Worksheet: - Innovation Is
Worksheet: - Innovation Is
Worksheet: - Innovation Is
Task 1
1. Look at the words and phrases in the word cloud.
Can you write a sentence using the words/ phrases you know?
Are there any words you dont know?
2. Match the beginnings and endings of the sentences to create facts about
some of the things included in the word cloud.
What does the word innovation mean to you? As a pair, write your own
definition.
__________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2. Can you think of any innovative people? Who are they, and in which ways are
they innovative?
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British Council 2012
Worksheet | Innovation is GREAT
Task 3
Vocabulary
4. Match the words to their definitions.
Word Definition
You are going to watch a video about some famous examples of British innovation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXsZ6IV0dLM
the television set iPod design the first scheduled the camera
international flight
service
the car the first automatic the World Wide the motor racing
landing with Web circuit
passengers
Task 5
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British Council 2012
Worksheet | Innovation is GREAT
Reading
Which other examples of British innovation can you find in the text below?
From tractors to trains, the steam engine was a popular way of powering all kinds of
machinery during the industrial revolution. In 1765, the steam engine was developed
(by the Scotsman James Watt and his contemporaries) to greatly improve its
efficiency. This had a huge impact on industry in Britain and throughout the world,
and later, in 1928, Britain pioneered another type of engine. The jet engine was
invented by Frank Whittle the man who some people say shrank the world by
enabling people to travel by aircraft.
Before cars, cycling was a preferred method of getting around. The Penny Farthing
bicycle was invented in 1871 by James Starley, and was very popular in Victorian
times. It was named after the penny (a large coin) and the farthing (a smaller coin)
because the front wheel was much bigger than the back wheel, and therefore the
bicycle represented the two coins in appearance.
Riding a bike became a more comfortable experience when the pneumatic tyre was
invented in 1885. Since then, pneumatic tyres have become ubiquitous and are now
used on all modern bikes including motorbikes. Unlike environmentally friendly
bicycles, however, motorbikes produce pollutants which some people believe are
responsible for global warming. In 2005, the hydrogen fuel cell motorbike was
designed to address this problem. Although the current price for this kind of
motorbike is very high, they will become more affordable as demand for them
increases, and scientists predict that, in the future, all major car manufacturers will be
mass-producing hydrogen fuel vehicles.
Londoners, and visitors to the capital city, are likely to be very familiar with The
Tube, which carries more than one billion passengers every year. The subway train
was invented in 1865 and London was the first city to have an underground railway
system. Countries throughout the world soon replicated the idea and there are now
approximately 160 similar systems in operation internationally.
In the future, transport may be taken to a much greater extreme and, in the same
way that Frank Whittle shrank the world with the jet engine, spacecraft looks set to
shrink the universe. The idea of space travel was invented in 2009 and people have
already bought tickets for the British company Virgin space flights, which are
scheduled for 2013.
In the passive sentence, we are less concerned with the doer of the verb (the
agent) and more concerned with the receiver of the action, so we put it at the start
of the sentence to make it the subject.
In most cases, the agent of the verb is not expressed in a passive sentence, but if it
is, it is usually expressed with the word by.
Practice
1. There are seven examples of the passive structure in the reading text. Write
them on the lines below (the first one has been done for you):
a. _In 1765, the steam engine was developed (by the Scotsman James Watt
and his contemporaries). ________________________
b. ____________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________
d. ____________________________________________
e. ____________________________________________
f. ____________________________________________
g. ____________________________________________
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British Council 2012
Worksheet | Innovation is GREAT
2. Now try to change these active sentences into passive ones.
Task 7
Speaking and listening
Work with a partner. Ask each other questions to complete the information in
the table.
Student A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Student B
1765 1798
1826 1865
1871 1876
1878 1885
1907 1919
1925 1928
1950 1953
1976 1991
2000 2001
2005 2009
2010 2012
Extension
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British Council 2012
Worksheet | Innovation is GREAT
Prepare a short presentation
Choose your favourite innovation from todays lesson, or another innovation you
know about, and prepare a short presentation about it.
Your presentation should last approximately 5 minutes. You could think about:
- Use the internet and include images and video to make your presentation as
interesting as possible
For those interested in the Olympic stadium, the following link may be of use:
http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/olympic-stadium-design-
leaflet.pdf
www.teachingenglish.org.uk
British Council 2012