Reading
1	Read Jan’s story. Then do the tasks below.	

First time in Ireland

Last February my family visited Ireland for the very first time. We live on a Welsh island called Anglesey, which is just across the Irish sea. There’s a port near our house which has about five ferries a day to Ireland. It only takes two hours on the fast ferry to arrive in Dublin. I’ve lived on Anglesey all my life, which is 13 years. I can’t believe this was my first trip to Ireland! My older brother wasn’t so excited. He says he only likes holidays in foreign countries. I tried to explain that Ireland is a foreign country, but he wouldn’t listen. “It’s just the same as the UK,” he said. “Boring.”

When we arrived at Dublin ferry port, we took a taxi to pick up a hire car in the centre of the city. The car hire shop was right next to the national rugby stadium. My dad loves rugby so he was very excited to see the stadium. He also thought it would be easy to find the car hire shop when we returned the car a week later.

We had a wonderful time in Ireland, where we stayed in a small cottage on the west side. We did plenty of walking and enjoyed the wonderful countryside. Considering the time of the year, we were really lucky with the weather and only had half a day of rain. Even my big brother started to smile by the end of our time there.

The ferry back home left at 3 p.m. on the Saturday. I helped my dad do the maths. Two hours back to Dublin, half an hour to find the car hire place and half an hour to get a taxi to the port. Three hours in total. We gave ourselves an extra half hour and left the cottage at 11.30 a.m. 

Getting to Dublin was easy. But there was a problem. Ireland were playing Wales at rugby that afternoon. As we got closer to the stadium, the roads got more and more crowded with fans. We finally got the car back at 2.30 p.m. We arrived at the port ten minutes before the ferry left. Luckily they let us on, but it was very stressful. Next time I think Dad needs to plan a little more carefully.

What does the text say? Circle the correct word.

1	Jan lives about two hours away from Ireland / a ferry terminal.	
2	Jan’s brother was looking forward to / not interested in the holiday.	
3	Dublin is in a different country / part of the UK.	

Answer the questions.

4	How did they get into the city from Dublin ferry port? ______________________________________	
5	What was Jan’s dad pleased to discover? _______________________________________________	
6	How long was their holiday? __________________________________________________________	

Choose the correct option.

7	Who changed his mind about the holiday?
 Jan
 Jan’s dad
 Jan’s brother	
8	What time did they arrive at the ferry port?
 2.50
 3.00
 2.30	
9	Why was the return journey stressful?
 They missed the ferry.
 They couldn’t find the car hire place.
 It took too long.	

Words in context
2	Read and complete the email with the words in the box. There are two extra words.	

crop    down    majority    Famine    cheer    thought    intention    support    interfere	
starving    cattle    independent    landlords	

Hi Adam,	
I’m having a great time with my exchange friend Ben in Dublin!	
Yesterday we visited the Dublin Memorial to the (0)Famine of 1846 and I learned a lot about that period of history. In 1845 and 1846, the potato (1)__________________ in Ireland failed. This meant that many people were (2)__________________ because they didn’t have enough food. The (3)__________________ made things worse because they sold their grain and (4)__________________ to England. The British government didn’t export food to Ireland because they thought that they shouldn’t (5)__________________ with the economy. As a result, many people in Ireland died or left the country forever.	
Ben’s family told me about recent Irish history, too. Ben’s grandfather took part in several rebellions, which were put (6)__________________ by the British. But in 1998, the (7)__________________ of Irish people voted for the Good Friday Agreement, which finally brought peace to the island.	
Ben is taking me to watch a football match tomorrow. It wasn’t our (8)__________________ to go, but Ben got free tickets from his friend! I’m not sure who I’ll (9)__________________ for yet! I’ll probably just (10)__________________ the team who are winning!	
See you soon,	
Matt	

3	Complete the text with the words in the box. There are three extra words.	

majority    rebellion    incidents    founded    independent    government    autonomy	

After Ireland became (1)__________________, there was a period called ‘the Troubles’. There were lots of terrible (2)__________________ and it wasn’t until 1998 that the Irish people got a chance to vote on a peace deal. The (3)__________________ of Irish people voted in favour of the Good Friday Agreement. After that the British (4)__________________ called their soldiers home.	

Language in context
4	Complete the text with the past continuous form of the verbs in brackets.	

Hi Sara,	
We’re just back from our weekend in Dublin. We had an amazing time while we (1)______________________________ (stay) there!	
On Saturday, we went to an outdoor art gallery in the National Botanic Garden. While we (2)______________________________ (look) at the garden paintings, it started to rain! But it didn’t last for long and in the evening we went to an outdoor concert at Iveagh Gardens. I really enjoyed looking up at the stars while I (3)______________________________ (listen) to the music! My brother didn’t like it much though. He (4)______________________________ (not / listen) to the music, because he (5)______________________________ (play) on his phone!	
Unfortunately our plane was delayed for two hours coming home. But while we (6)______________________________ (wait) at the airport, I bumped into an old friend. While all the other passengers (7)______________________________ (complain) about the delay, I (8)______________________________ (catch up) with my friend!	
See you soon,	
Lisa	

Writing
5	You had an adventure on holiday last week. Write a text for a holiday website describing the adventure. Write 120–150 words.	

You can use these questions to help you: 

• Where did you go on holiday?
• Who did you go with?
• Where did you stay?
• What happened to make the holiday an adventure?
• How did you feel about the adventure and why?
• What happened in the end?

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6	Write a short story for a writing competition about an adventure that you had while you were travelling. Use these adjectives in your story: horrible, mysterious, terrified, terrible, frightening. Write 120–180 words. Give your story a title.	

Write about:

• where the adventure took place
• who was there
• what the adventure was
• how you felt about it and why
• what happened in the end
• if you would travel there again and why (not)

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7	Write a mystery story for your school magazine. Try to use 5 or more of these words from the unit: crime, suspect, steal, weapon, evidence, blackmail, illegal, witness, criminal, victim. You can change the form of the words. Write 120–150 words.	

You can use these questions to help you:

• Where did the story take place?
• Who are the main characters?
• What happened at the beginning of the story?
• What was the mystery of the story?
• Who solved the mystery?
• How did the characters feel at the end of the story?

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8	Last week, you saw some criminals stealing something. Write an email to a friend telling him/her what you saw. Write 120–180 words.	

You can use these questions to help you: 

• Where did this crime happen?
• What did the criminals look like?
• What was the crime?
• Who were the victims of the crime?
• Were there any other witnesses apart from you?
• What happened in the end?

_________________________________________________________________________________	
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