Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Royal Wedding

Millions of Britons are in celebratory mood ahead of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The good cheer created by the event may soon disappear after it as people read about the wedding’s impact on the British economy. The LA Times reckons the celebration will cost the UK economy around $10 billion. Most of this will be due to a loss of productivity as the country embarks on its second four-day holiday in a row, following the Easter break last weekend. Many people have decided to take off the three days in between as holiday to have eleven consecutive days off. This bad news for the economy comes at a time when the British economy is struggling to deal with its massive debt. Politicians are also arguing over whether or not the economy is growing.

The royal event is being billed as the wedding of the century and the biggest since William’s father, Prince Charles, married Princess Diana 30 years ago. The wedding will be televised to a global audience of around two billion people, making it one of the most-watched world events in history. The pomp and pageantry of the day will generate an estimated $850 million in souvenir sales and visits to royal castles. Many Britons are asking why they have to foot much of the bill for the wedding. Taxpayers will have to fork out over $30 million for the enormous security operation along the route of the wedding procession and in other areas of London. Terrorist threats are being taken seriously and many groups have promised to protest in the English capital.

WARM-UPS

1. WEDDINGS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about weddings. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

Britons / celebratory mood / Prince William / productivity / struggling / massive debt / wedding / century / global audience / souvenirs / taxpayers / procession / security

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. WEDDING: How could they be better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Improvements
Clothes
Place
Party
Vow
Presents
Guests

4. TAXPAYERS: Students A strongly believe the British taxpayers should pay for the royal wedding; Students B strongly believe the royal family should pay for it. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. CELEBRATORY: What’s cause for the biggest celebration in your country? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

A national sports success
A wedding of the elite
A religious festival
The announcement of a holiday

A technological achievement
Troops returning home from a war
A weather event
A new government

6. DEBT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘debt’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Britons are happy about the wedding, until they find out the cost.	T / F
b.	The wedding cost around $10 billion to put on.	T / F
c.	There have been eleven days of holidays to celebrate the wedding.	T / F
d.	British politicians agree that their economy is growing.	T / F
e.	The wedding is Britain’s biggest for three decades.	T / F
f.	Over $850 million of souvenirs will remain unsold.	T / F
g.	Britons are questioning why they should have to pay for the wedding.	T / F
h.	Protestors in the UK have promised no protests on the wedding day.	T / F

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

1.	celebratory	a.	starts
2	impact	b.	battling
3.	reckons	c.	pay
4.	embarks	d.	effect
5.	struggling	e.	broadcast
6.	billed	f.	festive
7.	televised	g.	vowed
8.	generate	h.	believes
9.	fork out	i.	publicized
10.	promised	j.	create

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	Britons are in celebratory	a.	days off
2	The good cheer created	b.	wedding of the century
3.	Most of this will be due to a	c.	by the event
4.	have eleven consecutive	d.	its massive debt
5.	struggling to deal with	e.	wedding procession
6.	billed as the	f.	mood
7.	televised	g.	loss of productivity
8.	pomp and	h.	bill for the wedding
9.	they have to foot much of the	i.	pageantry
10.	along the route of the	j.	to a global audience

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Millions of Britons are in celebratory (1) ____________ ahead of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The good (2) ____________ created by the event may soon disappear after it as people read about the wedding’s (3) ____________ on the British economy. The LA Times reckons the celebration will cost the UK economy around $10 billion. Most of this will be (4) ____________ to a loss of productivity as the country embarks on its second four-day holiday in a (5) ____________, following the Easter break last weekend. Many people have decided to take off the three days in between as holiday to have eleven (6) ____________ days off. This bad news for the economy comes at a time when the British economy is (7) ____________ to deal with its massive debt. Politicians are also arguing over (8) ____________ or not the economy is growing.

