Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has given birth to a baby boy. The child was born two weeks early but is doing very well.  He is second in line to become Danish king, after his father Crown Prince Frederik. Frederik was by his wife’s side at the birth. He said: “It is a tremendous joy. It is impossible to describe.” The couple has not yet named their new baby. It is expected they will follow Danish tradition in calling him Christian. Danish kings are alternately called Christian or Frederik. The sound of cannon fire echoed around Denmark to celebrate the royal arrival.

The birth of the new baby continues this happy and modern day fairy tale. The princess was born in Australia as Mary Donaldson. She was a real estate agent. She met the Danish prince in a bar during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and love soon blossomed. The handsome prince swept his future princess off her feet in a whirlwind romance. The two married in May 2004 in a beautiful wedding at Copenhagen Cathedral. Members of royal families and VIPs from around the world attended the ceremony. Mary is the first Australian to become a European princess.

WARM-UPS

1. BOY OR GIRL? If you had a baby, would you prefer a boy or a girl? Why? What are the differences between boys and girls? What would you name the baby? What names would you not choose?

2. WHO TO MARRY? Which of the following people do you think it would be best, most interesting or most exciting to marry? Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each choice with your partners.

A prince or princess A billionaire business person Your favorite sports star Your favorite actor or singer

The leader of your country An explorer A supermodel An English teacher

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Princesses / Denmark / baby boys / fathers / tremendous joy / celebrations / baby names / fairy tales / 2000 Sydney Olympics / royal weddings /  congratulations

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. FAIRY TALE: In pairs / groups, create a modern day fairy tale about a prince or princess and an average person. After you have finished, change partners and tell your stories. Give each other ideas to make your stories more wonderful.

5. PRINCE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “prince”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. ROYAL BABY OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, talk about what you think of these opinions on Denmark's royal baby:

1. Wonderful. This news makes everyone happy.
2. Who cares? It doesn’t change our lives.
3. Royal babies mean the world is unfair – not everyone is created equal.
4. Third world babies die without anyone knowing their names.
5. Royal families (and babies) do not belong in the 21^st Century.
6. A new royal baby means a country’s history and tradition can continue.
7. I’m a taxpayer and I don’t want my taxes to pay for another royal baby.
8. It’s good to have some nice news for a change. I’m tired of bad news.
9. Your opinion __________________________________________________.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A Danish princess has married a Spanish prince.	T / F
b.	A Danish prince missed seeing the birth of his child.	T / F
c.	Danish kings are called either Christian or Frederik.	T / F
d.	The sound of cannons could be heard around Denmark.	T / F
e.	The birth of a prince continues a modern day fairy tale.	T / F
f.	A dashing prince swept his future princess off her feet.	T / F
g.	A royal couple had a church wedding in 2004.	T / F
h.	Many VIPs attended the wedding.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	given birth to	property
b.	doing very well	pair
c.	birth	infant
d.	couple	very important person
e.	called	Aussie
f.	baby	developed
g.	real estate	in good health
h.	blossomed	named
i.	VIP	had
j.	Australian	delivery

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	given birth	agent
b.	He is second	at the birth
c.	Frederik was by his wife’s side	romance
d.	The sound of cannon fire	day fairy tale
e.	celebrate the	in line to become Danish king
f.	happy and modern	his future princess off her feet
g.	real estate	to a baby boy
h.	The handsome prince swept	echoed around Denmark
i.	a whirlwind	attended the ceremony
j.	VIPs from around the world	royal arrival

AFTER READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

A new prince for Denmark

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has ________ birth to a baby boy. The child was ________ two weeks early but is doing very ________.  He is second in line to become Danish king, after his ________ Crown Prince Frederik. Frederik was by his wife’s ________ at the birth. He said: “It is a tremendous joy. It is impossible to ________.” The couple has not yet named their new baby. It is expected they will ________ Danish tradition in calling him Christian. Danish kings are alternately called Christian or Frederik. The sound of cannon fire ________ around Denmark to celebrate the royal arrival.		well follow born side echoed given describe father
The birth of the new baby ________ this happy and modern day fairy tale. The princess was born in Australia as Mary Donaldson. She was a ________ estate agent. She met the Danish prince in a ________ during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and ________ soon blossomed. The handsome prince ________ his future princess off her feet in a whirlwind ________. The two married in May 2004 in a beautiful wedding at Copenhagen Cathedral. Members of royal families and ________ from around the world attended the ceremony. Mary is the ________ Australian to become a European princess.		swept VIPs bar first continues romance real love

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

A new prince for Denmark

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has ______ ______ to a baby boy. The child was born two weeks early but is doing very well.  He is second ___ _____ to become Danish king, after his father Crown Prince Frederik. Frederik was by his ________ _____ at the birth. He said: “It is a tremendous joy. It is impossible to describe.” The couple has not yet named their new baby. It is expected they will ________ Danish __________ in calling him Christian. Danish kings are alternately called Christian or Frederik. The sound of cannon fire echoed around Denmark to ___________ the royal ___________.

