The Reading / Listening - Karaoke - Level 1

A taxi driver is offering free rides for songs. Mr Tu, 57, is a big fan of karaoke. He loves listening to people sing. He is famous for his taxi's colourful, flashing disco lights and the pink neon star on its dashboard. People can choose a "karaoke" option on a taxi app in the capital Taipei. When Mr Tu's arrives, he will give you a microphone and an iPad for you to select the song you want to sing. He says people are braver to sing at night.

Mr Tu loves his job. He said: "No one is as lucky as me...rushing to go to work and not make any money." He has been a taxi driver for 27 years. He has given free rides for songs for eight years and has filmed over 10,000 videos. Some of Mr Tu's videos have been viewed over two million times. He said if people do not sing, they get no free ride. He is now a celebrity and has been on TV in 10 countries. His dream is for singer Ed Sheeran to be his passenger.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Karaoke - Level 0,  Karaoke - Level 2   or  Karaoke - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/04/training-their-courage-taiwan-taxi-driver-offers-free-rides-for-karaoke
  • https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/here-is-why-a-taxi-driver-in-taiwan-is-offering-free-rides-7133680/
  • https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/taxi-driver-in-taiwan-gives-free-rides-to-people-who-can-sing-karaoke/703045


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. A taxi driver is
  2. a big fan of
  3. He loves listening
  4. flashing
  5. choose a "karaoke" option
  6. he will give you a microphone
  7. select the song you
  8. people are braver to
  1. karaoke
  2. sing at night
  3. disco lights
  4. want to sing
  5. and an iPad
  6. offering free rides
  7. to people sing
  8. on a taxi app

Paragraph 2

  1. Mr Tu loves
  2. No one is as
  3. rushing to
  4. not make any
  5. filmed over
  6. viewed over two
  7. He is now a
  8. TV in 10
  1. 10,000 videos
  2. countries
  3. money
  4. lucky as me
  5. his job
  6. celebrity
  7. million times
  8. go to work

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A taxi driver is offering (1) ___________________ songs. Mr Tu, 57, is a big fan of karaoke. He (2) ___________________ people sing. He is (3) ___________________ taxi's colourful, flashing disco lights and the pink neon (4) ___________________ dashboard. People can choose a "karaoke" (5) ___________________ taxi app in the capital Taipei. When Mr Tu's arrives, he will give you a microphone and an iPad for you to (6) ___________________ you want to sing. He says people are braver to sing at night.

Mr Tu loves his job. He said: "No (7) ___________________ lucky as me...rushing to go to work and not (8) ___________________." He has been a taxi driver for 27 years. He has given free rides for songs for eight years (9) ___________________ over 10,000 videos. Some of Mr Tu's videos (10) ___________________ over two million times. He said if people do not sing, they get (11) ___________________. He is now a celebrity and has been on TV in 10 countries. His (12) ___________________ singer Ed Sheeran to be his passenger.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Ataxidriverisofferingfreeridesforsongs.MrTu,57,isabigfanofkaraoke
.Heloveslisteningtopeoplesing.Heisfamousforhistaxi'scolourful,flas
hingdiscolightsandthepinkneonstaronitsdashboard.Peoplecanchoo
sea"karaoke"optiononataxiappinthecapitalTaipei.WhenMrTu'sarriv
es,hewillgiveyouamicrophoneandaniPadforyoutoselectthesongyou
wanttosing.Hesayspeoplearebravertosingatnight.MrTuloveshisjob.
Hesaid:"Nooneisasluckyasme...rushingtogotoworkandnotmakeany
money."Hehasbeenataxidriverfor27years.Hehasgivenfreeridesfors
ongsforeightyearsandhasfilmedover10,000videos.SomeofMrTu'svi
deoshavebeenviewedovertwomilliontimes.Hesaidifpeopledonotsing
,theygetnofreeride.HeisnowacelebrityandhasbeenonTVin10countri
es.HisdreamisforsingerEdSheerantobehispassenger.

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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