187  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004
Engl i sh l esson pl ans 
f or  Gr ade 7  
Lessons i n t hi s sec t i on 
7.1  Speaking and grammar: managed to vs. could for past ability  188 
7.2  Listening and vocabulary: jobs and work customs  192 
7.3  Reading for inference: Just leave the keys in it, sir  196 
7.4  Writing non-chronological information texts: Energy resources  199 
Resource sheets for the lessons  202  
Usi ng t hese l esson pl ans 
The lessons for Grade 7 do not represent a weeks teaching; they are drawn from 
different points in the teaching year to show spread rather than sequence. 
The objectives for the lessons are drawn from the content standards and the 
relevant standards in each case are indicated on the lesson plan. Main standards are 
shown in bold and subsidiary standards in normal print beside the objectives at the 
top of each lesson plan. 
Each lesson plan has sufficient material to support 45 minutes of direct teaching. 
Teachers may need to supplement the activities provided with additional simpler or 
more complex tasks if they have a mixed ability class. If there is too much material 
for 45 minutes (this depends on the class), it is up to the teacher to designate which 
activities will become homework or carry through to the next lesson. However, to 
maximise the learning cycle, teachers should be selective about which tasks to cut, 
and not just drop the last task because it comes at the end. 
Answer keys are provided to guide teacher correction and feedback but where the 
tasks are subjective, these answers are not intended to be presented to students as 
the only right way of completing the given tasks. 
The lesson plans are organised as three-stage lessons with a feedback session at the 
end to sum up learning for students. In the speaking/grammar lesson, the three 
stages are presentation, practice and production. In the listening/vocabulary, 
reading and writing lessons the three stages are pre-, while, and post- (e.g. pre-
listening, while listening and post-listening). 
The lesson plans do not include revision warmers at the beginning to review 
language learned in previous lessons, nor do they include homework tasks at the 
end of the lesson because these lesson plans are taken out of sequence. However, 
the review and homework stages are necessary parts of the lesson and should be 
provided by the teacher. 
188  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Speak i ng and gr ammar : 
managed t o vs. c oul d f or  
past  abi l i t y  
  Use managed to to express ability in achieving one-off events in the past and 
contrast it with could to express continuing (life-long) ability in the past. 
  Prepare and present a recount of past events. 
  Revise and extend adventure vocabulary.  
Set the scene 
Give students worksheet 7.1a and elicit from them the answers to the questions. 
Use the pictures to pre-teach the vocabulary. 
Give students one minute to scan the text below the pictures. Ask the following 
comprehension questions to check general understanding. 
  Whats the mans name? Houdini. 
  When did he live? About 100 years ago. 
  What was his job? A magician / an escape artist. 
Model sentences 
Elicit the following model sentences by questioning, get students to practise saying 
the sentences aloud with correct pronunciation and then write the model sentences 
on the board. 
Example question:  Why was he famous? 
Model sentence:    He could escape from anywhere. 
Example questions:  What happened in 1897? What are the exact words the text
            uses? 
Model sentence:    In 1897 he managed to escape from a famous prison. 
Get students to underline the model sentences in their worksheets and find any 
other sentences which use could or managed to. Get them to copy these sentences 
into their exercise books. 
Concept check 
Elicit/check students understand the meaning, form and pronunciation of managed 
to and when to use it instead of could with the following questions. Ask the 
questions in Arabic or English, depending on the level of your class. 
  Are we talking about the present or the past? Past 
  What Houdini can do or what he could do? Could do 
  Was Houdini able to escape from places like this all of his life? Yes 
  Is it a general statement about him? Yes 
  For things we were able to do for a long time, for all our lives, for general 
ability, do we use could or managed to? Could 
7.1 
Obj ec t i ves 
Grade 7 curriculum 
standards 5.2, 5.3, 1.2 
Pr esent at i on 
Resources 
Worksheet 7.1a 
Vocabulary 
locked 
(to) drown 
a trick 
189  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
  What happened in 1897? He managed to escape. 
  Escaping from that prison in that year  was it a general or a specific 
action? A specific action 
  Was it a repeated, continuing action or a single action? A single action 
  Something he did all his life or something he did once? Once 
  So for single events, one-off things we were able to achieve, do we use could 
or managed to? Managed to  
Word cue substitution drill 
Do the word-cue substitution drill about Houdini with the whole class (OHT 7.1a). 
