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TORNADO IN A BOTTLE
Learning objectives:
 Students are able to understand how a tornado works
 Students apply the principles of tornado in nature to make a water tornado in a bottle.
 Students practice their speaking and listening skills.
Class procedures:
Steps Duration Purposes Teaching and Learning Activities Sources
Greeting & 10’ Help students change into an Greeting Materials:
Warm up English speaking environment and Game: Bingo 1 sheet of Club A-
ready for the new lesson. Work in groups of 4 H1.01/ group
Instruction:
 A group of Ss gets the bingo card (1 version only)
 Teacher picks up a word and calls out its definition (Club B-
H1.16 page 5).
 Ss must then identify the word on their bingo card and mark
the space.
 Any group has all words are marked diagonally, across a row
or vertically in a column, they should call BINGO.
 T checks their answers.
Production Pre-teaching Students know how to make a Lead-in: Club A - H2.01
10’ model tornado in the bottle and T: Can you tell me some disasters from nature that you’ve
understand how a tornado works. known?
- The water is rapidly spinning S: Storm, typhoon, tsunami, tornado, earthquake, volcano
around the center of the vortex T: Which one is the most dangerous
due to centripetal force. Vortexes S: Earthquake, tsunami.
found in nature include - T then shows a picture of tornado (Club B-H2.16) and asks:
tornadoes, hurricanes. T: What is it?

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TORNADO IN A BOTTLE
Steps Duration Purposes Teaching and Learning Activities Sources
S: It is a tornado
T: Do you know anything about tornado?
S: Yes, it is a strong wind in circle
T: Have you ever seen a tornado?
S: Yes/ No
- T to explain about tornado.
 Tornado is a strong, dangerous wind that forms itself into
an upside-down spinning cone and is able to destroy
buildings as it moves across the ground
 The tornado appears because of air vortex and centripetal
force.
 What is vortex? Vortex is a mass of air that spins around
very fast and pulls objects into its empty center.
 What is centripetal force? Centripetal force is the force
needed to make something move in a circle. The force that
is necessary to keep an object moving in a curved path.
Practical Make a tornado in bottle and - T to introduce a water tornado as a model of air tornado in Materials:
30’ students know the causes of nature. - Water
tornado. - T makes a model and asks/ guides Ss to explain the science - 1 clear 500ml
behind it. plastic bottle with
- Work in groups of 3 a cap/ group
- Method: - 1 small bottle of
 Fill the plastic bottle with water until it reaches about glitter/ group
three quarters full. - 1/5 plastic cup of
 Add 1/5 plastic cup of washing dish liquid. washing dish

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TORNADO IN A BOTTLE
Steps Duration Purposes Teaching and Learning Activities Sources
 Add a few pinches of glitter (this will make your tornado liquid/ group
easier to see).
 Tight the bottle with a cap.
 Turn the bottle upside down and hold it by the neck.
Quickly spin the bottle in a circular motion for a few
seconds, stop and look inside to see if you can see a mini
tornado forming in the water. You might need to try it a
few times before you get it working properly.
- Explanation:
 When you spin the bottle in a circular motion it creates a
water vortex that looks like a tornado. The water
continued spinning around the center of the vortex
because of centripetal force.
 Because there is glitter in the water you can see the
spinning water more clearly. The glitter is similar to the
dust and debris that are found spinning in an actual
tornado.
Presentation Build up students’ confidence and T guides Ss to present their experiment by groups.
help them express themselves in - Introduce yourself: name, old
English. - Introduce the experiment: name and aim of the practical
- Procedures of experiment: how do you do this experiment
- Observation: what do you see or explore from your
practical?
- Conclusion: What have you learned from it? Why it
happened?

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Steps Duration Purposes Teaching and Learning Activities Sources
Consolidat 5’ Review: the experiment and the T asks some questions to review the lesson:
ion language  What is a tornado?
Tornado is a strong, dangerous wind that forms itself into
an upside-down spinning cone and is able to destroy
buildings as it moves across the ground”
 How does it work?
The tornado appears because of air vortex and centripetal
force.
 What is vortex?
Vortex is a mass of air that spins around very fast and
pulls objects into its empty center.
 What is centripetal force?
Centripetal force is the force needed to make something
move in a circle. The force that is necessary to keep an
object moving in a curved path.

Teaching resource:
1. Tornadoes: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-tornado.htm

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