1
2 Great Lives Video Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Alfred the Great
Summary of the video
The video clip is about the life of King Alfred the Great, a
Saxon king who was the first king of a united England. He
fought the invading Vikings and agreed a truce with them,
allowing the Vikings to keep control of the north-east of
the county, while Alfred controlled the rest. Alfred was a
great soldier but he also did a lot to promote the arts and
education in England.
Culture note
One of the earliest inhabitants of the British Isles were the
Celts, whose culture extended through northwest Europe.
Following the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD, the Celtic
tribes were pushed back to the edges of Britain: Scotland,
Wales, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. Celtic languages, such
as Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland and Welsh in Wales, and
other influences can still be found in these countries today.
Britain was under Roman rule from 43AD to 410AD.
Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the British Isles
were repeatedly invaded by northern European peoples –
the Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Vikings. This period is known as
the ‘Dark Ages’. Alfred brought an era of peace and culture to
England.
A popular legend exists about King Alfred. The story goes
that King Alfred had to hide from the Vikings on an island
called Athelney in Somerset. While he was sheltering in a
peasant’s hut, the man’s wife asked him to watch her cakes
cooking. Alfred became lost in thought about battle and
the cakes burned, much to the annoyance of the peasant
woman who had no idea of Alfred’s identity.
Teacher’s notes
Getting started
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving
• Ask students the questions about Britain and its monarchs.
KEY
Possible answers:
There have been 55 British monarchs since Alfred the Great.
• The best known are:
King Alfred (871-899)
William I (the Conqueror) (1066-1087)
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Victoria (1837-1901)
Elisabeth II (1952- )
Students’ own answers.
• the Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans have invaded
England.
Check understanding of these key words: defended,
kingdom, settled down, attack, treaty, ruled, army, navy
11 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Transcript
King Alfred the Great was an Anglo-Saxon king who
successfully defended his kingdom against the Vikings.
Alfred is the only English king who is called ‘The Great’.
The Anglo-Saxons were people who originally came
to Britain from Denmark, northern Germany and the
Netherlands.
They arrived in the fifth century AD and settled down in
villages which must have looked like this. At first, they lived
mainly in the area which is now called East Anglia in the east
of England.
Over time they built villages across England and by about
800 AD there were five major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms –
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent and Wessex. Each
kingdom had a different king, so England wasn’t one nation.
King Alfred was the King of Wessex. He was born in Wantage
near Oxford in 849 AD. He grew up in a period when the
Vikings were constantly attacking all five Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms.
The Vikings arrived in the north of England from Denmark,
Norway and Sweden.
Their capital in England was Jorvik, which is now the city of
York, but they often used to attack areas in the south, too.
These attacks were successful and they eventually controlled
every Anglo-Saxon kingdom except one – Alfred’s Wessex.
In 870 AD the Vikings attacked Wessex. Over the next eight
years Alfred fought the Vikings all over the west of England
until he won the Battle of Edington in 878 AD.
After that, Alfred sorted things out with the Vikings and they
agreed a treaty which divided Britain into two parts. The
Vikings controlled the north of the country – an area known
as Danelaw – and the Anglo-Saxons controlled the south.
The area which Alfred ruled was still called Wessex, but it
was much bigger than his original kingdom. Because of this,
Alfred was the first king who could be called the King of
England.
Alfred was an excellent King. He was hard-working, sensible
and outgoing. He built defences and created the first English
navy and reorganised the army to protect the kingdom. But
he wasn’t just a soldier.
He believed in education and started schools that taught in
English. He also used to translate books into English which
were originally written in Latin. He believed in justice, too,
and established a list of laws which his people had to use.
He created a society and culture that carried on until William
the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold here
near Hastings in 1066.
KEY
Ex.1
1  A  2  D  3  B
Ex.2
1 The Saxons were early inhabitants of England.
2 Wessex was one of the kingdoms of the Saxons.
3 The Vikings came from Scandinavia and invaded England.
4 Jorvik was the Vikings’ capital city in England.
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5 Danelaw was the area of England that the Vikings controlled.
6 William the Conqueror ended the Saxon period of English
history.
Ex.3
1  C  2  B  3  A  4  C  5  B  6  C
Ex.4
1 The Saxon people used to have more than one king.
2 England didn’t use to be a single nation.
3 The Vikings used to attack the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
regularly.
4 Did York use to be the capital of Danelaw?
5 Before Alfred, schools didn’t use to teach students in English.
6 Did Alfred use to study a lot?
Discussion
Ex.5
Students’ own answers.
