Breaking News English

        

1. WEDDING GIFTS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about wedding gifts. 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.

newlyweds / surprises / guests / celebrations / monarch / wedding venue / too busy / phenomenal / memorable moments / scary / married / arranged / congratulate

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. WEDDING GUESTS: Who would you like to invite and why? Complete this table and share what you wrote with your partner(s). Change and share again.

	Who?	Why?
Actor
Royalty
Business leader
Religious leader
Sports person
Other _________

4. PHENOMENAL: Students A strongly believe it would be phenomenal for Britain’s Queen to drop in on their wedding; Students B strongly believe otherwise.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
5. GIFT: What wedding gift is best? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

iPad refrigerator gift vouchers one-night in a luxury hotel

jewelry oil painting TV charity donation

6. SURPRISE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘surprise’. 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.	A bride & groom were not surprised the Queen went to their wedding.	T / F
b.	The Queen was attending another event at the wedding venue.	T / F
c.	The couple booked their wedding venue hoping to see the Queen.	T / F
d.	The couple wrote to the Queen to invite her to their wedding.	T / F
e.	The groom wasn’t so happy that the Queen dropped in on his wedding.	T / F
f.	The bride said the Queen didn’t speak to her at the wedding.	T / F
g.	Arrangements for the Queen to go to the wedding were made long ago.	T / F
h.	The Queen stayed long enough to be in the wedding photos.	T / F

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

1.	newlywed	a.	place
2.	turned up	b.	developed
3.	celebrations	c.	planned
4.	venue	d.	arrived
5.	informing	e.	unforgettable
6.	phenomenal	f.	recently married
7.	memorable	g.	frightening
8.	scary	h.	extraordinary
9.	unfolded	i.	festivities
10.	arranged	j.	telling

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

1.	A newlywed couple got the surprise	a.	for the invite
2.	Queen Elizabeth turned	b.	unfolded
3.	part of the celebrations	c.	wedding venue
4.	they had booked the	d.	phenomenal
5.	thanking them	e.	up as a guest
6.	it was just	f.	all the best
7.	a bit scary	g.	for pictures
8.	wished us	h.	of their life
9.	explained how events	i.	but lovely
10.	pose	j.	for her Diamond Jubilee

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

A newlywed couple got the (1) ____________ of their              (2) ____________ at their wedding when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth (3) ____________ up as a guest. John and Frances Canning were married at Manchester’s Town Hall on Friday. In the same building the Queen and her husband Prince Phillip were at a lunch as (4) ____________ of the celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee – sixty years as the British (5) ____________. The Cannings found out that the Queen would be at the town hall at the same time as their wedding after they had booked the wedding (6) ____________. They decided to write to Buckingham Palace inviting the Queen to their wedding. They received a letter back from a palace (7) ____________ thanking them for the invite and (8) ____________ them the Queen would be too busy.		official life part informing surprise monarch turned venue
John Canning said it was "just (9) ____________" and "one of the most memorable (10) ____________ of my life". Frances Canning said: "It was a bit scary but lovely.” She said the Queen “was beautiful - a really nice woman, and wished us all the                (11) ____________." She added: “Basically, it was a wedding gift for us." Mr Canning explained how events (12) ____________ at the wedding, saying: “After we'd got married, we walked through our guests into the middle room where we were going to         (13) ____________ five minutes together. The gentleman from the Town Hall came up and said the Queen had                      (14) ____________ to meet us. Little did we know it had already been arranged a long time before.” The Queen also made time to (15) ____________ for pictures with and congratulate the happy (16) ____________.		agreed best couple phenomenal spend moments pose unfolded

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A newlywed couple got the ______________________ at their wedding when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth ______________________. John and Frances Canning were married at Manchester’s Town Hall on Friday. In the same building the Queen and her husband Prince Phillip were at a lunch as ______________________ for her Diamond Jubilee – sixty years as the British monarch. The Cannings ______________________ Queen would be at the town hall at the same time as their wedding after they had ______________________. They decided to write to Buckingham Palace inviting the Queen to their wedding. They received a letter back from a palace official thanking them for the ______________________ them the Queen would be too busy.
John Canning said it was "______________________" and "one of the most memorable moments of my life". Frances Canning said: "It was a ______________________.” She said the Queen “was beautiful - a really nice woman, and wished us all the best." She added: “Basically, it was a wedding gift for us." Mr Canning explained how ______________________ the wedding, saying: “After we'd got married, we walked through our guests into the middle room where we were ______________________ minutes together. The gentleman from the Town Hall came up and said the Queen ______________________ us. Little did we know it had already been arranged a long time before.” The Queen also made time ______________________ with and congratulate the happy couple.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

turn

up

• 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:

life turned lunch booked write busy

just bit best spend little happy

WEDDING PRESENTS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about wedding presents 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.

 
 

WEDDING PRESENTS 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 word ‘wedding’?
c)	Do you like weddings?
d)	What do you think of the Queen making a surprise visit to someone’s wedding?
e)	Would you be excited it royalty dropped in on your wedding?
f)	What kind of weddings are best?
g)	What’s the best present to give newlyweds?
h)	Should the British Queen drop in on more celebrations to surprise people?
i)	What’s the strangest wedding present you’ve heard of?