Students transform the sentences, using managed to:  
Cue  Students say 
They put him in chains.  He managed to get out of the chains. 
They put him in a locked wooden 
box. 
He managed to unlock the wooden box. 
They put the wooden box into a 
locked metal box. 
He managed to unlock the metal box. 
They hung the box over a bridge 
with a rope. 
He managed to climb up the rope to the bridge. 
They lowered the box into the river.  He managed to hold his breath. He managed to 
swim out of the box. 
After 30 minutes Houdini escaped.  He managed to escape in 30 minutes.  
Get students to practise the question form by giving them oral cues, first, then, 
next, after that, in the end.  
Teacher says  Students say 
first  What did he manage to do first? 
then  What did he manage to do then? 
after that  What did he manage to do after that?  
Put students in pairs and get them to practise questions and answers with managed 
to from the same cues on OHT 7.1a. Students can change the order of what 
Houdini managed to do first, according to their own logic. 
Answer key  suggested exchange 
A:  What did he manage to do first? 
B:  He managed to get out of the chains. 
A:  What did he manage to do then? 
B:  He managed to unlock the wooden box. 
Etc. 
Get students to practise in open pairs first, then closed pairs. Monitor and correct 
for accuracy. 
Pr ac t i c e 
Resources 
OHT 7.1a 
190  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004  
Finding friends 
Use the grid in OHT 7.1b and the map on OHT 7.1c to elicit which prepositions 
go with which verbs. Refer to the map on OHT 7.1c to show crawl through, step 
over, climb out of, etc. 
Answer key 
Relate the prepositions to the situation on OHT 7.1c only  other combinations are possible 
but these suggested answers focus students on the specific activity here, not every possible 
situation. 
Fill in the table as a whole class or give it to the class already filled in.   
in  on  into  onto  across  off  from 
out 
of 
through  down  over 
climb                       
hang                       
jump                       
crawl                       
walk                       
run                       
hide                       
step                        
Get students work in pairs, using the table as set of cues to make sentences about 
the map on OHT 7.1c with managed to. 
A:  Climb onto 
B:  I managed to climb onto the roof of the castle / prison building 
  Crawl across. 
A:  I managed to crawl across the minefield. 
Story telling 
Set the scene for getting students to prepare and present the story of how they 
managed to escape from the prison. Show OHT 7.1c and tell them the following. 
Teachers script 
You were in this prison for three years and then you managed to escape. How 
did you do it? You are going to tell us your story. First, remember what things 
you managed to get hold of in prison that helped you escape. What sort of 
things did you use? Did you use a knife? Did you manage to steal a key? 
Elicit from students and put on the board a list of things that they managed to get 
hold of before escaping. 
wire cutters  a key  a guards uniform  a passport  a train ticket 
dog food  money  walking shoes 
Get students to brainstorm their stories in groups of four, writing short notes (not 
complete sentences) if they need to, to prepare their stories. Ensure students will 
speak at length and use the target language by: 
  reminding them of the verbs and prepositions in OHT 7.1b; 
  reminding them of the target language managed to; 
Pr oduc t i on 
Resources 
OHTs 7.1b, 7.1c 
Vocabulary 
(to) crawl 
(to) step 
191  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
  eliciting what they did in preparation for the escape; 
Steal a key and some money, make some normal clothes, save some food for the 
dogs 
  getting them to count how many steps there are in OHT 7.1c from the prison 
window to the port and eliciting the verbs and prepositions for each. 
Climb out of the window, climb down the walls, crawl under the barbed wire 
fence, make friends with the dogs, jump over the electric fence, escape from the 
guards, walk through the minefield, not step on any mines, climb over the outer 
fence, run through the woods, hide on the train, etc. 
Get students to take it in turns in their groups to practise telling their story. Tell 
them that everyone must practise because everyone will have to re-tell the story. 
Get the listeners to add comments and ask questions to keep the story going. 
Really? Thats amazing! How did you manage to do that? 
Cross-group students into new groups of four so that every member of the new 
group has a different story to tell. Get them to take it in turns to listen and tell. 
Monitor for fluency as well as accuracy. Record spoken errors and general 
problems for the feedback session.  
Deal with most common spoken errors orally. 
