City fact files

Objective & content

A presentation pack for A1 classes: twelve one-page fact files on English-speaking cities (London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cardiff, New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Auckland and Cape Town). Every page has the same parts: at a glance (country, people, languages, money), three places to see, food, famous people and a surprising fact, with a photo. Two cities share a page: print 6 pages and cut them in half. Each pupil or group presents one city to classmates who have not read it. By the end, pupils can give a short, simple talk about a place and pick out information when they listen.

Pedagogical guide

Presenting a place is a classic first speaking task: the information is concrete, the language is simple, and every page has the same shape, so pupils know what to say. The language is the present simple, there is / there are, can, "was born" as a fixed phrase and big numbers with "about" (About 9 million people live here). The speaking tips page gives a three-part talk (Hello! My city is ... / three things / My favourite thing is ... Thank you! Any questions?), five useful phrases and four tips for speaking to the class. Because the class has not read the city, listening is real: the listening grid asks for one thing heard about each city.

Suggested procedure

One lesson of about 50 minutes.

1. (5 min) Show the cover and ask which cities pupils know. Cut the city pages in half and give one city to each pupil or group.
2. (10 min) Pupils read their page and prepare a one-minute talk with the speaking tips page. They write key words on the card.
3. (25 min) Each group presents its city. The class listens and writes one thing about each city in the listening grid.
4. (10 min) Pupils answer "Which city would you like to visit? Why?" with "I'd like to visit ... because ..." and the class votes.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils present only the at a glance part and one place to see, reading from their key words card.

[A] Pupils add one fact they find themselves, or compare their city with a city in their own country.

Materials & prerequisites

Print factfiles.pdf: the 6 city pages (pages 1 to 6, two cities a page, cut in half along the dashed line) so each pupil or group has one city, the speaking tips page (page 7) and the listening grid (page 8) for everyone; page 9 is the teacher page. Pupils should know numbers, the present simple of be and simple sentences with there is and can. It goes well with work on towns, countries, food or holidays.