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Nigeria declared car horn-free day (22nd October, 2014)

The Reading / Listening - Level 6

Nigeria's largest city Lagos declared a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an attempt to raise awareness of noise pollution. People are constantly bombarded with an endless cacophony of screeches, sirens and high-pitched honking from impatient motorists. The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the extent of the noise from car horns was now serious enough to be a danger to people's hearing. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "It is for our own good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-decibel noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.

Governor Fashola hoped his city's roads would be a little quieter. He contrasted the constant honking in Lagos to the relative quiet of European roads. He said he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not hear the sound of a horn while driving". He asked: "Can you imagine that we can drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger defended the use of the horn as part of the city's culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world, and it is a trend that every class of people in the country embraces." Apart from making other drivers aware of danger, he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and other happy occasions.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 4 or Level 5

Sources

http://allafrica.com/stories/201410150336.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/lagos-bans-car-horns-deafening-traffic-noise

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. CAR HORNS: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about car horns. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

largest city / raise awareness / impatient / motorists / hearing / hazard / blood pressure / quieter / honking / trend / embraces / danger / celebrate weddings / happy

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. MOTORISTS: Make new laws for them. Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Your country's laws	New laws you would like
Mobile phones
Honking
Parking
Speeding
Eating / drinking
Alcohol

4. HONKING: Students A strongly believe honking should be made illegal; Students B strongly believe not. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. ROAD AWARENESS: Rank these with your partner. Put the ones motorists need more awareness of at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• space for cyclists

• speed

• sleepiness

• using indicators

• ice and fog

• other drivers

• pedestrians

• noise

6. POLLUTION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "pollution". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	The Nigerian city of Lagos handed out free car horns last week.	T / F
b.	The article says impatient motorists in Lagos screech and shout a lot.	T / F
c.	Noise from car horns can damage your hearing.	T / F
d.	Noise from car horns can lead to heart disease.	T / F
e.	The Lagos governor wished Lagos roads were like those in Europe.	T / F
f.	The Lagos governor said he heard horns only ten times in Europe.	T / F
g.	A Lagos blogger said the honking of horns was a beautiful thing.	T / F
h.	The blogger said people honk their horns to express sadness.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	attempt	a.	scale
2.	bombarded	b.	compared
3.	impatient	c.	assaulted
4.	extent	d.	danger
5.	hazard	e.	events
6.	contrasted	f.	quick-tempered
7.	constant	g.	welcomes
8.	relative	h.	non-stop
9.	embraces	i.	comparative
10.	occasions	j.	effort

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	an attempt to raise	a.	good
2.	constantly bombarded with an	b.	honking in Lagos
3.	It is for our own	c.	to greet friends
4.	high-decibel	d.	diseases
5.	cardiovascular	e.	of European roads
6.	the constant	f.	awareness
7.	the relative quiet	g.	of people
8.	a Lagos blogger defended the	h.	noise pollution
9.	every class	i.	use of the horn
10.	he said people honk	j.	endless cacophony

GAP FILL

Nigeria's largest city Lagos (1) ____________ a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an attempt to raise awareness of noise pollution. People are constantly (2) ____________ with an endless cacophony of screeches, sirens and high-pitched honking from (3) ____________ motorists. The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the (4) ____________ of the noise from car horns was now serious enough to be a danger to people's (5) ____________. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "It is for our own good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-(6) ____________ noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular (7) ____________ and high (8) ____________ pressure.

extent
decibel
bombarded
blood
declared
diseases
impatient
hearing

Governor Fashola hoped his city's roads would be a little quieter. He (9) ____________ the constant honking in Lagos to the relative quiet of European roads. He said he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not hear the sound of a horn while (10) ____________ ". He asked: "Can you imagine that we can drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger (11) ____________ the use of the horn as part of the city's culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful (12) ____________ in this part of the world, and it is a trend that every (13) ____________ of people in the country (14) ____________." Apart from making other drivers aware of danger, he said people honk to (15) ____________ friends and celebrate weddings and other happy (16) ____________.

