary.

3. Language communication and language culture. Pupil:

1) understands what language politeness consists of and uses it in the statements.

III. Creating statements

1. Elements of rhetoric. Pupil:

1) functionally uses rhetorical means and understands their impact on the recipient;

5) differentiates the example from the argument;

7) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion.

2. Speaking and writing. Pupil:

3) formulates questions for the text.

IV. Self‑study. Pupil:

1) reliably, with respect for copyrights, uses information;

2) develops his talents and interests;

6) develops skills of independent presentation of the results of his work;

8) develops the ability to think critically and formulate opinions.

The general aim of education

Students shape the ability to analyse cultural texts: graphics and popular science text.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• talks about various modes of transport;

• differentiates real and fantastic visions of travel;

• creates names of futuristic transport means;

• creates a hierarchy of features of transport means, I can justify them.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: subject exercises.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• activity in groups and pairs.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the class, which is reflection on futuristic visions of ways of moving. It gives students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher introduces the topic. He or she asks students how they think people will travel in a hundred years. The teacher listens to students' statements, allowing them to share futuristic visions. Then the teacher asks how people traveled a hundred years ago. If necessary, he or she verifies and supplements students' responses.

Realization

1. The teacher, while continuing the conversation, asks the students questions:

• How has the way, time and comfort of traveling changed over the past century?

• How at the beginning of the last century, modern people could imagine means of transport in later times?

Students are looking for answers together, discussing changes in ways of traveling.

2. The teacher displays on the board the images depicting futuristic means of transport. He or she points out that these illustrations were created over 100 years ago. Students make up names for the presented vehicles. Then answer the questions:

Why could not the vision of the future shown in the illustrations be realised in the 20th century?

3. The teacher starts external audio material. Students listen to conversations about modern means of transport. Then they work in pairs: one student asks questions to the audio material, the other student answers; then there is a change.

Note, if the audio material is no longer available, the teacher can use the transcript lessons included in the script and complete the exercise basing on the text.

4. In groups (or pairs) the students do a crossword: the slogan is to be the word transport (a crossword generator in abstract).

5. The teacher asks students what the people’s priorities are when creating new means of transport, what is the most important for them. Then he asks the students to put together their own hierarchy on features of the vehicle of the future. Students can choose features from the list proposed in the task. They can also choose their own features.

After completing the task, the students compare their lists of features, their hierarchy, and discuss the topic.

6. The teacher asks students to explain the concept of teleportation. They can rely on their own knowledge or use the available sources (e.g. Internet).

7. Students read the text „Experiment Philadelphia.” They explain what this experiment was supposed to be (tasks under the text in abstract).

8. Students talk about teleportation as a means of transport. They mention good and bad sides to this solution. They refer to examples from films or literature and computer games in which the theme of teleportation appears.

Summary

1. The teacher asks students what they have learned today, whether the lesson was interesting for them. He or she asks them to evaluate their own work during the lesson.

2. Students write in their notebooks the key words they consider the most important.

Homework

Imagine that in 2215 your peers are watching images of teleporters found on archaic hard disks. Arrange a short dialogue in which their opinion on these graphics will be revealed.

Transcription of the text of the program:

Transcript

Rob
Hello I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute. English‑the show you provide useful language skills.

neil
And hello, I'm Neil. Our topic today is transport. How do you think you'll be traveling to work in, say 30 years' time?

Rob
Well, not only will homeworking be more prevalent - that means' common '- but I hope I will be working in 30 years' time!

neil
Good answer! But what we have in the future 30 years.

Rob
Yes, we've seen how air travel has become commonplace for many people. Commonplace means 'not unusual'. And there is the development of high‑speed train travel. But the main priority is to speed your journeys quicker.

neil
That's true, and we're discussing some ideas for making even faster. But let's quit question.

Rob
Ah yes, time waits for no one, not even you Neil. So can you answer this question? According to Guinness World Records, in which country has the fastest track? Is it in ...

a) China

b) Japan

c) France

neil
All these countries have fast trains. I've heard that Chinese trains go particularly fast. I'm going to say a) China.

Rob
Well, you'll have to wait for the end of the program to see if you're right. But let's talk more about the future of transport. One development we hear much about is automation.

neil
Automation means 'using machines to do what's normal for drivers'. It will not be too long before the driverless car.

Rob
Scary! And the French train engineering company, Alstom, is planning to test automated freight trains later this year. The automated train prototype can travel for about 100 kilometers without driver intervention. A prototype is produced in large quantities.

neil
Of course some trains are developing a form of driverless vehicle that could move around at 1,123 kilometers per hour.

Rob
Come on Neil. That sounds a bit far‑fetched - like flying sci‑fi movies - it's unlikely to happen.

neil
Well you say that it is already being tested in Nevada in the USA and has a name - Hyperloop One.

Rob
Tell me more!

neil
The idea is, you have to be loaded into a metal tube at high speed, rather than hours. Anita Sengupta is nothing but scary about it ...

INSERT
Anita Sengupta, Lead Systems engineer, Virgin Hyperloop One The Hyperloop is a maglev train in a vacuum system - in a vacuum tube - so you do not have any issue flying in aeroplanes and people do not have any problem going in maglev trains. This is simply combining the energy.

Rob
So Anita Sengupta explained the type of technology. Hyperloop used. First she mentioned maglev - that's a short way of saying magnetic levitation.

neil
It's when trains travel on magnetic track rather than conventional rails.

Rob
And then she mentioned a vacuum system - a vacuum is a space that has been removed from the air. So the tube these pods have no air. And these technologies are more efficient and they save energy.

neil
Which is a good thing. This sounds like a great way to travel but will it take off?

Rob
Well, BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan‑Jones is not so sure. He thinks it will be quite challenging to convince in the future.

neil
But we have to try these new technologies Rob. If we did not we were still traveling around on horse and cart!

Rob
A good point Neil - and we were not able to be in the future. Now earlier I asked you according to Guinness World Records, in which country has the fastest ever train? Is it in ...

a) China

b) Japan

c) France

neil
And I said a) China.

Rob
And you were wrong Neil. China does have some very fast trains. But the fastest recorded train was a maglev of 603 kilometers per hour.

neil
Now that would make my commute to work very quick! OK, shall we recap some of the vocabulary we've heard today? Starting with commonplace.

Rob
Which means 'not unusual or often seen'. For example 'free Wi‑Fi in coffee shops is commonplace these days.'

neil
And very useful it is too! Next we had automation, meaning 'using a machine to something instead of a human.' 'Automation in the car making industry has a loss of jobs'.

Rob
Of course, you have to be a prototype for the first time. 'The prototype of a new solar‑powered bike has been so successful.'

neil
Come on Rob, that sounds a bit far‑fetched - and by that I mean 'so unbelievable it's unlikely to happen.'

Rob
Well, that's what it's all about right now.

neil
Finally, we discussed the word vacuum. It is a space that has been removed from it - basically an empty space. 'The plan for Virgin's Hyperloop One is to make a maglev even faster than putting it in a vacuum tube.' And that brings us to the end of today's 6 Minute English. Do not forget to check out our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, and we'll see you next time. Goodbye.

Rob
Bye

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Future travels

Future methods of transport is a favourite theme of science fiction writers. Dreams of rapid, safe and comfortable travel also spawn visions of futuristic means of transport. At one time, man only wanted to reach the most inaccessible places on Earth, later he wanted to defy gravity, and in the end, he decided to travel without wasting a single moment of time… Which of these dreams have we managed to achieve? Do we travel as the visionnaires imagined over a hundred years ago? And how does our generation see future travel?