Ask students to choose from their group the escape story which is (a) the strangest, 
(b) the funniest, (c) the most practical, and to give reasons for their choices. 
Summar y f or  st udent s  
In Arabic if necessary  
Could, managed to and was able to are all helping verbs (modal verbs) that we use 
to talk about ability and achievements in the past. Could is for general or life-long 
skills, managed to is for one-off, specific events. 
Was able to can be used for any situation instead of having to change between 
could and managed to, and thats what we will study next. 
Feedbac k  
192  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Li st eni ng and voc abul ar y: 
Jobs and wor k  c ust oms  
  Understand and respond to information given about work customs in different 
countries. 
  Use vocabulary from the recommended word lists to talk about jobs.  
The idea of the interview and structure of the Comprehension grid exercises 
in this lesson are based on an example from People Like Us by Simon 
Greenall, Macmillan Education Ltd. 2003. 
Guessing game 
Introduce the topic, Jobs and work customs. Pre-teach the vocabulary, relating 
the adjectives to the qualities you need to do certain jobs. Show students the 
adjectives in Box 1, OHT 7.2. Put the following sentence on the board. 
A  person is someone who  
In groups of three, get students to choose three of the adjectives in Box 1 and 
complete the sentence above, for each one, to define it. 
A braveperson is someone who is not afraid of anything. 
Monitor and correct for accuracy. Get students to read their sentences to the class, 
omitting the adjective they are describing. The class then guesses which adjective it 
is. 
Word building 
In the same groups, get students to guess or work out the job titles derived from 
root words that you put on the board. 
law  interview  account  politics  ambulance  army 
Check answers by showing students the job titles in Box 2, OHT 7.2. Get students 
to match the adjectives in Box 1 with the jobs in Box 2. Tell them to put the two 
items together and make sentences with should be and ought to be. 
Lawyers should be clever but professional. 
Comprehension grid (column 1) 
Get students to read the statements on worksheet 7.2 about work customs in the 
UK. Working individually, get students to fill in the column In Qatar by ticking 
() the statements which are also true for Qatar and putting a question mark (?) 
next to any they dont know. Read the statements aloud, pausing after each one to 
give students time to think and fill in the column. Then put students back into their 
groups of three and get them to compare answers. 
7.2 
Obj ec t i ves 
Grade 7 curriculum 
standards 1.2, 3.1, 5.9, 
5.13 
Pr e-l i st eni ng 
Resources 
OHT 7.2 
Worksheet 7.2 
Vocabulary 
generous 
gentle 
practical 
thoughtful 
professional 
193  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004  
Comprehension grid (column 2) Same or different 
Tell students they are going to listen to an interview with a Vietnamese woman, 
Hai, who works as an office manager in Hanoi. She is being interviewed about 
work customs in her country. As students listen they will tick () the column In 
VN (Vietnam) (worksheet 7.2), for the work customs which are the same as in the 
UK. Again, if theyre not sure, or the information isnt given, they will put a 
question mark (?). 
Play tape 7.2. Let students share answers after the first listening, giving evidence 
they can remember from the interview to support their answers. 
Answer key 
Statements ticked (): 5, 7, 8, 9. 
Get students to discuss and fill in the last column in the table Main differences 
(worksheet 7.2). This column is to describe how Vietnamese work customs are 
different from those in the UK; students should do as much as they can from 
memory. Play the tape a second time. Get them to complete their notes, discuss, 
share and compare answers. 
Answer key 
2 hour lunch breaks 
lunchtime sleep 
second job 
normal clothes 
retire at 5055 
dont change jobs 
use personal connections  
Pairwork discussion 
Individually, get students to write sentences comparing work customs in the UK, 
Qatar and Vietnam, in three different ways: factual comparisons, personal 
preferences and different values. Students use the sentence patterns below to 
prepare for discussion. 
1  Factual comparisons 
We 
They 
work 
have 
longer 
shorter 
hours 
holidays
in  Qatar 
The UK 
Vietnam 
2  Personal preferences 
Id like to 
I wouldnt like to 
Id rather 
Id prefer to 
work in  
The UK 
Qatar 
Vietnam 
because  
3  Values 
You  should 
shouldnt 
ought to 
buy jobs for your family 
have to wear formal clothes to work 
be able to wear what you want 
Whi l e 
l i st eni ng 
Resources 
Tape 7.2 
Worksheet 7.2 
Post -l i st eni ng 
194  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Put students into pairs and get them to express their opinions, agree and disagree, 
using their written sentences as prompts and known phrases. 