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a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What three adjectives would you use to describe this story?
c)	Do you think a visit from the British queen on your wedding day would be phenomenal?
d)	What is one of the most memorable moments of your life?
e)	What would be your ideal wedding gift?
f)	Do you think the Queen should have bought the Cannings a wedding present?
g)	Which surprise guest would you love to be (have been) at your wedding?
h)	Is it better to give money or a present as a wedding gift?
i)	What questions would you like to ask the Cannings?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

A newlywed couple got the surprise of their (1) ____ at their wedding when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth (2) ____ up as a guest. John and Frances Canning were married at Manchester’s Town Hall on Friday. In the same building the Queen and her husband Prince Phillip were at a lunch as (3) ____ of the celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee – sixty years as the British (4) ____. The Cannings found out that the Queen would be at the town hall at the same time as their wedding after they had booked the wedding (5) ____. They decided to write to Buckingham Palace inviting the Queen to their wedding. They received a letter back from a palace official thanking them for the (6) ____ and informing them the Queen would be too busy.
John Canning said it was "(7) ____ phenomenal" and "one of the most memorable moments of my life". Frances Canning said: "It was a (8) ____ scary but lovely.” She said the Queen “was beautiful - a really nice woman, and wished us all the    (9) ____." She added: “Basically, it was a wedding gift for us." Mr Canning explained how events (10) ____ at the wedding, saying: “After we'd got married, we walked through our guests into the middle room where we were going to spend five minutes together. The gentleman from the Town Hall came up and said the Queen had (11) ____ to meet us. Little did we know it had already been arranged a long time before.” The Queen also made time to (12) ____ for pictures with and congratulate the happy couple.
Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	life	(b)	lively	(c)	living	(d)	livelihood
2.	(a)	spun	(b)	turned	(c)	wheeled	(d)	circled
3.	(a)	event	(b)	extra	(c)	part	(d)	agenda
4.	(a)	munchies	(b)	machinate	(c)	machismo	(d)	monarch
5.	(a)	nuance	(b)	vendetta	(c)	unique	(d)	venue
6.	(a)	slight	(b)	spite	(c)	invite	(d)	convict
7.	(a)	just	(b)	justice	(c)	justly	(d)	justify
8.	(a)	bet	(b)	bit	(c)	bat	(d)	but
9.	(a)	well	(b)	good	(c)	best	(d)	nice
10.	(a)	unfolded	(b)	folded	(c)	folders	(d)	folding
11.	(a)	aggrieved	(b)	aggregated	(c)	aground	(d)	agreed
12.	(a)	dose	(b)	pose	(c)	hose	(d)	rose

 
 

WRITING

Write about wedding presents for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.
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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 wedding presents. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. WEDDING PRESENTS: Make a poster about wedding presents. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. SPECIAL GUEST: Write a magazine article about this wedding. Include imaginary interviews with the Queen and the happy couple.
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 the Queen. Ask her three questions about wedding presents. Give her three ideas on the best presents. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

F

d.

T

e.

F

f.

F

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	newlywed	a.	recently married
2.	turned up	b.	arrived
3.	celebrations	c.	festivities
4.	venue	d.	place
5.	informing	e.	telling
6.	phenomenal	f.	extraordinary
7.	memorable	g.	unforgettable
8.	scary	h.	frightening
9.	unfolded	i.	developed
10.	arranged	j.	planned

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	A newlywed couple got the surprise	a.	of their life
2.	Queen Elizabeth turned	b.	up as a guest
3.	part of the celebrations	c.	for her Diamond Jubilee
4.	they had booked the	d.	wedding venue
5.	thanking them	e.	for the invite
6.	it was just	f.	phenomenal
7.	a bit scary	g.	but lovely
8.	wished us	h.	all the best
9.	explained how events	i.	unfolded
10.	pose	j.	for pictures

GAP FILL:

British Queen drops in on wedding

A newlywed couple got the (1) surprise of their (2) life at their wedding when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth (3) turned up as a guest. John and Frances Canning were married at Manchester’s Town Hall on Friday. In the same building the Queen and her husband Prince Phillip were at a lunch as (4) part of the celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee – sixty years as the British (5) monarch. The Cannings found out that the Queen would be at the town hall at the same time as their wedding after they had booked the wedding (6) venue. They decided to write to Buckingham Palace inviting the Queen to their wedding. They received a letter back from a palace (7) official thanking them for the invite and (8) informing them the Queen would be too busy.
John Canning said it was "just (9) phenomenal" and "one of the most memorable (10) moments of my life". Frances Canning said: "It was a bit scary but lovely.” She said the Queen “was beautiful - a really nice woman, and wished us all the (11) best." She added: “Basically, it was a wedding gift for us." Mr Canning explained how events (12) unfolded at the wedding, saying: “After we'd got married, we walked through our guests into the middle room where we were going to (13) spend five minutes together. The gentleman from the Town Hall came up and said the Queen had (14) agreed to meet us. Little did we know it had already been arranged a long time before.” The Queen also made time to (15) pose for pictures with and congratulate the happy (16) couple.
LANGUAGE WORK

1 - a

2 - b

3 - c

4 - d

5 - d

6 - c

7 - a

8 - b

9 - c

10 - a

11 - d

12 - b

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