Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Pop superstar Britney Spears is furious with the tabloid US Weekly Magazine over the publication of unauthorized photographs of her honeymoon. The magazine, which is more or less dedicated to celebrity gossip, offers readers, “The first-ever glimpse inside Britney Spears's post-wedding escape to a tropical island,” and claims the snaps inside are Britney’s “private honeymoon album”. Britney and her husband Kevin Federline specifically went to a Fijian island known for its seclusion and privacy to avoid the paparazzi. She allowed staff members of a resort to take photos for her as a souvenir of the honeymoon, “Unfortunately, staff members took photographs of us, which we allowed them to take once we were assured they were being taken only for private use in a scrap book they gave us as a souvenir.” Staff then sold the photos to US Weekly, which was only too happy to boost its profits by ignoring Britney’s privacy. Another magazine, Star, was also offered the photos, but refused to publish them. US Weekly hit back at claims of abusing privacy, accusing Britney of being greedy, “Coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter, it's unlikely the issue here is privacy. Could it be that Britney is seeing red after not seeing the green from these photos?” This again raises the issue of the legality of the paparazzi being able to hunt down celebrities and cash in on their superstar status.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Britney Spears / celebrity gossip / gossip magazines / honeymoons / Fiji / privacy / paparazzi…

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. BRITNEY BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Britney Spears. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. HONEYMOON BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘honeymoon’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

4. MY HONEYMOON: Talk about your perfect honeymoon with your partner. Where? How long? With whom? What will you do?

5. OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, discuss the following opinions:

1. Britney Spears is a superstar, therefore she shouldn’t be surprised if things like this happen.
2. Magazines like US Weekly are rubbish/trash/garbage.
3. Britney should sue US Weekly for big money.
4. Britney is a publicity seeker and is using the magazine to become more famous.
5. Who cares?
6. There should be strict laws concerning the paparazzi.
7. The resort should be named and shamed - the staff are the ones who took the photos.
8. I feel really sorry for Britney.
9. Fiji is the perfect honeymoon location.
10. If I were Britney, I would not be angry that my photos were in US Weekly.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘super’ and ‘star’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the he adline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. Britney Spears is very angry.  T / F
2. Britney Spears asked the tabloid US Weekly Magazine to publish photographs of her honeymoon.  T / F
3. US Weekly Magazine is famous for its high quality reporting.  T / F
4. Britney went to a Fijian island known for its seclusion and privacy to avoid the paparazzi.  T / F
5. Britney refused to allow staff members of a resort to take photos of her.  T / F
6. US Weekly photographers secretly took photos of Britney and her husband.  T / F
7. US Weekly has apologized to Britney and withdrawn the photos from publication.  T / F
8. This questions the legality of the paparazzi cashing in on superstars’ status.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	furious	peek
(b)	unauthorized	isolation
(c)	dedicated	photos
(d)	glimpse	furious
(e)	snaps	unofficial
(f)	seclusion	increase
(g)	assured	make money
(h)	boost	irate
(i)	seeing red	promised
(j)	cash in	devoted

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	pop	less dedicated to celebrity gossip
(b)	publication of	profits
(c)	more or	back
(d)	tropical	in on their superstar status
(e)	a Fijian island known for its	privacy
(f)	boost its	seclusion and privacy
(g)	ignoring Britney’s	superstar
(h)	US Weekly hit	red
(i)	Britney is seeing	unauthorized photographs
(j)	cash	island

5. DEFINITIONS: Choose the correct meaning, (a) or (b)

(a) furious (adj)
(i) unbelievably angry
(ii) having lots of bodily hair

(b) tabloid (n)
(i) a newspaper or magazine that hates gossip and focuses on real news
(ii) a newspaper or magazine that focuses on gossip more than real news

(c) unauthorized (adj)
(i) not allowed
(ii) not written in a book, magazine or newspaper

(d) gossip (n)
(i) stories or rumors about people that may or may not be true
(ii) a special romantic drink for honeymooners

(e) tropical (adj)
(i) an issue that everyone is talking about
(ii) a gorgeous, hot, place that looks like paradise

(f) specifically (adv)
(i) feelings of love and romance
(ii) just for that purpose or reason

(g) scrap book (n)
(i) magazines that are tied together and put out with the garbage / trash / rubbish
(ii) a book that has special photos or souvenirs pasted inside to keep one’s memories.

