London Webquest

Taking the Tube, doing the Jack the Ripper walk, listening to a famous architect, looking into a 1940s house and who are Jeeves, the Hammers and the Eagles?

Introductory quiz

Find out some facts about the UK. Look at the website and answer the following questions. You will have to browse the site to find the information.

1. What is the nation's current favourite food?
2. Where is the ‘home’ of the sport golf?
3. What is the artist Chris Ofili famous for?
4. What song is sung on New Year’s Eve in the UK?

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/journey/uk/ukindex.htm

Group planning

The second exercise involves orientation. You have arrived at Heathrow Airport and want to travel to London Bridge. Look at the London Tube website and answer the following questions:

1. What line(s) do you take to travel from Heathrow to London Bridge?
2. Where do you change trains?

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/im/SI-SE.html

Reading comprehension

Now let’s go and explore one of London’s famous legends. Go to the Jack the Ripper walk website, and then follow the link to read the full history of the Jack the Ripper murders. Look at the text and try to put the following events in the correct order (in real time).

a) The killer was never found
b) Elizabeth Stride was killed
c) Mary Nicholl’s body was found
d) Louis Deimschutz disturbed the ripper
e) Catherine Edowes was attacked
f) Mary Nicholl’s throat was cut
g) Angry mobs attacked suspects

http://www.jack-the-ripper-walk.co.uk/ 

Reading and history

Visit this 1940s house that has been recreated by the Imperial War Museum and have a look around. Compare the house to the house you live in. What differences and similarities are there? Take some notes. Is the furniture very different? Is there anything you can see or read that indicates that life in 1940 was very different from now? Discuss with a partner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/1940s_house_gallery.shtml

Reading and culture

Visit the sites in order to find the authors of a number of London books written between 1850 and 1950. Now use the following links to answer the following questions. You may have to search a little.

Charles Dickens lived at _____________ when he wrote the __________ Papers. He moved there in ______ and lived there for ______ years.

http://www.dickensmuseum.com/

Which writer from the Bloomsbury group wrote a book called Where Angels Fear to Tread?

http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/bloom-04.htm

The writer P.G. Wodehouse was famous in particular for two characters. What were those characters’ names?

• What jobs did the characters do?
• What kind of characters were they?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse

Listening

You are going to listen to Richard Rogers, the architect who designed London’s Lloyds Building and the Millennium Dome. What does he say about the planning and the construction of Lloyds Building?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwABGZa3T5I

Time out

Work in small groups (three to five). You are going to spend 24 hours in London. Where will you go? What will you do? Plan out your 24 hours. Be careful that you know how to get to each place (use the Transport Map from task two).

http://www.timeout.com/london/

London web quiz

Answer the questions. Below there is a list of all websites used to get the information.

1. At what gate in which famous tower was the ghost of Sir Thomas Becket seen striking a wall with a crucifix?
2. What are the nicknames of the following London football teams: Crystal Palace and West Ham?
3. Which two tube stations beginning with a ‘w’ are best for going to the London Eye?
4. Name the dinosaur that lived in England in the Middle Jurassic period, which was carnivorous and could measure up to nine metres long.
5. What is the name of the pub in the London soap opera Eastenders?
6. What is ‘Kew Gardens’ and where can you find it? 

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk
The Tower of London: http://www.camelotintl.com/tower_site/index.html
Crystal Palace: http://www.c-palace.org/cp_home.htm
West Ham: http://www.whufc.com/page/Home
London Eye: http://www.londoneye.com/
The Natural History Museum: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory/
Kew Gardens: http://www.kew.org/