Penguin Readers Factsheets

Level 3 Pre-Intermediate

Teachers Notes

Mysteries of the
Unexplained
by Kathy Burke

People who live today are lucky to have a better understanding of

things that happen around us, than people who lived many years
ago, because science can help to explain things. We expect to
know what is happening around us, on earth and even in space.
This makes it more surprising when things happen for which
scientists can offer no explanation. We expect to have answers to
things that are strange. Mysteries of the Unexplained is about some
of these strange things that scientists can not explain.
Mysteries of the Unexplained covers many topics: there are
articles on spaceships and aliens from another world. In the
chapter called Strange Disappearances, you can read about how
people have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, that strange
part of the Atlantic Ocean where not only people, but ships and
planes disappear and no one knows how to explain what has
happened. Read too about animal monsters in Mysterious
Monsters, including the famous Scottish Loch Ness Monster.
There are mysterious land animals too, which some people say
they have seen, but no one knows what they are. Other people say
they can not be real. Are they real or not? Who knows?
There are mysteries across time, in the chapter on Ancient
Worlds, for example, there are the buildings of the Pyramids in
Egypt. How were they built? They are so high and wide. There are
many mysteries about the huge stones of Stonehenge in England:
how were they made and why? The same question is asked of the
statues on Easter Island.
People contain mysteries too: no one really knows how the mind
works, and funny things can happen. Uri Geller is famous for being
able to bend spoons just by thinking about them! Do you have extra
sensory powers? You can find out with a quiz.
In the chapter called Ghosts and Past Lives it asks: Do you
believe in ghosts? Ghosts are people who, having died, are seen
again. How do they come back after they have died? It is almost
always at night and in the dark. If you see one you have to believe
in them, but what is really happening? No one knows. There are
stories of ghosts from all round the world.
There are the strange stories of people who seem to have lived
more than one life. They live at different times and have memories
about their other life.
Finally, in the chapter Earth Mysteries, there are unexplained
mysteries of the earth itself. Every summer in England there are
reports in the newspapers about crop circles in the farmers fields.
Who makes them and why? Rain falls all over the world, but
sometimes it brings down fish, frogs and sand from thousands of
miles away. It can even rain fire too.

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Background and themes

Believing: many of the things in the book (for example spaceships
and ghosts) we know about because some people tell us about
them. Belief can be very strong. What does it feel like to tell
someone you have seen a ghost or a spaceship, or an alien, but no
one believes you? It is true for you, but not for everyone? It is true
for you, but is it real?
Science: science is the method by which we try and make sense of
what is around us. Scientists ask questions, try and find answers
then they develop theories. When science has answers it
sometimes leads to more questions.
Magic: mysteries are not always frightening (monsters or aliens) or
scary things, they can be interesting, (corn circles) or beautiful
(Stonehenge). Is the world a more interesting place when not
everything can be explained?
History: many mysteries are from many years ago, when events
were not recorded. Only the stones or buildings are left. There are
no history books telling us how the pyramids were built. It suggests
that people who lived in those times thought very differently about
the world around them. However, one day people who study history
may discover what happened. Somewhere, someone may discover
a record of what happened.
Life and Death: many mysteries are about our bodies and minds,
about life and death and about the world around us. What happens
after death for example? The pyramids were built for kings who had
died, to give them an afterlife. Ghosts are people who lived before
and have come back to earth.

Mysteries of the Unexplained

Summary

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Communicative activities
The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections of text
as the exercises in the back of the Reader and supplement those
exercises. Further supplementary exercises, covering shorter
sections of the book, can be found on the photocopiable Students
Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are primarily for use with
class Readers, and, with the exception of pair/groupwork
questions, can also be used by students working alone in a selfaccess center.