Webquest
T ISE I: Portfolio
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving, ICT literacy, Information
literacy, Leadership and responsibility, Productivity and
accountability Competenze 1 4 6 7
Ex.6
Students’ own answers.
Example presentation:
King Athelstan, who was the grandson of Alfred the Great,
was king of England from 925 to 939AD. He was tall and
handsome with blond hair. He was a distinguished and
courageous soldier. In 927AD Athelstan captured York from
the Vikings; he conquered King Constantine of Scotland and
the northern kings; all five Welsh kings agreed to pay a large
annual tribute; and Athelstan eliminated all opposition in
Cornwall. He was the first king of all England.
In 937AD at the Battle of Brunanburh Athelstan led a British
army and defeated an invasion from Dublin by the king
of Scotland in alliance with the Welsh and Vikings. It was
a very bloody battle, five kings and seven earls died in the
battle. This defeat of the combined Celtic and Viking armies
confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The Celtic
countries of Scotland, Ireland and Wales were confined to
the areas they have today.
Athelstan made laws to strengthen royal control over his
large kingdom. He regulated the currency by controlling
the weight of silver in coins. He confined buying and selling
mostly to the towns, which encouraged urban life. Overseas,
Athelstan built alliances by marrying four of his half-sisters
to various rulers in Western Europe. He played an important
part in European politics. He gave money to the poor on
a regular basis. He was also a great collector of works of
art and religious relics, which he gave away to many of his
followers and churches in order to gain their support.
Athelstan died on 27th October 940AD at the height of his
power and was buried at Malmesbury Abbey, which is near
Bristol. He was forty-four years old. Athelstan never married
and died childless.
12 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Crick and Watson
Summary of the video
The video is about the life of Francis Crick and James Watson,
two scientists who, in the 1950s, discovered the double
helix structure of the DNA molecule. Although the existence
of DNA had already been proved, their discovery helped
scientists to better understand the role and importance of
genes in human biology, particularly in the study of genetic
disease. Crick and Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize in
1962.
Culture note
DNA is a molecule found in chromosomes within the
nucleus of the cells of living organisms. The DNA molecule
can tell us the genetic history of the organism, and can also
help us to predict its future.
The DNA molecule was first identified in the late 1860s by
Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher, although Miescher did
not fully realize the acid’s importance as a carrier of genetic
information.
Crick and Watson owe much of their success to earlier
research carried out by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind
Franklin, fellow Cambridge-educated chemists. Wilkins
shared the Nobel Prize with Crick and Watson in 1962, but
Franklin died in 1958 aged only 37.
Scientists at the University of Leicester in the UK in the 1980s
pioneered the study of ‘genetic fingerprinting’ – the idea that
cells taken from an individual’s body can be used to uniquely
identify that person. This science is now widely used in crime
forensics.
Teacher’s notes
Getting started
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving
• Ask students the questions about DNA.
KEY
Possible answers:
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule found in every
living organism. It contains all the genetic information for
that particular species.
• A person’s DNA can tell doctors which diseases they might
possibly get in their life.
• The police often find tiny traces of a criminal’s DNA at a
crime scene. The DNA can help them identify who was
responsible for the crime.
Check understanding of these key words: double helix,
breakthrough, fighting, illness, inherited diseases, cure, genetics,
controversial, accuracy, cutting edge, unlock
Transcript
Francis Crick, an Englishman, and James Watson, an
American, discovered the double helix structure of DNA in
1953.
Francis Crick was born on 8th June, 1916. He had studied
Physics at the University of London before the Second World
War. After the war, he decided to change from Physics to
Biology and went to work at Cambridge University.
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In 1951 an American student called James Watson, who was
born on 6th April 1928, arrived from Chicago, where he had
studied Zoology.
Crick and Watson met each other at the University and
began to work together on the structure of DNA.
They were working at the Cavendish Laboratory at
Cambridge University when they managed to understand
DNA’s chemical structure. Scientists had tried to do this
many times before, but had failed.
At the time, Francis Crick said that they had discovered the
secret of life.
It was one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of
the twentieth century. Both scientists won the Nobel Prize
in Medicine in 1962. Their work is still changing the way we
think about health and science today.
This is the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which is near the
Cavendish Laboratory.
Here scientists continue the work of Crick and Watson by
finding out more about DNA and how it works.
In 2003 – fifty years after Crick and Watson’s discovery –
scientists had managed to map human DNA to 99.99%
accuracy.
Today scientists here use this information for a variety of
reasons. Some scientists are taking the work further to
develop our understanding of human biology.
