81
Unit aims
Students will talk about space travel.
This includes:
•
learning vocabulary about space
•
using
going to
to talk about future plans
•
asking about future plans with
going to
•
talking about whether
they would like to travel
in space
•
learning about the solar system
Background information
The photograph
shows a satellite circling Earth in space.
Introduction to the unit
•
Read the title of the unit
while students look at the
photograph. Then ask
What’s Unit 7 about?
(
Space
/
Space travel
.)
•
Then ask
What can you see in the photograph?
See if
anyone already knows the word
Earth
and ask
Is Earth
a star or a planet?
(
A planet
.)
Elicit other known words,
e.g.,
clouds
,
the Sun
. Present
satellite
and ask students
what
we use satellites for, e.g., broadcasting television
programs, relaying telephone calls,
navigation systems,
collecting information about the weather, map-making,
spying, finding out about other planets.
•
Then ask
Would you like to travel into space? Why?
/
Why not? What would you like to do in space? Which
planets would you like to see or visit?
(Accept the planet
names in L
1
.)
•
Ask students if they have a telescope
at home or if they
watch the stars at night. Ask if students have ever seen
shooting stars, the northern/southern auroras, or an
eclipse. Elicit the names of famous movies about space
travel and ask students which is their favorite. Students
can also work in pairs and tell
each other the storyline of
their favorite space-themed movie.