Happy 100th birthday, traffic lights!

Google celebrates 100 years of traffic lights with a doodle

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/119978777550673808/

How old are traffic lights?

The first ever traffic lights were placed in London outside the Houses of Parliament.  However, they were not electric.  The lights were gas and police officers had to operate them.  They were also extremely dangerous and in 1869, after a policeman was killed in an explosion, they were removed.

In 1914, the first electric traffic lights appeared in the USA.  This system only used red and green lights.  An amber (orange) light was added four years later.

And the countdown timers on traffic lights that tell pedestrians nowadays if they have enough time to cross the road are quite new.  They were introduced in the 1990s. 

Traffic lights may change again soon.  A new system that can tell how many people are waiting on the pavement to cross the road could control how long traffic needs to be stopped for.

In your own words, explain what these things are:

1  traffic lights

2  a red light

3  a countdown timer

4  a pedestrian

5  a pavement

Photos of traffic lights

Students work in pairs.  One student in each pair looks at the screen (if you have an electronic whiteboard) or at the photo you show.  The other student in the pair looks the other way (they can’t see the picture).

The student who can see the picture describes it to his/her partner. 

Trafiic light with bird and bird’s nest.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/28/new-york-state-to-turn-lights-out-for-migrating-birds

Traffic light in rain

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/73/95/f7/7395f7fed0fe94736f11c4276b5d3aa0.jpg

Caveman traffic lights and elephant streetlights in Thailand

http://www.thaizer.com/thailand-photos/the-cavemen-traffic-lights-of-krabi-town/

Traffic light tree

http://www.grand-illusions.com/articles/traffic_light_tree/

Snow covered traffic light

http://www.photopoly.net/how-to-take-great-pictures-in-the-snow/

Cycle traffic light

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2011/apr/05/cyclists-shared-zones-disabilities

New York street

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/492933121688788560/

Traffic light in fog

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/494481234058948280/

And to finish, and add a lot of fun to your lesson, show students this video:

For more fun, you could put a red circle on the floor and get them to dance!!!

Suggestions for definitions of words

1. traffic lights

You find these on the corners of roads, usually at the side of the street or above the junction.  They stop some of the cars, cyclists or the pedestrians who want to cross the road.  There are three lights (from top to bottom) – red, yellow/ambar, green.

2. a red light

It’s a signal to stop. This is at the top of the three lights on a traffic light.

3. a countdown timer

This is a clock, showing numbers.  When it reaches zero, it’s time to stop or go.

4. a pedestrian

This person is on foot, not in a vehicle.

5. a pavement

This is the part of a street where people walk, not drive. 

Tags:  travel, world events

Rephrasing Although or In Spite Of

Rephrase the sentences, using the conjunctions in brackets. Make the necessary transformations.

1. It is hard work, but I enjoy it. (Although)
2. It is hard work. However, I enjoy it very much. (In spite of)
3. She is very honest, but nobody would lend her the money. (Although)
4. She is very honest. However, her parents don’t believe her. (In spite of)
5. She has a cheap camera, but she takes good photos. (Although)
6. My father has a car, but he doesn’t drive frequently. (In spite of)
7. Paul paid the fee, but he thought it was unfair. (In spite of)
8. She promised to arrive on time, but she came late. (Although)
9. The place was very attractive, but it had a rocky beach. (Although) 
10. The wage was low. Yet, he decided to take the job. (Although)

Key

1. Although it is hard work, I enjoy it.
2. In spite of the hard work / being hard work, I enjoy it very much.
3. Although she is very honest, nobody would lend her the money.
4. In spite of being very honest, her parents don’t believe her.
5. Although she has a cheap camera, she takes good photos.
6. In spite of having a car, my father doesn’t drive frequently.
7. In spite of being unfair, he paid the fee.
8. Although she (had) promised to arrive on time, she came late.
9. Although the place was very attractive, it had a rocky beach.
10. Although the wage was low, he decided to take the job.

British and American English 16

The American words in the sentences below are printed in italics. Replace each American word or phrase with a British word or phrase from the following list:

Petrol         jam        specialize (university studies)      garden      windscreen       

Lift         shops    maths (mathematics)         university           cinema        rubbish underground       Petrol station

Note     queue   secondary school          ground floor      sweets      autumn

1. We had to stand in line at the movie theater last night.
2. Our back yard looks lovely in the fall. The leaves on the trees turn brown and red.
3. He wants to major in math at college when he leaves high school.
4. When you stop for gas at a gas station, they sometimes clean your windshield.
5. We had to buy a lot at the stores, then we took the subway home.
6. The elevator’s broken down again, but it doesn’t matter. We live on the first floor.
7. She likes candy and bread and butter with jelly on it. They’re bad for her teeth.
8. The only money I have is a twenty dollar bill.
9.  In this district they only collect the garbage once a week.

