These words have been taken from the text. Where are we?
snow-whitened landscape Mists and fog $5 admission snow road
silent visitors' center lookout point woods slippery
silent visitors' center lookout point woods slippery
Here are some more...
a platform of rocks grey soup theater curtains a thousand feet
Empire State Building an old shoelace
4/6 of these are metaphors or analogies for describing natural phenomena. Which are they and what do you guess they are describing?
Read the excerpt and decide
the best title: Don't worry about the gaps yet.
The Grand Canyon in Winter
A Magical Experience
A Mighty Hole
10 miles across, a mile deep,
180 miles long
I drove through a snow-whitened landscape toward the
Grand Canyon. It was hard to believe that this was the last week of April.
Mists and fog swirled about the road. I could see nothing at the sides and
ahead of me except the occasional white
smear of oncoming headlights. By the
time I reached the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, and paid the $5
admission, snow was dropping ______ again, thick white flakes so big that their undersides carried shadows.
The road through the park
followed the southern lip of the canyon for 30 miles. Two or three times I
stopped in turnouts and went to the edge to peer________ into the silent murk, knowing that the canyon
was out there, just beyond my nose, but I couldn't see anything. The fog was
everywhere - threaded among the trees, adrift on the roadsides, rising _______ off the pavement. It was so thick I could kick holes in it.
Afterwards, I trudged toward
the visitors' center, perhaps 200 yards away, but before I got there I came
across a snow-spattered sign
announcing a lookout point half a mile away along a trail through the woods,
and ________ I went down it, mostly just to get some air.
The path was slippery and took a long time to
traverse, but on the way the snow stopped falling and the air felt clean and refreshing. _______ I came to a
platform of rocks, marking the edge of the canyon. There was no fence to keep
you back from the edge, so I shuffled _________ over and looked down, but
could see nothing but grey soup.
A middle-aged couple came
along and as we stood chatting about what a dispiriting experience this was, a miraculous thing happened. The
fog parted. It just _______ drew back, like a set of theater curtains being
opened, and _________ we saw that we were on the edge of a sheer, giddying drop of
at least a thousand feet.
The scale of the Grand Canyon
is almost beyond comprehension. It is 10 miles across, a mile deep, 180 miles
long. You could set the Empire State Building down in it and still be thousands
of feet above it. Indeed, you could set the whole of Manhattan down inside it
and you would still be so high above it that buses would be like ants and
people would be invisible, and not a
sound would reach you.
The thing that gets you -
that gets everyone - is the silence. The Grand Canyon just swallows sound. The
sense of space and emptiness is overwhelming.
Nothing happens out there. Down below you on the canyon floor, far, far away,
is the thing that carved it: the Colorado River. It is 300 feet wide, but from
the canyon's lip it looks thin and insignificant. It looks like an old
shoelace. Everything is dwarfed by this mighty
hole.
Try to put the adverbs into the gaps:
silently
eventually
steamily
hopefully
heavily
suddenly
impulsively
cautiously
suddenly
impulsively
cautiously
Beginning
Down below you on the canyon floor
The scale of
Indeed
The thing that gets
you
Ending
overwhelming
insignificant
would reach you
by this mighty hole
sound
comprehension
it
shoelace
___________ the Grand Canyon is almost beyond____________.
It is 10 miles across, a mile deep, 180 miles long. You could set the Empire
State Building down in it and still be thousands of feet above ___________. ________,
you could set the whole of Manhattan down inside it and you would still be so
high above it that buses would be like ants and people would be invisible,
and not a sound __________.
_____________- that gets everyone - is the silence. The
Grand Canyon just swallows__________. The sense of space and emptiness is __________.
Nothing happens out there._____________, far, far away, is the thing that
carved it: the Colorado River. It is 300 feet wide, but from the canyon's lip
it looks thin and _________. It looks like an old__________.
Everything is dwarfed _________.
Make a gesture that shows the meaning of each
of these verbs:
Swirl about
dropping heavily
followed
peer hopefully
threaded among
rising steamily
kick holes in
announcing
trudged toward
traverse
marking
shuffled cautiously over
parted
silently drew back
set down
reach
carve
dwarfed
The writer uses many analogies. How many can you find?
Why does he use them?
The sound of drumming
A beautiful voice
An embarrassed person
A busy airport
A dishonest politician
A sad defeated old man
An arrogant young man
Cloze
I drove (1)______ a
snow-whitened landscape toward the Grand Canyon. It was hard to (2)______ that
this was the last week of April. Mists and fog swirled about the road. I could
see (3)______ at the sides and ahead of me except the occasional white smear of
oncoming headlights. By the time I (3)_______ the entrance to Grand Canyon
National Park, and paid the $5 admission, snow was dropping heavily again,
thick white flakes (4)___ big that their undersides carried shadows.
The road through the park (5)_______
the southern lip of the canyon for 30 miles. Two or three times I stopped in
turnouts and went to the edge to (6)____ hopefully into the silent murk,
knowing that the canyon was out there, just (7)______ my nose, but I couldn't
see anything. The fog was everywhere - threaded (8)_______ the trees, adrift on
the roadsides, rising steamily off the pavement. It was so thick I (9)_____
kick holes in it.
Afterwards, I trudged (10)______
the visitors' center, perhaps 200 yards away, but before I got there I came (11)_____
a snow-spattered sign announcing a lookout point half a mile away along a trail
through the woods, and impulsively I went down it, mostly just to (12)___ some
air.
The path was slippery and took
a long time to traverse, but (13)___ the way the snow stopped falling and the
air (14)____ clean and refreshing. Eventually I came to a platform of rocks,
marking the edge of the canyon. There was no fence to (15)____ you back from
the edge, so I shuffled cautiously over and looked down, but could see nothing (16)___
grey soup.
We had already been travelling for a week when we arrived in Queenstown, with its contrasting dark green pines and colorful autumn trees welcoming us. After having gone down the storm-tossed west coast of the South Island the warming sun above was a beautiful sight. We headed out to Milford Sound the day after arriving, and I must say that we were extremely lucky with the weather. We had heard about the gloomy clouds and the constant rain that had been hanging around there, but luckily, it reversed itself just in time for us. As it had in Queenstown, the sun was shining beautifully down on us while our boat went on through the sound, and we walked out onto the top deck to take in the view. It was simply majestic: the enormous peaks towering high above us, the clear blue sky, the serenity of the untouched nature in this remote place of the world. Although the wind was relentless and icy, I barely gave it any thought because of the wonder of Milford Sound. We completed the boat ride and I have to say that I was sad to leave, but all the while feeling grateful for having experienced something so inspiring and incredible.
Write a short vivid piece of writing about an amazing place you've visited.
Think about
your five senses – what did you hear, smell, taste, touch,
see?
your emotions before, during and after the experience
the weather or atmosphere of the place
the most important or memorable moment
reflect on what makes this place so unique or special
Language
Throw in a few adjectives - maybe even two or three
together (clear blueish glassy water, fluffy creamy white clouds)
Use some vivid verbs and verbs of movement –
rush, shine, transcend, fade, flow, speed, heave, stumble
Use some adverbs – we sat quietly watching, I felt extremely
uneasy, unexpectedly they started to shout at us….
