VoiceBox TV

‘Senseless Sentences’ Activity

In English, there are almost a million different words, so sometimes it is easy to make a mistake and mix-up the words with a different word. This means your sentence will make no sense!

The following is some sentences which have just a simple mistake but don’t make sense as a result. The bolded word is the wrong one. Just change it to the right word.

Eg. Be careful of the name dog!           Answer: Be careful of the mean dog!

She cooked in a nap and top.

1. Be careful of the name dog.
2. She cooked in a nap and top.
3. We caught the turtle in a ten.
4. The act is drinking milk again.
5. The next town is a lime away.
6. The cup is no the dining room bleat.
7. There was an low screeching in the attic.
8. A white save is on the shelf.
9. She tea the ripe lump.
10. The little pig’s house saw built of warts.
11. The fox was caught in a part.
12. She watered the garden with a shoe.
13. John now the slat game.
14. She has a grin on her finger.
15. Please don’t pest no the rug.

Answers: a) Be careful of the mean dog, b) She cooked in a pot and pan, c) We caught the turtle in a net, d) The cat is drinking milk again, e) The next town is a mile away, f) The cup is on the dining room table, g) There was an owl screeching in the attic, h) A white vase is on the shelf, i) She ate the ripe plum, j) The little pig’s house was built of straw, k) The fox was caught in a trap, l) She watered the garden with a hose, m) John won the last game, n) She has a ring on her finger, o) Please don’t step on the rug.

‘Opposites’ Crossword Puzzle
Hint! Here are some answers for you! Happy, parent and healthy.

1			2					3			4			5
										6
										7					8
9	10									11
			12
							13					14	15
					16

ACROSS 1. The day before today (9). 5. To be unwell (4). 6. To be very high in height (4) 9. To be very small in height (5). 11. Someone who works at a school (7). 12. To be very many years in age (3). 13. Man (4). 14. Kid; a very young person (5). 16. A mother or father (6).

DOWN 2. The day after today (8). 3. Not old (5). 4. The feeling of being upset (3). 7. A person who studies at a school (7). 8. Woman (6). 10. Delighted, pleased, glad (5). 15. The opposite of sick (7).

‘Desertification’ Find-A-Word

Find the words listed below in the puzzle! Do you know what all the words mean? Once you have finished, write the words in sentences so that you understand what they mean. Good luck!

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Animals	Climate	Crop
Desert	Drought	Dust Storm
Ecosystems	Environment	Erosion
Evaporation	Irrigation	Overgrazing
Sand	Soil	Steppe
Vegetation	Water	Weather

‘Khishijargal the Nomad’ Adjective Exercise

Read the story about desertification. Then read the words below and check your dictionary to understand what they mean. Then fill in the blanks with the appropriate adjective! (Check the answers below.)

The strong wind blew through the mountainside land that Khishigjargal and his large family had placed their ger on. Khishigjargal could feel the small particles of sand and dust in the wind as he slowly began to herd his family’s animals.

Khishigjargal and his family were traditional nomads, moving around Mongolia in search of some green land for their many animals to graze. It was the start of the unpredictable spring, which meant that the family began to leave the place they had been for the long, cold winter in search for better grazing area. But this year it was very difficult. Khishigjargal’s elderly father, who was a very successful herder, led them to where they were going to set up their ger.

When they arrived, however, it was sandier then ever before. They had ridden their overloaded horses a very far distance and now it looked like it was all desert. The family continued to a new spot and set up their cozy ger.

The Mongolian environment was changing, but Khisigjargal did not understand why. Overgrazing meant the precious land was increasingly becoming desert.

    overloaded          elderly           strong             mountainside           small 
    traditional            green             many              Mongolian               far      
    precious               cold                large              unpredictable           new               
    better                   very               long                slowly                     cozy
    successful

Answers: 1) strong, 2) mountainside, 3) large, 4) small, 5) slowly, 6) traditional, 7) green, many, 9) unpredictable, 10) long, 11) cold, 12) better, 13) very, 14) elderly, 15) successful, 16) overloaded, 17) far, 18) new, 19) cozy, 20) Mongolian, 21) precious

Interview Activity

Imagine you are on VoiceBox being interviewed about Germany! Here is some information that you will need to know to answer the questions below. Read the information and then answer the questions that follow. Remember that in television, you need to give as much information as possible, so no one word answers!

The capital of Germany is Berlin, which is also its biggest city. People in Germany speak German, although it is a very international country and many people speak different languages – including English.

It is in Europe and is bordered by Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. It has a population of over 82 million people, which is the second largest population in Europe. The river Rhine is a very famous German river.

The German president is a man named Horst Kohler and the chancellor (a position similar to a Prime Minister) is held by a woman named Angela Merkel. It is a federal parliamentary republic, with 16 different states. The currency used in Germany is the Euro, which is used in many different countries in Europe.