KEY

1.  Queue … cinema    

2. Garden .. autumn     

3. Specialize … maths … university…secondary school   

4. Petrol .. petrol station .. windscreen

5. Shops…underground

6.  Lift … ground floor

7. Sweets … jam             

8. Note               

9. rubbish

The Gasol siblings

Watch the next 3 minutes of the following video and answer the questions below. 
(You can also watch the rest of the video for pleasure!)

1  How often do Pau and Marc talk?

2  Do they give each other advice?

3  Has Pau ever sat back and said 'This is what I dreamed of.'?

Key:

1  They don't talk every day, but almost every day.  Pretty often.  Their schedules don't help to talk on a daily basis.

2  Pau tries to watch as many of Marc's games as possible.  Not so much as advice as how things went, how things are.

3  He thinks how fortunate the family is to have two brothers from Spain in the NBA.

Older siblings are smarter

Eldest siblings are, on average, 2.3 IQ points more intelligent than their younger brothers and sisters, says a study of Norweigan kids. And it's not necessarily being born first that makes the difference, it's being raised as the eldest child.

            Petter Kristensen, from the University of Oslo, and Tor Bjerkedal from the Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services in Oslo looked at data gathered from 241,310 Norwegian kids, all aged 18 or 19 years old at the time of intelligence testing.

            It has been proposed for some time that, on average across a population, first-borns are more intelligent than their younger siblings. There are more first-born sons in prominent positions than might be expected, for example. And some studies have shown a link between birth order and intelligence: the later born, the less smart the child.

            But the reasons behind this trend, and even whether it's real, have been hotly debated. Families with low-intelligence children tend to be large, which may leave little time for helping with homework; so, the observation that sixth-born children aren't very smart, for example, could just be a side effect of this.

            The fact that it's down to social upbringing rather than biological birth order leads Kristensen to think it's because of factors such as parental attention to older siblings, or time that the elders spend tutoring younger sisters and brothers. 

            The mean IQ of first-born kids was just over 103, second-borns just over 100, and third-borns about 99, they found. But if a child's elder sibling had died, leaving him or her to be raised as first-born, their IQ lept up to match the top scores of 103.

            The work doesn't necessarily show that younger siblings suffer from their lower IQ, Kristensen adds. "There is considerable evidence that first-borns and later-borns are good at different things," he says, citing Charles Darwin, who was described as having “enlarged curiosity”. "If offered the choice of having 2.3 more IQ points or Darwin's attribute of 'enlarged curiosity', I would unhesitatingly prefer the latter," says Kristensen.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. You have to be born first to have a higher IQ than your siblings.

b. There has never been any controversy on this topic before.

c. The larger the family is, the more chances to have less intelligent children they have.

d. The study does not prove that older siblings are smarter.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What has the study in Norway found out?

b. What circumstances, others than birth order, influence in the IQ difference among siblings?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. to collect (par.2)                    b. leading (par.3)                                     c. tendency (par.4)

d. education (par.5)                  e. proof (par.7)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. It has been proposed that first-borns are more intelligent.

                First-born...

b. The reasons behind this trend have been hotly debated.

                Scientists...

c. Elder siblings are smarter because they spend time tutoring younger brothers ans sisters.

                If elder siblings...

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

Do you think large families have more advantages or disadvantages?

Older siblings are smarter

KEY

Question 1

          a) FALSE “ And it's not necessarily being born first that makes the difference”

          b) FALSE “But the reasons behind this trend, {and even whether it's real], have been hotly debated”

          c) TRUE  “Families with low-intelligence children tend to be large“

         d) TRUE  “The work doesn't necessarily show that younger siblings suffer from their lower IQ”

Question 2

       a) You have to be brought up as the eldest child, and not be born first, to be more intelligent than your other siblings.

        b) -being raised as first-born / -time devoted by parents / -tutoring among siblings

Question 3

a)     gathered / (to) gather

b)    prominent

c)     trend

d)   upbringing

e)   evidence

Question 4

a)     First-borns have been proposed to be more intelligent.

b)    Scientists have hotly debated the reasosns behind this trend.

c)     If elder siblings did not spend time tutoring younger borthers and sisters. They would not be smarter.