Railway Travel at 200

Taking the train is such a common activity and some of us do it every day, yet, yet passenger rail travel was only introduced 200 years ago. These A2/ A2+ activities focus on the celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in September 1825 to carry freight and passengers, a major leap forward in the Industrial Revolution. This breakthrough was a revolution in everyone’s life in Britain, not only on an economic level but also on social and political ones.

Through these activities, your middle-school students will be led to understand how central the railway was in the development of many cities in the UK as well as in building a sense of community among the British.

Vocabulary and structures

• describing pictures: BE -ING present
• reporting historical facts: preterite + key event, historical..
• trains: railway, wagons, travel, passengers. ride a train, crowd…
• transport: goods, products, companies…
• feelings : afraid / scared, excited , surprised…
• voicing opinion / guessing : I think / believe / suppose / I guess
• hypotheses: maybe / perhaps
• evolution / comparisons: comparatives (easier, faster, less comfortable, less tiring…), development, creation, improvement/ improve...

 Pronunciation

• railway /ˈreɪlˌweɪ/
• transparent words: train /treɪn/, locomotive /ˌləʊkəˈməʊtɪv/, wagon /ˈwæɡən/