3. The Fall of Icarus

The Project

A. Look at the painting and read the poem below it.
What do they have in common? Can you spot Icarus in the picture?

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Pieter Brueghel – Landscape with the Fall of Icarus created in 1558

Oil on canvas, Musées Royaux des Beaux-arts de Belgique, Brussels

According to Brueghel, when Icarus fell...

It was spring.

A farmer was working in his field.

A shepherd was looking after his sheep.

A fisherman was catching fish

near the edge of the sea.

All were sweating in the sun

that melted the wings' wax.

Off the coast there was a splash

quite unnoticed.

This was Icarus' drowning.

B. Draw your own picture or write your
own poem about the fall of Icarus.
Follow the steps on the right:

• Try to find as many pictures / texts about the fall of Icarus as you can

• Study them and try to find a way to express your own feelings and ideas

• With your partners in your group, draw your picture or write your poem

• Present it in class

A. Let's solve the riddles

1. Where do the pilots fly the plane from? __________________________________cockpit

2. It runs when you have a cold but it's the front part of a plane, too. _______________

3. Dogs shake it when they are happy but it's also the back part of a plane. _________

4. These help birds and planes to lift into the air. _____________________________

5. What is the force that pushes the plane downwards? ________________________

6. What is the force that pushes the plane upwards? __________________________

B. Complete the text using the verb in parenthesis in the right tense:

THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

Joseph (1740-1810) and Jacques Etienne (1745-1799) Montgolfier were two French bothers who (invent) the first successful hot-air balloon. They (launch) their first balloon in December, 1782. Almost a year later, the first trip (be) possible.

Joseph and Jacques Etienne (make) a paper balloon, they (burn) wet straw and (fill) it with hot air. It (begin)

to rise because hot air is lighter than the rest of the air. The first passengers in a hot-air balloon (be) a rooster, a sheep, and a duck, whom the Montgolfier brothers (send) up to an altitude of 1,640 ft (500 m) on September 19, 1783. The trip (last) for 8 minutes. The animals (survive) the landing. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France (watch) this event.

This text will be replaced

C. Join the sentences:

1. King Minos jailed Daedalus and Icarus

2. Daedalus thought that the only way to escape

3. Daedalus made

4. Icarus didn't remember

5. Icarus flew higher and higher until

6. Icarus moved his arms faster and faster

7. Icarus fell down

8. Daedalus looked hard

a. but that didn't help much.

b. into the deep sea.

c. in the labyrinth.

d. but he couldn't find his son.

e. the wax started to melt.

f. was to fly out of prison.

g. two sets of wings.

h. his father's advice.

D. Look at the pictures and write the story using Past Simple and Past Continuous
and the linking words as, when, after that, then, while:

Mr Badluck was packing his suitcase to go to the airport when

He left in a hurry

Finally, he changed his ticket for the next f light.

See p. 47 Workbook

NOW TICK
WHAT YOU CAN DO

REMEMBER when you write a biography of a personality: Collect information about him/her, organize your information into paragraphs and use linking words to connect the sentences.

I can talk about

• Events in the past
• Types and parts of planes
• Flight problems

I can read

• E-mails and attached files

I can listen to and understand

• Descriptions and dialogues about flights

I can write

• A biography and a poem

• My feelings about a painting/ a poem