Chapter 1
blank
1
1.1
Earthquakes
Goals for this lesson
• Organize information by using a table.
• Understand and use unfamiliar vocabulary.
Warm-Up
1. Do you remember hearing about any famous earthquakes in the news? What do you
remember?
2. Have you ever felt an earthquake?
3. What should you do if there is an earthquake?
Read this passage and take notes or circle important words. Mark the words you
don’t know. Then, answer the questions.
Several factors affect the amount of damage an earthquake creates. Every earthquake has a
magnitude, a number that indicates the size of the earthquake’s released energy. Earthquakes
with a magnitude less than 3.0 cannot be felt, and those over 7.0 usually cause significant
damage. An earthquake is strongest at the epicenter, or focus point, and weakens as it travels
farther away. An epicenter in the ocean may cause a tsunami to form.
The preparation of the affected community also influences the impact of an earthquake.
Buildings can be engineered or renovated to withstand the shaking of an earthquake.
Earthquake preparedness and the government’s ability to respond to a disaster varies by
country. Although a very strong earthquake could cause catastrophic damage in any city,
poorer areas can be more susceptible to damage.
1. The definitions of “magnitude” and “epicenter” are given in the passage. What are they?
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
2. In one word, the second paragraph’s topic is “preparation”. In one word, what is the
topic of the first paragraph?
.........................................................................................
3. Read the last sentence again and try to guess what “susceptible” means.
.........................................................................................
4. Ask your teacher if there are any other words you don’t understand.
damage: hurt people or things
epicenter
withstand: strong enough
susceptible
magnitude
engineered
catastrophic: terrible
2
1.1
Earthquakes
Goals for this lesson
• Organize information by using a table.
• Understand and use unfamiliar vocabulary.
Warm-Up
1. Do you remember hearing about any famous earthquakes in the news? What do you
remember?
2. Have you ever felt an earthquake?
3. What should you do if there is an earthquake?
Read this passage and take notes or circle important words. Mark the words you
don’t know. Then, answer the questions.
Several factors affect the amount of damage an earthquake creates. Every earthquake has a
magnitude, a number that indicates the size of the earthquake’s released energy. Earthquakes
with a magnitude less than 3.0 cannot be felt, and those over 7.0 usually cause significant
damage. An earthquake is strongest at the epicenter, or focus point, and weakens as it travels
farther away. An epicenter in the ocean may cause a tsunami to form.
The preparation of the affected community also influences the impact of an earthquake.
Buildings can be engineered or renovated to withstand the shaking of an earthquake.
Earthquake preparedness and the government’s ability to respond to a disaster varies by
country. Although a very strong earthquake could cause catastrophic damage in any city,
poorer areas can be more susceptible to damage.
1. The definitions of “magnitude” and “epicenter” are given in the passage. What are they?
2. In one word, the second paragraph’s topic is “preparation”. In one word, what is the
topic of the first paragraph?
Size, strength, type, etc.
3. Read the last sentence again and try to guess what “susceptible” means.
Show how by understanding the sentence context (although, catastrophic, any city) ,
we can guess that susceptible might mean “weak” or “likely”.
4. Ask your teacher if there are any other words you don’t understand.
damage: hurt people or things
epicenter
withstand: strong enough
susceptible
magnitude
engineered
catastrophic: terrible
Summarize
1. What question does the reading passage answer?
What factors influence the amount of damage created by an earthquake?
2. Write a simple, one-sentence summary of the passage.
The impact of an earthquake depends on both the power of the earthquake and the
susceptibility of the surrounding community.
2
Summarize
1. What question does the reading passage answer?
.........................................................................................
2. Write a simple, one-sentence summary of the passage.
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
3. ★ (25-40 seconds) Why do some earthquakes cause more damage than others? Prepare to
speak by making an outline of the passage.
Listen to the next passage and take notes.
3
3. ★ (25-40 seconds) Why do some earthquakes cause more damage than others? Prepare to
speak by making an outline of the passage.
Sample Lesson Framework
Basic
Intermediate
1 minute to prepare
Check their notes
Demo notes and response
1 minute extra prep
Speak*
Critique
Speak again, closed book
Critique
Advanced
Speak*
Critique
Demo notes and response
Speak again, closed book
Critique
Complex grammar, vocab
Speak again, closed book
Critique
*To keep things fair, students should close their books until they speak.
