SW-A Desert Island.Indd

Student’s Worksheet 1 “A desert island – let’s go!”

Exercise 1 Work in pairs. Imagine that you are going to spend two weeks on a desert island. Look at the list of the items below and choose three things that you would like to take with you. Be ready to justify your choices.

a knife a swimming costume a rope a pen an axe chess a map chocolate bars a mobile phone a board game

When you ﬁ nish share your ideas with other group members.

Exercise 2 Read the text below and answer the True/False questions.

A desert island or uninhabited island is an island not populated by humans. Some of the desert islands are nature reserves, where many protected species live. Some desert islands, especially exotic ones, have private owners. Desert islands are scattered all over the world but most of them are in the Paci c Ocean and in the Arctic Sea. For many people a desert island is a symbol of paradise. In reality many of the islands are uninhabited because of tough weather conditions and natural topography such as rocks, mountains and active volcanoes. The theme of the desert island appears in many books and lms like “Cast away” and a famous TV series “Lost”. The most famous book is “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe. It was based on the true story of a sailor named Alexander Selkirk who spent four years as a castaway on a desert island called Mas a Tierra in the 18th century. The island is no longer uninhabited and is now called Robinson Crusoe Island. It has a population of 600 people now.

a. Some desert islands have private owners. T/F b. There are many desert islands on the Paciﬁ c Ocean. T/F c. On desert islands the weather conditions are always good. T/F d. The “Robinson Crusoe” book was not based on a real story. T/F e. The island of Mas a Tierra is now called Robinson Crusoe Island. T/F

Exercise 3 Imagine that you are a sailor and your ship has been wrecked near a desert island. You have managed to get to the island. Here is a list of activities to do. Decide on the order of the things that you would like to do by putting numbers 1 (most important) to 10 (not so important) next to them. When you ﬁ nish compare the lists with your neighbour.

…… start a fi re …… build a shelter …… look for water …… never give up …… look for food ……. start a fi re …… arrange a signal for help …… check resources (what you have) (fi re, pile of rocks, etc.) …… make some tools from wood …… calm down

Exercise 4 Look at the notes from Exercise 2 and Exercise 3 and match the words in the neighbouring columns:

to build resources to start water to calm a shelter to check a ﬁ re to look for down

a desert weather weather ocean active conditions tough island Paciﬁ c volcanoes

Exercise 5 “A message in a bottle” Imagine that you are on a desert island and want to send a message in a bottle. Look at the sample answer. Write a similar letter of about 60-80 words.

Dear friend,

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

A sample answer:

Dear friend, My name is Jack Robbins and I come from Melbourne, Australia. I’m a professional sailor and my yacht called “Queen of Oceans” sank about 300 miles from the coast of Fiji in March 2012. I managed to swim to the shore and now I’m a castaway on a desert island somewhere in the Paciﬁ c Ocean. If you ever read my message, please deliver it to the nearest police station or the Marine Police in Melbourne. Maybe I’m still there! Thank you for your help! 

Jack Robbins