TEACHER'S NOTES

ESL / EFL RESOURCES An Interview with Elon Musk

Activity Type Introduction

Reading, writing, In this intriguing role-play activity, students take part in a
listening and speaking business interview to practice asking and answering questions in
activity, pairwork the present simple and present continuous.

Procedure
Language Focus
Tell the students that they are going to role-play a business
Present simple and
interview between a journalist from Business Insider and Elon
present continuous
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors.

Divide the students into pairs.

Aim
To role-play a business
interview and practice
asking and answering
questions in the present
simple and present
continuous.
Give one student a journalist worksheet and the other student an
Elon Musk worksheet.
The journalist's task is to interview Elon Musk to find out about his
work routine, current projects, plans and goals, and make notes
on his answers.

The student who is Elon Musk uses the information on the

Preparation worksheet to answer the journalist's questions.
Make one copy of the
Give the students a few minutes to prepare what they are going
worksheet for each pair
to say, paying close attention to which parts of the interview will
of students and cut as
be in the present simple and which parts will be in the present
indicated.
continuous.

Level The students then role play the interview in their pairs.

Intermediate Encourage the students acting as Elon to give as much information

as they can when answering questions.

Time When the pairs have finished, have them report back to the class
20 minutes on their interviews.

As an extension, have the pairs write a short news article in the

present simple and present continuous based on the interview.

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 PRESENT SIMPLE VS. PRESENT CONTINUOUS

ESL / EFL RESOURCES An Interview with Elon Musk

Journalist - Business Insider

Interview Elon Musk to find out about his normal work routine,
current projects, plans and goals. Make notes on his answers.

1. Work routine:

2. Current projects:

3. Immediate plans:

4. Short term goals:

5. Long term goals:

________________________________________________

Elon Musk - CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors

You are Elon Musk. Use the information below to answer the
journalist's questions.

Work routine: Mondays and Fridays at SpaceX

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at Tesla

07:00 - 08:00 - wake up and have breakfast

09:00 - 10:45 - morning calls to journalists, job candidates
and conference calls
10:45 - 13:00 - meeting with engineering team
13:00 - 14.00 - lunch
13:00 - 14:00 - daily walk around Tesla or SpaceX factory
14:00 - 17:00 - meeting with design team
17:00 - 23:00 - dinner then interviews with journalists or participating in other types of events

Current projects: SpaceX - Flight testing Falcon 9 space rocket

Tesla - Building battery storage facility in Australia

Next week: Monday and Friday - Testing SpaceX reusable rocket

Tuesday to Thursday - Designing new solar roof tiles and model 3 car batteries

Goals: Short term - Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
Long term - SpaceX mission to Mars

Teach-This.com © 2018 Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.