Student Activities Johannes Gutenberg

Amazing Inventors (Level 1) English Readers

Johannes Gutenberg

Before reading After reading

StudentJohannes Gutenberg Activities invented the printing press. How much Complete the collocations with the verbs in the boxes. Use do you know about the history of books? Are the sentences each verb once. true1 Guess (T) or false (F)? If you don’t know the answer, guess. 4 Language give pay (off) break borrow get take 1 Before Gutenberg, only poor people read books. T / F 2 Before Gutenberg, every book was written T / F 1 married by hand. 2 (someone) an idea 3 Gutenberg’s most famous book was the T / F 3 a promise Gutenberg Bible. 4 money (from someone) 4 Gutenberg became rich during his life. T / F 5 (someone) to court 6 debts While reading

Write your own sentences using the collocations from Read to the end of page 10. For each question, circle Yes or activity 4. Remember to put the verbs in an appropriate No and give a reason. form.5 Follow-up Your sentences activity can be about the story but you mustn’t 2 Comprehension and writing 1 Was it easy to read books when Gutenberg was growing copy sentences from the story. up? Yes / No Reason: Find more information about why Gutenberg’s invention 2 Did he get married? was so important. Try to find answers to these questions: 6 Research Yes / No 1 Gutenberg is often referred to as ‘the man of the (last) Reason: ’. 3 Was his girlfriend angry? 2 The ‘print revolution’ is compared with which more Yes / No modern revolution? Reason: 4 Was Gutenberg’s new printing system called ‘movable 3 Where is the original Gutenberg Bible now? type’? Yes / No 4 When books were first printed, what type of literature Reason: was most popular? 5 Did Gutenberg pay off all of his debts with his calendar

and poems? 5 Why was this? Yes / No Reason: You can find these answers by watching the two videos at this link (taken from the ‘Further Research’ document): Read to the end of the story. Also read the timeline. Put www.history.com/videos/the-book-that-changed-the- these events in the correct order. Write 1–8 in the spaces. world#mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-the-printing-press 3 Comprehension Gutenberg printed calendars and poems. Gutenberg got engaged but he never got married. Remember that you do not need to understand every Gutenberg met Johann Fust. TIP word of these videos. Try to concentrate on listening Gutenberg worked as a goldsmith. for key words. Use the pictures and hand gestures to Gutenberg printed the Gutenberg Bible. help you. Gutenberg had lots of competition from other printing companies. Gutenberg invented ‘movable type’. Fust took Gutenberg to court.

Johannes Gutenberg

1 F – only rich people could read books 1 get because there were not many books 2 give 1 Guessavailable. 43 Languagebreak 2Answer T Key (Student Activities)4 borrow 3 T 5 take 4 F – Gutenberg was very poor his whole life. 6 pay (off) – ‘off’ is in brackets because ‘pay debts’ is also good English.

1 No – They were written by hand. The writing was difficult to understand. Answers will vary. 2 ComprehensionNo – He didn’t have and enough writing money. 3 Yes – He broke his promise. 5 Follow-up activity 4 Yes – You could move the letters. Answers will vary. Suggested answers: 5 No – He paid off some debts but not all. 1 Gutenberg is often referred to as ‘the man 6 Researchof the (last) millennium’. 2 The ‘print revolution’ is compared with the 1 Gutenberg worked as a goldsmith. internet revolution. 2 Gutenberg got engaged but he never got 3 The Library of Congress (Washington D.C., 3 Comprehensionmarried. USA) 3 Gutenberg invented ‘movable type’. 4 Books about travel (‘travel literature’) were 4 Gutenberg printed calendars and poems. most popular. 5 Gutenberg met Johann Fust. 5 People couldn’t travel easily so they liked to 6 Fust took Gutenberg to court. read about the world. 7 Gutenberg printed the Gutenberg Bible. 8 Gutenberg had lots of competition from other printing companies.