B2 – Upper Intermediate
Natural or man-made disasters and major events could disrupt people’s everyday life. The dissemination of news of such events is usually communicated through mainstream and social media, but not everyone is on these platforms. The UK will be be testing a new alert system to inform its citizens about such events by mobile phone.
Listen to this audio and read the transcript about this new public alert system.
https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/uk-public-alert-system-level-1/
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “vibrate” mean? “…millions of phones in the UK will make a loud noise and vibrate.” Give two synonyms and use this word in a sentence.
- Define the word “warning“. “It will be a warning sound“. Use it in your own sentence.
- What does the word “marathon” mean? “For example the London Marathon or football matches.” Use it in a sentence.
Discussion Questions:
- How does the new UK public alert system work?
- What are the pros and cons of this new alert system?
- What public alert system do you have in your country? In what situations, do you receive such an alert?
- Do you find this public alert system helpful or distracting? Why or why not?
- How do you prefer to be alerted about emergencies or natural disasters? Why is this your choice?