Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
1 Warmer
Complete the sentences.
A four-year-old child …
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… can …
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… should not …
2 Key words
Match the key words with the definitions. Then, find them in the article to read them in context. The
paragraph numbers will help you.
herders
livestock
recover
trek
wilderness
1. an area of land where people do not live or grow crops and where there are no buildings
______________________________ (para 1)
2. animals such as cows, sheep and pigs that are kept on farms ______________________________ (para 4)
3. people who look after a group of animals such as horses or reindeer ______________________________
(para 5)
4. a long and difficult journey on foot ______________________________ (para 6)
5. become healthy again after an illness ______________________________ (para 8)
criminal case
ministry
nonsense
sanatorium
shocking
6. a government department ______________________________ (para 9)
7. large building like a hospital where people who have had a serious illness go so that doctors can take care of
them while they get better ______________________________ (para 9)
8. when a person goes to court and it is decided whether they have done something very wrong
______________________________ (para 10)
9. used about something that makes you feel extremely surprised or upset ______________________________
(para 11)
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10. unreasonable; not sensible ______________________________ (para 12)
Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
Four-year-old trekked miles in
subzero Siberia to help sick
grandmother
Alec Luhn
14 March, 2017
1 A four-year-old girl walked miles through the
freezing Siberian wilderness to get help for her
sick grandmother. She has been called a hero in
Russia’s Tuva Republic.
2 Saglana Salchak was living with her
grandparents at their farm in the taiga forest near
the Mongolian border. The farm is more than 12
miles from the nearest village and five miles from
their closest neighbour.
3 One morning in February, when the child woke
up, she saw that her 60-year-old grandmother
was not moving. After talking to her blind
grandfather, she decided to walk to the next farm
for help.
4 The four-year-old took only a box of matches in
case she had to light a fire and went out into the
early-morning darkness, where temperatures
were −34C. It took her several hours to walk the
five miles along a river bank through deep snow.
Luckily, she did not get stuck in the deep snow or
meet any of the wolves that sometimes attack her
grandparents’ livestock.
9 Saglana’s mother and stepfather look after their
own herd of horses in another part of the region.
The social policy ministry offered the girl a free
trip to a sanatorium with her mother, Eleonora,
when she returns from herding in May.
10 But a criminal case has been opened against
Eleonora Salchak for leaving a child in danger
because she knew that the elderly grandparents
could not keep the child safe. Saglana’s mother
could go to prison for up to a year.
11 Sayana Mongush, an activist and journalist in the
regional capital of Kyzyl, said that it was shocking
that Saglana’s grandparents didn’t have a phone
or internet connection.
12 “Even in Soviet times, herders in Tuva had radio
communications,” she said. “But now, in the 21st
century, a four-year-old child has to go on foot
because there’s no phone or internet connection.
This is nonsense – the girl’s mother is not a
criminal; the authorities are the criminals.”
13 An area of forests, mountains and plains but
very few people, Tuva is famous for its traditional
throat-singing.
© Guardian News and Media 2017
First published in The Guardian, 14/03/17
5 “There are many wolves in Tuva,” Semyon
Rubtsov, head of the regional search and rescue
group, told a Russian newspaper. “They eat the
livestock – the herders moan about them. She
was lucky not to meet a pack of wolves in
the darkness.”
6 After five difficult miles, Saglana nearly missed
her neighbours’ house but one of the neighbours
saw her. They called doctors from the village to
check the girl was all right. When the doctors
made the trek back to her grandparents’ farm,
they discovered that the grandmother had died of
a heart attack.
NEWS LESSONS / Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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8 Saglana caught a cold but she quickly recovered
at the local hospital and is now living at a social
centre, where she just celebrated her
fifth birthday.
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7 Saglana told the newspaper she was not scared
in the forest alone. “I just walked, walked and got
there,” she said. But she said that she had been
cold and had “really wanted to eat”.
Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
3 Comprehension check
Use the key words from task 2 to complete the sentences about the article.
1. Saglana’s mother and stepfather are ______________________________.
2. A ______________________________ has been opened against Saglana’s mother and she might go to
prison because she left her daughter with her grandparents, who could not keep her safe.
3. A journalist said that it is ______________________________ and that the crime was committed by the
authorities, not the girl’s mother.
4. She also said that it is ______________________________ that people like Saglana’s grandparents do not
have a telephone or internet connection.
5. Saglana lived on a farm in the Siberian ______________________________ with her grandparents.
6. Sometimes, ______________________________ on her grandparents’ farm was attacked by wolves.
7. When her grandmother became ill, Saglana went on a five-mile ______________________________ through
the snow to their neighbours’ farm to get help.
8. The girl caught a cold but was sent to the local hospital to ______________________________.
9. The social policy ______________________________ has offered Saglana and her mother a free trip to a
______________________________.
4 Collective nouns for animals
a. Complete the gaps with collective nouns from the article.
1. a __________ of wolves
2. a __________ of horses
b. Write the two collective nouns from task a. in the table below. Decide which of these other animals you
can use with the collective nouns. Write the animals below the collective nouns in the table.
coyotes
1. ________________________
giraffes
dingoes
zebras
2. ________________________
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NEWS LESSONS / Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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elephants
deer
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dogs
cows
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buffalo
Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
5 Collective nouns quiz
a. Complete the phrases with the correct collective nouns.
army
flock
pod
pride
school
swarm
1. a ______________ of bees
2. a ______________ of birds
3. an ______________ of ants
4. a ______________ of dolphins
5. a ______________ of fish
6. a ______________ of lions
b. Think of sentences for the expressions.
e.g. The ship followed the … of dolphins for ten miles.
6 Discussion
•
•
When you were a small child, …
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… how long was your journey to school?
•
… how did you get to school?
•
… who went with you on your journey to school?
How old were you when you were first allowed to …
•
… go out with your friends (e.g. to the playground or the shops)?
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… travel by bus or train without an adult?
7 Research
a. Research the Tuva Republic and its capital, Kyzyl.
b. What information can you find out about the East Siberian taiga?
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c. Search online for videos of Tuvan throat singing.
Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia
Level 1 l Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
KEY
2 Key words
5 Collective nouns quiz
1. wilderness
2. livestock
3. herders
4. trek
5. recover
6. ministry
7. sanatorium
8. criminal case
9. shocking
10. nonsense
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
swarm
flock
army
pod
school
pride
3 Comprehension check
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
herders
criminal case
nonsense
shocking
wilderness
livestock
trek
recover
ministry; sanatorium
4 Collective nouns for animals
a.
1. pack (definition: a group of wild animals that live
and hunt together)
2. herd (definition: a large group of animals of the
same type, especially hoofed mammals, that live
and move about together)
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NEWS LESSONS / Four-year-old trekked miles in subzero Siberia / Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
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b.
1. dogs, coyotes, dingoes
2. cows, deer, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebras