Albert Einstein ESL Lesson
Happy Birthday Albert - You Genius

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Albert Einstein "All in One" ESL Lesson

This is a printable ESL ESL Lesson

Albert Einstein

Vocabulary

Before reading match the definitions below with the underlined words or phrases in the text.

• To feel bad about something you did or didn’t do
• To say something positive or pleasant about an individual
• A right granted by a government to an invention
• To reject or turn away from something or someone
• The scientific explanation of why people and objects stay on the ground
• Be the same as

Albert Einstein was born in March, 1879 and died in April, 1955. Albert Einstein is known as the father of modern physics and the inventor of the theory of relativity. The theory of relativity is what he is probably most well known for. The Einstein name has become synonymous with the word genius, and is generally used as a compliment for people with high intelligence.

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879 to Hermann Einstein, an engineer and his wife, Pauline Koch. He was a consistent top student during his elementary years and had shown a continuing growing interest in the sciences. The Einsteins moved to Italy when their business failed and from there Einstein continued his studies. At age 17, he renounced his German citizenship to avoid military service and studied a four year diploma course in physics and mathematics teaching in Switzerland.

After graduation, Albert Einstein struggled to find a teaching post until he found a job at the Swiss federal Office for Intellectual Property. His examination work at the patent office later led him to formulate radical theories about light and the relationship of time and space. In 1905, his fame gradually increased after he was given a PhD at the University of Zurich. He then published four papers regarding photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, equivalence of matter and energy and special relativity.

In 1908, Albert Einstein was recognized as a leading scientist and quit the patent office to secure a teaching post at the University of Zurich. In 1911, he made headlines by theorizing that the sun’s gravity can bend light from other stars after which he was proven correct. He received the Nobel Prize in his work on the photoelectric effect in 1921.

In 1933 Albert Einstein migrated to the United States because of the Nazis rise to power and gained citizenship in 1940. In WWII, He and other scientists aided the US in developing the Atomic Bomb and expressed regret a year before his death. Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76.

Reading Comprehension Check Up Questions

Put the events of Albert Einstein’s life in the correct order, the first one has been done as an example for you.

• He moved to the USA _____
• He left his job at the patent office _____
• He migrated to Italy __1___
• He won the Nobel Prize for science _____
• He received his PhD _____

Great & Glorious (but easy to understand) Grammar - Past Simple and the Past Perfect

The Past Simple is often used to describe a sequence of events in the past.

Eg. By the time he was nineteen, Einstein had renounced his German citizenship.

Look at the following sentences, which event or action comes first?

• He had already had dinner by the time his wife arrived.
• When it was time for the test, Jan had studied enough to do well.
• When Rosa left the house in the morning she discovered that someone had stolen her car.

Complete the information about how to write the Past Perfect.

_____ + verb – ed (regular)

Past ____ (irregular)

English Conversation Builder - Expressing Regret

Look at the sentences below then answer the questions

I wish I was taller.

• Is this person talking about now or when he was younger?

I wish I had been a better student.

• Is this person talking about now or when he was younger?
• What tense is used after ‘wish’ in the first sentence?
• Why?
• What tense is used after ‘wish’ in the second sentence?
• Why?

Free Discussion

• ‘He and other scientists aided the US in developing the Atomic Bomb and expressed regret a year before his death.’ Why do you think Einstein regretted inventing the atomic bomb?
• Discuss with your group members something you regret doing or not doing (Eg.’ I wish I had studied harder when I was younger’)

Internet ESL Research

Use the internet to research another individual who received a Nobel prize.

Writing Exercise – Writing Prompt

Write about the Nobel prize you researched, try to include some Past Perfect sentences.

Vocabulary Consolidation

Write a sentence for each word that you found in the first exercise.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.