Interview Questions

What is the capital of Germany?
The capital city of Germany is called Berlin, which is the biggest city in Germany.
What language do people speak in Germany?
What countries border Germany?
What is the population of Germany?
What is a main river in Germany?
Who are the Germany leaders?
What is the currency?

Get is an often used word in English.

get a letter / get a job etc. (get + noun) = receive/buy/fetch/find

Complete these sentences. Use get(s) and choose from the box to fill in the blank.

the photos                  some lipstick                 on the catwalk a new dress                  good salary                   tickets the job                          your clothes

1. I photographed you last week. Did you get the photos ?
2. Where did you ____________________? They’re very nice.
3. Quick! It’s time to ____________________. You’re up next!
4. I don’t think these clothes fit me properly. Let’s ____________________.
5. I had an interview with the designer, but I didn’t ____________________.
6. When you go to the make-up room, can you ____________________?
7. ‘Are you going to the parade?’ ‘Yes, if I can ____________________.’
8. Nasanbat is Mongolia’s most famous model. She ___________________.

Answers: 1. get your clothes, 2. get on the catwalk, 3. get a new dress, 4. get the job, 5. get some lipstick, 6. get tickets, 7. gets a good salary

Comprehension Activity

Read and translate the following text about Claudia Schiffer. Then answer the questions below!

Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer is a supermodel and actress. She reached the height of her popularity during the 1990s and has appeared on over 500 magazine covers. She is 180cm tall, has blonde hair and blue eyes.

She was born on August 25, 1970 in Germany. She is one of four children. During her school life, Claudia said that she was quite popular but was very shy because she was embarrassed about being so tall. At school, Claudia also became fluent in French and English.

When she was 17, Claudia was spotted in a nightclub by the boss of a modelling agency. She was suddenly on the road to being a famous model! She went to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after appeared on the cover of the famous French magazine Elle. After several other magazine appearances, she was declared a supermodel when she became the “face” of a make-up label, Chanel.

Schiffer went on to become a world-famous supermodel after successfully advertising jeans in the United States. She’s also been in movies like Richie Rich, Zoolander and Love Actually. She’s been a guest on many TV shows and video clips.

She has been married to Matthew Vaughn since May 25, 2002. Instead of an engagement ring, Matthew bought her a tortoise! She has two children and lives in London. During her spare time, Schiffer enjoys horse riding, painting, playing tennis and skiing.

1. How many magazine covers has she been on?
2. What colour is her hair?
3. What colour is her eyes?
4. What day was Claudia born?
5. How many brothers and sisters does she have?
6. Why was Claudia quite shy at school?
7. Other than German, what languages does Claudia speak fluently?
8. Where was Claudia “spotted” by the boss of a modelling agency?
9. What was the first magazine Claudia was on the cover of?
10. What are three movies has she been in?
11. What is the name of her husband?
12. Instead of an engagement ring, what did her husband give her?
13. Where does she live?
14. What are two of her hobbies?

Answers: 1. 500; 2. blonde; 3. blue; 4. the 25th of August 1970; 5. three (“she is one of four children”); 6. because she was very tall; 7. French and English; 8. at a nightclub; 9. Elle; 10. Richie Rich, Zoolander, Love Actually; 11. Matthew Vaughn; 12. a tortoise; 13. London; 14. (either) horse riding, painting, playing tennis and skiing.

‘New York, New York’ Word Jumble

Find the words listed below!

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ISLAND	BROOKLYN	QUEENS
BRONX	STATEN ISLAND	BROADWAY
SUBWAY	PIZZA	STATUE OF LIBERTY
MANHATTAN	BIG APPLE	MOVIES
CENTRAL PARK	AMERICA	NEW YORK

Name It!

In this activity, circle the following items on this photo of New York City… Can you find everything? (Answers are on the second photo.) Eg. ‘handbag’.

handbag, taxi, sidewalk, road sign, child, businessman, window,
‘Empire State Building’ sign, five American flags, street light, bus stop

The newspaper is full of interesting news stories. Most of the space in a newspaper is taken up by the major stories of the day – war, accidents, politics, crime and sports are usually some of these stories.

The newspaper is also full of quirky, strange stories that are fun to share with friends.