What about you? What do you think? 
You could be right but 
Monitor and record written and spoken errors for the feedback session.  
  What are the main differences between [Vietnam] and [Qatar]? 
  Where would you prefer to work? 
  Why? 
  Which work customs do you disagree with or think are wrong? 
  Why? 
Elicit a few different opinions from the class. Deal with the most common errors, 
orally and/or on the board. 
Summar y f or  st udent s 
Todays lesson was to learn some new vocabulary. Tell me some of the new words 
you learned today about work and jobs. You also practised listening for 
information and details. You responded to listening by making comparisons, 
stating your preferences and opinions, and discussing which work practices you 
agreed and disagreed with. 
Feedbac k  
195  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Interviewer:  So how many hours a day do you normally work? 
Hai:  Officially, from 7 to 4.30, but its not really such a long day. 
Interviewer:  Why is that? 
Hai:  Well, we have a two and a half hour lunch break. 
Interviewer:  Two and a half hours! Thats a long lunch. 
Hai:  Most people go home for lunch and have a sleep afterwards  its 
so hot in the middle of the day  the best thing to do is sleep. 
Interviewer:  Do people ever work late? 
Hai:  No, not very often  not their official job, that is. But most people 
have a second job, so they want to leave the office on time to get 
there. 
Interviewer:  Why do people have two jobs? 
Hai:  Its the only way to make enough money really. 
Interviewer:  What do people wear to work? 
Hai:  Its not very formal. Maybe the boss will wear a suit but we just 
wear normal clothes  trousers and a top. 
Interviewer:  Women too? 
Hai:  Oh yes. I think its because most women come to work by 
motorbike so its just practical to wear trousers. 
Interviewer:  How many days holiday do you get a year? 
Hai:  Mmm. Theres lots of official holidays  and we get about two 
weeks at New Year  so I suppose all together we get about four 
weeks. But most people dont like to take it all at once  they like 
to take one or two days here and there, you know, stay home or 
visit their families in the countryside. 
Interviewer:  When do people retire? 
Hai:  Women at 50 and men at 55  but often people stay in their jobs 
longer if they want to  my boss is 60 and shes still working. 
Interviewer:  When do people get paid? 
Hai:  At the end of the month. 
Interviewer:  Do people work for the same organisation all their lives? 
Hai:  Yes, especially if they have a government job. The pay is low but 
they look after you  you know, when you retire, and for medical 
things too. 
Interviewer:  And do people socialise with their co-workers? 
Hai:  Sorry? 
Interviewer:  Do you see the people you work with as friends, outside work? 
Hai:  Yes, quite a lot. I have good friends who I met in this office. 
Interviewer:  Do people ever use personal connections to get a good job for 
themselves or someone in their family? 
Hai:  Oh yes. Its very common. I think its the best way to get a job. But 
we also have to pay money to get the job. Thats not so good. 
Adapted from People Like Us by Simon Greenall, Macmillan Education Ltd. 2003 
Tape sc r i pt  
7.2 
196  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Readi ng f or  i nf er enc e: Just  
l eave t he keys i n i t , si r   
  Make straightforward inferences while reading, supported by evidence from the 
text. 
  Infer how one event causes another. 
  Make brief notes from reading.  
Ordering pictures 
Put the class into groups of four. Get them to create The parking attendants story 
with OHT 7.3, numbering the pictures 1 to 6, according to what they decide the 
sequence of events is. Put two to three groups together and have them re-tell their 
stories to each other. 
Set the scene by introducing and eliciting the following places, phrases, concepts. 
New York, up-town, out-of-town 
The Hilton, valet-parking, a parking attendant 
Michigan plates (in the USA, car license plates say which state a car is 
from) 
Elicit the American English words for the following English words. 
  A taxi? A cab 
  Trousers? Pants 
  The pavement? The sidewalk 
Pre-teach 
Pre-teach the vocabulary. Write this pre-question on the board: 
What does Stan Murch get a tip for?  
Comprehension questions 
Hand out the text on worksheet 7.3a and give students three minutes to read it and 
answer the pre-question. 