Others are investigating how they can use our knowledge of
DNA to fight disease.
Doctors, for example, will soon treat a patient’s DNA, not just
their illness.
This research is at the cutting edge of science and is
changing the way we think about ourselves.
We can now identify the cause of inherited diseases, helping
us to predict and even cure them.
Crick and Watson’s discovery of DNA’s double helix structure
changed science forever. But there is still a lot we don’t know
about how DNA works.
It’s an exciting area of research. If scientists could unlock
DNA’s secrets, they would be able to do more. But the
research is also controversial. People have different opinions
on the positives and negatives of genetic research.
But everybody agrees that Crick and Watson’s discovery was
one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in recent
history.
KEY
Ex.1
1D   2 B   3 D
Ex.2
6 Scientists identify all of the genes in the human body.
3 Crick and Watson meet at Cambridge University.
5 Crick and Watson win the Nobel Prize.
2 James Watson studies Zoology in Chicago.
4 Crick and Watson discover the double helix form of DNA.
1 Scientists discover the existence of DNA.
Ex.3
1  f  2  d  3  b  4  a  5  c  6  e
Ex.4
1 Francis Crick became a biologist after the Second World War.
Before the war he had studied Physics.
13 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
2 In 1951 James Watson arrived at Cambridge from Chicago,
where he had studied Zoology.
3 Scientists had already discovered the DNA molecule before
Crick and Watson started their research.
4 Nobody had managed to find the structure of DNA before
Crick and Watson made their discovery in 1953.
5 After their discovery, Francis Crick said that they had found
the secret of life.
6 In 2003 – fifty years after Crick and Watson’s had discovered
the double helix – scientists identified all of the human
genes.
Discussion
Ex.5
Students’ own answers.
Webquest
T ISE I: Portfolio
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving, ICT literacy, Information
literacy, Leadership and responsibility, Productivity and
accountability Competenze 1 4 6 7
Ex.6
Students’ own answers.
Example presentation:
I’m going to tell you about Friedrich Miescher. Friedrich
Miescher was a Swiss physician and biologist. He was born
on 13th August 1844 in Basel. He was the first researcher to
identify nucleic acid – essential for all forms of life.
Miescher came from a scientific family, both his father and
his uncle were professors of anatomy at the University of
Basel. As a boy he was shy, but intelligent. He was interested
in music. Miescher studied medicine at Basel University. His
studies were interrupted for a year by typhoid fever, which
left him partially deaf. He graduated in 1868. He decided to
become a chemist, because he thought his deafness would
make it difficult for him to be a doctor. He was interested
in studying the chemistry of the nucleus – the protons and
neutrons at the centre of an atom.
In the winter of 1868 and 69 he was working at the
laboratory of Felix-Hoppe-Seyler at the University of
Tϋbingen. Miescher was researching the composition of
lymphoid cells — white blood cells. He experimented and
isolated a new molecule – nuclein – from the cell nucleus.
He determined that nuclein was made up of hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus, and that there was a
unique ratio of phosphorus to nitrogen. He was able to
isolate nuclein from other cells. His experiments lead to the
discovery of DNA.
Although Miescher did most of his work in 1869, his paper
on nuclein wasn’t published until 1871. Nuclein was such
a unique molecule that Hoppe-Seyler was skeptical and
wanted to confirm Miescher’s results before publication.
Miescher continued to work on nuclein for the rest of
his career. In 1872, Miescher was appointed Professor of
Physiology at the University of Basel – both his father and his
uncle held this post. The appointment meant more funds
and equipment for research, but it also meant that Miescher
had to teach. Although he put in a lot of time and effort, he
was not a good teacher. His shyness and preoccupation with
his research made it difficult for him to relate to his students.
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He was a perfectionist and a workaholic, and often worked
very long hours to do the nuclein isolations.
It was many years before the role of nucleic acids was
recognized. Miescher believed that proteins were the
molecules of heredity. He died of tuberculosis in 1895 at the
age of 51.
14 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Steve Jobs
Summary of the video
The video is about the life of Steve Jobs, a computer and
electronics entrepreneur who dropped out of college and
began the Apple brand from his parents’ home in the 1970s.
Apple was instrumental in bringing the digital revolution
to everyone through its launch of the mp3 player and the
smart phone. Jobs also helped to turn around the fortunes
of the animation company Pixar. He died tragically early in
2011 at the age of 56.
Culture note
Computers were first developed towards the end of the
Second World War by British and American military scientists.