For this activity, read each of the stories and notice the words in bold print. Match these words with the following meanings:

1. a famous escape artist
2. a serious crime
3. any small animal of the group with strong sharp front teeth
4. behaving violently, especially in a public place
5. biting or chewing something so that it gradually disappears
6. brave, exciting or interesting acts
7. carrying a weapon, especially a gun
8. changed direction suddenly
9. creates a threat or problem that has to be dealt with
10. found oneself in a particular place or situation
11. moved by shacking your hips and shoulders
12. ran suddenly, often because of fear
13. to bring or get something back, especially from a place it should not be
14. to move in a violent or uncontrolled way

‘Amok’ cow shot

A cow that escaped from a cattle market on Thursday enjoyed only a brief taste of freedom before it was shot dead by police who said they had no choice but to target the runaway animal as it bolted through Chippenham in southern England.
“The animal was running amok and a decision was made to dispatch an armed response unit to try to contain it,” a police spokesman said.
“It was obvious the animal could not be captured and posed a significant danger to human life.”
Police tried to drive the cow into a field but it turned and charged officers. — AP

Mouse halts plane

Zurich — A missing mouse grounded a Swiss airliner for more than a day as airline officials pumped carbon dioxide into the plane’s cargo hold to kill the rodent Houdini.
The mouse, being transported to a laboratory from Mexico, escaped from its container on a flight from Boston to Zurich on Wednesday, a spokesman for Swiss International Air Lines said on Friday.
To prevent the rodent from gnawing on cables or cargo on future flights, the airline pumped carbon dioxide into the Airbus hold and let it stand for 24 hours.
The spokesman said using cheese or a cat to retrieve the mouse — nicknamed Speedy Gonzalez — “would have taken much more time” and that it would not have suffered. The mouse was never found.
The airline had to cancel a flight from Zurich to New York and back as a result, and diverted a flight from Geneva to pick up stranded passengers. — Reuters

‘Spider Granny’

Hong Kong — An 80-year-old widow scaled the outside of a Hong Kong high-rise block to retrieve a pair of jeans which fell from her ninth floor apartment, police said yesterday.
“Spider Granny” shimmied down a drainpipe after her son’s jeans fell from a washing line outside her apartment block onto a balcony two floors down.
She got stuck as she tried to climb back up, however, and had to be rescued by firemen who pulled her to safety on the seventh floor, police said.
The woman’s 42-year-old son, whose jeans cost him about 1,000 baht, was sleeping at the time of his mother’s exploits in Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung district on Monday.
The widow told police afterwards she shimmied down the drainpipe because she didn’t wanted to disturb her neighbours downstairs by knocking on their door. — DPA

Alligator in car

Tampa — Leslie Strickland said she had nothing but good intentions when she loaded a badly hurt two-metre-long alligator into the back seat of her car and took it home.
The 49-year-old American woman had hit the animal with her car on Friday night and went back to rescue it on Saturday — but wound up spending a night in jail, charged with possession of an alligator, a felony in Florida.
Police also charged her with driving with a suspended licence and leaving the scene of an accident, leaving the injured alligator in the back seat.
“I knew I was in trouble, and I panicked and I left,” Ms Strickland said.
When the alligator started to thrash its tail she veered off the road and hit a mailbox.
The game commission later removed the alligator from the car but it died. — AP

Answers

1. a famous escape artist
2. a serious crime
3. any small animal of the group with strong sharp front teeth
4. behaving violently, especially in a public place
5. biting or chewing something so that it gradually disappears
6. brave, exciting or interesting acts
7. carrying a weapon, especially a gun
8. changed direction suddenly
9. creates a threat or problem that has to be dealt with
10. found oneself in a particular place or situation
11. moved by shaking your hips and shoulders
12. ran suddenly, often because of fear
13. to bring or get something back, especially from a place it should not be
14. to move in a violent or uncontrolled way

Choose the most appropriate word from the list below to fill in the gaps.

Gobi-Altai is the second largest aimag in Mongolia. Altai, the aimag’s centre, has a __________ of 17,500 people. There are many __________ parks in the __________. Much of this land is __________ protected area and is __________ to both __________ and __________ tourists, except those with __________ to help with research __________. There is a __________ wild horse reserve at Takhiin Tal, which is not often visited because it is so __________ and there are no visitor __________. Eejkhairkhan Nature Reserve is __________ 150km south of Altai. Here there are some interesting __________ and caves with well-__________ rock-paintings of ibex, horsemen and __________. In the eastern part of Gobi-Altai, the Sharga Nature Reserve has been __________ to protect the __________ of the highly __________ saiga antelope.

1. archers
2. designed
3. endangered
4. facilities
5. foreign
6. habitat
7. located
8. national
9. native
10. off-limits
11. permission
12. population
13. preserved
14. programmes
15. region
16. remote
17. strictly
18. unique

This Instrument Match-Up is a three part process. Firstly, you must read the clue to find out which instrument is being referred to. Secondly, you must connect this instrument’s name to the clue and then, thirdly, you must connect the picture to the name and clue. (Answers are below.)

Eg. CLUE: I have keys. INSTRUMENT: Piano. PICTURE:

CLUES:

CLUE: I am in the ‘strings’ family of instruments, just like the double base.