Answer key 
Stealing the mans car. 
Orally check comprehension with the following questions. 
  Which city did the story happen in? New York 
  What was Stan Murch wearing? A jacket that looks like a uniform 
  Where was he standing? In front of the Hilton / at the main entrance 
  What car came in? A Chrysler Imperial 
  Who was in the car? A man, his wife and their children / a family 
  What did the car owner give Stan Murch? A tip / the car 
  Did Stan Murch park the car in the Hilton garage? No 
7.3 
Obj ec t i ves 
Grade 7 curriculum 
standards 7.3, 7.2, 9.1 
Pr e-r eadi ng 
Resources 
OHT 7.3 
Vocabulary 
a tip 
(to) salute 
(to) climb  
 behind the wheel 
 into/out of a car 
Whi l e r eadi ng 
Resources 
Worksheets 7.3a, 7.3b(i) 
and 7.3b(ii) 
197  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
  Explain in your own words how Stan Murch stole the car 
Reading between the lines 
Give students worksheet 7.3b(i) and ask them to work in pairs. Ask them to write 
down the line number and the words, phrases and sentences they inferred the 
answers from. Check answers through monitoring the pairs. Only go over the 
problematic answers with the whole class. 
Answer key 
1  (lines 12) uniform-like blue jacket; stood on the sidewalk in front of the Hilton 
  (lines 1011) Murch was at the door  pulling it the rest of the way  Just leave the 
keys in it, sir 
  (lines 11,15,18) sir 
  (line 18) he saluted 
2  (line 2) the loop 
3  (lines 23) cab after cab  Doesnt anyone drive their own car anymore? 
4  (line 2) cab after cab 
  (line 34) Then at last 
5  (line 4) Michigan plates 
  (line 45) came hesitantly up Sixth Avenue 
  (general) theyre staying at a hotel; the man doesnt realise Stan doesnt work there 
6  (line 6) a woman and several children 
7  (line 89) with a cigar and a camels hair coat 
  (general) hes paying for all his family to stay at the Hilton and driving a Chrysler 
Imperial 
8  (line 78) climbed heavily out 
  (line 8) He was a big man 
9  (lines 68) a woman and several children  He was a big man 
10  (line 14) Wait! (command, no polite words) 
  (lines 1617) Here you go, boy  and pulled a folded dollar bill  and handed it 
across 
11  (lines 11,15) sir 
  (line 18) Thank you, sir, Murch said. He saluted 
12  (line 11) Just leave the keys in it, sir. 
13  (line 14) Wait! (the exclamation mark) 
  (line 15) Murch looked at him. Sir? (He might think the car owner has caught him) 
14  (line 19) He was smiling 
15  (line 22) Adapted from Bank Shot by Donald E. Westlake, 1972 
Explain that they have been reading between the lines. 
Reading beyond the lines 
Have them answer the three Why? questions on worksheet 7.3b(ii) on their own. 
Then put them into small groups and get them to discuss their opinions (in Arabic 
or English). 
Answer key 
1  A New Yorker would know Stan was a con-man; you cant re-sell a taxi; its harder for 
the police to trace a stolen car from another state. 
2  Perhaps hes celebrating something? Showing off? Trying to look rich? 
3  Perhaps because the car owner is too full of himself? Its a clever trick? Con-men have 
often been the heroes of films and books (since Robin Hood). We like to see the rich 
198  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
loose and the poor win. Check too if there are students who feel sorry for the car owner 
and his family and get them to explain why. 
Explain that they have been reading beyond the lines.  
Roleplay 
Divide the class into two groups; those who will become Partner A and those who 
will become Partner B. 
Teachers script 
Partner A  you are Stan Murch. You have has just been arrested for stealing 
the car. You want to tell the truth because you dont want to go to prison for a 
long time. 
Partner B you work for the New York Police Department (NYPD). You have 
to interview Stan and fill in a police report about the car theft. Remember, 
your report must be very clear and have all the details so that it can be used in 
court. 
Hand out worksheet 7.3c. Get the Stan Murch group to work together to anticipate 
and answer questions based on the criminal report form. Get the NYPD group to 
work together to formulate and write down the actual questions they will use. Give 
some examples to get them started: 
What were you wearing? What did you do first? What happened next? 
