The Reading / Listening - Mass Wedding - Level 5

Six thousand couples did not let the coronavirus deter them from celebrating their happy day. The brides and grooms attended a mass wedding ceremony in South Korea on Friday, despite the health scare from the coronavirus. The couples came from sixty countries around the world to attend. There were 24,000 guests at the wedding; some renewing their marriage vows and others watching loved ones tie the knot. The church was prepared for the large-scale event. Staff handed out sanitizer and surgical masks to all attendees. They also checked the temperature of the couples.

The Unification Church is famous for its mass weddings. It was founded in 1954 and the weddings started in 1961. Hundreds of thousands of couples have walked down the aisle. Some couples were matched and met for the first time at the ceremony. One newlywed spoke about marrying amid the spread of the coronavirus. He said: "I'm very happy to attend this deeply blessed joint wedding. Since coronavirus is going around these days, I wore a mask to be on the safe side." A 23-year-old bride said: "I didn't put on a mask because I wanted to be beautiful for my husband."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Mass Wedding - Level 4 or  Mass Wedding - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-southkorea-masswedding-idUSKBN2010TJ
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/03/moonies-mass-wedding-south-korea-unification-church-hak-ja-han-sun-myung-moon
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51414560


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. celebrating their
  2. despite the health
  3. marriage
  4. watching loved ones tie
  5. The church was prepared for the
  6. Staff handed
  7. surgical
  8. checked the temperature
  1. out sanitizer
  2. vows
  3. of the couples
  4. happy day
  5. masks
  6. scare
  7. large-scale event
  8. the knot

Paragraph 2

  1. famous for its
  2. couples have walked
  3. met for the first time
  4. amid the spread
  5. deeply
  6. I wore a mask to be on the
  7. I didn't put
  8. I wanted to be beautiful
  1. at the ceremony
  2. of the coronavirus
  3. for my husband
  4. safe side
  5. on a mask
  6. blessed
  7. mass weddings
  8. down the aisle

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Six thousand couples (1) ___________________ the coronavirus deter them from celebrating (2) ___________________. The brides and grooms attended a mass wedding ceremony in South Korea on Friday, (3) ___________________ scare from the coronavirus. The couples came from sixty countries around the world to attend. There were 24,000 guests at the wedding; some renewing their (4) ___________________ others watching loved ones (5) ___________________. The church was prepared for the large-scale event. Staff (6) ___________________ and surgical masks to all attendees. They also checked the temperature of the couples.

The Unification Church (7) ___________________ its mass weddings. It was founded in 1954 and the weddings started in 1961. Hundreds of thousands of couples have walked (8) ___________________. Some couples were matched and met for (9) ___________________ at the ceremony. One newlywed spoke about marrying (10) ___________________ of the coronavirus. He said: "I'm very happy to attend (11) ___________________ joint wedding. Since coronavirus is going around these days, I wore a mask to be on (12) ___________________." A 23-year-old bride said: "I didn't put on a mask because I wanted to be beautiful for my husband."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Sixthousandcouplesdidnotletthecoronavirusdeterthemfromcelebra
tingtheirhappyday.Thebridesandgroomsattendedamassweddingce
remonyinSouthKoreaonFriday,despitethehealthscarefromthecoron
avirus.Thecouplescamefromsixtycountriesaroundtheworldtoattend
.Therewere24,000guestsatthewedding;somerenewingtheirmarriag
evowsandotherswatchinglovedonestietheknot.Thechurchwasprepa
redforthelarge-scaleevent.Staffhandedoutsanitizerandsurgicalma
skstoallattendees.Theyalsocheckedthetemperatureofthecouples.T
heUnificationChurchisfamousforitsmassweddings.Itwasfoundedin1
954andtheweddingsstartedin1961.Hundredsofthousandsofcouples
havewalkeddowntheaisle.Somecoupleswerematchedandmetfor
thefirsttimeattheceremony.Onenewlywedspokeaboutmarryingami
dthespreadofthecoronavirus.Hesaid:"I'mveryhappytoattendthisde
eplyblessedjointwedding.Sincecoronavirusisgoingaroundthesedays
,Iworeamasktobeonthesafeside."A23-year-oldbridesaid:"Ididn'tp
utonamaskbecauseIwantedtobebeautifulformyhusband."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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