Reading/Writing Lesson Using Information from the Events

Prepared by Elma P. Cabahug
City College of San Francisco

Level: Intermediate/CC

Class: Reading/Writing (50 minutes)

Objectives: I. Pre-Activity: Teacher asks class as to what students know about the tragedy.

II. Teacher distributes the following cursory summary of the tragedy.

          On the morning of September 11, 2001, two skyscrapers located in New York City called the World Trade Center were hit by two airplanes. One of the airplanes came from Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C., and the other came from Logan Airport in Boston.  In addition, another airplane - also coming from Logan Airport - hit the Pentagon, an important government building in Washington D.C. As if that were not enough, yet another United Airlines flight, which originated from Newark, New Jersey and bound for San Francisco, crashed in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. The government believes that the terrorist acts were perpetrated by an organization headed by a Saudi exile named Osama bin Laden, who is currently living in Afghanistan.

III.Students read silently to themselves for a few minutes.

IV. Then teacher reads the text aloud to the class punctuating the reading with vocabulary clarification and making sure that meanings are clear. Vocabulary clarification can also be done prior to silent reading, III above.

V. Teacher discusses the content of the lesson. (Example of discussion questions: How has the tragedy affected you personally? Why do you think the terrorists did what they did?) Teacher makes sure that students are able to express their personal feelings about the tragedy and allows for time that is necessitated by students’ responses.)

VI. Teacher calls students attention to the nature of the information contained in the text: the information in the reading general or specific? (Short explanation of the difference between the two kinds of information follows.)

VII. HW: Students are given the web resources supplied at the top of this page.They fill out the form below and bring their homework to the next class. Students' oral reading of summary paragraph above should also be done next class & teacher monitor students' pronunciation especially of new vocabulary.



 Name: ________________________                         Date:

Find an article on the tragedy of September 11th and answer the following questions.  (You may use the internet sites given or use your favorite newspaper or magazine.) 

1. Name the flights that were involved in the tragedy.

a. ___________

b. ___________

c. ___________

d. ___________

2. Which ones of these flights hit the World Trade Center?

a. ___________

b. ___________

3. Which one crashed in Pennsylvania? ___________

4. Which one hit the Pentagon? ___________

5. What times did the World Trade Center get hit?

a. _________

b. _________

6. What specific government officials work in the Pentagon?

7. Where is Afghanistan?  (Name the other countries surrounding its borders.)

8-10. Give at least three  specific suggestions as to how we can fight terrorism in the world.