The early computer Colossus was built at Bletchley Park,
Britain’s secret code breaking base, at around the same time
as American scientists built ENIAC (Electronic Numerical
Integrator And Computer) in Philadelphia to process military
information. Each of these early computers was the size of a
room and needed several people to operate it.
The American army was also instrumental in developing the
Internet. Our worldwide network of computers developed
gradually from a network of American military computers
in the 1960s called ARPANET. However, the World Wide Web
(the actual data shared over the Internet, and the medium
for creating webpages and sending email) was developed
by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in the 1980s and 90s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a large number of computer and
telecommunications companies grew up in North California,
around the San Francisco area. This digital boom was
largely led by Stanford University. The area became known
as ‘Silicon Valley’ and is now the home to world-famous
companies such as Yahoo, Google and Hewlett-Packard.
Teacher’s notes
Getting started
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving
• Ask students the questions about electronic devices.
Students’ own answers
Check understanding of these key words: feature film,
device, circuit boards, successful, store, consumers
Transcript
Steve Jobs is one of the most famous businessmen of the
last fifty years. He founded the world-famous company and
brand – Apple. Apple has revolutionised technology and
created some of today’s most popular and iconic products.
It’s one of the richest companies in the USA.
Steve Jobs was born on 24th February 1955 in San Francisco
in the USA. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. In 1960
the family moved to Mountain View.
Jobs went to school in the local town of Cupertino, where
Apple’s headquarters are today.
In 1972, he went to Reed College, which is 1000 kilometres
away in Portland, Oregon. But he didn’t finish his college
course. He left and worked as a computer technician. He was
interested in oriental religions and travelled to India to visit a
Hindu guru.
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In 1976, he returned to the USA and met his old friend, Steve
Wozniak. Wozniak was a computer genius and they started
building circuit boards. They designed their first computer –
the Apple-1.
On 1st April 1976 Jobs, Wozniak and their friend Ron Wayne
started the Apple Computer Company in Jobs’ parents’
garage!
The same year, the company sold the first Apple-1 computer
for $666.66. About two hundred computers were produced
and a hundred and seventy-five were sold. They are now
very rare and in 2014 an Apple-1 computer was bought by
the Henry Ford Museum in the USA for $905,000!
In the 1970s and 80s, the demand for computers increased
rapidly. More and more people used computers every day at
work, and they wanted their own computers at home, too.
Young businessmen like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates became
very successful. They completely changed the way we work
and live.
But in 1985, Jobs decided to leave Apple. The same
year, he started another computer company called
NeXT. It manufactured computers. The computers were
technologically advanced, but they were too expensive and
not many people bought them.
A year later, Jobs bought Pixar, a computer animation
company. At first the company wasn’t successful, but this
changed in 1995…
…when Pixar distributed its first feature film – Toy Story,
which was an enormous success.
In 1996, Steve Jobs returned to Apple and over the next
fifteen years the company developed a series of products
that transformed the electronics industry.
In 1998 the company produced its colourful iMac, which was
both technologically advanced and beautifully designed.
Then in 2001 the company introduced the iPod, which made
it possible to store thousands of songs on one small device.
This changed the music industry forever.
In 2005, the iPhone transformed mobile phone technology,
creating the first popular smartphone – for the first time
consumers could surf the net, send emails and, of course,
make phone calls with one device!
Sadly, Steve Jobs died on 5th October 2011. He was only 56
years old. But during his life, he changed technology and the
business world forever. He has been called the father of the
digital revolution.
KEY
Ex.1
1  C  2  C  3  A
Ex.2
Steve Jobs is famous because he invented the 1Apple brand of
electronic products. He and his friend Steve Wozniak designed
a computer in the 21970s. They called it the 3Apple-1. In the
1970s and 80s 4everybody wanted computers, and the Apple
company became very 5successful. Jobs also bought Pixar, the
computer animation company. Their first big success was the
film 6Toy Story in 1995. Jobs helped the company to develop
Mac computers, the iPod and the iPhone. He revolutionised the
world of technology for ever.
Ex.3
1 T
15 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
2 F The first Apple computers cost $666.66.
3 T
4 T
5 F Pixar wasn’t successful before 1995.
6 F The first iPhone appeared in 2005.
7 F Jobs was 56 when he died.
Ex.4
1 Steve Jobs, who has been called the father of the digital
revolution, was born in 1955.
2 Cupertino, where Jobs grew up, is now the location of the
Apple company’s headquarters.
3 Steve Wozniak, who helped to start the Apple company, first
met Jobs when they were 16.
4 Apple-1 computers, which are very rare these days, can sell
for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
5 Jobs left Apple and started the NeXT computer company,
which wasn’t very successful.