The birth of the new baby ___________ this happy and modern day fairy tale. The princess was born in Australia as Mary Donaldson. She was a _____ ______ agent. She met the Danish prince in a bar during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and love soon blossomed. The handsome prince ________ his future princess ____ ____ _____ in a whirlwind romance. The two married in May 2004 in a beautiful wedding at Copenhagen Cathedral. Members of royal families and ______ from around the world attended the ceremony. Mary is ____ ______ Australian to become a European princess.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘baby’ and ‘boy’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “ROYAL FAMILY” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about royal families and their role in the 21^st Century.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

given second side describe follow echoed

fairy agent blossomed whirlwind VIPs European

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of the news of Denmark having a new prince?
3. What do you know about Denmark?
4. What do you know about the Danish royal family?
5. Do you agree with the idea of royal families?
6. What kinds or roles should a royal family play in today’s society?
7. What do you think of this fairy tale, modern day romance?
8. Do you think the couple should follow tradition and call their baby Christian?
9. Have you ever been swept off your feet or swept anyone off their feet?
10. Would you like a Cathedral wedding attended by VIPs?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Would you like to be a member of a royal family?
4. What kind of life will the new baby have?
5. Is the birth of a baby in your country celebrated with such national attention and affection?
6. Do you think it is unfair that this baby will have a rich life and other babies around the world have a poor life?
7. Do you think royals should get taxpayers’ money?
8. Have you ever had a whirlwind romance?
9. When was the last time you experienced tremendous joy?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ROYAL ADVISOR: You are the royal advisor of the new Danish prince. It is your job to make decisions about his future. In pairs / groups, discuss and make decisions on the areas in the left hand column regarding the life of the new prince. State your reasons in the right hand column.
 

AREA	DECISION(S)	REASON(S)
Name
Roles and duties in life
Schools
Hobbies and interests
Relationships
Career
Sources of income
Other

Change partners and tell each other the decisions you made and the reasons behind your decisions.

Decide which of your decisions are best.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY 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 the new Danish prince. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. LIFE: Make a poster describing the kinds of lives two different babies born today might have. One baby is the newborn Danish prince. The other baby was born at the same time in a poor village in Sudan. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all describe similar things?

4. DIARY / JOURNAL: You are the member of a royal family. Write the entry in your diary / journal for one day in your life. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. T

d. T

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	given birth to	had
b.	doing very well	in good health
c.	birth	delivery
d.	couple	pair
e.	called	named
f.	baby	infant
g.	real estate	property
h.	blossomed	developed
i.	VIP	very important person
j.	Australian	Aussie

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	given birth	to a baby boy
b.	He is second	in line to become Danish king
c.	Frederik was by his wife’s side	at the birth
d.	The sound of cannon fire	echoed around Denmark
e.	celebrate the	royal arrival
f.	happy and modern	day fairy tale
g.	real estate	agent
h.	The handsome prince swept	his future princess off her feet
i.	a whirlwind	romance
j.	VIPs from around the world	attended the ceremony

GAP FILL:

A new prince for Denmark

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has given birth to a baby boy. The child was born two weeks early but is doing very well.  He is second in line to become Danish king, after his father Crown Prince Frederik. Frederik was by his wife’s side at the birth. He said: “It is a tremendous joy. It is impossible to describe.” The couple has not yet named their new baby. It is expected they will follow Danish tradition in calling him Christian. Danish kings are alternately called Christian or Frederik. The sound of cannon fire echoed around Denmark to celebrate the royal arrival.

The birth of the new baby continues this happy and modern day fairy tale. The princess was born in Australia as Mary Donaldson. She was a real estate agent. She met the Danish prince in a bar during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and love soon blossomed. The handsome prince swept his future princess off her feet in a whirlwind romance. The two married in May 2004 in a beautiful wedding at Copenhagen Cathedral. Members of royal families and VIPs from around the world attended the ceremony. Mary is the first Australian to become a European princess.

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