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AWESOME FACTS

TEACHERS NOTES
INTRO
Get the students to write a list of 10 reasons as to why the world is awesome. Get them to discuss
their lists.

WARMER

Get the students to look through the gap fill exercise in the listening, and guess the missing words
for numbers 1,2, 13, 17 and 20.

LISTENING
Get the students to listen to the first 20 facts from the following video, and fill in the missing
words. Play it twice if necessary:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130807-60-facts-about-our-awesome-world
1. There are approximately 100, 000 bacteria living on every square centimetre of our skin.
2. On average, your skin renews itself every 28 days.
3. Frogs shed their skin on a regular basis to keep clean. Some do it every day. And after
theyve pulled it off, they swallow it.
4. But frogs cant swallow without blinking because they use their eyeballs to help push food
into their stomachs.
5. The stomach of many starfish is actually ejected out of their mouths, then they engulf their
prey, pre-digest it, and suck the whole thing back in again.
6. Starfish are not actually fish.
7. And killer whales are not whales either, they are dolphins.
8. And believe it or not, dolphins can call each other by name.
9. Dolphins can also recognize themselves in the mirror, as can elephants, chimpanzees, and
their close relatives bonobos.
10. Who resolve their differences through sex rather than violence.
11. Bacteria replicate by cloning themselves, and they can do it so fast, that theoretically a
single bacteria could produce more offspring than there are protons in the entire universe.
12. If this 5p was the sun, then this grain of sugar would be the earth, and theyd be about that
far apart.
13. There are thought to be 400 billion stars in our galaxy.
14. If this 5p were the sun, and this 5p were the next nearest star, theyd be 400km apart,
thats 250 miles.
15. NASA estimates that one object of space junk returns to the earth every day.
16. If this 10p coin was our galaxy, the Milky Way, and this 10p coin was our nearest big
neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, theyd actually only be about that far apart.
17. Its thought that theres a septillion stars in the observable universe. thats a 1, followed by
24 zeros.
18. Its estimated that there are 100 trillion atoms in every human cell.
19. And theres thought to be 100 trillion cells in the average human body.
20. We lose about 30-40 thousand skin cells every single minute. But while its a waste product
for us, dead skin is the main food source for mites.
Get the students to take turns in writing the answers on the board. This will help you check the
words and their spelling.
1

AWESOME FACTS
TEACHERS NOTES
LISTENING CONTINUED
Play the remaining 40 facts and get the students to note down as many as they can. Find out how
many they can come up with (you can give them some time beforehand to work out a strategy to
work as a team in order to accomplish this).

IDIOMS
Write the following idioms on the board, but leave out the underlined words. Get the students to
try and guess the missing words, and then go through the definitions with them.
IDIOM
there is a world of difference
to make a world of difference
to be dead to the world
to be worlds apart
to do somebody a world of good
to think the world of something
out of this world

DEFINITION
there are 2 things which are very different from each other
to have a great effect, to improve something
deeply asleep
completely different
to make someone feel much better
to be very fond of something or someone
wonderful and exciting

Get the students to take turns drawing the idioms on the board for the other students to guess.

AWESOME FACTS
STUDENTS NOTES
LISTENING
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130807-60-facts-about-our-awesome-world

1. There are approximately _____________ bacteria living on every square centimetre of our
skin.
2. On average, your skin renews itself every _____________.
3. Frogs shed their skin on a regular basis to ______________________. Some do it every day.
And after theyve pulled it off, they _____________________ it.
4. But frogs cant swallow without _____________________ because they use their
_____________________ to help push food into their stomachs.
5. The stomach of many starfish is actually ______________ out of their mouths, then they
_______________ their prey, pre-digest it, and suck the whole thing back in again.
6. Starfish are not actually _____________.
7. And killer whales are not ___________ either, they are ___________________________.
8. And believe it or not, dolphins can call _________________________________________.
9. Dolphins can also ___________________ themselves in the __________________, as can elephants,
chimpanzees, and their close relatives bonobos.
10. Who resolve their differences through sex rather than _____________________.
11. Bacteria ___________________ by _______________________________, and they can do it so fast, that
theoretically a single bacteria could produce more _______________________ than there are
protons in the entire universe.
12. If this 5p was the sun, then this __________________________ would be the earth, and theyd
be about that far apart.
13. There are thought to be ________________________________ stars in our galaxy.
14. If this 5p were the sun, and this 5p were the next nearest star, theyd be
___________________ apart, thats 250 miles.
15. NASA estimates that one object of space junk returns to the earth _______________________.
16. If this 10p coin was our _________________, the Milky Way, and this 10p coin was our
nearest big neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, theyd actually only be about that far
apart.
17. Its thought that theres a ________________________ stars in the observable universe. thats
a 1, followed by ________________ zeros.
18. Its estimated that there are _____________________________ atoms in every human cell.
19. And theres thought to be _______________________ cells in the average human body.
20. We lose about __________________________________ skin cells every single minute. But while
its a waste product for us, dead skin is the main food source for mites.

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