6 Jobs, whose products are used by millions of people every
day, died in 2011.
Discussion
Ex.5
Students’ own answers.
Webquest
T ISE I: Portfolio
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving, ICT literacy, Information
literacy, Leadership and responsibility, Productivity and
accountability Competenze 1 4 6 7
Ex.6
Students’ own answers.
Example presentation:
I’m going to tell you about Pier Giorgio Perotto. Pier Giorgio
Perotto was an Italian electrical engineer and inventor. He
worked for Olivetti and led the design team that built the
world’s first personal computer – Programma 101. He was
born in Turin on 24th December 1930. He graduated from
the Turin Polytechnic, where he taught for many years. He
wrote several books about business and technology.
He began his career at Fiat and later moved to Olivetti.
He was General Manager of projects and research, and
played an important part in changing the company from
a mechanical to an electronics and systems company. In
1991 he won the Leonardo da Vinci award for developing
the innovative Programma 101 computer. It was the first
computer in history which was designed to be on a desk
top. It made it possible to use a computer at home and in
the office. Before that computers needed a lot of space.
They were very large, as big as fridges. Sometimes they
filled entire rooms. Production of the Programma 101
began in 1965. Many were sold in the USA. NASA bought
ten and used them to plan the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The computers were like super calculators. They could add,
subtract, multiply and divide and remember sequences of
numbers on a magnetic card.
Perotto worked with a team of just four people to develop
his revolutionary desktop computer. They had to solve
several big problems. They had to make the memory smaller.
Another problem was storage. They invented cards that
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could be put into the computer. Each card could hold
one – sometimes two – programs. The computer also had
to be easy to use by ordinary people – not just computer
scientists. The computer also had to look nice. Olivetti were
famous for the elegant design of their typewriters. The
design team created a computer that wasn’t much larger
than a regular typewriter. It was easy to program, could
store and run programs from a magnetic card and could be
placed on a regular office desk. It was a triumph of industrial
design. At the New York 1965 World Fair the Programma 101
was a huge success. People were amazed that something
so small – it weighed 35kilograms – could be a fully working
computer. Mass production started immediately and many
computers were sold.
Pier Giorgio Perotto died in Geneva on 22nd January 2002. In
Italy he is called ‘the father of the PC’.
16 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Nelson Mandela
Summary of the video
The video is about the life of Nelson Mandela, a political
activist during the apartheid era in South Africa, when
the black population was denied basic human rights.
Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years because of his
membership of the African National Congress (ANC) and
their demonstrations against the white government. South
Africa finally gave in to international pressure and abolished
the apartheid system in 1991. Black people were allowed to
vote in elections for the first time, and Mandela was elected
President of the country in 1994.
Culture note
The Cape of Africa (Africa’s southern tip) was colonized from
the 15th century onwards by Portuguese, Dutch and British
settlers. The Dutch and British fought over the area from
the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch settlers, called the
Boers, declared their own separate republic in South Africa
in the 1850s, and two wars, the Boer Wars, were fought
there between the Boers and the British from 1880–1881
and from 1899–1902. In 1910 the former British colonies
of the Cape and Natal, and the former Boer republics of
Transvaal and Orange Free State became the Union of South
Africa. In 1934 the country became an independent state.
Britain withdrew its authority and the Boers (also known as
Afrikaners) remained as the country’s leaders. Their language,
Afrikaans, became an official language of South Africa while
English was used by much of the country’s black population
along with their own native languages. In 1948 the country’s
National Party made the policy of apartheid legal.
Teacher’s notes
Getting started
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving
• Ask students the questions about South Africa and
Mandela.
KEY
Possible answers:
Because South Africa was once a European colony.
• He was a black political leader who became President of
the country.
• He was put in prison for opposing the apartheid regime.
The regime was abolished and black people were given
the vote.
Check understanding of these key words: racial
discrimination, apartheid, lawyer, suburbs, shanty towns, slum,
rights, treason, sentenced, released, speech, retired
Transcript
Nelson Mandela is famous for his fight against racial
discrimination. He helped to end apartheid in South Africa
and became the first black president of the country.
Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a small village called Mvezo
in the east of South Africa. A teacher at his first school in
Qunu gave him the name Nelson.
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When he was a young man, Nelson Mandela worked as a
lawyer in Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, but
he loved politics.
In 1948 the South African government introduced apartheid.
Apartheid separated black people and white people. It was a
system of racial discrimination.
There were more black people than white people, but white
people had all the power and most of the money. They lived
in large, beautiful houses in rich suburbs.