trend
driving
greet
contrasted
class
occasions
defended
embraces

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	in an attempt to raise awareness ______
	a. of noisy pollution b. of noise pollutants c. of nose pollution d. of noise pollution
2)	People are constantly bombarded with an endless ______
	a. symphony of screeches b. cacophony of screech is c. cacophony of screeches d. symphony of screech is
3)	sirens and high-pitched honking from ______
	a. impatience motorists b. impatient motorists c. impatient motorist d. impatience motorist
4)	The World Health Organization said high-______ pollution was…
	a. decibel noise b. decided noise c. deaths and bell noise d. dressy-bell noise
5)	a critical health hazard that increases the risk of ______
	a. audio-muscular diseases b. cardio-muscular diseases c. cardiovascular diseases d. audio-vascular diseases
6)	He contrasted the constant honking in Lagos to ______ of…
	a. the relatives quiet b. the relative quite c. the relatively quiet d. the relative quiet
7)	he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not hear the sound of a ______
	a. horn while driving b. horn whilst driving c. horn whiles driving d. horn while away driving
8)	a Lagos blogger defended the use of the horn as part of ______
	a. a city's culture b. this city's culture c. the city's culture d. that city's culture
9)	a trend that every class of people in the ______
	a. country embrace is b. country embraces c. country embarrasses d. country in braces
10)	he said people honk ______
	a. to great friends b. to grate friends c. to agreed friends d. to greet friends

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Nigeria's largest city Lagos declared a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an (1) ___________________ awareness of noise pollution. People are constantly bombarded with an endless cacophony (2) ___________________ and high-pitched honking from (3) ___________________. The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that (4) ___________________ noise from car horns was now serious enough to be a danger to people's hearing. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "(5) ___________________ good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-decibel noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk (6) ___________________ diseases and high blood pressure.

Governor Fashola hoped his city's roads (7) ___________________ quieter. He contrasted the constant honking in Lagos to the relative quiet of European roads. He said (8) ___________________ ten days in Europe and, "did not hear the sound of a horn while driving". He asked: "Can you (9) ___________________ drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger (10) ___________________ the horn as part of the city's culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world, and it is a trend that every class of people in (11) ___________________." Apart from making other drivers (12) ___________________, he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and other happy occasions.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	When did Lagos have its Horn-Free Day?
2.	What did the day hope to make people more aware of?
3.	What kind of motorist did the article say does the honking?
4.	What did the Lagos governor say the noise endangered?
5.	Besides heart disease, what does noise pollution increase the risk of?
6.	Where did the Lagos governor hear no car horns?
7.	What did a blogger say car horns were part of?
8.	Who did a blogger say embraced the use of car horns?
9.	What did a blogger say horns make people aware of?
10.	Who did a blogger say motorists greeted by using their horn?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	When did Lagos have its Horn-Free Day?	6.	Where did the Lagos governor hear no car horns?
	a) yesterday b) on Tuesday c) last week d) it hasn't happened yet		a) his apartment b) Europe c) Antarctica d) the countryside
2.	What did the day hope to make people more aware of?	7.	What did a blogger say car horns were part of?
	a) noise pollution b) traffic accidents c) sound d) other drivers		a) the symphony of life b) everyday problems c) a wider problem d) Lagos' culture
3.	What kind of motorist did the article say does the honking?	8.	Who did a blogger say embraced the use of car horns?
	a) considerate ones b) those in big cars c) noisy ones d) those with little or no patience		a) car horn manufacturers b) everyone c) truckers d) old people
4.	What did the Lagos governor say the noise endangered?	9.	What did a blogger say horns make people aware of?
	a) driving ability b) hearing c) driving d) accidents		a) danger b) themselves c) other motorists d) pedestrians
5.	Besides heart disease, what does noise pollution increase the risk of?	10.	Who did a blogger say motorists greeted by using their horn?
	a) homeopathy b) repetitive stress injury c) high blood pressure d) mental illnesses		a) celebrities on the street b) traffic police c) shopkeepers d) friends

ROLE PLAY

Role A – Space for cyclists

You think space for cyclists is what motorists need to be more aware of. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't such a problem. Also, tell the others which of these needs addressing least (and why): sleepiness, ice and fog or noise.

Role B – Sleepiness

You think sleepiness is what motorists need to be more aware of. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't such a problem. Also, tell the others which of these needs addressing least (and why): space for cyclists, ice and fog or noise.

