News-based English language activities from the global newspaper

September 2009
Level ≥ Lower intermediate
Style ≥ Lesson plan
Welcome to the Guardian Weekly’s special news-based materials to support learners and teachers of English.
Each month, the Guardian Weekly newspaper selects topical news articles that can be used to practise English
language skills. The materials are graded for two levels: advanced and lower intermediate. These worksheets
can be downloaded free from guardianweekly.co.uk/learningenglish/. You can also find more advice for
teachers and learners on the site.

17-year-old becomes youngest world sailor

Materials prepared by Janet Hardy-Gould

Instructions
Lesson focus: reading, revision of superlatives
Materials sheet: copies of the article, world map
Time: 55 minutes

1 Explain to students the article is about a long journey.
This particular journey was a voyage. Establish the differ-
ence between journey/voyage. Write on the board: What’s
the longest journey you’ve ever made? Encourage answers.
5 mins
h Zac Sunderland finished when he was _____ months
older than Mike.
Mike crossed the Atlantic in _____ when he was _____.
Answers: a 17 b 15 c 15 November 2008 d 15 e 48,000,
nine f 16 g 16 March h two i January 2007, 14.

2 Brainstorm further questions about journeys using
superlatives and write them on the board. For example:
What’s the worst /fastest/most exciting/most boring/most
expensive journey you’ve ever made? Put students into
pairs to ask and answer the questions. 10 mins
3 Show the photo, headline and caption. Elicit what was
special about Mike’s journey. 2 mins
4 Write up the following sentences. Students need to
complete them with a number or date. Give out the
article. Do the first example as a class. Students then read
to find the answers. Class feedback. 15 mins
a Mike is _____ years old.
b His boat is _____ metres long.
c He began his voyage on _____ .
d At times there were _____ metre high waves.
e The voyage was _____ kilometres long and took _____
months.
f He started the trip when he was _____.
g He celebrated his birthday on _____ .
5 Focus the class back on paragraph five. Show students
a world map and ask them to describe the approximate
route of Mike’s voyage using words such as past, via,
around, across etc. 3 mins
6 Students now role-play a press conference with Mike.
One student is Mike and the others are journalists – they
need to prepare questions. Some of these can include
superlatives eg What was the most frightening thing that
happened?
Give “Mike” brief information about his voyage – high
points were: seeing dolphins, whales, amazing sunsets,
listening to his iPod, talking daily to his father by satellite
phone. The low points: sleeping for 30 minutes at a time,
stopping because of boat problems, eating freeze-dried
food, the boat rolling over. Find more information at:
totallymoney.com/sailmike. Conduct the press confer-
ence as an open class. 20 mins
Homework: Students write a blog entry for a memorable
day on Mike’s voyage such as his birthday
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper

September 2009

Materials sheet Article: 17-year-old becomes

youngest world sailor
1 A 17-year-old boy became the youngest person to sail solo
round the world with assistance when he returned to UK
waters last month after a nine-month voyage.

2 Mike Perham crossed the finishing line in the English

Channel in the 15 metre racing yacht called
Totallymoney.com.

3 He set sail on 15 November 2008 and battled 15 metre

high waves, gale-force winds and many technical difficul-
ties during the 48,000-km challenge.

Mike Perham celebrates his record Barry Batchelor/PA Wire

4 Perham originally set off aiming to complete the
voyage non-stop. But technical problems forced several
Student tasks stops, meaning his world record is the youngest solo
Read the article to find the answers to these quesions. circumnavigation with assistance.
Complete the questions with a number or date.
a Mike is years old. 5 His voyage took him to Portugal, the Canary Islands,
b His boat is metres long. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. He went via the
c He began his voyage on . Panama canal after he missed the period of good weather
d At times there were to sail around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South
metre high waves. America.
e The voyage was
kilometres long and took 6 Perham set off from Portsmouth, in the south of England,
months. at the age of 16 and celebrated his 17th birthday in the
f He started the trip when he was southern Indian Ocean on 16 March.
.
g He celebrated his birthday on 7 To be classed as a world record, the solo circumnavigation
. has to cross the equator and every line of longitude.
h Zac Sunderland finished when he was
months older than Mike. 8 The previous youngest person to complete a similar
i Mike crossed the Atlantic in voyage was the American Zac Sunderland, who was
when two months older than Perham when he completed his
he was . voyage last July.

World map 9 It is not the first world record set by Perham. In January
2007 he became the youngest person to sail solo across
the Atlantic when he was just 14 years old.

10 From his yacht, Perham spoke about his latest record.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “I am really looking forward
to seeing my family and friends, getting back to my own
house, and especially getting into my own bed at last.”

Original article by Guardian writers, rewritten by

Janet Hardy-Gould