Black people, on the other hand, lived in shanty towns
– slum areas with very poor houses. They couldn’t go to
the same schools, see the same doctors or use the same
beaches as white people, and they couldn’t vote in elections.
Many people in South Africa – including Nelson Mandela
– joined the African National Congress. This political party
fought for equal rights. They were supported by people and
governments around the world.
In 1955 the party issued its Freedom Charter. It said:
Every man and woman will have the right to vote
Everybody will be equal before the law
All will have equal human rights
Mandela and the ANC were becoming more and more
popular, but the South African government became
violent towards them. In 1960 the police killed 69 unarmed
protestors at a demonstration in Sharpeville, a town near
Johannesburg in the north of the country. Because of this,
Mandela started to fight against the government.
In 1963 he was arrested with other ANC leaders. A judge said
they were guilty of treason and sentenced them to prison
for life. Mandela spent 27 years in prison, most of them on
Robben Island, a prison just off the coast of Cape Town.
But the people of South Africa never forgot him. While he
was in prison, he became a national and international hero.
Finally – in 1991– apartheid ended and the authorities
released him.
He marched through the streets of Cape Town and gave a
speech here at the City Hall.
On 10th May 1994, Nelson Mandela and his party – the
ANC – won the first multi-racial elections in South Africa’s
history. It was the first time that black people could vote in
an election. This made Mandela the first black president of
the country.
Today South African society is still very unequal. About 40%
of South Africa’s population live in poverty – and most of
these people are black.
In fact, although 79% of the population is black, black
people earn less than ten percent of the national income.
But the situation is improving.
It will take a long time to change this inequality, but Nelson
Mandela’s victory against apartheid was the first important
step. Mandela retired from politics in 1999, but he continued
to be a champion for peace and social justice until his death
in 2013 at the age of 95.
KEY
Ex.1
1  A  2  C  3  B
Ex.2
1 Apartheid c was a political system in South Africa. It
separated black people and white people.
17 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
2 The ANC d are a political party. They opposed apartheid.
3 Sharpeville f is a town in the north of South Africa. Here the
police killed 69 protestors
4 Johannesburg a is the biggest city in South Africa.
5 Robben Island b was a prison off the coast of Cape Town.
6 Shanty towns e are areas with very poor accommodation.
Ex.3
1948 The South African government introduced apartheid.
1955 The African National Congress Party announced their
Freedom Charter.
1963 The police arrested Mandela.
1991 Apartheid ended and Mandela left prison.
1994 Mandela became president of South Africa.
2013 Mandela died.
Ex.4
1 Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South
Africa.
2 Black people have voted in elections since 1994.
3 Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison.
4 The situation for many black people has improved in recent
years.
5 South Africa has not solved all its social and economic
problems yet.
6 Mandela retired from politics in 1999.
Discussion
Ex.5
Students’ own answers.
Webquest
T ISE I: Portfolio
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving, ICT literacy, Information
literacy, Leadership and responsibility, Productivity and
accountability Competenze 1 4 6 7
Ex.6
Students’ own answers.
Example presentation:
I’m going to tell you about Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu
Kyi was born on 19th June 1945 in Yangon, Burma, now
called Myanmar. She came from a political family.
Her father was prime minister when Burma became
independent from British rule in 1947. He was assassinated
in the same year. Her mother, Khin Kyi, became ambassador
to India and Nepal in 1960. Aung San Suu Kyi went to India
with her.
In 1969 Suu Kyi obtained a degree from the University of
Oxford. In 1972 she married an Englishman. They had two
children, and during the 1970s and 1980s they lived in
England, the United States and India.
In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma to look after her dying
mother. In this period Myanmar was controlled by a brutal
dictator, U Ne Win. Suu Kyi spoke out against his regime and
started a nonviolent movement towards democracy and
human rights. In 1989, the Burmese government put Suu Kyi
under house arrest. She spent fifteen years in custody. All the
time she continued to promote democracy.
In 1990, a parliamentary election was held, and her party
— the National League for Democracy — won more than
© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHOTOCOPIABLE
2
80 percent of the parliamentary seats. But the military
dictatorship ignored the result. In 1991 Suu Kyi won the
Nobel Prize for Peace. She was still under house arrest. In
2009, the United Nations declared that Suu Kyi’s detention
was illegal under Myanmar law. She was finally released in
November 2010. This year there was another election, but
Suu Kyi wasn’t allowed to vote. The government parties won.
Suu Kyi was released from house arrest six days after the
election.
