UNIT 4
WHAT’S THE
COLDEST
PLACE ON
EARTH?
TOPIC: DESCRIBING PLACES
Vocabulary: superlatives: hottest,
longest, highest, largest, coldest, tallest,
smallest, most difficult, hardest, worst,
oldest, most dangerous, most common,
tiniest, most beautiful, wettest, driest,
widest; places: desert, river
Grammar: superlatives
Extra material: a world map
Other useful vocabulary:
places: sea, waterfall, valley, monument,
glacier, stream, forest, canyon
Book work: Have students write their
answers for any in-book activities on a
separate piece of paper.
UNIT 4 PROJECT, SB P. 46 Have
students do research about someone or
something that has a world record.
Explain to students that the Guinness World
Records is a list of all kinds of number one
things from around the world. Give them a few
examples, such as the fastest time on a video
game, the most dominoes stacked in
30 seconds, and the longest line of candies.
Tell students they should, if necessary, as a
class, brainstorm the types of things students
can write about (athletes’ records, eating
competitions, etc.).
Explain to students that they should write a
report about the world record, describing what
someone did and when they did it. Encourage
them to bring in a picture to share with the class.
In the next class, have students take turns
reading their reports to the class. When
students have finished, have them get into
groups and talk about which record is the most
amazing, the strangest, and the most
interesting. Also have groups talk about a
record they themselves might like to challenge
in the future.
CONTENT NOTE: RECORD-
BREAKING PLACES
The Sahara Desert is not only the hottest
but also the largest desert in the world. It
covers almost all of North Africa and
stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the
west to the Red Sea in the east. The highest
temperature ever recorded there was
58 degrees Celsius.
UNIT GOALS
By the end of this unit, you will be
able to:
• describe extremes;
• use superlatives;
• use sentence stress.
38
39
4
Mountaineers walk across
the ice to the Wohlthat Mountains
in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.
WHAT’S THE
COLDEST
PLACE ON EARTH?
Preview
Work with a partner. Choose the correct answers. Then listen and check.
1. What’s the hottest desert on Earth?
The Atacama
The Sahara
2. What’s the longest river in the world?
The Amazon
The Nile
3. What’s the highest mountain in the world?
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Everest
4. What’s the largest rock on Earth?
Uluru/Ayers Rock
Zuma Rock
5. Where’s the coldest place on Earth?
Europe
Antarctica
6. Where’s the tallest tree in the world?
The United States
Mexico
7. What’s the smallest country in the world?
Vatican City
The Maldives
Listen. Write the number of each place (1–7) on the correct continent on
the map.
Talk with a partner. What do you know about the places in A?
AA
1–25
BB
1–26
C
The Atacama Desert is in Chile and Peru.
7
6
3
2
1
4
5
58
Unit 4