(h) souvenir (n)
(i) something you keep to remind you of a special time
(ii) a present from another country

(i) greedy (adj)
(i) unfair
(ii) being too hungry and demanding for money, food, drink, fame, success …

(j) see red (v)
(i) be very angry
(ii) be head over heels in love

   

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Britney Spears' fury at unauthorized honeymoon pics

Pop superstar Britney Spears is __________ with the tabloid US Weekly Magazine over the __________ of unauthorized photographs of her honeymoon. The magazine, which is more or less dedicated to celebrity gossip, offers readers, “The first-ever glimpse inside Britney Spears's post-wedding __________ to a tropical island,” and claims the snaps inside are Britney’s “private honeymoon album”. Britney and her husband Kevin Federline specifically went to a Fijian island __________ for its seclusion and privacy to avoid the paparazzi. She allowed staff members of a resort to take photos for her as a souvenir of the honeymoon, “Unfortunately, staff members took photographs of us, which we __________ them to take once we were assured they were being taken only for private use in a scrap book they gave us as a souvenir.” Staff then sold the photos to US Weekly, which was only too happy to boost its profits by __________ Britney’s privacy. Another magazine, Star, was also offered the photos, but refused to pu blish them. US Weekly hit back at claims of __________ privacy, accusing Britney of being greedy, “Coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter, it's unlikely the issue here is privacy. Could it be that Britney is seeing red after not seeing the green from these photos?” This again raises the issue of the __________ of the paparazzi being able to hunt down celebrities and cash in on their superstar status.

known publication abusing allowed legality furious ignoring escape

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘SUPER’/ ‘STAR’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. Do you like Britney Spears?
2. Who are your favorite celebrities?
3. Do you like gossip?
4. Do you read tabloid newspapers or magazines?
5. Should Britney be angry over the publication of the photos?
6. Do superstars have rights not to be photographed?
7. What do you think of the resort staff who sold the photos?
8. What do you think of US Weekly for publishing the photos?
9. Where is your perfect honeymoon escape?
10. Would you like to marry a superstar?
11. What would you do if paparazzi followed you everywhere, everyday, clicking away with their cameras?
12. What makes you see red?
13. Where do you go for seclusion and privacy?
14. When do you become greedy?
15. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on this story. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY HONEYMOON: Write a plan for your perfect honeymoon. Every detail in your plan must be VERY romantic.

4. LETTER TO US WEEKLY: Write a letter to the editor of the tabloid US Weekly telling him / her your opinion on the publication of these photographs.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Britney Spears is very angry.  T
2. Britney Spears asked the tabloid US Weekly Magazine to publish photographs of her honeymoon.  F
3. US Weekly Magazine is famous for its high quality reporting.  F
4. Britney went to a Fijian island known for its seclusion and privacy to avoid the paparazzi.  T
5. Britney refused to allow staff members of a resort to take photos of her.  F
6. US Weekly photographers secretly took photos of Britney and her husband.  F
7. US Weekly has apologized to Britney and withdrawn the photos from publication.  F
8. This questions the legality of the paparazzi cashing in on superstars’ status.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	furious	irate
(b)	unauthorized	unofficial
(c)	dedicated	devoted
(d)	glimpse	peek
(e)	snaps	photos
(f)	seclusion	isolation
(g)	assured	promised
(h)	boost	increase
(i)	seeing red	furious
(j)	cash in	make money

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	pop	superstar
(b)	publication of	unauthorized photographs
(c)	more or	less dedicated to celebrity gossip
(d)	tropical	island
(e)	a Fijian island known for its	seclusion and privacy
(f)	boost its	profits
(g)	ignoring Britney’s	privacy
(h)	US Weekly hit	back
(i)	Britney is seeing	red
(j)	cash	in on their superstar status

  

DEFINITIONS:

(a) furious (adj)
(i) unbelievably angry

(b) tabloid (n)
(ii) a newspaper or magazine that focuses on gossip more than real news

(c) unauthorized (adj)
(i) not allowed

(d) gossip (n)
(i) stories or rumors about people that may or may not be true

(e) tropical (adj)
(ii) a gorgeous, hot, place that looks like paradise

(f) specifically (adv)
(ii) just for that purpose or reason

(g) scrap book (n)
(ii) a book that has special photos or souvenirs pasted inside to keep one’s memories.

(h) souvenir (n)
(i) something you keep to remind you of a special time

(i) greedy (adj)
(ii) being too hungry and demanding for money, food, drink, fame, success …

(j) see red (v)
(i) be very angry

GAP FILL:

Britney Spears' fury at unauthorized honeymoon pics

Pop superstar Britney Spears is furious with the tabloid US Weekly Magazine over the publication of unauthorized photographs of her honeymoon. The magazine, which is more or less dedicated to celebrity gossip, offers readers, “The first-ever glimpse inside Britney Spears's post-wedding escape to a tropical island,” and claims the snaps inside are Britney’s “private honeymoon album”. Britney and her husband Kevin Federline specifically went to a Fijian island known for its seclusion and privacy to avoid the paparazzi. She allowed staff members of a resort to take photos for her as a souvenir of the honeymoon, “Unfortunately, staff members took photographs of us, which we allowed them to take once we were assured they were being taken only for private use in a scrap book they gave us as a souvenir.” Staff then sold the photos to US Weekly, which was only too happy to boost its profits by ignoring Britney’s privacy. Another magazine, Star, was also offered the photos, but refused to publish them. US Weekly hit back at claims of abusing privacy, accusing Britney of being greedy, “Coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter, it's unlikely the issue here is privacy. Could it be that Britney is seeing red after not seeing the green from these photos?” This again raises the issue of the legality of the paparazzi being able to hunt down celebrities and cash in on their superstar status.