READING PLUS
Cambridge English Empower B2
2
t
i
n
USurvival stories
1
a
SPEAKING
Begin by telling students of a true survival story you
know. See https://survivallife.com/amazing-true-survivalstories/ for ideas. Put students in pairs to discuss questions
1 and 2. Monitor and help as necessary, encouraging
students to ask one another for more information. Take
feedback as a class and ask for two or three example
answers to the questions.
Direct students to question 3. Check students understand
the meaning of ‘rabbit-proof’. Help students understand
the idea of ‘proof’ by writing fire-proof and water-proof on
the board before explaining the meaning if necessary.
VOCABULARY: Words connected to
difficult situations and places
2
a Individually, students read the definitions and match the
words and meanings. To check their answers, encourage
students, in pairs, to find the word in the text, substitute
it for the definition and reread the sentence to check it
still makes general sense. You could demonstrate this
strategy with endurance, the first item, and ask students to
continue. Check answers as a class.
Answers
1 h
2 e
3 d
4 g
5 i
6 b
7 a
8 c
9 f
b Read the instructions and point out that students should
check the meaning of words they either don’t know or are
not 100% sure of. Remind students that there might be
information both before and after the word to help them
understand or guess the meaning. Possible words: trek,
desert, protagonist, mixed-race, aborigine, fence, camp.
3
READING 1
a Ask students to read question 1–3 and set a one-minute
time limit for students to read the article very quickly
to get the gist of what the films are about. Do not give
feedback at this stage.
b
Now ask students to compare their answers with
another student, encouraging them to refer back to the
text to explain how they arrived at their answers. Then go
through the answers as a class.
Answers
1 Rabbit-Proof Fence
2 The Way Back
3 127 Hours
c Ask students to read the statement and the corresponding
part of the text to decide if they are true or false. Monitor
and check students are correcting false statements
before putting them into pairs to compare answers. Take
feedback as a class.
Answers
The Way Back
1 False (The camp was in a very remote area near the Arctic Circle;
‘enormous distances’ meant very few people escaped.)
2 True
3 False (Four died; four got to India.)
127 hours
1 False (He had a small amount of food and water. He might have
had a mobile phone, but we are told there was no signal in
the desert.)
2 True
3 True
Rabbit-Proof Fence
1 True
2 False (The fence runs from north to south, and it stops animal
diseases spreading between east and west.)
3 False (Gracie was caught and taken back to camp)
Check students know the meaning of protagonist,
authorities and moving (adjective), if they haven’t already
looked up these words.
authorities (n) = a group of people with official
responsibility for a particular activity, for example, the
police, and immigration officers
moving (adj) = causing strong feelings of sadness or
sympathy
Cambridge English Empower B2 © Cambridge University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE
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Unit 2
4
READING 2
BETTER READING: INFERRING
1Go through the information and example with the class
before asking students to work in pairs to explain how the
information in sentences a and b can be inferred from the
text. Monitor and help as necessary. Ask for volunteers to
give answers, and give the rest of the class time to find the
information in the text. Check students understand the
connection between the information in the statement and
the information in the text.
aThe text gives the following information: ‘Few prisoners
managed to escape alive from such camps because of the
enormous distances and harsh weather’. This implies that
many people died trying to escape.
5
SPEAKING
a Monitor and help with ideas as students make notes to
answer the questions. If students are stuck for ideas, you
could point out that a dangerous situation needn’t be of
the magnitude of the true survival stories: most accidents
happen at home, especially in the kitchen, and many
people have close shaves on the roads.
b
Put students into pairs to exchange stories and find
out the details about the incident. As a follow-up, you
could ask students to tell a different student their original
partner’s story. Alternatively, ask for volunteers to report
their partner’s story to the class. You could take a vote on
the most dangerous situation.
bThe text states that the three prisoners were treated in
hospital in Calcutta after they escaped. This implies that
the prisoners were unhealthy when they arrived.
a Ask students to choose one of the films and explain how
the information can be inferred from the texts. Monitor
and help as necessary. Pair students who have chosen the
same text to compare answers before checking as a class.
Ask students to make notes about their partner’s text as
you go over answers.
Answers
127 hours
1‘nobody knew he was there’; ‘there wasn’t any mobile phone
signal’
2 ‘he did his best to preserve his food and water’
3 ‘However, it did nothing to reduce … and he’s still … to this day.’
Rabbit-Proof Fence
1 ‘in 1930s Australia’
2 ‘rabbit-proof fence’
3 ‘the two sisters could do nothing but watch helplessly’
OPTIONAL LANGUAGE FOCUS:
USE OF THE VERB ‘TO HAVE’
Please note: There are no instructions on the worksheet for
this activity.
Tell students there are several examples of phrases with
the verb ‘to have’ in the text. Ask them to find the verb and
decide its use. Give students time to work in pairs before
offering the following suggestions if necessary. Ask students
to find one example of each use in the text.
1as a main verb to express possession of objects, individual
characteristics, relationships
2 common expressions (e.g. have a party, fight)
3 as a modal auxiliary (have to) to express obligation
Answers had to make a very difficult decision = 3, had no
choice = 1, 2, had an accident = 2, had a small amount of
food and water = 1, had to break the bone first = 3, had a
cheap pocketknife = 1, had plenty of food and water = 1, had
parents = 1
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