NEWS lesson one stop english

SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors

Elementary
1 Warmer
These are the six largest islands in the world (not including Australia). Put them in order from 1 (the
largest) to 6 (the smallest).

1. _________________________ a. Borneo
2. _________________________ b. Sumatra
3. _________________________ c. New Guinea
4. _________________________ d. Greenland
5. _________________________ e. Baffin Island (Canada)
6. _________________________ f. Madagascar

2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences with these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers will help you.

destination drift voyage set out run out rescue

1. When you _______________________, you begin a journey. (para 2)

2. If you _______________________ of fuel, you use all of it and you don’t have any left. (para 2)

3. Boats that have no fuel _______________________ on the sea and cannot control where they are going.
(para 2)

4. Your _______________________ is the place you are travelling to. (para 2)

5. A _______________________ is a long journey by ship or boat. (para 4)

6. If people _______________________ someone, they save them from a dangerous situation. (para 5)

3 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

1. How many islands are there in Micronesia?

2. How far was Pikelot Island from the sailors’ destination?
3. How high is the highest point on Pikelot Island?
4. How many people live on Pikelot Island?
5. Where was the HMAS Canberra sailing to?
6. What is SOS?
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NEWS LESSONS / SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors / Elementary
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NEWS lesson
SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors
Elementary
SOS message on the sand saves
missing sailors
1 September, 2020
1 Micronesia is an area of the western Pacific
Ocean with more than 600 islands. It covers a
huge area of ocean north of the large island of
New Guinea.
2 Recently, three Micronesian sailors set out to
sail 42 km from one Micronesian island to
another. Unfortunately, they got lost, and then
they ran out of fuel. After a long time drifting
without power in the ocean, they landed on the
tiny island of Pikelot, more than 100 km from
their destination.
3 Pikelot is just 450 metres long and 280 metres
wide. The highest point on Pikelot is only four
metres above the sea. No people live there, and
there is no water. The little island is covered in
trees and has sandy beaches.
4 Comprehension check
Match the beginnings and endings to make statements about the text.
1. Micronesia is an area with more than 600
islands and it is …
2. The three men set out to …
3. After they ran out of fuel, their boat …
4. After three days, ships and aircraft in
the area …
5. The three sailors decided …
6. They were very lucky because people on an
American aircraft …
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.
NEWS LESSONS / SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors / Elementary
one stop english
4 Three days after the three sailors set out on their
voyage, they did not arrive at their destination, so
ships and aircraft in the area began looking for
the missing men. But it was almost impossible to
decide where to look because there are so many
small islands and the ocean is so large. One of
the ships was the Australian navy ship HMAS
Canberra, which was sailing from Australia to
Hawaii and had a helicopter on board.
5 During this time, the three sailors decided to write
a message on the beach on their tiny island.
They wrote a huge SOS in the sand. SOS is
an international signal that people use when
they need help. Luckily, people on an American
aircraft saw the SOS message in the sand and
contacted the Canberra. A helicopter from the
ship landed on the beach and gave the men food
and water. Soon after, a Micronesian boat arrived
and rescued the three sailors. They are very
lucky to be alive, and it was the SOS message in
the sand that saved them.
a. … started drifting without power.
b. … to write a huge SOS in the sand on the beach.
c. … saw the SOS and contacted the Australian ship.
d. … to the north of the large island of New Guinea.
e. … sail from one Micronesian island to another.
f. … started looking for the missing men.
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NEWS lesson one stop english

SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors

Elementary
5 Verb + noun phrases
Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column to make
expressions from the text.

1. cover a. your destination

2. run out of b. a message

3. arrive at c. a huge area

4. write d. missing people

5. need e. fuel

6. look for f. help

6 Prepositions
Complete the phrases from the text using the prepositions.

without in from on of after

1. ___________ board

2. north ___________ the island of New Guinea

3. covered ___________ trees

4. drifting ___________ power

5. ___________ a long time

6. 100 km ___________ their destination

7 Opposites
Match the words from the text with their opposites.

1. unfortunately a. big
2. tiny b. unlucky
3. huge c. luckily
4. lucky d. very small

8 Discussion
• Would you like to visit any of the islands in task 1? Which would you like to visit and why?
• Would you like to sail round the world in a small boat? Why? Why not?
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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2020.

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NEWS LESSONS / SOS message on the sand saves missing sailors / Elementary
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