Lesson Focus

This unit celebrates the history, culture, and natural beauty of Sri Lanka. It focuses on describing historical places, famous kings, and tourist attractions.

Key Vocabulary to Master

• Historical/Cultural: ancient, kingdoms, historical, documentary, irrigation system, staple food, endemic, fortress.

• Descriptive Words: scenery, beautiful, wondrous, meritorious, colossal, gigantic.

Grammar Focuses

1. Simple Past Tense (Revision): This is the primary tense used throughout the unit to describe historical events and narrate stories about the past.

• Example: "King Buddhadasa cured even animals."

1. Adjectives: Using a wide range of adjectives to make descriptions more vivid and interesting.

• Example: "The big rock in the background is Sigiriya." / "It's a map of ancient Sri Lanka."

1. Contractions: Understanding and using contractions (e.g., what's for what is, it's for it is).

Important Points for the O/L Exam

• Paper I (Writing):

  • Essay/Description: You may be asked to write a description of a "Historical Place in Sri Lanka" or "A Place of Natural Beauty." This unit is essential preparation for that.

  • Picture Description: The skills you learn in describing the map and photos in this unit are directly applicable to the picture description question.

• Paper II (Grammar & Reading):

  • Reading comprehension passages are often about Sri Lankan history or culture. The vocabulary from this unit will be very helpful.

  • You will need to correctly identify and use the past tense forms of regular and irregular verbs.

Study Tips & Tricks

• Create a Fact File: Choose one historical place from the map in the Pupil's Book (e.g., Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa). Find three key facts about it and write a short descriptive paragraph.

• Verb Practice: Make a list of all the Simple Past Tense verbs you can find in the reading passages. Note which are regular (-ed) and which are irregular (e.g., met, saw, built).

• Adjective Hunt: Read the descriptions in Activity 10 (Pupil's Book) and list all the adjectives used. Try to replace them with synonyms (e.g., big → huge, large).