Trapped in a cave

What's in the lesson

1. 1Warm-up
2. 2In this lesson
3. 3Guess the words (1)Vocabulary exercise
4. 4Guess the words (2)Vocabulary exercise
5. 5Check the wordsVocabulary
6. 6Reading: lost in the darkReading comprehension
7. 7Listen: the news on July 10Listening comprehension
8. 8Use the new wordsVocabulary exercise
9. 9What happened first?Grammar exercise
10. 10Find the past perfectGrammar exercise
11. 11The past perfectGrammar rule
12. 12What had happened?Grammar exercise
13. 13Say it naturallySpeaking practice
14. 14Decision: wait or dive?Speaking practice
15. 15Let's discussDiscussion
16. 16Wrap-up

Homework

1. 1Homework: closest meaningVocabulary exercise
2. 2Homework: your sentencesVocabulary exercise
3. 3Homework: by the timeGrammar exercise
4. 4Homework: too late!Discussion

Words

• trapped/træpt/

  unable to escape from a place or a situation

• flood/flʌd/

  to fill or cover a place with water

• rescue/ˈreskjuː/

  to save someone from a dangerous situation

• diver/ˈdaɪvər/

  a person who swims underwater, usually with special equipment

• survive/sərˈvaɪv/

  to stay alive through a dangerous event

• narrow/ˈnæroʊ/

  only a short distance from one side to the other (the opposite of wide)

• volunteer/ˌvɑːlənˈtɪr/

  to offer to do something without being asked or paid

• emerge/iˈmɜːrdʒ/

  to come out of a dark or hidden place

• monsoon/ˌmɑːnˈsuːn/

  the season of very heavy rain in South and Southeast Asia

• quarantine/ˈkwɔːrəntiːn/

  a time when someone is kept away from other people, so that they do not spread a disease

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

Let's talk about danger and rescue.

1. Have you ever been inside a cave? How did you feel?
2. Do you remember the Thai cave rescue in 2018? What do you know about it?
3. Why do you think some news stories make the whole world stop and watch?

Grammar rule

The past perfect

had + past participle

We use the past perfect for something that happened before another past event:

• When the divers arrived, the boys had been in the cave for nine days. (1. the boys went in → 2. the divers arrived)

Past simple or past perfect?

• When we got to the station, the train left. (We saw it leave.)
• When we got to the station, the train had left. (It was already gone.)

Useful words: by the time, already, never, before

• By the time the rescue started, the boys had already spent more than two weeks in the cave.

When the order is already clear (after, before), the past simple is fine too: After they went in, it started to rain.