due
struggling
cheer
whether
impact
mood
row
consecutive

The royal event is being (9) ____________ as the wedding of the century and the biggest since William’s father, Prince Charles, married Princess Diana 30 years ago. The wedding will be (10) ____________ to a global audience of around two billion people, making it one of the most-(11) ____________ world events in history. The pomp and pageantry of the day will generate an (12) ____________ $850 million in souvenir sales and visits to royal castles. Many Britons are asking why they have to (13) ____________ much of the bill for the wedding. Taxpayers will have to (14) ____________ out over $30 million for the enormous security operation along the route of the wedding (15) ____________ and in other areas of London. Terrorist threats are being taken (16) ____________ and many groups have promised to protest in the English capital.

estimated
seriously
televised
fork
watched
procession
billed
foot

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Millions of Britons are ___________________________ of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. ________________________ by the event may soon disappear after it as people read about ________________________ the British economy. The LA Times reckons the celebration will cost the UK economy around $10 billion. Most of this ________________________ productivity as the country embarks on its second four-day holiday in a row, following the Easter break last weekend. Many people have decided to take off the three days in between as holiday to have ________________________. This bad news for the economy comes at a time when the British economy is struggling to deal with its massive debt. Politicians are also ________________________ not the economy is growing.

The royal event ________________________ wedding of the century and the biggest since William’s father, Prince Charles, married Princess Diana 30 years ago. The wedding will be televised ________________________ around two billion people, making it one of the most-watched world events in history. The ________________________ the day will generate an estimated $850 million in souvenir sales and visits to royal castles. Many Britons are asking why they have to ________________________ for the wedding. Taxpayers will have to fork out over $30 million for the enormous security operation ________________________ wedding procession and in other areas of London. Terrorist threats are being taken seriously and many groups ________________________ in the English capital.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

royal

wedding

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

mood
cheer
due
three
deal
whether

century
30
world
pomp
foot
capital

STUDENT WEDDINGS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about weddings in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

WEDDINGS DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘royal wedding’?
c)	What do you think of the wedding?
d)	Do you have good memories of all the weddings you’ve attended?
e)	When was the last time you were in a celebratory mood?
f)	Would you be happy if your economy lost $10 billion because of an elite wedding?
g)	Should the British government have announced a national holiday for the wedding when its economy is doing so poorly?
h)	What do you think of Prince William and Kate Middleton?
i)	Is the wedding good news in a world that is experiencing so much bad news?
j)	What three adjectives describe the royal wedding, and why?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Is it the wedding of the century?
c)	What do you know about William’s parents Prince Charles and Diana?
d)	Why are so many people interested in the wedding?
e)	Do you think Britain is best at pomp and pageantry?
f)	What do you think of royal souvenirs?
g)	Do you think it’s right British taxpayers must pay for the security?
h)	Do you think William and Kate will be a good royal couple?
i)	What three wishes would you give to the happy couple?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Prince William and Kate?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Millions of Britons are in (1) ____ mood ahead of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The good (2) ____ created by the event may soon disappear after it as people read about the wedding’s impact on the British economy. The LA Times reckons the celebration will cost the UK economy around $10 billion. Most of this will be (3) ____ to a loss of productivity as the country embarks on its second four-day holiday in a (4) ____, following the Easter break last weekend. Many people have decided to take off the three days in between as holiday to have eleven consecutive days (5) ____. This bad news for the economy comes at a time when the British economy is struggling to (6) ____ with its massive debt. Politicians are also arguing over whether or not the economy is growing.

