Getting around

Unit 5 is about getting around: bikes, buses, ferries and even a bike that travels in time. You will read a science fiction story, learn two new ways to compare things (just as ... as and too / not enough), read a ferry timetable, and plan a journey. This unit has no Reading time or Review of its own: Review 3 comes after Unit 6.

5.1Reading: A trip to remember

Before you read, look at the pictures and ask: what type of story is this? The book's choices are a mystery, a science fiction story or a biography. A bike with wings, a flying trumpet and a robot window cleaner tell you it is science fiction: it is about science and technology that does not exist yet.

Words from the vocabulary panel:

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.60 (vocabulary panel; the meanings are in my own words).

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.66.

The story in order (my summary):

1. Abi is playing a virtual tennis game. Grandma says, "Why don't you go and play tennis outside?" Abi thinks virtual tennis is "just as good as real tennis".
2. Next day is Abi's birthday. She goes to Grandma's workshop, which is full of inventions. Grandma says, "Remember not to touch anything!"
3. Abi finds an old-fashioned purple bike under a sheet. She thinks the bike "isn't as interesting as Grandma's other inventions", but she pedals forwards anyway.
4. Whoosh! Clunk! The bike lifts her into the air and she arrives in the town centre of the future: glass skyscrapers, flying cars and a robot cleaning the street.
5. The sky is grey, the air is polluted, there is no grass, no trees, no birds, and no children playing outside. The robot does not even know what grass or trees are.
6. Abi is unhappy. She pedals backwards and is back in the workshop.
7. Grandma gives her a time-travel game for her tablet. Abi asks, "Can we go outside and play tennis?" Grandma laughs: "Real tennis is just as good as virtual tennis."

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, pp.60-61 (summary; key sentences quoted).

5.2Reading comprehension and working with words

Infer meaning. A text does not always say things directly. You use clues, then decide what is true. In Lesson 2 you decide who said sentences such as "Young people don't play outside as much as they used to" (a grandma, not a 12-year-old) and why Abi does not like the future (no children outside, polluted air).

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.62.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.62 (rule and word list; meanings in my own words).

5.3Grammar: just as ... as and not as ... as

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.63.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.63 (examples); the "It says" column is my own.

Other sentences from the unit: "Virtual tennis is just as good as real tennis" (p.60) and "this bike isn't as interesting as Grandma's other inventions" (p.60). On p.63 two children say, "I think helicopters are just as exciting as motorbikes" and "And they aren't as dangerous!".

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.63.

5.4Language in use: too and not enough

In the Lesson 4 conversation two friends argue about how to get to school. Their sentences show the new words.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.64 (sentences from the Listen and say dialogue; the Meaning column is my own).

The vocabulary panel lists crowded (full of people), cycle path (a path only for bikes), fit (healthy and strong) and travel card (a card that lets you take buses or trains).

5.5Listening: skateboarding facts

Lesson 5 starts with a photo of a skateboarder in a helmet and pads, and the words popular, protect and safety equipment. In the audio (not available here) you listen to a conversation between Mum and Elena. The tasks are:

• choose the correct number or fact in five questions: how many people skateboard in the world, how many skate parks there are, where the biggest skate park is, when most accidents happen and how much a good skateboard costs;
• listen again and write M (Mum) or E (Elena) for opinions such as "popular", "too dangerous", "not dangerous", "a good way to keep fit" and "an expensive hobby";
• discuss with a partner what other sports need safety equipment.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.65 (the audio script is not printed, so I describe the tasks).

Values. The book asks: "Is price or quality more important when we buy something? Why?" Give a reason, for example "Quality matters, because a cheap helmet may not protect my head."

5.6Writing: the structure of a story

A story has three parts. The book matches each part to what you write in it:

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.66 (matching task, shown as the answer table).

The time-travel picture story (see 5.1) shows Tania waking up on her birthday, a party with presents, a card from Grandpa that says her present is in the garden, a small blue car, then Whoosh! Clunk! and a surprised Tania. You decide what happens in picture 5 and then write a six-part story. The book's plan gives the start of each part and asks questions for you to answer:

1. Tania wakes up and sits up in bed: why is she excited?
2. She goes downstairs: who is there and what do they do?
3. She opens her card: what does it say and how does she feel?
4. She runs out to the garden: what does she see and do?
5. Suddenly it goes dark and the car flies very fast: where does she go?
6. Whoosh! Clunk! She opens her eyes: where is she and how does she feel?

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, pp.66-67 (the plan is summarised in my own words).

5.7Learning to learn: read complex tables

A timetable holds a lot of information, so first decide what you want to know, then find that row and column. The book gives a ferry timetable, Monday to Sunday.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.67.

• The ferry starts at Palm Beach and stops at Harbour Bay, Bird Island, Blue Dock, Ocean Bay and Spring Falls.
• It leaves Palm Beach every hour in the morning (8.00, 9.00, 10.00, 11.00), then at 1.00, 3.00, 5.00 and 7.00 pm.
• Read down a column to follow one ferry. Read along a row to see all the times at one stop.
• The note says that the service marked with * (the 5.00 ferry's last two stops, at 5.35 and 5.50 pm) does not run on Sunday.

5.8Speaking: ask about a journey

Lesson 7 is set at a ticket office. Useful words: ferry, single / return (ticket) (one way, or there and back), discount (a lower price). In the book's role play, Student A works at the ticket office for Dreamland Theme Park (bus every 15 minutes, 25 minutes journey, single $4, return $7) and Student B is the customer.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.68 (phrases, regrouped into a table; I have matched each question to its likely reply).

5.9Think about it!: work out how to get there

Lesson 8 is a video-game puzzle: a 100 km race in a boat-car, which drives on roads and floats on water. You are the driver. You need two helpers: a navigator (reads the map) and a captain (crosses the river). The navigator and the captain cannot be in the car at the same time. Your car has fuel for only 50 km now, but with more fuel it can travel 150 km.

Academy Stars Year 6 Pupil's Book, p.69.

Thinking skill: analyse and resolve a problem. Break it into parts: (1) what do I need to reach the Finish? (fuel, a person to read the map, a person to cross the river); (2) what limits me? (50 km of fuel, the two helpers cannot ride together, the river); (3) in what order should I do things? Then explain with the book's frame: First, you drive to ... and you take ... with you because ...