Natural Disasters

 Dear Boys,

You have done a remarkable job putting together a big list of adjectives and adverbs and adding many new ones to your vocabulary this week. Try to use these words as often as possible when you are speaking English.

Till the end of the week, we will talk about 'natural disasters', how and why they form, what areas of the world they affect and read some recent articles featuring current natural disasters. In Iceland, the most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting last week and caused widespread disruption to air travel. Read this article to see how this volcano affected the wider area in Iceland and western Europe.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13489944.


A tornado is a dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cloud. They are often referred to as a twister  Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before disappearing. The most extreme can have wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).

Here is the vocabulary we will learn and use in our discussion:

• tornados move thorugh/rip through/tear through neighborhoods and towns
• destroy/destructive/destruction-devastation
• ...was directly hit/....was seriously damaged/ ...was destroyed
• ...cause enormous damage
• the government pledged to help the disaster victims.
• heavily damaged/completely destroyed
• ...pulling people out of the wreckage
• ...debris was falling all over the place.
• Fires broke out.
• Trees were rooted out.
• One of the worst storms to hit the U.S.
• Stunned residents...
• Roofs were ripped off homes.

Click on the links below in Ms Melissa's post to read the recent news articles on the Joplin, Missouri tornado that caused a lot of damage and killed around 300 people. We will have a discussion about tornados, how they form, and how they affect the areas they hit.

See you in class!