Role C – Ice and fog

You think ice and fog is what motorists need to be more aware of. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't such a problem. Also, tell the others which of these needs addressing least (and why): sleepiness, space for cyclists or noise.

Role D – Noise

You think noise is what motorists need to be more aware of. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't such a problem. Also, tell the others which of these needs addressing least (and why): sleepiness, ice and fog or space for cyclists.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'car' and 'horn'.

car

horn

Share your findings with your partners.

Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

attempt
endless
extent
danger
life
blood

quieter
ten
imagine
use
class
happy

CAR HORNS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about car horns in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

CAR HORNS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the word 'horn'?
3)	Do you mind people honking their horn?
4)	What kind of motorist are you?
5)	Is a horn totally necessary on a car?
6)	Should there be laws against using the horn too much?
7)	What do you think of noise pollution?
8)	What do you think of the level of noise in your town?
9)	What do you do when someone honks at you?
10)	How can we stop noise pollution increasing our blood pressure?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	Why do some people honk their horn so much?
13)	Do different cultures have different honking behaviour?
14)	Where in Europe do you think people rarely use their horn?
15)	What do you think of what the blogger said in the article?
16)	In what way might honking be "a beautiful trend"?
17)	What would happen if no cars had horns?
18)	Is it OK to honk to celebrate?
19)	Should a city be noisy?
20)	What questions would you like to ask the Lagos governor?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

Nigeria's largest city Lagos (1) ____ a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an attempt to raise awareness of noise pollution. People are (2) ____ bombarded with an endless cacophony of screeches, sirens and high-pitched honking from impatient (3) ____. The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the extent of the noise from car horns was now serious (4) ____ to be a danger to people's hearing. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "It is for our own good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-(5) ____ noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and (6) ____ blood pressure.

Governor Fashola hoped his city's roads would be a little (7) ____. He contrasted the constant honking in Lagos to the (8) ____ quiet of European roads. He said he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not hear the sound of a horn (9) ____ driving". He asked: "Can you imagine that we can drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger defended the (10) ____ of the horn as part of the city's culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world, and it is a trend that every class of people in the country embraces." (11) ____ from making other drivers aware of danger, he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and (12) ____ happy occasions.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	declaration	(b)	declared	(c)	declarative	(d)	declaring
2.	(a)	constant	(b)	constantly	(c)	constants	(d)	constraints
3.	(a)	motorises	(b)	motors	(c)	motoring	(d)	motorists
4.	(a)	plenty	(b)	enough	(c)	sufficient	(d)	suffices
5.	(a)	semiquaver	(b)	decibel	(c)	quadraphonic	(d)	octave
6.	(a)	upped	(b)	tall	(c)	high	(d)	increase
7.	(a)	quieten	(b)	quitter	(c)	quieter	(d)	quitting
8.	(a)	offspring	(b)	sibling	(c)	relative	(d)	kin
9.	(a)	whichever	(b)	whatsoever	(c)	where	(d)	while
10.	(a)	use	(b)	utility	(c)	utlilise	(d)	useful
11.	(a)	Apart	(b)	Beside	(c)	Removed	(d)	Instead
12.	(a)	another	(b)	the other	(c)	other	(d)	the others

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	raise anwerssae of noise pollution
2.	honking from impatient tmosstiro
3.	the extnte of the noise
4.	high-iebceld noise
5.	a critical health aadzhr
6.	the risk of rvccaaaiduolsr diseases
Paragraph 2
7.	He rdtecsnaot the constant honking
8.	the iltreaev quiet of European roads
9.	a Lagos blogger defdende the use of the horn
10.	the country maseecbr
11.	making other drivers raawe of danger
12.	celebrate weddings and other happy acicossno

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	hear the sound of a horn while driving". He asked: "Can you imagine that we can
( )	good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-
( )	of people in the country embraces." Apart from making other drivers
( )	Governor Fashola hoped his city's roads would be a little quieter. He contrasted the constant honking
( )	Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the extent of the noise from car horns was now serious
( )	of screeches, sirens and high-pitched honking from impatient motorists. The Lagos State
( )	in Lagos to the relative quiet of European roads. He said he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not
( )	aware of danger, he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and other happy occasions.
( )	awareness of noise pollution. People are constantly bombarded with an endless cacophony
( )	culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world, and it is a trend that every class
( )	decibel noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.
( 1 )	Nigeria's largest city Lagos declared a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an attempt to raise
( )	enough to be a danger to people's hearing. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "It is for our own
( )	drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger defended the use of the horn as part of the city's

