Contents
=> “Place Names & Articles” - Geography Quiz & Lesson Plan
=> “The Mystery of the Longest River in Russia
=> ETs Archives and New Photos
=> In the Next Issue

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“Place Names & Articles” - Geography Quiz & Lesson Plan
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Here’s a whole lesson for teaching articles/determiners and place names.

PART I: Directions for Teachers

Break students into groups and let them try to answer this Geography Quiz. You don’t need to mention anything about articles/determiners yet. Let the students enjoy themselves, and the correct forms may come out anyway.

The following quiz is the only thing you will need to print for this lesson. Of course, you can also do the quiz orally, as a listening activity, reading the questions out loud, and seeing which team/group of students can answer first.

Adjust the questions to fit the age of and interests of your students; these are fairly advanced.

Geography Quiz

1. It’s the longest river in the world
2. This country is the biggest in South America
3. This structure, completed in 1889, is Paris’s most famous landmark.
4. This is the biggest desert.
5. This is the largest ocean
6. This is the capital of Vietnam
7. This “prison” in Paris was stormed on July 14, 1789
8. This is the largest of North America’s Lakes
9. This famous Indian palace is located near New Delhi
10. In this building the president of the U.S. lives and works
11. This street in New York is famous for its theaters
12. In Paris you’ll find the world’s most famous museum
13. At 4809 meters, it is the highest mountain in the Alps, straddling Italy and France
14. This mountain range separates France and Italy
15. Mt. Everest is found in this mountain range
16. This is the longest river in Europe
17. This country just to the north of Australia is made of thousands of islands
18. This lake in Africa was discovered by John Speke to be the source of the Nile
19. This is the shallowest sea in the world.
20. This is the deepest lake in the world.

PART II:

Afterwards, ask the class for their answers. Perhaps have each group write their team’s answers on the board for the 20 questions. See which group scored the most correct answers.

1. The Nile
2. Brazil
3. The Eiffel Tower
4. The Sahara
5. The Pacific
6. Hanoi
7. The Bastille
8. Lake Superior
9. The Taj Mahal
10. The White House
11. Broadway
12. The Louvre
13. Mount Blanc
14. The Pyrenees
15. The Himalayas
16. The Volga (”Iz daleko…”)
17. Indonesia
18. Lake Victoria
19. The Sea of Azov
20. Lake Baikal

PART III:

Now, with these answers on the board, you’ll ask students to find patterns. Which kind of places use “the” and which use no article?

Write these categories:

Rivers
Famous buildings, structures, museums
Deserts
Oceans
Seas
Cities
Lakes
Streets
single mountains
mountain ranges
countries

Students will see from the quiz answers which use “the” and which do not.

PART IV

For the next step, you’ll need poster board (or big pieces of paper) and some colored markers. Ask students, in pairs or small groups, to choose a category and write examples.

For instance, on a big piece of paper, students might write…

SEAS
The Bering Sea
The Sea of Japan
The Dead Sea
The Caribbean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea

Put these posters on the classroom walls. Leave them. Tell students they are welcome to add new items to the lists over the next few days.

This will give learners some long-term exposure to geographical article usage!

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The Mystery of the Longest River in Russia
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Do you know what the longest river in Russia is? I don’t. The internet gave me three different answers. Some cites say The Lena, some say the Yenisei-Angara (river system). Some say the Ob too. So which is it?

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In the next issue (@April 7th)
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Next issue will come to you from Florida or the Caribbean, where Kevin will be working on his travel book.

Mr. Poosheesty will be in a pub in Romania.

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Copyright 2001 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty
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