Pair off the two groups, one A with one B. Get pairs to roleplay the police 
interview and fill in the form. 
Monitor and record written and spoken errors for the feedback session.  
Deal with the most common errors, orally and/or on the board. 
  In the story, does the writer tell us directly that Stan Murch is outside the 
Hilton because hes planning to steal a car? No 
  Where do we see the verb steal for the first time? In the last line 
  Does it say directly that the car owner is rich, fat, married, from out-of-
town, stupid? No 
  Does it say directly that Stan Murch is a thief? No 
  How do we find these things out? With the clues in answers 115 above 
  Whats the difference between the story you read and the police report you 
wrote? All the information is between the lines in the story, all the 
information is clearly on the line in the report. 
Summar y f or  st udent s 
Reports (like the police report) cannot have any inference in them; all the details 
and information must be very clearly on the line. 
In stories and texts where the writer wants to tell us something indirectly, we have 
to read between the lines  inferring ideas from clues the writer gives us. 
In texts which make us think about issues and ideas, the writer is asking us to go 
beyond the story and think about our own lives and opinions, so we are reading 
beyond the lines  adding our own experience to what we have read. 
Post -r eadi ng 
Resources 
Worksheet 7.3c 
Feedbac k  
199  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Wr i t i ng i nf or mat i on t ex t s: 
Ener gy r esour c es  
  Write a non-chronological information text of twelve controlled sentences 
about energy resources. 
  Use simple and compound sentences, connectives and relative clauses 
accurately. 
  Revise Grades 16 nature and environment active vocabulary and extend to 
energy resources  
Wordsquare 
Pre-teach the vocabulary. 
Get students to prepare the wordsquare (OHT 7.4) in pairs first, locating as many 
of the key words as possible. Remind them that as well as across and down, some 
of the words run backwards or upwards, and some diagonally up or down. Put 
students into teams. Have them take it in turns to circle the target words in the 
wordsquare on the OHP (each team uses a different colour OHP washable pen). 
The team which has circled the most words is the winner. 
Set the scene 
Put students into small groups of three or four. Ask the following questions and put 
them on the board. 
  What are fossil fuels? Coal, oil, gas 
  Where do they come from? Animals and plants that died millions of years 
ago 
  What is renewable energy? Energy from natural sources which dont run out 
  Where does it come from? The wind, the sun, the sea  tides and waves, heat 
from rocks deep inside the Earth 
  How is nuclear power produced? Atoms are split and the heat they produce is 
used to make electricity. 
Get students to answer the questions in Arabic first, then use the vocabulary they 
have just learned to answer and discuss in English. Help them with any vocabulary. 
Fossil in this case means from plants and animals which died millions of 
years ago; atoms are split or broken apart  
Gap fill 
Hand out worksheet 7.4a and get students to name as many of the buildings and 
equipment as they can. Dont provide the words for them. Put students in pairs. 
Have them match the compound nouns on worksheet 7.4b and then complete the 
gap-fill exercise. Finally, get them to see their completed gap-fill sentences as 
captions and have them match each sentence to a picture on worksheet 7.4a. 
Answer key 
Oil rigs extract 20% of the worlds oil from under the sea. 
7.4 
Obj ec t i ves 
Grade 7 curriculum 
standards 9.6, 9.1, 1.1, 
1.2 
Pr e-w r i t i ng 
Resources 
OHT 7.4 
Worksheets 7.4a, 7.4b 
Vocabulary 
fuel 
energy 
renewable 
sources 
the environment 
atoms 
tides 
200  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Gas, coal and oil burning power stations waste natural resources and pollute the 
environment. 
In nuclear plants, atoms are split to give off heat and produce electricity. 
Hydroelectric dams produce electricity from running water. 
Wind turbines use the wind to produce electricity. 
Geothermal plants use energy from rocks below the ground. 
Solar panels store energy from the sun. 
Other possible answers: power plants; nuclear power stations; hydroelectric plants  
Tell the students that they are going to write a text about energy resources in three 
paragraphs. Use the following checking questions to establish the text type. 
