Developing intercultural communicative skills

Task 1
Match the words and phrases in bold in the text with their meanings 1–7.
1 connects
2 changed dramatically
3 a way of doing something that is growing
or fashionable
4 gone ahead
5 a plane that travels very fast
6 products
7 does not harm the planet

Task 2
Speaking activity
Work in pairs or small groups and discuss.
1 How do you think transport will change in the future?
2 Do you think driving will be easier in the future? How do you think cars will change?


Handout 2 Listening activity
Listen to a podcast about cars in the future and answer the questions.
1 What has happened to the number of cars on the road in the past twenty years?
2 What can software do in cars already?
3 What do navigation devices avoid?
4 What is there a race to find?
5 Where are electric cars mostly driven?
6 Why can’t electric cars go long distances?

Handout 3
Complete the text with the correct noun forms of the words in the box.

Educate employ happy imagine Improve responsible

Even though he never became president, Benjamin Franklin remains a very important historical figure and was one of the founding fathers of the United

States of America. Benjamin Franklin was one of seventeen children. He attended school, but his formal (1)___________ lasted only two years.
He was a creative child who often wrote to the local newspaper using a fictitious character from his (2)____________ . He soon developed a sense of social (3)___________ and debated at length on the importance of free speech. Unfortunately, the (4)____________ of his childhood soon disappeared when he became an apprentice. He hated the work and le_ for Pennsylvania where he
gained (5)_____________ in a printer’s shop. Benjamin Franklin soon gathered other tradesmen together to form a group. Together they worked towards the (6)___________ of their community. It was these experiences which helped him to be a good leader in his later years as a politician.