Pompeii has an amazing history and its site is truly worth visiting. The movie tries to show a bit of that historical eruption. Pompeii is an open air museum and knowing about its history is enriching.
I. Let's play a game. The teacher reads the statements that will follow. The students receive two tags written TRUE and FALSE. When the
teacher finishes reading each sentence, the students raise their tags together when the
teacher says GO! If a student raises the tag after or before the teacher says
GO!, he can't score a point.
Inspired by the awesome sites http://primaryfacts.com/1677/10-pompeii-facts/ and http://blog.degreed.com/top-10-facts-about-mt-vesuvius-and-pompeii/
1. Mt. Vesuvius is still one of the world’s most dangerous
volcanoes.
2. Although the eruption caught people off guard, the signs
had been coming for years.
3. The eruption was catastrophic, lasting from 10 to 12
hours.
4. We know much of what happened from an eyewitness account.
5. Thousands of people were buried alive.
6. There were various attempts to rebuild the cities.
7. It had happened before.
8. It can't happen again.
9. The eruption of Vesuvius was quite sudden, and many of
Pompeii’s inhabitants lost their lives while going about their daily work.
II. Watch the movie segment and discuss the questions.
1. Describe the scene. What were people doing during the
eruption?
2. Do you think people realized what could happen to them?
Why (not)?
3. How do you think the inhabitants of that area would react
to the same event nowadays?
4. Why do so many people still live near volcanoes, knowing
an eruption could kill them at any given moment?
5. What are the threats nature imposes to your living area?
What are your major problems (volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, storms,
tornadoes, tsunamis, cyclones, pollution, avalanches, sand storms, fire, drought, etc)?
GAME: Answer key:
1. T
2. T
3. F
It lasted more than 24 hours.
4. T
There is a detailed account of the eruption thanks to Pliny
the Younger, who was a Roman administrator and poet. He watched the eruption
from afar and questioned survivors, and then wrote of the event in letters to
his friend Tacitus.
5. T
At that time, around 20,000 people — manufacturers,
merchants, and farmers — lived in Pompeii, and another 5,000 lived in
Herculaneum. Many of the people who did not flee when the eruption started
were buried alive by ash and other molten material. It is estimated that about
16,000 people died in the eruption.
6. F
There was no attempt to rebuild the cities
7. T
Though the Romans didn’t know it at the time, Mt. Vesuvius
had erupted catastrophically at least twice before.
8. F
Mt. Vesuvius is still considered an active volcano. The most
recent eruption occurred in 1944, and experts believe that a massive eruption
could happen again soon, posing potential danger to the more than 2 million
people who now live in the area.
9. T
