Cambridge English Empower B2
n i t
UTrain travel 6
1 SPEAKING
a Put students into pairs, and direct them to the title,
subtitles and photos to identify the type of problems that
might be experienced on trains. Ask for suggestions and
write them on the board. Take a class vote for the best
suggestion before asking students to read and check their
ideas.
Students work alone to think of a travel experience
and make notes about it. Monitor and help as necessary
before putting students into small groups to tell one
another their anecdotes. Ask for volunteers to share
their experiences with the class. Do not over-correct for
accuracy, but help students get their ideas across where
necessary.
VOCABULARY:  Words connected with
2 (note the prefixes in- and im- are the same. The im- form is used
cultural differences
a Students should try to put the words into the gaps without
using a dictionary or asking for meanings, guessing if
necessary. To introduce the activity, put students into
pairs to say what part of speech the words are. Ask for
suggestions: impolite = adj; behaviour = n; queues =
n; inconsiderable = adj; unspoken = adj. Tell students
to use this information to help them choose the word to
complete each of the sentences, and go through the first
example as a class if necessary.
Monitor and help as necessary, asking for volunteers to
give answers and seeing if the class agrees before feeding
back.
Answers
1 behaviour
2 unspoken
3 queues
4 inconsiderate
5 impolite
b In pairs, students find the words from exercise 2a in the
article and see if they can confirm the meanings of the
words from the context there. If not, they may use a
dictionary to check the words.
c Students scan the Comments section for more unknown
vocabulary related to the topic.
Possible answers
chat, eye contact, offered, supposed to do, tolerant
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READING PLUS
BETTER READING: USING PARTS OF A WORD TO
UNDERSTAND ITS MEANING
Go through the information and example with the class
before asking students to work in pairs to explain the parts of
the words in exercise 2. To check answers, nominate different
students to answer different questions for each of the words
in exercise 2 and see if the class agrees before feeding back.
Answers
impolite: root word = polite, prefix im- makes it opposite
behaviour: root word = behave, suffix -iour makes it into a noun, the
final e of the root word is cut
queues: root word = queue, with a plural suffix
inconsiderate: root word = consider, with suffix -ate making it into
an adjective and prefix -in making it opposite
unspoken: root word = speak, changed to past participle spoken,
with prefix un- making it opposite
when the root word begins with a consonant where the lips are
closed – b, p or m)
3 READING 1
a Students read and answer the questions individually.
Put them into pairs to compare ideas and then check the
answers as a class.
Answers
1 because there seem to be more problems here than
anywhere else
2 people in Mexico City
3 make space to allow people to get past
4 they should stand aside to let other people past
5 they should say sorry
6 because they sit with their legs apart like horse riders, taking
space from other passengers
b Students work in pairs to suggest unspoken rules based on
the article. Go through the example as a class.
Possible answers
Stand to the side on the escalators so that people in a hurry
can pass.
Don’t push into queues.
Allow people to get past if you are standing in a queue.
Don’t stop in front of the ticket barrier to search for your ticket.
Be careful with your suitcase, and say sorry if you bump into
someone.
Say excuse me if you want to get past.
Keep your legs together while sitting so you don’t take other
people’s space.
Ask students for suggestions of others not mentioned in
the article.
1

c Go through options 1–3. Tell students that they should
consider whether or not the statements apply to the text
as a whole (or more globally), rather than identifying
individual examples in parts of the text.
Answers
The best answer is 2. The survey is mentioned in the first
paragraph.
4 READING 2
Before reading, you may wish to pre-teach the words in
the box.
VOCABULARY SUPPORT
friction (n) = disagreement or unfriendliness caused by
people having different ideas
gap (n) = an empty space or opening in the middle of
something or between two things
nuisance (n) = something or someone that annoys you
who or causes trouble for you
bump (v) = (into) to hit something or someone
Unit 6
5 SPEAKING
a Students work individually to decide on the order of
seriousness of the problems in the main part of the article.
Begin by eliciting the problems mentioned in the article
and make notes on the board. Ask students to note the
problems in order of seriousness in their opinion and to
make notes of the reason. Monitor and help as necessary,
encouraging them to use some of the vocabulary in
exercise 2 where appropriate.
b Ask students to mingle and find another student who
agrees with them. If they can’t find somebody who agrees
completely, they find the person who shares the closest
views. Ask pairs or groups of students to give feedback to
the class on the seriousness of the problems. You could
take a quick hands-up survey on the most and least serious
problem according to the class and say if you agree or not.
c Students tell their own travel experiences in small
groups. If possible, put them into different groupings than
they were in for exercise 1b.

a Set a short time limit of about two minutes to encourage

students to scan the comments to answer the questions.
Suggest they read the article more carefully to check any
answers they are unsure of.
Answers
1 Oleg
2 Janaina
3 Miguel
4 Janaina
5 Oleg

OPTIONAL LANGUAGE FOCUS:

PHRASES TO SIGNAL OPINIONS
Please note: There are no instructions on the worksheet for this
activity.
Write the following example on the board: I hate it when … .
Ask students to look at the comments section find the phrase
(in Oleg’s comments). Ask them to complete it for Oleg,
Janaina and Miguel.
Tell students to look for more examples of phrases which
introduce opinions.

Answers
I think people should … ; I was surprised … ; It’s alright if …
Ask students to use the phrases to express their opinions
about a type of behaviour in the Comments section of the
article.

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