An island prison in the sea, and three men who tried to escape.
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These are the new words for Alcatraz. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = C (a prison) · 2 = A (a guard) · 3 = B (a cell) · 4 = H (a wall)
5 = E (a boat) · 6 = F (cold) · 7 = G (a plan) · 8 = D (a spoon)
Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one.
In the sea near San Francisco, in the United States, there is a small island. Its name is Alcatraz. People also call it "The Rock". The water around it is very cold, and it moves fast and hard. In 1934, the government made a new prison on the island. It was for the most dangerous criminals in the country.
The government wanted a prison with no escape. There were many guards — one guard for about every three prisoners. The guards counted the prisoners many times every day. Each prisoner slept alone in a small cell with iron bars. And around the island was the cold, fast water. Everyone said: no one can swim across that water. No one can escape from Alcatraz.
The most famous prisoner was Al Capone. He was a very powerful criminal from Chicago. But on Alcatraz he was just another prisoner. He cleaned the floors like everyone else. For nearly thirty years, the guards said the same thing: no one has ever escaped from this prison and lived.
1. Where is Alcatraz, and why was it hard to escape from?
2. Who was the most famous prisoner there?
1. It is a small island in the sea near San Francisco. The water around it was very cold and fast, there were many guards, and the guards counted the prisoners many times a day.
2. Al Capone, a very powerful and famous criminal from Chicago.
In 1960, a criminal named Frank Morris came to Alcatraz. He was very clever, and he wanted to escape. He met two brothers, John and Clarence Anglin, and a fourth man. Together, they made a secret plan. They worked on it for more than a year.
At the back of each cell there was a small hole for air. The wall around the hole was old and soft. Every night, when the music played loudly, the men made the hole bigger. They used spoons from the kitchen and a small home-made tool. Behind the cells there was a space that the guards did not watch. The men used this space like a secret workshop.
The men were very clever. They took more than fifty raincoats and made a small boat from them. They made air-vests too. And they made fake heads to look like real people. They made the heads from soap, paper and real hair. Every night, they put a fake head on the pillow. So the guards looked in and thought: "Good, the men are asleep."
1. How did the men make the hole in the wall bigger without the guards hearing?
2. What did the men make from soap, paper and hair, and why?
1. They used spoons and a small home-made tool, and they worked at night when the music was playing loudly, so the guards did not hear them.
2. They made fake heads. They put them on the pillows so the guards thought the men were asleep in their beds.
On the night of 11 June 1962, the plan began. Morris and the two brothers put their fake heads on the pillows. Then they went through the holes at the back of their cells and up to the roof. The fourth man could not open his hole in time, so he stayed in the prison. Later, he told the police everything.
The three men came down from the roof. They put their small boat in the cold water and started to move away from the island. In the morning, the guards saw the fake heads and thought all was well. So the men had a lot of time. Then the guards found the truth, and a very big search began. But the police found nothing — no men, and no boat on the other side.
What happened to the three men? Nobody knows. Maybe the cold water was too strong and they died. But nobody ever found their bodies. Some people say they saw the men later. The case is still open today. And Alcatraz? The prison closed in 1963. It was too old and too expensive. Today it is empty, and the question is still there: did the three men escape, or did the water win?
1. What happened to the fourth man on the night of the escape?
2. Why is the end of the story a mystery?
1. He could not open his hole in time, so he had to stay in the prison. Later he told the police everything.
2. The three men were never seen again, and no one found their bodies or their boat. Maybe they died in the water, or maybe they escaped — nobody knows.
This story is full of how: the men worked quietly, the water moved fast, the guards looked carefully. Words that say how we do something are called adverbs of manner.
Change the adjective in brackets into an adverb (with -ly).
1. The men worked at night. (quiet)
2. They moved across the room. (slow)
3. The guard looked at the beds . (careful)
4. They opened the hole . (easy)
1. quietly (quiet + ly)
2. slowly (slow + ly)
3. carefully (careful + ly)
4. easily (easy → easily: y becomes i)
Choose the correct word for each sentence.
1. The water was very cold. It moved (fast / fastly).
2. The plan was good. It worked (good / well).
3. Frank Morris was clever. He planned everything (clever / cleverly).
1. fast ("fast" does not change)
2. well (good → well)
3. cleverly (clever + ly)
Fill each gap with an adverb of manner. Use the adjective in brackets. Read it aloud when you finish.
Every night the men worked (quiet) on the wall. They cut the hole (slow), because it was very hard. On the last night, they climbed to the roof (careful) and went down to the water.
quietly · slowly · carefully
Remember: adjective + -ly = adverb of manner. It tells us how they did it.
There is a real podcast about Alcatraz. It is for native speakers, so it is fast and quite difficult — that is normal! You do not need to understand every word.
From the Noiser podcast network. About 50 minutes. It plays on the Noiser site, or search "Short History Of Alcatraz" on Spotify.
Play on Noiser →Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Alcatraz in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a cold island prison near San Francisco → the most dangerous criminals, like Al Capone → Frank Morris and the two brothers and their secret plan → the fake heads and the boat from raincoats → the night of the escape and the mystery.
Try to use some adverbs of manner (quietly, slowly, carefully) and some of the key words (prison, guard, cell, wall, boat, cold, plan, spoon).
The three men swam into very cold, dangerous water. Was this a good idea, or a bad idea? What would you do — stay in the prison, or try to escape? Say why.
Tell a story of your own — a time when someone did something slowly, quietly and cleverly. Use adverbs of manner to say how they did it.
Not sure what to talk about? Choose one: