Tsunami comprehension

A comprehension exercise in response to the earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan. To be used along with research tasks or discussion.

Introduce the lesson with a discussion about the events surrounding the earthquake and some BBC footage.

The students need to be given the information without the questions to encourage them to read fully – this is not a scanning exercise. Then, when they have finished reading they can answer the questions, either in short on the sheet or in full on separate paper – differentiate accordingly.

The students can then be set a research task using the internet to look at a natural disaster of their choice, either in general or a specific example. More details and ideas can be found within the resource.

The text can also provide a focus for work on technical vocabulary (L2) and word borrowings and origins (L1-2).