An explosive start to the New Year

An explosive start to the New Year

Starting off

Discuss the questions below with a partner.

1. How did you celebrate New Year’s Eve? Which of these were important?

food friends family fireworks music weather traditions

2. What other events can you think of where fireworks are important?

Before you read

Look at the names of some fireworks. Are any of them the same in your language? If not, can you guess anything about the fireworks from their names?

Banger Jumping Jack Rocket Roman Candle Sparkler

First reading

Read the text quickly and match the names of the fireworks on page 1 to the correct paragraphs.

Second reading

Read the text again and match the fireworks (1-5) with the questions below.

Which firework…

1 doesn’t move. __ 5 __

2 is better if you pay more for it. ______

3 moves around on the ground. ______

4 is held in the hand. ______

5 sometimes makes a noise. ______

6 is better on roads than in gardens. ______

7 doesn’t look nice. ______

8 can be used by children. ______

9 has more than one name in English. ______

10 can have more than one colour. ______

Vocabulary 1

Match the adjectives from the text to the correct meanings.

1 frightening A liked by lots of people

2 pretty B a high temperature

3 popular C costs a lot of money

4 expensive D unsafe

5 simple E not complicated

6 hard F not as good as you thought

7 dangerous G nice looking

8 hot H scary

9 disappointing I noisy

10 loud J not soft

Vocabulary 2

a) Work alone. Think of something which each adjective from exercise 4 could describe and write it down.

e. g. dangerous – snowboarding

b) Work with a partner. Tell your partner one of your words but NOT the adjective. See if they can guess which adjective it goes with.