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With interactive section :  select the only possible correct word from the three options in the drop-down box for each of the words missing from the article below.

The story of Coca-Cola

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Probably the best-known drink in the world

What is the most recognizable object in the world? Could it be a football? Or a Big-Mac? No, the answer is a Coca-Cola bottle. The famous Coca-Cola bottle is over 100 years old !
Coca-cola sign in Las VegasCoca-cola advertisement in Las Vegas
    Footballs and big macs are certainly part of life for lots of people; but Coca-Cola is now a permanent part of world culture. People know and drink Coca-Cola all over the world.
    It is said that the Coca-Cola bottle is the most recognised object in the world. Hundreds of millions of people can recognise a Coke bottle by its shape, even if they cannot see it! And the famous Coca-Cola logo is the most famous logo in the world. Unlike any other famous commercial logo, it has not changed in 100 years!
    But the story of Coca-Cola is  older than that. It was in 1886  John Pemberton, a druggist in Atlanta, Georgia, invented a new type of syrup coca leaves, sugar and cola nuts, plus a few  secret ingredients! Pemberton sold it  a medicine; and with its coca (the source of cocaine), it must have  people feel good!
    Nevertheless, Pemberton's medicine was not very successful, so he sold his secret formula to  druggist, Asa Candler. Candler was interested, because he had another idea; he thought that Pemberton's "medicine" would  better if it was mixed with soda.
    Candler was thus the man who  invented the drink Coca-Cola. At first he sold it in his drugstore; then he began  the syrup to other drugstores, who used it with their soda fountains. Candler also advertised his new drink, and soon people were going to drugstores just  a drink of Coca-cola.
    Before long, other people became interested in the product,  a couple of businessmen who wanted to sell it in bottles. Candler sold them a licence to bottle the drink, and very  the men became millionnaires. The famous bottle, with its very distinctive shape, was designed in 1916.
     the First World War, American soldiers in Europe began asking for Coca-Cola, so the Coca-cola company began exporting to Europe. It was so popular with soldiers, that they then had to start bottling the drink in Europe.
    Today, Coca-Cola is made in countries all over the world, including Russia and China; it is the world's  popular drink.
    As for the famous formula, it is probably the world's most valuable secret! The exact ingredients for making Coca-Cola are only  to a handful of people. And as for the "coca" that was in the original drink, that was eliminated in 1903. It was a drug, and too dangerous. Today's Coca-Cola contains caffeine, but not cocaine!

And PS.... Health warning! Like all sodas (fizzy drinks) normal Colas contain a lot of sugar. "Far too much sugar", say many doctors.


Word guide
WORD GUIDE
shape
: form - logo: logotype, name-image - unlike : differently to - druggist: pharmacist - syrup: concentrated sweet drink - nuts: hard round fruits - ingredient: element -  source: origin - formula: recipe, instructions for making something -  soda: bubbling water, fizzy water - advertise: publicise - licence: permit, authorisation - distinctive: memorable, special - as for: concerning - a handful of: a very small number of - eliminate: take out -





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For students: blank-fill exercise :

 Interactive - use on screen or on paper:
Using information from the article, complete this résumé in your own words..

Coca Cola was  by John Pemberton, a  living in Atlanta. The original drink was a  , and Pemberton sold it    medicine. It was really a , being made from coca  Pemberton  his  to Asa Candler,  decided to sell it   drink,   soda. At first he  it in his
drugstores, then he  the  to  drugstores. After that, he  a  to some businessmen, and they began to  the drink. That was the  of the  of Coca Cola.

Grammar: articles

 Interactive exercise - use on screen or on paper:
Most of the articles (a, an, the) have been removed from this extract from the text ;  put back the missing articles into the text, but only when they are needed.  Take care; in some cases, no article is needed. In these cases select Ø  .

What is most recognizable object in  world? Could it be a football? Or a Big-Mac? No, the answer is a Coca-Cola bottle.  famous Coca-Cola bottle is over 100 years old !
     Footballs and  big macs are certainly part of  life for lots of people; but  Coca-Cola is now  permanent part of world culture. People know and drink  Coca-Cola all over  world.
    It is said that the Coca-Cola bottle is  most recognised object in  world. Hundreds of millions of people can recognise  Coke bottle by its shape, even if they cannot see it! And  famous Coca-Cola logo is  most famous logo in  world.
Unlike any other famous commercial logo, it has not changed in 100 years!
    But  story of Coca-Cola is  even older than that. It was in 1886  that John Pemberton,  druggist in Atlanta, Georgia, invented   new type of   syrup,  using  coca leaves,  sugar and  cola nuts, plus  few secret ingredients! Pemberton sold it  as  medicine; and with its coca ( source of cocaine), it must have made people feel good!
    Nevertheless, Pemberton's medicine was not very successful, so he sold his secret formula to another  druggist, Asa Candler. Candler was interested, because he had another idea; he thought that Pemberton's "medicine" would be better if it was mixed with  soda.
    Candler was thus  man who first  invented  drink Coca-Cola.

Lesson plan - for teachers:

Presenting the text in class
Interactive article completion:  Students should read this text either collectively as a class, or individually.
In classrooms with a connected whiteboard or projector screen, students can collectively choose each of the missing words as you come to them. Click the down arrow to show up the options suggested as you reach each missing word
   If you do not have access to these classroom aids and are using paper copies, or if students are looking at the text on individual screens, then the word filling exercise can be done either collectively or individually.
   Only one single word, from among the three proposed, is possible for each of the dropdown boxes. Most of the options are grammatical, some are lexical... or both. This exercise will test and hopefully also develop your students' basic grammar and vocabulary.
    Depending on the nature of your class, you may like to ask students to explain the right and wrong answers for some of the boxes. For instance, for the first box why can "more" the not possibly be the right answer?

Grammar MCQ exercise - articles

This article well illustrates the use of definite and indefinite articles, and also cases where no article is required or needed.
However it also has a number of cases where the use of either a definite or an indefinite article can be justified. For example the text says
Could it be a football? Or a Big-Mac? No, the answer is a Coca-Cola bottle.....
But it could also have said: Could it be the football? Or the Big-Mac? No, the answer is the Coca-Cola bottle.....
The writer has opted to use an indefinite article here, in the sense that  "any" football, or "any" Big-Mac may be recognisable.
If he had chosen to say the football, or the Big-Mac, he would have been referring to the object as a category, which is another interpretation.
  In later sentences, the Coca-Cola bottle needs to be referred to as a category; we cannot say a Coca-Cola bottle is over 100 years old, as that is not the meaning.
  In cases where either a definite or an indefinite article is possible, the writer's choice has been reproduced and students are not invited to choose.  In all  multiple choice boxes that are present in this extract, only one answer is possible.
For a full explanation of article usage, with clear examples, see A Descriptive Grammar of English, section 2.5.

Text résumé exercise

This comprehension exercise tets students' understanding of the text,  their acquisition of vocabulary,  and ability to reuse it.
Students must read the original text, find the information needed, and put the appropriate words in the boxes.

Follow up activity. Creative writing / oral expression:

When you have completed the text study stage and the exercises, divide students into pairs, and have each pair script a dialogue between John Pemberton and Asa Candler; or between the two businessmen who want to buy a license to bottle and sell Coca Cola.

This teaching resource is © copyright Linguapress - renewed 2024
Revised 2022 . Originally published in Freeway, the Intermediate level English newsmagazine.
Republication on other websites or in print is not authorised




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Linguapress intermediate English reading

Readability - Plain English. Flesch-Kincaid grading:
Grade level: 8.4
Reading ease level:  61.8
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CEF level: B2
IELTS Level  6.5



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