1 What films have the students seen about outer space,

ancient Egypt or monsters? For example, The Mummy,
(Egypt) Jaws, (about the sea) Close Encounters of the Third
Kind, ET, X-Files (outer space and aliens). Were they good?
How real did they seem?
2 Looking at the Contents page, ask the class which topics
interest them the most: aliens, ancient worlds, the mind, or
ghosts? Make a survey on the board. Which topics can the
students believe in? Which not?
3 Can cameras tell lies? Look at the photos on pages 3, 12,
and 17 and answer the question.
4 Ask the class to look up the word supernatural. Discuss the
question: Can everything be explained by science? How
important is belief in a discussion about the supernatural.
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION
Pages 111
1 Students work in pairs. They answer the questions below.
(a) What are the other worlds?
(b) What do the letters UFO stand for?
(c) What is an alien?
(d) Where is the Bermuda Triangle?
(e) What is the name of the famous ghost ship?
2 Choose the right words to complete the sentences and make
a story.
(a) I was walking alone with my dog at night/midday.
(b) Suddenly there was a bright light/spaceship.
(c) Some little green robots/ aliens came out of the ship.
(d) I ran away/went up to them.
(e) They took my hand/dog into the spaceship.
(f ) Three days before/later my dog came home again.
3 There are three mistakes in each of the sentences below.
What are they and what are the right facts?
(a) Socorro: Farmer Lonnie Zamora was driving to work
when he saw a spaceship in the hills.
(b) Valensole: Policeman Maurice Masse saw three large
men getting out of a machine. They pointed a gun at him.
(c) In 1900, two children were found. They were blue all
over and ate only meat.
Pages 1223
4 Students work in pairs. They answer the questions below.
(a) What is a loch?
(b) In which country is Loch Ness?
(c) Where does the Yeti walk?
(d) What does the photo on page 17 show?
(e) How old is Stonehenge?
(f ) How many stone statues are there on Easter Island?

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First you will need a boat. Do you go at night? Wll you take
some food that the monster might like? How will you look after
yourselves if the monster is dangerous?
Pages 2441
6 Students work in pairs. They answer the questions below.
(a) What is the name of the man who is famous because he
can bend spoons?
(b) What is ESP?
(c) Why has the ghost of the Brown Lady been given this
name?
(d) In which country do they believe in the domovik?
(e) In which country are there crop circles?
7 Match the part of the body with the sense.
(a) Eye
(i) taste
(b) Ear
(ii) smell
(c) Hand
(iii) sight
(d) Nose
(iv) touch
(e) Tongue
(v) hearing
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK
1 In pairs: One partner reads out the quiz questions on page 7.
The partner answers yes or no. Then the partners change
over. Count the number of yess and nos and decide if
either of you has been taken away.
2 There are hard facts about some mysteries and soft facts
about others. For example, photos and stories are soft. For
example, hard facts about the ancient past are pyramids,
because they are and there and we can see them. Eg
Stonehenge and Nazca Lines are examples of hard facts;
Aliens, Atlantis and the yeti are soft. Divide the class into
halves. Each half takes a chapter. They run through the
pages in a timed exercise (say 5 minutes) and make a list of
evidence for their chapter. After 5 minutes write the lists on
the board.
In pairs or the same groups, students talk together and
then write down briefly which of the two lists, they think is the
most interesting, in their opinion, and why?

Glossary
It will be useful for your students to know the following new words. They
are practised in the Before Your Read sections of exercises in the back of
the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman Active Study
Dictionary.)
Alien (n) a person from outer space
Ancient (adj) very old, many centuries
ago
Civilization (n) a society that is well
organized
Crop (n) a plant which is grown to be
eaten
ESP (n) short for Extra Sensory
Perception, a sixth sense after taste,
sight, hearing, touch and smell

Monster (n) a large, ugly frightening

creature
Poltergeist (n) a ghost that moves
things round and makes strange noises
Power (n) control over people or
events
Predict (v) say that something will
happen
Pyramid (n) Egyptian triangular
building for bodies of kings

Expert (n) a person with special skills

or knowledge

Squid (n) a sea animal with very long

legs and a soft body

Frog (n) a small animal that lives near

water and has long legs

Statue (n) an object that looks like a

person, usually made of stone

Ghost (n) spirit of a dead person that

someone sees or hears

Whole (n) all of something

Giant (n) a very large being

Triangle (n) a shape with

three sides

Military (n,adj) the army, navy or to do

with the war

UFO (n) Unidentified

Flying Object

Published and distributed by Pearson Education

Factsheet written by Rose Hill
Factsheet series developed by Louise James

Mysteries of the Unexplained

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

5 Students work in small groups. Each group imagines they

work for a newspaper. They go to Scotland for photos of the
Loch Ness monster. How do they get them? Say to them:

