Unit 16

Preserving the Past

I. Discuss these questions in groups:
1. Why do people do volunteer work?
2. What are some well-known organizations that use volunteers?
3. What kinds of volunteer projects are there in your city? Your country?
4. Talk about experiences you or a friend has had doing volunteer work.
II. Read the Web site below and mark the statements T for True or F for False. Change
the false statement to make them true.
Preserving the Past with Heritage Corps
Do you want to make a difference during your summer vacation? Join an international team of
volunteers working to preserve and protect the medieval town of Saint-Mark, in France. No
experience required! We can train you to:
* Assist archaeologists in their work
* Repair and protect old stone buildings
* Do historical research
* Teach others what youve learned
You must be at least 17 years old and in good health. English is the language of the project, so
you dont need to speak French. We work on the village from Monday morning until Saturday
noon. Saturday afternoon we have excursions to nearby attractions, and Sunday is our free
day. All meals and lodging are provided (volunteers live in restored stone houses). You pay
only the cost of your flight.
For an application form, click here.
1. You must speak French to work on this project.
2. The volunteers work in an old village.
3. Heritage Corps pays for your plane ticket to France.
4. Volunteers come from several different countries.
5. You need experience to work on this project.
6. Some teenagers can work with Heritage Corps.

T
T
T
T
T
T

F
F
F
F
F
F

III. Emile Duval is a volunteer for Heritage Corps. Listen to her introduce herself, and
complete the profile.
Name: Emile Duval
Position: (1) ______________________
Hometown: Toulouse, in the (2) ______________________
of (3)___________________________
Student at (4) _____________________________________
Major: (5) ________________________________________
Special interest: Medieval period, years (6) _______________
to ____________________
Work with Heritage Corps:
(7) 1. _____________________________ archaeologists-made lists

(8) 2. helped to rebuild Le Blanc _________________________ with stone

(9) 3. this year: ________________________________________________
IV.1 Image that archaeologists 500 years from now are excavating your city and they
find these objects: a skateboard, a radiator, a computer keyboard, a cell phone. Roleplay what they would say.
E.g.: People must have used the skateboard for transportation. They must have sat on it
IV.2 Read this article and answer the questions.
Time Capsules: Messages from the Past
A time capsule is a container filled with things that show what life was like at a
particular time. It is stored for a fixed period for example, 100 years and then opened
again. Time capsules are often put into the walls of new buildings, or they may be buried in
the ground. They usually contain photos, letters, newspapers, and objects from everyday life.
A carefully made time capsule preserves a living record of history and gives people a voice
into the future.
According to the International Time Capsule Society, there are about 10,000 time
capsules in the world. However, many of them have been lost or forgotten. For example, in
Blackpool, Lancashire, England, a time capsule was included in the Blackpool Tower when it
was built in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, no one recorded the exact location. When people
searched for it 100 years later, they were unable to find it. The International Time Capsule
Society now keeps an official record of time capsules around the world to avoid problems like
this in the future.
1. Why do people make time capsules? ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What is inside a time capsule? ________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
IV.3 The government is planning a new park in your city, and they have asked your
committee to design a monument with a time capsule inside it. The monument will be a
symbol of life in your country now, and it will be five meters tall. Work together to
design the monument.
1. Choose a shape for your monument. What does it mean?
2. Choose three symbols to describe life today that will be put on the outside.
3. Choose ten things to put inside the time capsule which will be opened 100 years from now.
These things should describe what life is like today.
4. Take turns telling the class about your monument and the items you chose for the time
capsule. Explain your decisions.
(taken from K.L. Johannsen, English for the Humanities, Thomson ELT, Boston, 2006)