8/8/2019 "Teaching Reading" - Lesson Plan-
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The Martians are coming!
On August 30th 1938, millions of radio listeners in the USA were
convinced that
their country was being invaded by Martians . An evening
music
programme was interrupted by a series of news bulletins,
which
reported that a meteorite had landed on a farm in New
Jersey.Apparently, aliens as large as bears, with black eyes and
V-shaped
mouths had emerged from inside the meteorite and were
releasing
poisonous gas into the atmosphere. Further bulletins told of
more
Martian landings in other parts of the USA. As the news
spread,
thousands of people fled their homes to avoid the alien attack.
Some people even
phoned local radio stations to say they could see a cloud of
poisonous gas approaching
New York.
Of course, they neednt have worried. What they were listening to
was an
adaptation of H G Wellss novel The War of the Worlds first
published in 1989. Thedirector of the radio programme Orson Welles
could broadcast any play he wanted, so
he had asked a young playwright, Howard Koch, to rewrite H G
Wellss novel as a
series of realistic news bulletins using real place names.
Once people realized that the broadcast wasnt reporting real
events, there was
a public outcry. Orson Welles was accused of deliberately
causing the panic, and the
people tried to sue his company and the radio station for
millions of dollars.
Fortunately, Welles was able to avoid a lengthy
court case because he had told listeners that the
broadcast was fictitious at the beginning of theprogramme.
Today, most peoples reaction is that
citizens of America should have realized they
were listening to a play. Of course, they could
have listened to other radio stations to see if the
story was real, instead of fleeing their homes.
However, this type of realistic radio drama had
never been broadcast before and if hard to say
whether you or I would have reacteddifferently.
Amazingly, the same thing happened when the play was broadcast
in Chile in
1944. On that occasion, the governor of San Tiago even sent
troops in to the streets.
Fortunately, the troops didnt need to fight and army of Martian
invaders!
8/8/2019 "Teaching Reading" - Lesson Plan-
3/3
y Complete the sentences according to the text.
Most of radio listeners in the USA believed that Many news
bulletins said that..in New Jersey. The director of radio
programhad wanted Howard Koch to.......
The people in the USA should .....................
..............instead of.
The aliens going out from meteorite were as big The listeners
charged.with....... Many people phone some local stations from New
York and they said
..
When the people found out the broadcast was imaginary, they....
When the programme was broadcast in Chile, the governor of
Santiago...
Abdurrahman Kala
070565057
Level of the learners: Intermediate Length of the lesson: 20
minutes The aim of the lesson: ??? Materials: handouts, video and
pictures