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	awareness An of attempt noise to pollution raise .
2.	an with Bombarded screeches of cacophony endless .
3.	horns car from noise the of extent The serious now was .
4.	reporters: told He . " good own our for is "It
5.	risk hazard that A increases critical the health .
6.	little quieter Fashola hoped his city's roads would be a .
7.	blogger use horn Lagos the the A defended of.
8.	trend beautiful a is Honking world the of part this in .
9.	country the in people of class every that trend A embraces .
10.	of making danger other drivers Apart aware from.

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

Nigeria's largest city Lagos declaration / declared a car "Horn-Free Day" last week in an attempt / effortless to raise awareness of noise pollution. People are constantly bombing / bombarded with an endless symphony / cacophony of screeches, sirens and high-pitched honking from impatient / impertinent motorists. The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola told reporters that the extent of the noise from car horns was now seriously / serious enough to be a danger to people's hearing / listening. Talking about Horn-Free Day, he told reporters: "It is for our own goodness / good. It is for our own health. It is for our own life." The World Health Organization said high-decibel noisy / noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high / height blood pressure.

Governor Fashola hoped / hoping his city's roads would be a little quieter / quieten. He contrasted / contracted the constant honking in Lagos to the relative quiet of European roads. He said he recently spent ten days in Europe and, "did not hear / listen the sound of a horn while driving". He asked: "Can you imaginary / imagine that we can drive in Lagos without horns?" However, a Lagos blogger defended / defensive the use of the horn as part of the city's / cities culture. He said: "Honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world, and it is a trendy / trend that every class of people in the country embraces." Apart / Beside from making other drivers aware of danger, he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and other happy occasion / occasions.

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

N_g_r__'s l_rg_st c_ty L_g_s d_cl_r_d _ c_r "H_rn-Fr__ D_y" l_st w__k _n _n _tt_mpt t_ r__s_ _w_r_n_ss _f n__s_ p_ll_t__n. P__pl_ _r_ c_nst_ntly b_mb_rd_d w_th _n _ndl_ss c_c_ph_ny _f scr__ch_s, s_r_ns _nd h_gh-p_tch_d h_nk_ng fr_m _mp_t__nt m_t_r_sts. Th_ L_g_s St_t_ G_v_rn_r B_b_t_nd_ F_sh_l_ t_ld r_p_rt_rs th_t th_ _xt_nt _f th_ n__s_ fr_m c_r h_rns w_s n_w s_r___s _n__gh t_ b_ _ d_ng_r t_ p__pl_'s h__r_ng. T_lk_ng _b__t H_rn-Fr__ D_y, h_ t_ld r_p_rt_rs: "_t _s f_r __r _wn g__d. _t _s f_r __r _wn h__lth. _t _s f_r __r _wn l_f_." Th_ W_rld H__lth _rg_n_z_t__n s__d h_gh-d_c_b_l n__s_ p_ll_t__n w_s _ cr_t_c_l h__lth h_z_rd th_t _ncr__s_s th_ r_sk _f c_rd__v_sc_l_r d_s__s_s _nd h_gh bl__d pr_ss_r_.

G_v_rn_r F_sh_l_ h_p_d h_s c_ty's r__ds w__ld b_ _ l_ttl_ q___t_r. H_ c_ntr_st_d th_ c_nst_nt h_nk_ng _n L_g_s t_ th_ r_l_t_v_ q___t _f __r_p__n r__ds. H_ s__d h_ r_c_ntly sp_nt t_n d_ys _n __r_p_ _nd, "d_d n_t h__r th_ s__nd _f _ h_rn wh_l_ dr_v_ng". H_ _sk_d: "C_n y__ _m_g_n_ th_t w_ c_n dr_v_ _n L_g_s w_th__t h_rns?" H_w_v_r, _ L_g_s bl_gg_r d_f_nd_d th_ _s_ _f th_ h_rn _s p_rt _f th_ c_ty's c_lt_r_. H_ s__d: "H_nk_ng _s _ b___t_f_l tr_nd _n th_s p_rt _f th_ w_rld, _nd _t _s _ tr_nd th_t _v_ry cl_ss _f p__pl_ _n th_ c__ntry _mbr_c_s." _p_rt fr_m m_k_ng _th_r dr_v_rs _w_r_ _f d_ng_r, h_ s__d p__pl_ h_nk t_ gr__t fr__nds _nd c_l_br_t_ w_dd_ngs _nd _th_r h_ppy _cc_s__ns.