In November 2011, Suu Kyi registered to run for a seat in
parliament. On 1st April 2012, she won her election and
got a seat, and on 2nd May 2012, she joined parliament. In
June Aung San Suu Kyi made a three-week tour of Europe.
She visited Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, the UK and France.
It was the first time she could travel to Europe in 24 years.
On 25th July the same year Aung San Suu Kyi made her first
speech in parliament. She called for laws to protect ethnic
minority rights.
18 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
Robert Falcon Scott
Summary of the video
The video is about the life of Robert Falcon Scott, a British
explorer from the early 20th century. Scott led two early
expeditions to the Antarctic. The first expedition, on the
ship Discovery, was for scientific purposes, but Scott also
made and attempt to walk to the South Pole. The harsh
conditions, and illness among his team, made him turn back.
He returned in 1910 with the specific aim of being the first
person to the South Pole. His team reached the Pole only to
discover that a Norwegian team, led by Roald Amundsen,
had beaten them there. Scott and his team died on their
return journey.
Culture note
The first decade of the 20th century saw explorers race to
both of the Earth’s poles.
Two American explorers, Robert Peary and Frederick Cook
competed to see who could reach the North Pole first. Cook
claimed to have reached the Pole in 1908 and Peary claimed
to have reached it in 1909. But neither claim was witnessed
or documented reliably and there is still controversy today
over who achieved the goal first.
Roald Amundsen was born in 1872. When he heard that
the North Pole had already been reached, he began a race
against Scott to the South Pole. Amundsen’s team consisted
of five men, a large team of dogs and special lightweight
sleds. They planted the Norwegian flag at the South Pole on
14th December 1911 and returned home safely.
Scott and his team reached the Pole a month later. They
had made the mistake of travelling with horses rather than
dogs, which made them much slower. Their horses died and
they ran out of food. They encountered blizzard conditions
and died only 11 miles from their base camp. The bodies of
Scott and his team were discovered in 1912 by other British
explorers, along with a large collection of diaries and letters
detailing the bravery and sacrifice of the team.
Teacher’s notes
Getting started
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving
• Ask students the questions about the North and South
Poles.
KEY
Possible answers:
The North Pole is in the Arctic and the South Pole is in the
Antarctic.
• Both areas are covered in ice and snow. The Antarctic is a
land mass, but the Arctic is an area of sea ice. The South
Pole is colder than the North Pole. Winter temperatures at
the North Pole are around -40°C, and at the South Pole are
around -60°C.
• The North Pole was first reached in 1908 or 1909 and the
South Pole in 1910.
Check understanding of these key words: naval officer, to
volunteer, shipbuilding, steam, sails/sail, crew, melt, blizzards,
reached, failure, was beaten, endurance
© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHOTOCOPIABLE
2
Transcript
Robert Falcon Scott was an English explorer who led two
famous expeditions to the Antarctic. He was born in Devon
in the south-west of England on 6th June 1868. At the age of
13 he joined the Royal Navy.
Scott was an ambitious young naval officer. In 1899, after
he had been told about an expedition to the Antarctic,
he quickly volunteered and was made the captain of the
Discovery Expedition − the first official British expedition to
the Antarctic.
The research ship Discovery was built in the Scottish city of
Dundee, which was well-known for shipbuilding.
The ship used both steam and sails. It had been designed
specially to sail through the icy waters of the Antarctic.
Scott’s team was composed of naval officers – including
another famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton – and scientists,
who wanted to learn more about the Antarctic’s plants and
wildlife.
On 6th August 1901, Discovery left the UK. After a five-month
journey via Cape Town, South Africa and Lyttelton Harbour
in New Zealand, the ship arrived at the coast of Antarctica on
8th February 1902.
The crew immediately made a camp. They built a large hut,
where they stored their supplies, but they lived on board the
Discovery.
The crew continued to live on board as the Antarctic ice
froze around the ship. Nobody could leave because the
weather was terrible, and they weren’t able to explore the
land around them.
If the ship hadn’t been designed for Antarctic exploration,
it might have been destroyed by the ice. Fortunately, it
survived, but the crew had to wait for the ice to melt.
However, the scientists were able to get down to their
research work and experiments.
Eventually, Scott suggested leaving the ship and travelling
south. He wanted to reach the South Pole. Two others –
Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton agreed to go with him.
They walked through storms and blizzards, but unfortunately
they didn’t reach the South Pole.
However, they survived. When they returned to the camp,
two other ships had arrived to help them. Eventually the
crew managed to free Discovery using dynamite.
On 10th September 1904 the ship arrived back in London,
and Captain Scott was a national hero.
But his desire to reach the South Pole grew over the
years and in 1910 he returned to the Antarctic. Sadly, his
expedition ended in failure. He was beaten to the South Pole
by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and, tragically,
Scott and his men died in the snow on the return journey.
Perhaps Scott shouldn’t have returned to the South Pole. But
if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have become ‘Scott of the Antarctic’
– famous for his spirit of adventure, courage and endurance.
KEY
Ex.1
1  C  2D   3A
Ex.2
Robert Falcon Scott was an English explorer. He led two
famous expeditions to the Antarctic. He wanted to be the
first person to reach the South Pole. He was captain of the
19 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts
first official British expedition to the Antarctic. His ship, the
Discovery, left the UK in 1901. It didn’t return until 1904. The
ice froze around the ship and the men couldn’t get off for
months. Scott returned to the Antarctic in 1910, but a team of
Norwegian explorers got to the South Pole before him. Scott
and his men died on the return journey.
Ex.3
1 Scott was an officer in the Royal Navy.
2 The Discovery was built in Scotland.
3 Ernest Shackleton was another famous explorer on Scott’s
first expedition.
4 The Discovery sailed south via South Africa.
5 Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the South
Pole.
6 Scott is known in the UK as ‘Scott of the Antarctic’.
Ex.4
1 If Scott hadn’t heard about the expedition, he wouldn’t have
gone to the Antarctic.
2 Scott could have gone to the South Pole sooner if the
weather had been better.
3 If the Discovery hadn’t been so strong, the ice might have
destroyed it.
4 Scott, Wilson and Shackleton might have reached the South
Pole if the conditions hadn’t been so bad.
5 If they hadn’t had dynamite, they wouldn’t have freed the
Discovery.
6 Scott wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t returned to the
Antarctic a second time.
1 If Scott hadn’t heard about the expedition, he wouldn’t
have gone to the Antarctic.
2 Scott could have gone to the South Pole sooner if the
weather had been better.
3 If the Discovery hadn’t been so strong, the ice might have
destroyed it.
4 Scott, Wilson and Shackleton might have reached the
South Pole if the conditions hadn’t been so bad.
5 If they hadn’t had dynamite, they wouldn’t have freed the
Discovery.
6 Scott wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t returned to the
Antarctic a second time.
Discussion
Ex.5
Students’ own answers.
Webquest
T ISE I: Portfolio
21st-century skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical
thinking and problem-solving, ICT literacy, Information
literacy, Leadership and responsibility, Productivity and
accountability Competenze 1 4 6 7
Ex.6
Students’ own answers.
Example presentation:
I’m going to tell you about Giovanni Caboto, John Cabot, as
he is known in English, was an Italian navigator and explorer.
Historians think he was the first European to explore North
America since the Vikings. He was born in about 1450. We
don’t know exactly where – possibly in Genoa or Naples.
We do know that in 1476 Cabot was made a citizen of the
© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHOTOCOPIABLE
2
Republic of Venice. This required a minimum of fifteen years’
residency in the city; so he had lived in Venice since at least
1461.
In Venice he became involved in maritime trade in the
eastern Mediterranean and in house building. He got into
debt and left Venice in 1488 and moved to Valencia in Spain.
Early in 1494 he went to Seville, where he was contracted
to build a stone bridge over the Guadalquivir River. But the
project was abandoned in the same year. Next he travelled
to London. He was commissioned by Henry VII to undertake
an exploratory expedition into the North Atlantic. He made
his first voyage in 1496. The voyage was short due to bad
weather and problems with the crew. A year later, Cabot
made a second expedition. He sailed from Bristol and landed
on the coast of North America on 24th June 1497. We think
he landed in what we now call Newfoundland, Canada. The
expedition didn’t stay long and had no contact with the
native people. They raised the Venetian and Papal flags and
claimed the land for the King of England, Henry VII.
On his return to Bristol Cabot rode to London, where he
received a great welcome and became famous. At the
beginning of May 1498 Cabot went on a third expedition. He
departed again from Bristol for North America, this time with
a larger fleet of ships. We don’t know what happened to this
expedition. Some historians think that Cabot spent two years
exploring the east coast of North America and further south
into the Caribbean. They also believe that he established
a mission in Newfoundland and built a church. If they had
founded a settlement there, it would have been the first
Christian settlement on the continent. But other historians
think that Cabot’s fleet was lost at sea.

20 Venture 2  Great Lives Video    Teacher’s notes, keys & transcripts © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS • PHOTOCOPIABLE