Level 3 Pre-Intermediate

Teachers Notes

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Level 3 Pre-Intermediate

Students activities

Mysteries of the
Unexplained
by Kathy Burke

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

1 Look at the cover. Is the photo of a real event? Write down
why you think it is/isnt.
2 Put the following words into one of the three circles, Past,
Present and Future
ghosts, pyramids, Stonehenge, crop circles, Bermuda
triangle, Uri Geller, ESP, Nostradamus, dreams
ACTIVITIES WHILE READING THE BOOK
Pages 111

(d) Great Sphinx, Atlantis, King Tutankhamen, Giza

pyramids
3 (a) Read the dates and write them in numbers.
(i) Nineteen thirty-three.
(ii) Four hundred.
(iii) Three thousand.
(iv) Nineteen seventy-seven.
(v) Nineteen twenty-three.
(vi) Nineteen twenty-two.
(b) These numbers are in the text, between pages 1315.
What are they numbers of?
Pages 2441
1 Find the opposites.

2 Choose the right word to fit in the gaps.

Policeman, farmer, scientist, newspaper reporter, doctor
(a) The ________ looked at the body.
(b) The ________ was checking his fields one night.
(c) The ________ looked at pieces of metal from a plane
crash.
(d) The ________ tried to find answers to their questions.
(e) The ________ wrote a story about the unexplained light
in the sky.
Pages 1223
1 Put these sentences in the same order as the story.
(a) Since 1930, over 3,000 people have said they have seen
the monster.
(b) The most famous photograph was taken in 1934.
(c) The first description of a monster in Loch Ness was 400
years ago.
(d) The first newspaper report was in 1933.
(e) The first colour photo came out in 1977.
2 Find the odd one out
(a) Whale, squid, globster, crops
(b) Scotland, South Africa, Canada, Egypt, Belgium
(c) 5,000 years, 300 statues, 228 metres, 500 square
metres
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Machine body sky science

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Mind and ________

Man and ________
Earth and ________
Art and ________

2 Join the beginnings (a)(e) and ends (i)(v) of the sentences.

(a) Uri Geller can
(b) Nostradamus was able to
(c) Why can some people see
(d) How can a man cross
(e) When the lady was sleeping
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)

a blue light came from her body.

the future in their dreams?
predict the future.
bend spoons.
burning coals?

3 Where are they?

(a) Match the name and the place
David Booth, John Snell, Nostradamus, Dr Bentley, the
light woman, the fire walker
France, Chicago, Poole, Pennsylvania, Pirano, Sri Lanka
New York
(b) Which places are in
(i) Europe?
(ii) USA?
(iii) Italy
(iv) England?
(v) Near India?

Photocopiable

1 Are these sentences definitely right, possible or wrong?

Put a tick, question mark or cross next to each sentence.
(a) People say they have seen aliens.
(b) There are aliens.
(c) Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.
(d) Mr and Mrs Trent saw a flying saucer in the sky.
(e) Mr and Mrs Trent took a photo of what they saw in the
sky.
(f ) The Roswell crash is about a plane crash.
(g) Betty and Barney Hill went into a UFO.
(h) The Bermuda Triangle is in the Pacific Ocean

Mysteries of the Unexplained

These activities can be done alone or with one or more other

students. Pair/group-only activities are marked.

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Level 3 Pre-Intermediate

Students activities
4 Make a newspaper report for the following story.
A woman is screaming. Her small child is running across the
road. A car hits him. He is trapped under a wheel. She lifts
the car up and saves him. What do the other people say who
are watching?
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK
1 Imagine you have lived another life. You were a famous
person. Who do you want to be?

Mysteries of the Unexplained

2 In pairs, take turns to be an alien. Take the alien

(a) round your house and point out what is in it.
(b) round your college and point out what is in it.
3 You are in a time machine. Where will you go? What
questions do you want to ask the builders about for either
(a) the pyramids
(b) Stonehenge
(c) Peru
4 Write a ghost story. You are in a dark castle at midnight.
What do you see? What do you feel? What happens?

Photocopiable

Pearson Education Limited 2003

Published and distributed by Pearson Education

Factsheet written by Rose Hill
Factsheet series developed by Louise James