Lesson 2, Crack the code!

Lesson 2

Crack the code!

2	How do people communicate? What about those who can't see, hear or speak? Look at photos 1-6 and add your own ideas.

2	Look at this sign. Do you know what code this is?

3	Jennifer's class, in Cambridge, is writing articles about children with special needs for the school newspaper. Jennifer is interviewing Tom, a 12-year old boy, who is blind. Listen to the first part of the interview to find out:

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a. what the sign says:

..............................

b. the name of the code:

..............................

UNIT 8

Lesson 2

4	Look at Tables A and B and try to understand how the Braille code works.

5	Listen to the second part of the interview and complete Jennifer's notes.

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Louis Braille was from ¹ .................. (Date of Birth: 4 Jan ².......)
Blinded by accident at the age of ³...................
Sent to ⁴.................. to study at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth.
A French soldier, Charles Barbier, visited Louis's school in ⁵............ and showed the students his code.
Based on Barbier's idea, Louis invented his code which had ⁶....... dots.
There are Braille symbols for each letter. E.g. letter D has dots 1, 4 and ⁷.......... Letter ⁸......... is
written with dots 2 and 4.
Braille readers touch the dots and can read up to ⁹................. words in a minute.
1829: ¹⁰................................. was published.
There are extra symbols for ¹¹......................... and ...............................
Braille Asteroid: Number ¹²....................................

6	Work in pairs. Look at the Braille alphabet and ... a. find the letters of your name and tell the dot numbers for each one. b. write your name in Braille c. write a secret message in Braille for another pair of students.

7	What kind of difficulties do these people face in their everyday life? Discuss in class.

Crack the code!

Guessing words from context

Read these extracts from the interview with Tom. In pairs, try to
guess and explain what the expressions in bold mean. Then, tell
the class.

a. Braille became blind by accident when he was only three years old.
b. How did he come up with the idea of his code?
c. Soldiers used this code to share top-secret information during a battle.
d. Each dot has a numbered position on the Braille cell.
e. I can read a sign or a book just by touching these dots with my fingers.
f. You can see Braille signs in most public places.
g. The asteroid 9969 Braille was named after him.
h. Thanks to you, I'll write a great article for our newspaper.

2	In pairs, choose four of the expressions above (a-h) to make sentences with.

Punctuation Marks

3	Match the punctuation marks with their names. Then, listen and check.

a. full stop
b. comma
c. question mark
d. exclamation mark
e. capital letter
f. bracket
g. hyphen
h. apostrophe

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4	Read the following message and say what the BRC is. Then, in pairs, add the right punctuation marks in the message.

braille reading club BRC
do you want to talk with other kids about the new Braille
best sellers
visit the reading club e message board
you can learn about prices bookshops and authors
don t miss it

Disabilities

5	What do you know about these people? Match (a-c) with (1-3). Then, choose from the Word Bank what can help each group in their everyday life.

a. The blind / Blind people ...
b. The deaf / Deaf people ...
c. The disabled / Disabled people ...

1. can't hear.
2. can't use a part of their body.
3. can't see.

6	Do you know any famous people with disabilities? In pairs, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_people_with_disabilities and make a list.

e.g. Beethoven was deaf.

For more about the different kinds of disabilities visit
http://library.thinkquest.org/11799/index.html

UNIT 8

Lesson 2

Crack the code!

Passive Structures - Simple Past Passive

1	Study the example sentences and complete the Grammar table.

It was invented by a blind 12-year-old boy like me, Louis Braille. Louis was born on January 4, 1809 in a small town near Paris.	Symbols for maths and music were added in 1837. Was Louis Braille sent to a school in London? No, he wasn't.
USE Complete with: past / date / finished We use the Simple Past Passive 1. for complete, .................. actions in the ........... 2. to give someone's ............ or place of birth.	FORM SIMPLE PAST PASSIVE ....... / ........ + past participle How do we form the negatives, questions andshort answers of SIMPLE PAST PASSIVE?

see Grammar Appendix, page 175

2	Read the titles of these newspaper articles about two big events. In small groups, choose one event and make a list of possible results and results-of- results,using past passive sentences.

e.g. The Olympic Games

Lots of tickets were sold.
The Para lympics were organised in Athens too.
.....

e.g. Massive Earthquake

People were taken to hospitals.
More doctors were needed.
......

Find someone who.....Do the speaking task on page 155. The student who will
be the first to complete the questionnaire correctly is the winner. Tell the class
about your findings.