The royal event is being (7) ____ as the wedding of the century and the biggest since William’s father, Prince Charles, married Princess Diana 30 years ago. The wedding will be televised (8) ____ a global audience of around two billion people, making it one of the most-watched world events in history. The pomp and pageantry of the day will generate an (9) ____ $850 million in souvenir sales and visits to royal castles. Many Britons are asking why they have to (10) ____ much of the bill for the wedding. Taxpayers will have to fork out over $30 million for the enormous security operation along the (11) ____ of the wedding procession and in other areas of London. Terrorist (12) ____ are being taken seriously and many groups have promised to protest in the English capital.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	celebrates	(b)	celebration	(c)	celebrated	(d)	celebratory
2.	(a)	cheer	(b)	charm	(c)	chasm	(d)	chide
3.	(a)	because	(b)	due	(c)	for	(d)	so
4.	(a)	now	(b)	low	(c)	row	(d)	vow
5.	(a)	on	(b)	up	(c)	off	(d)	down
6.	(a)	take	(b)	deal	(c)	dive	(d)	stand
7.	(a)	billing	(b)	bills	(c)	bill	(d)	billed
8.	(a)	to	(b)	on	(c)	up	(d)	from
9.	(a)	guessed	(b)	estimated	(c)	esteemed	(d)	about
10.	(a)	mouth	(b)	finger	(c)	stomach	(d)	foot
11.	(a)	root	(b)	rout	(c)	route	(d)	rote
12.	(a)	threats	(b)	treats	(c)	throats	(d)	threatens

WRITING

Write about weddings for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 out more about the cost of the royal wedding. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. WEDDINGS: Make a poster about weddings. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. BRITONS: Write a magazine article about two Britons’ thoughts on the royal wedding. One loves it, the other doesn’t.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Prince William or Kate Middleton. Ask him/her three questions about their wedding. Give him/her three pieces of advice on how to be successful in a royal marriage. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	celebratory	a.	festive
2	impact	b.	effect
3.	reckons	c.	believes
4.	embarks	d.	starts
5.	struggling	e.	battling
6.	billed	f.	publicized
7.	televised	g.	broadcast
8.	generate	h.	create
9.	fork out	i.	pay
10.	promised	j.	vowed

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	Britons are in celebratory	a.	mood
2	The good cheer created	b.	by the event
3.	Most of this will be due to a	c.	loss of productivity
4.	have eleven consecutive	d.	days off
5.	struggling to deal with	e.	its massive debt
6.	billed as the	f.	wedding of the century
7.	televised	g.	to a global audience
8.	pomp and	h.	pageantry
9.	they have to foot much of the	i.	bill for the wedding
10.	along the route of the	j.	wedding procession

GAP FILL:

Royal wedding likely to hurt UK economy

Millions of Britons are in celebratory (1) mood ahead of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The good (2) cheer created by the event may soon disappear after it as people read about the wedding’s (3) impact on the British economy. The LA Times reckons the celebration will cost the UK economy around $10 billion. Most of this will be (4) due to a loss of productivity as the country embarks on its second four-day holiday in a (5) row, following the Easter break last weekend. Many people have decided to take off the three days in between as holiday to have eleven (6) consecutive days off. This bad news for the economy comes at a time when the British economy is (7) struggling to deal with its massive debt. Politicians are also arguing over (8) whether or not the economy is growing.

The royal event is being (9) billed as the wedding of the century and the biggest since William’s father, Prince Charles, married Princess Diana 30 years ago. The wedding will be (10) televised to a global audience of around two billion people, making it one of the most-(11) watched world events in history. The pomp and pageantry of the day will generate an (12) estimated $850 million in souvenir sales and visits to royal castles. Many Britons are asking why they have to (13) foot much of the bill for the wedding. Taxpayers will have to (14) fork out over $30 million for the enormous security operation along the route of the wedding (15) procession and in other areas of London. Terrorist threats are being taken (16) seriously and many groups have promised to protest in the English capital.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

Breaking News English

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13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities

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Royal Wedding Likely to Hurt UK Economy (28th April, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT WEDDINGS SURVEY

WEDDINGS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Royal wedding likely to hurt UK economy

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Sean Banville's Book

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My 1,000 Ideas e-Book	Breaking News English HOME \| HELP MY SITE \| 000s MORE FREE LESSONS	My 1,000 Ideas e-Book

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF Handout - with all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:00 - 963KB)

Royal Wedding Likely to Hurt UK Economy (28th April, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT WEDDINGS SURVEY

WEDDINGS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Royal wedding likely to hurt UK economy

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities