Week 4.

Reading Promoting INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

ACTIVITIES: DEVELOPING READING SKILLS: READ, SKIMMING,

SCANNING

Elon Musk: A Biography

Elon Musk is a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman who founded X.com in
1999 (which later became PayPal), SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. He is also the CEO of
Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971. He showed an early interest in computers and
programming, and he created his first video game when he was 12 years old. He moved to Canada
in 1989 to study at Queen's University, and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where
he received a bachelor's degree in physics and economics.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Musk moved to California to attend Stanford
University. However, he dropped out of Stanford after two days to start his first company, Zip2
Corporation. Zip2 was a web software company that provided maps and business directories to
online newspapers. The company was acquired by Compaq Computers in 1999 for $307 million.

With the money from the sale of Zip2, Musk founded X.com, an online financial services company.

Designed by: Alfredo muriel TESOL Coach1

X.com merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal, which became the leading online payment
system. PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, a private space exploration company. SpaceX has developed a
number of rockets and spacecraft, including the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. The
company is also developing the Starship, a reusable spacecraft that could be used to transport
people to Mars.

In 2003, Musk founded Tesla Motors, an electric car company. Tesla has produced a number of
electric cars, including the Roadster, Model S, Model X, and Model 3. The company is also
developing the Semi, a heavy-duty electric truck, and the Cybertruck, an electric pickup truck.

Musk is a controversial figure. He has been praised for his vision and his entrepreneurial skills,
but he has also been criticized for his erratic behavior and his sometimes abrasive personality.
However, there is no doubt that Musk is one of the most innovative and successful entrepreneurs
of our time.

Practice Activities

SECTION 1: Comprehension Activities

1. Answer the following questions:

○ Where was Elon Musk born?
○ ___________________________________________
○ What was his first company?
○ ___________________________________________
○ What is SpaceX?
○ ___________________________________________
○ What is Tesla Motors?
○ ___________________________________________
○ What is the Starship?
○ ___________________________________________
2. Summarize the main points of the reading in your own words.
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
3. What do you think of Elon Musk? Do you admire him? Why or why
not?.
○ I think __________________________________________
○ _________ , ____________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________

Designed by: Alfredo muriel TESOL Coach2

SECTION 2: Vocabulary Activities

1. Find the words in the reading that mean the following:

○ entrepreneur
○ software
○ acquired
○ spacecraft
○ electric car
○ pickup truck
2. Use the words you found in sentences of your own.
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
○ ___________________________________________
3. Make a list of all the new words you learned from the reading.

Student’s Sign

Designed by: Alfredo muriel TESOL Coach3