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English first additional language

Grade 7

Module 6

Pronouns

  1. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

THE WHEEL

We all know the story of Beauty and the Beast. In this story we learn of Maurice, Beauty's father who was an inventor and how he invented a machine to chop wood. The people of the town thought he was crazy. Why is it that all inventors seem to be crazy in the eyes of the people around them? I think the reason for this is that these people are way ahead of their time. These people think of making the impossible possible.

One of man's greatest inventions is a piece of wood shaded like a circle. Yes, the wheel. Who invented the wheel? History has it that the wheel may have been invented by the Sumerians, the same people who gave us the first written language? All we know is that it existed in ancient Mesopotamia and that without it we would not have the machines we have today. Through the ages the wheel was improved. Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian painter and inventor who lived about 500 years ago, improved the wheel further by making it lighter and stronger than before. Although the wheel in itself is not a machine, it becomes one when you combine it with an axle or another wheel. During the 19th century new wheels came into use and caused the big Industrial Revolution. We saw the invention of the steam engine. Today we cannot imagine our world without a wheel.

The wheel is used in basically every machine we can think of — in mother's washing machine, inside a modern jet airplane and even in the gyroscope, which plays an important role in guiding space flight.

Research: Wonderful World of Knowledge

  1. Answer the following questions in full sentences:
  1. How did Maurice spend his extra time?
  2. Did the people of his town accept Maurice? Say why.
  3. Why are inventors different to the people around them?
  4. What is regarded as one of the greatest inventions?
  5. When was the wheel invented?
  6. When was the steam engine invented and what was the result of the invention?
  7. Describe what the world would be like without the wheel.
  8. Give the opposite of the following:

Possible:

Ancient:

Crazy:

  1. What is a gyroscope?
  2. Give a few examples where you know the wheel is irreplaceable.
LO 3.1.4

Using the extract and your imagination, sketch what you think the first wheel looked like.

  1. Cloze Procedure

Harvey the household robot

  1. Look at the picture very carefully. Fill in the missing words. They are listed below.

Harvey cannot go into the house because his (i) __________tear up the carpets. He has to stay in the (ii)___________. Harvey doesn't like this because he gets (iii) ___________having no one to talk to. Besides, it's (iv) ___________in the garage and this makes Harvey rusty. Harvey (v) ______________all the letters but he cannot (vi) …………………………………………… ____________Harvey can do (vii) __________things at once. He can work in the (viii) __________because of the light on his head.

His owner is thinking of taking the garden fork and lawn mower from Harvey's (ix)________________________. He wants Harvey to be able to work (x) ___________the house. Harvey tried to mix a cake once, but he used his wrong arm and the cake mix ended up inside the. (xi)_______________. Last week something went wrong with Harvey's controls. He went round drilling (xii) __________in everything. The furniture looked as if it had woodworm.

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Source:  OpenStax, English first additional language grade 7. OpenStax CNX. Sep 09, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11019/1.1
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