ESL WORKSHEET - Graham Bell

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

LinguaHouse
Jan. 15, 2019

Level: Pre-Intermediate (A2-B1)
Type of English: General English
Tags: People and Places; Telephoning; Science and Technology; Celebrities and Historical Figures
Publication date: 01/15/2019

Students listen to a brief biography of scientist, engineer, and inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Activities focus on listening comprehension, vocabulary, and speaking.

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan.
• CLICK HERE to download the American English audio (MP3).
• CLICK HERE to download the British English audio (MP3).

TRANSCRIPTS

American English

Alexander Graham Bell was a very important scientist, engineer, and inventor. He was born on March 3rd, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died on August 2nd, 1922 at the age of 75.
Bell’s mother and wife were both deaf, and this had a big effect on his work. Because of them, he began thinking about the sounds he could hear and they could not.
Alexander had great hearing and became an excellent piano player at a young age. When he was 23, Bell and his parents moved to Canada, where he studied the human voice and worked with many schools for deaf people.
Bell experimented with sounds and worked with devices such as the ‘harmonic telegraph’, which was used to send messages over a single wire. He worked very hard on sound technology with his assistant, an electrical designer called Thomas Watson.
On February 14th, 1876, Bell and an American electrical engineer called Elisha Gray, both filed for patents from the U.S. Patent Office. It isn’t clear who was first, but it was Bell who got the patent in the end. A few days later, he made his telephone work using some ideas similar to Gray’s ideas.
Bell’s first words with the working telephone were spoken to his assistant. He said: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”
He improved his design and by 1886 more than 150,000 people owned telephones in the United States. The device was very successful, and it started a new era for long-distance communication.

British English

Alexander Graham Bell was a very important scientist, engineer, and inventor. He was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and he died on August 2, 1922 at the age of 75.
Bell's mother and wife were both deaf, and this had a big effect on his work. Because of them, he started to think about the sounds he could hear and they could not.
Alexander had great hearing and became an excellent piano player at a young age. When he was 23, Bell and his parents moved to Canada, where he studied the human voice and worked with many schools for deaf people.
Bell experimented with sound, working with devices such as the ‘harmonic telegraph’, which was used to send messages over a single wire. He worked very hard on sound technology with his assistant, an electrical designer called Thomas Watson.
On February 14, 1876, Bell and an American electrical engineer named Elisha Gray both asked for patents with the U.S. Patent Office. It is not clear who was first, but it was Bell who got the patent in the end. A few days later, he made his telephone work using some ideas similar to Gray’s ideas.
Bell's first words with the working telephone were spoken to his assistant. He said: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”
He improved the design and by 1886 more than 150 000 people owned telephones in the United States. The device was very successful, and it started a new era for long-distance communication.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/alexander-graham-bell. Accessed on December 9, 2021. LinguaHouse.com © 2008 - 2021.