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

nigeria's largest city lagos declared a car "horn-free day" last week in an attempt to raise awareness of noise pollution people are constantly bombarded with an endless cacophony of screeches sirens and high-pitched honking from impatient motorists the lagos state governor babatunde fashola told reporters that the extent of the noise from car horns was now serious enough to be a danger to people's hearing talking about horn-free day he told reporters "it is for our own good it is for our own health it is for our own life" the world health organization said high-decibel noise pollution was a critical health hazard that increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure

governor fashola hoped his city's roads would be a little quieter he contrasted the constant honking in lagos to the relative quiet of european roads he said he recently spent ten days in europe and "did not hear the sound of a horn while driving" he asked "can you imagine that we can drive in lagos without horns" however a lagos blogger defended the use of the horn as part of the city's culture he said "honking is a beautiful trend in this part of the world and it is a trend that every class of people in the country embraces" apart from making other drivers aware of danger he said people honk to greet friends and celebrate weddings and other happy occasions

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

Nigeria'slargestcityLagosdeclaredacar"Horn-FreeDay"lastweekina
nattempttoraiseawarenessofnoisepollution.Peopleareconstantlybo
mbardedwithanendlesscacophonyofscreeches,sirensandhigh-pitc
hedhonkingfromimpatientmotorists.TheLagosStateGovernorBabat
undeFasholatoldreportersthattheextentofthenoisefromcarhornswa
snowseriousenoughtobeadangertopeople'shearing.TalkingaboutHo
rn-FreeDay,hetoldreporters:"Itisforourowngood.Itisforourownh
ealth.Itisforourownlife."TheWorldHealthOrganizationsaidhigh-de
cibelnoisepollutionwasacriticalhealthhazardthatincreasestheriskofc
ardiovasculardiseasesandhighbloodpressure.GovernorFasholahope
dhiscity'sroadswouldbealittlequieter.Hecontrastedtheconstanthonk
inginLagostotherelativequietofEuropeanroads.Hesaidherecentlysp
enttendaysinEuropeand,"didnothearthesoundofahornwhiledriving"
.Heasked:"CanyouimaginethatwecandriveinLagoswithouthorns?"H
owever,aLagosbloggerdefendedtheuseofthehornaspartofthecity'sc
ulture.Hesaid:"Honkingisabeautifultrendinthispartoftheworld,anditi
satrendthateveryclassofpeopleinthecountryembraces."Apartfromm
akingotherdriversawareofdanger,hesaidpeoplehonktogreetfriendsa
ndcelebrateweddingsandotherhappyoccasions.

FREE WRITING

Write about car horns for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

Noise pollution is not a problem. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about car horns and noise pollution. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CAR HORNS: Make a poster about car horns. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. NOISE POLLUTION: Write a magazine article about noise pollution. Include imaginary interviews with people who think it is a serious problem, and with those who don't think so.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on noise pollution. Ask him/her three questions about car horns. Give him/her three of your ideas on how to combat it. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

F

b

F

c

T

d

T

e

T

f

F

g

T

h

F

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	attempt	a.	effort
2.	bombarded	b.	assaulted
3.	impatient	c.	quick-tempered
4.	extent	d.	scale
5.	hazard	e.	danger
6.	contrasted	f.	compared
7.	constant	g.	non-stop
8.	relative	h.	comparative
9.	embraces	i.	welcomes
10.	occasions	j.	events

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	Last week
2.	Noise pollution
3.	Impatient motorists
4.	Hearing
5.	High blood pressure
6.	Europe
7.	Lagos' culture
8.	Every class of people
9.	Danger
10.	Friends

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

c

2.

a

3.

d

4.

b

5.

c

6.

d

7.

b

8.

d

9.

a

10.

d

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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Nigeria declared car horn-free day (22nd October, 2014)

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