  Are we telling a story or giving information? Giving information 
  The subject is energy resources so do we use I he she or it and 
they? It, they 
  What other subjects could we use? People, we 
  Is the topic mainly in the past, present or future? The present 
  What tense will we mainly use? Simple present 
  Is it better to start with a general opening statement or a specific example 
about geothermal plants? A general opening statement 
Guided writing questions and answers 
Hand out worksheet 7.4c. Get students to discuss the answers for the Paragraph 1 
questions. Working individually or in pairs, get students to write down their 
answers in complete, full sentences (no short answers). Monitor carefully to make 
sure they are writing a paragraph, not a series of answers to an exercise. When 
most of the class have got a first paragraph, stop them writing and build a shared 
first paragraph on the board. 
Answer key 
To be used as a teachers guide, not as the right answer  
Paragraph 1 questions    Suggested written paragraph 1  
How important are energy resources in 
modern life?  
Apart from our houses, what else do we 
need energy to run?  
Where do all the energy resources we 
use come from?  
What are the three main sources of 
energy that we use? 
Energy resources are really important 
in modern life. Apart from our houses, 
we need energy to run our cars, 
hospitals, schools, and factories. All 
the energy resources we use come 
from the Earth in some way. There are 
three main sources of energy that we 
use: fossil fuels, nuclear power and 
renewable energy.  
Get students to repeat the process for Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3: oral pair 
work discussion with short answers followed by individual writing with full 
answers. Monitor carefully, correct for accuracy, and wherever possible, get 
students to combine two answers into one sentence using and and subordinate 
clauses with which or that. 
Answer key 
To be used as a teachers guide, not as the right answer  
Whi l e w r i t i ng 
Resources 
Worksheet 7.4c 
Vocabulary 
(to) get rid of 
201  |  English sample lessons  |  Grade 7   Supreme Education Council 2004 
Paragraph 2 questions    Suggested written paragraph 1  
What are the three fossil fuels?  
Do they come from plants and animals? 
Did the plants and animals die recently?  
Is nuclear power produced by splitting 
atoms? What do the atoms do then?  
Where does renewable energy come 
from? Can the sea be a source of 
renewable energy? What is the source 
of geo-thermal energy? 
Fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas. 
They come from plants and animals 
that died millions of years ago. 
Nuclear power is produced by 
splitting atoms which give off heat 
and produce electricity. Renewable 
energy comes from the wind, running 
water, the sun, the sea and rocks deep 
inside the earth which produce heat. 
Paragraph 3 questions    Suggested written paragraph 1  
Can fossil fuels be renewed? Do they 
waste our natural resources?  
Are coal-burning power stations dirty? 
Do they cause pollution?  
Can nuclear power stations be 
dangerous? Is it easy to get rid of 
nuclear waste?  
What does renewable mean? What are 
the advantages of renewable energy? 
Fossil fuels cannot be renewed and 
they waste our natural resources. 
Coal burning power stations are dirty 
and cause a lot of pollution. Nuclear 
power stations can be dangerous and 
it is very difficult to get rid of nuclear 
waste. The advantage of using 
renewable energy is that it is safe, 
clean, cheap and it doesnt run out.   
Get students to plan the illustration of their information text with the pictures from 
worksheet 7.4a. Have them cut out the pictures and arrange them on a clean page 
so that they follow the sense of the three paragraphs. Have students copy the gap-
filled captions (worksheet 7.4 b) onto strips of paper, and stick them to each 
picture, or just underneath. Get them to copy the final draft of their three 
paragraphs around the pictures. Alternatively, get students to prepare the final, 
illustrated and captioned draft electronically as a Word document and print it out in 
colour. 
Get students to share and compare their versions.   
Deal with most common written errors on the board if necessary. 
Summar y f or  st udent s 
Look again at your text on energy sources. 
Whats the purpose of paragraph 1? (Its a general introduction to the topic.) 
Whats the purpose of paragraph 2? (It gives examples of energy sources  what 
they are, where they come from.) 
Whats the purpose of paragraph 3? (It gives advantages and disadvantages, and 
the writers opinion.) 
Whats the purpose of the pictures and the captions? (They make it look more 
interesting; they add a lot more information that goes with the main text without 
having to write a lot more paragraphs.) 
Post -w r i t i ng 
Resources 
Worksheets 7.4a, 7.4b 
Computer with MS Word, 
electronic file / printout 
of energy resource 
images from Internet, 
colour printer, paper (if 
paper resources only, 
scissors and glue) 
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