Teacher’s Notes Living in the 1940s Level 2, Module 6
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READING
Aim In this lesson, students read about a TV documentary made in 2001 by Channel 4/Wall. A modern British family moved into a 1940s-style house and lived the way people did in the 1940s, during World War II, for several weeks. 1 Reading • Put the students in pairs and ask them todiscuss the questions. Students should look atthe pictures to help them. • Ask a few students to share their ideas withthe class. • Read the text with the students and ask themif their answers were correct. Suggested answers World War II (1939–1945) involved most of the world’s nations divided into two opposing sides: the Allies (including Britain, the USA and the USSR) and the Axis (including Germany, Italy and Japan). It was the largest and deadliest conflict in human history and 50–70 million people lost their lives. The war deeply affected people’s daily lives in Britain. Food was rationed and people had to stay indoors at night with black-out curtains at their windows so German bombers couldn’t see the buildings in the dark. People didn’t have telephone and, in their free time, they listened to the radio and played cards.
3 Vocabulary • Ask the students to find the opposites of the words in the text. • Ask the students to compare answers in pairs before checking them with the class. Answers 1 interesting 2 old-fashioned 3 difficult 4 a lot 5 thin 6 healthy 4 Speaking • Tell the students they are going to interview their parents or grandparents (or any older person) about their lives when they were younger. • Ask them to read the example questions and to write some of their own, e.g. Where did you live? Who did you live with? Did you have a TV? • Note: The interview stage of this activity should be set for homework. • In the next lesson, ask different students to report back to the class on the answers they got from their interviewee(s).
2 Comprehension • Ask the students to read the text again and answer the questions. • Check the answers with the class. Answers 1 Because they were in a TV programme to show people what life was like in the 1940s. 2 Five people lived in the house. 3 They wore clothes from the 1940s. 4 They played cards, read books and listened to the radio. 5 Because during the war, there wasn’t a lot of water. 6 Because during the war, everyone only got a small amount of food every week. 7 They ate fast food. © Macmillan Polska 2014
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