CLUE: I can be electric or acoustic.

CLUE: People bang sticks against me to make lots of noise.

CLUE: I am a musical instrument in the brass family.

INSTRUMENTS:

GUITAR TRUMPET DRUMS VIOLIN

PICTURES:

Answers: 1. Violin (Second Picture); 2. Guitar (First Picture); 3. Drums (Third Picture); 4. Tumpet (Fourth Picture)

Past, Present and Future Tenses

Read each of these sentences and circle which of the tenses is correct. Make sure you define any of the words you don’t understand using a dictionary! (The answers are below. Teachers: make sure you explain the speech structure used in Number 4 – it might be a bit tricky!)

1. Sumi decided he wanted to dance/danced all night.

2. Suvdaa will play/played her trumpet tomorrow morning.

3. Munkhchimeg study/studied her music throughout the intermission.

4. “Sarnai, you can’t refuse/refused to do your dance exercises,” her mother said.

5. As Tsolmon turn/turned the sheets of music, he is/had to continue holding his instrument.

Answers: 1. dance; 2. play; 3. studied; 4. refuse; 5. turned, had.

Music Find-a-Word

accompanist alto bass bass clef
choir chord conductor crescendo
dynamics eighth note fermata forte
grand staff half note harmony instrument
interval keyboard legato measure
melody mezzo forte piano quarter note
quarter rest singing solo soprano
staccato tempo tenor time signature
treble clef vocalize voice whole note

An ancient Egyptian wall painting of jugglers.

Juggling is a very old activity – some people say it started nearly 4000 years ago in Egypt! People from Chinese, Indian, Greek, Aztec and Polynesian civilizations also juggled. Jugglers were called ‘gleemen’ in Europe. Gleemen were so talented people thought they were witches! In 1768 the first modern circus was opened, and a few years later jugglers started to perform and became very popular.

Juggling is now a hobby all around the world and there’s even a World Juggling Day on June 14! There are juggling clubs and competitions too. People can juggle almost anything, from oranges to plates, and even knives.

Questions
1. How many years ago did juggling start?
2. Where did juggling begin?
3. What did European people used to call jugglers?
4. When did the first modern circus open?
5. What will happen on June 14?
6. Name three things that people can juggle.

Adjectives

Adjectives are commonly called “describing” words. Their role is to give more information, or modify, a noun or pronoun (called the adjective’s subject).
E.g. “That is a big dog” or; “I met a very old man” or; “You have a beautiful girlfriend.”

Adjectives are important because they help give more information and describe something. The following activity teaches about adjectives, whilst also improving vocabulary!

Just put one of the adjectives from the list below before the subject. (Note: answers are below. To make this exercise easier, you can put the adjectives at the end of the paragraph to limit choice.)

Auyi’s Trip to the Circus

terrific, fun, slowly, birthday, young, extremely, famous, quickly, amazing, exotic, new, funny, messy, charming, expensive, comfortable, flexible, hot, favourite, long

Auyi was ___(1)___ excited to be going to the ___(2)___ circus. His mother had bought the ___(3)___ tickets for him and his brother earlier that week as a ___(4)___ surprise for him. Auyi could hardly wait!

He work up just as the ___(5)___ sun began to rise. He ___(6)___ jumped out of his ___(7)___ bed and began to put on his ___(8)___ clothes. But it was only 6am! The ___(9)___ circus would not start until afternoon.

It was such a ___(10)___ wait. Auyi ___(11)___ ate breakfast. His mother then made him clean his ___(12)___ bedroom. Then he read his ___(13)___ book.

Finally, it was time to go! It was an ___(14)___ show. There was the ___(15)___ ringmaster, ___(16)___ animals, ___(17)___ clowns and ___(18)___ acrobats. Auyi and his ___(19)___ brother wished it could go on forever!

When Auyi went to sleep that night, he had ___(20)___ dreams about the circus.

1. extremely; 2. famous; 3. expensive; 4. birthday; 5. hot; 6. quickly; 7. comfortable; 8. new; 9. fun; 10. long; 11. slowly; 12. messy; 13. favorite; 14. amazing; 15. charming; 16. exotic; 17. funny; 18. flexible; 19. young; 20. terrific.

We are giving you the chance to make your own film. Write in to voiceboxtv@gmail.com and tell us what your film would be about and why you want to make a film. The only thing we ask is that you write to us in English (and of course your film will need to be in English). You will go out with Gabrielle and the Voice Box team for a day to create your film. After we edit, it will then air on the Voice Box show for the rest of Mongolia to see. You will be able to help with the creation of your movie, and even star in it (if you want)! You can be any age to enter, so be sure to tell all your friends and family about this amazing opportunity, and get writing!

Competition entries close March 26.