Demonstration: The sample response may be useful for advanced students, but you should
create your own simple response with the assistance of the class. Reread the passage, sentence
by sentence. Ask a student “Is this important?” and if yes, then ask him or her to represent the
sentence with a word that will help them recall the idea. Finally, construct a response by
pointing at the blackboard as you speak.
Advanced Response
Notes (outline style)
• quake damage
• type
– magnitude (3, 7)
– epicenter– focus
• preparation, susceptibility
– engineering,
withstand
– gov’t response
– poorer
The impact of an earthquake depends on both the power
of the earthquake and the susceptibility of the surrounding
community. The power of an earthquake in a certain place
is determined by its magnitude, or energy released, and
the distance from its epicenter, or focus point. The damage
caused by an earthquake is also determined by some
characteristics of the affected community.
Preparation, such as the quality of building construction
and the government’s emergency response capabilities,
has a lot to do with the resulting damage. Although a
community can’t prevent an earthquake from happening,
it can do many things to minimize the risk of damage.
Listen to the next passage and take notes.
Professor: We have been talking about the reasons why certain earthquakes cause more
damage than others. Let me give you two examples. The first is something you should all be
familiar with: the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. This earthquake had a magnitude of 7, and
its epicenter was about 25 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, which is the capital of Haiti. You
know, more than a million people live in Port-au-Prince. The earthquake destroyed a lot of
important buildings, like hospitals, airports, and even the president’s home, so it was really
difficult for the country to recover. Also, you know, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the
world to begin with. All in all, about 200,000 people died, and a million people became
homeless.
I want you to compare this with an earthquake in Mexico in 2010. It was even stronger, at
7.2, and about 50 kilometers away Mexicali, a city almost the same size as Port-au-Prince.
Mexicali is a prosperous city with many new buildings. There was a lot of minor damage to
buildings, but only two people died.
3
Respond
1. Compare the two earthquakes by circling the correct choice.
This earthquake had a larger magnitude.
Haiti
Mexico
This city was closer to the epicenter of the earthquake.
Port-au-Prince
Mexicali
This city is prosperous (successful and rich).
Port-au-Prince
Mexicali
This earthquake destroyed many buildings.
Haiti
Mexico
This earthquake killed more people.
Haiti
Mexico
This country is extremely poor.
Haiti
Mexico
2. ★ (40-60 seconds) Using the information you learned in the reading passage, explain why
the earthquake in Haiti caused so much more damage than the earthquake in Mexico.
Prepare to speak by making a table.
3. Listen again, then speak.
4
Respond
1. Compare the two earthquakes by circling the correct choice.
This earthquake had a larger magnitude.
This city was closer to the epicenter of the earthquake.
Mexico
Port-au-Prince
This city is prosperous (successful and rich).
Mexicali
This earthquake destroyed many buildings.
Haiti
This earthquake killed more people.
Haiti
This country is extremely poor.
Haiti
2. ★ (40-60 seconds) Using the information you learned in the reading passage, explain why
the earthquake in Haiti caused so much more damage than the earthquake in Mexico.
Prepare to speak by making a table.
Sample Lesson Framework
1 minute to prepare
Speak
Demo notes and response
Listen again, make table
Speak again
Critique
Demonstration: After the first attempt, show how by
making a table, the information from the listening
passage is integrated with the previous passage in an
easy-to-read format. To answer the question, students
should simply move through the table row by row, left to
right, creating sentences as they go. Listen again, and
have students take notes directly in the table they
created.
Notes (table style)
quake damage
Haiti
Mexico
type
magnitude (3, 7)
epicenter- focus
7
25km
7.2
50km
preparation, susceptibility
engineering, withstand
gov’t response
bad
destroyed a lot
hospital, airport
deaths
damage
200,000
1 mil homeless
good
new buildings
2
minor
Advanced Response
As the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Mexico demonstrate, the damaged caused by an
earthquake depends on several factors about both the earthquake and the community.
Although the earthquake in Mexico, with a magnitude of 7.2 compared to Haiti’s 7,
released more energy, it caused barely any damage while the Haiti earthquake created a
real disaster. First of all, the epicenter of the Haiti earthquake was much closer to a major
city than in the Mexico earthquake.
Furthermore, Mexicali is a prosperous city, with recently constructed buildings that were
able to ride out the earthquake with only minor damage. On the other hand, the very poor
Port-au-Prince was so badly affected that a million people became homeless. In fact, the
earthquake hurt most of Haiti’s medical, transportation, and government services. Finally,
the death count– 200,000 compared to 2– clearly shows that many factors affect the amount
of damage in an earthquake.
4
Chapter 1
blank
1