Past Simple and Past Continous

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A disaster at sea

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We're going to find out about a famous historical disaster and learn how to use past continuous and past simple to describe details about an event.

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But to start, look at these images. What historical event do they remind you of?

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The story of the Titanic is one that still captures people's imaginations more than a century after it sank in the North Atlantic Ocean.

It was the biggest passenger liner in the world when it was built in 1912. People said it was 'unsinkable' but they were wrong.

Tragically, the Titanic struck an iceberg while it was crossing the Atlantic Ocean and started to sink. Famously, a string quartet continued to play as the ship was going down.

Most of the people on board died but some were able to escape in lifeboats.

To do 

Read the paragraph above again and look at the words in bold. Do you know what they mean? Try this quiz to find out:

​A 20^th Century disaster

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passenger liner a large ship that carries people across the sea

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iceberg a very large piece of ice in the ocean

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to sink to go under the water

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to strike to hit with force

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string quartet a classical music group of four people

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lifeboats something that is used to help people escape from danger on a ship

​https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p029z376/player

1. The Titanic was travelling to New York.

2. The ship struck an iceberg on the first night of the journey.

3. The lifeboats took women only at first.

4. Passengers panicked when they realised there weren't enough lifeboats for everyone.

5. The sea wasn't calm and the sky was cloudy on the night Titanic sank.

6. The ship broke into two pieces before it sank.​