Most likely number of contactable alien civilizations is 36

Level 2 l Upper intermediate

KEY
1 Warmer 4 Space vocabulary

1. b. According to NASA, there are currently five (possible answers)

planets classified as dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, alien, astrobiological, astronomer, astrophysics,
Makemake, Haumea and Eris. The planets are Earth, Enceladus, Europa, galaxy, Jupiter, light year,
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, little green man, Mars, Milky Way, mission, moon,
Uranus and Neptune. planet, Saturn, solar system, space, spaceship, star,
2. a. A light year is the distance that light travels in Titan, universe
vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days).
3. c. A light year measures 9.46 trillion kilometres.
4. b. 6 Space quotes
5. c.
Teacher’s note: Get the students to do this quiz in teams, 1. mankind
and see which team gets the most correct answers. 2. frontier
3. Control
4. Earth
2 Key words 5. star
6. beyond
1. insight 7. forty-two
2. estimate Teacher’s note: You could ask students to choose
3. equation one quote from the seven here or another of their own
4. assumption choosing and research it further, reporting back with
5. reasonable their findings.
6. conservative
7. indication
8. habitable
9. evolve
10. mission

3 Comprehension check

1. F – It has suggested that there are 36 or more

intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. Thirty-six is a
conservative number. They say there are between
4 and 211 but that 36 is the most likely number.
2. T
3. F – The team worked with the assumption that,
within a few billion years, intelligent life would
automatically form on Earth-like planets.
4. F – The team said that we would need to survive at
least another 6,120 years to hold a conversation
with another intelligent life form.
5. F – He says that they would have similarities in
appearance to life on earth and we wouldn’t be
very surprised by them.
6. T
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.

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NEWS LESSONS / Most likely number of contactable alien civilizations is 36 / Upper intermediate
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