WEEK1. READING ACADEMIC ENGLISH TEXTS 2. SUFFIXES. GETTING STARTED.

I.- Reading

You will do a short quiz about lightning. You will then read an article about lightning and answer some questions.

How much do you know about lightning? Answer these questions. Find out if you are right in the next exercise.

True False

1. If you are struck by lightning, light can come out of your body.

True False

2. Lightning hits more than half a million people every year.

True False

3. There is always lightning, somewhere in the world.

True False

4. Lightning is hotter than the sun.

True False

5. About 50% of people struck by lightning die.

True False

6. Lightning burns you very badly.

True False

7. When there is lightning, it is safer to stand on one foot.

True False

8. In 1998, 11 players in a football team were killed by lightning

True False

9. Planes are never hit by lightning.

True False

10. You can be struck by lightning when you are in your house.

Vocabulary

You will look at a new idea for learning words. You will look at how putting extra letters at the beginning and end of
words can change the meaning.

Searching the Internet: You will search the Internet to find the weather in different places.

Then read the article and check and correct your answers above.
Struck by lightning. It is a rainy day in Jackson, Florida. David Barnes, a telephone company engineer, is mending a
telephone line. Suddenly he jumps backwards. There is a very loud bang, and light comes out of his hand. He stands up,
but he can't feel anything on his right side. He can't hear with his right ear. But he can walk to his truck and get in. He sits
in his truck and feels very frightened. He knows he has been struck by lightning. Every year, lightning kills 24,000 people
and injures half a million. Right now, there are 2,000 storms somewhere in the world, and there is lightning every second
of every day. Rwanda has the most lightning in the world, and in the US, Florida has more lightning than any other state.
How hot is lightning? Scientists say that it is three times hotter than the sun. It sounds very dangerous, but 90% of the
people struck by lightning do not die. Usually, lightning does not burn people. If you are wearing a metal watch, lightning
will heat the metal and the metal will burn you, not the lightning. But lightning can hurt the brain. David Barnes, for
example, can’t work now. ‘It is difficult to stand up’, he says, ‘and I usually have to hold something. I am learning to walk
again. The big problem is that I can’t remember anything. Sometimes I can’t remember my wife´s name’.

How does lightning strike people? Imagine you are standing in a field. Lightning hits the ground and travels along until it
arrives at your foot. Then it goes up your leg and down your other leg back into the ground. If it hits the ground close to
you, there is more electricity and it is more dangerous. In 1998 in Democratic Republic of Congo, lightning killed all
eleven members of a visiting football team in this way (Nobody from the home team was hurt – amazing, but true)

So how can we avoid lightning?

- Don’t worry about flying. Most airplanes are struck by lightning two or three times a year. They are very safe
because they are made of metal. Lightning travels along them and back into the air.
- Don’t use the telephone. Three people in the US are struck every year while they are on the phone.
- The best advice comes from David Barnes. He says, ‘Stay inside. If you hear it, fear it’

II.- How can you make new words using suffixes? Look at some suffixes below.

Suffixes: A suffix is at the end of a word. Here are some examples. Look at how the meaning of the word changes

Study student (a person who studies) Slow slowly (the adverb from slow)

Sun sunny ( the adjective from sun) Japan Japanese (the adjective from Japan)

Hot hotter (the comparative from hot)

The next exercise you will see some words with suffixes from the lightning article. You'll need a dictionary.

Write down the suffixes into the correct place to change the meanings of the words.

Ed ity wards y tists ous ing ly ly ter

1 rain rain"__. " It was a _____day in Jackson. 2 back back"____." David Barnes jumps_________

3 sudden sudden"__."__________ he jumps up. 4 frighten frighten"__." He sits in his truck and feels very____

5 hot hot"__." Lightning is _________than the sun. 6 danger danger"__." Lightning sounds very danger______

7. usual. Usual__. “ _____lightning does not burn people 8.Amaze- Amaz____. This story is ________, but it’s true

9.- Science. Scien____. ______say that it’s three times hotter than the sun.

10. Electric. Electric____ If it hits the ground close to you, there is more _________________.
III.- In the Feedback from last exercise you read about the suffixes -ous, -ly, -ed and -er. Write the correct suffix to
complete each sentence.

1 The bus to work goes very slow___.

2 I'm five years old___ than my sister, but we're very close.

3 James wants to be an accountant. He's very interest___ in numbers.

4 'Have you heard of Christina Aguilera?' 'Christina Aguilera? Yeah! She's really fam___.'

5 You're going diving in Indonesia? I think that's really adventur___.

6 I like both of these shirts. Which one is cheap___?

7 Can you talk quiet___ please? People are trying to work.

8 I'm always tir___ these days. Do you think I work too hard?

9 I did that exercise really bad___. I'm going to try it again.

10 I was so pleas___ when Jackie told me she's getting married.

IV.- What's the weather like?

The weather. Use the Internet to find out what the weather is like today in:

1. Kigali, Rwanda 2. Sydney, Australia

3. Oslo, Norway 4. New York, USA

5. Baghdad, Iraq 6. Beijing, China

Write some sentences. Find a city where there is lightning, a city where it is windy, and a city where it is cloudy.

WWW.CNNWEATHER WWW.YAHOOWEATHER

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