Exercises

Exercise 1. Make up a short story developing the idea:

1. I want you to send this telegram at once. It’s very urgent. You know what happened today….

2. I have sent a telegram to Ann, telling her I’ll meet her at the station, but now I can’t go…..

Exercise 2. Imagine that you’ve received a letter without the sender’s address; you can’t recognize the hand-writing; the letter is signed “Nick”, but you have several friends whose name is Nick. Discuss this matter with your sister (or friend) and try to guess who it might be from.

Exercise 3. Imagine you and your friend are choosing greetings postcards with beautiful views of your native town to be sent off to your friends and relatives. Make up a short dialogue.

Exercise 4. Describe the occasion when you sent a letter to your friend (parents) and forgot to write the number of the house. Did the letter reach its destination? Why?

Exercise 5. Imagine you’ve just come back to the place you rent together with your group-mate. You’ve promised your parents to write to them to let them know you are safe and sound. You are not a very good correspondent and it takes you lots of time to write even a single line. Your friend watches you work at your letter but you don’t seem to be making much progress with it. Make up a dialogue.

Additional Materials for Comprehension

It’s Interesting to Know Text a. Stamps

In 1840, Rowland Hill’s Penny Stamp Act became Law. Under this law, letters were paid for by weight. Previously, they had been charged according to the distance or number of sheets. It also became compulsory to pay for postage in advance. This had not always been done before and often people had refused to pay for letters which were delivered to them. Stamps were introduced in 1840 as an easy way of checking that postage had been paid. As Britain was the first country to use stamps widely, the country’s name was not written on them. However, the head of the ruling monarch has appeared on every stamp.

Text b. The First Regular Airmail Service

Do you know that the first regular airmail service was established as long ago as 1897 – before the time of man-carrying aeroplanes?

It happened in New Zealand, when a pigeon fancier started experimenting by flying his birds from Great Barrier Island to Auckland in just under an hour. Previously it had taken over two days to take the letters by boat, and as there was no telegraph service, people encouraged him to start “pigeon post” service. Messages were written on flimsy paper, an “airmail” stamp was affixed and the letters were fixed to a bird’s leg.

It cost sixpence to send a letter from the Island to Auckland and a shilling for the reverse journey – because it was more difficult to train birds to fly to the Island.

Needless to say, if you had any of these first airmail stamps now, you’d get very much more for them than they originally cost.

Comprehension Exercises

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions about the texts.

1. 1.What is Rowland Hill’s Penny Stamp Act?

2.When did it become law?

3.What became compulsory?

4.What was introduced in 1840 to check that the postage had been paid?

2. 1.When and where was the first regular airmail service established?

2.How much time did it take the pigeons to carry letters from Great Barrier Island to Auckland?

3.Why did it cost much more for the reverse journey?

4.How did the birds carry the letters?

Exercise 2. Single out the main facts about the history of stamps and pigeon post in Great Britain.