The Reading / Listening - Napoleon's Hat - Level 0

A hat that Napoleon Bonaparte wore sold at an auction for $2.1 million. This is a record for a hat. The previous record was $2 million, for a hat that also belonged to Napoleon. Napoleon liked hats. He owned around 120 of them. Experts say the latest record-breaking hat is from the early 1800s.

Napoleon is one of France's most famous people. He became emperor of France in 1804. He lost the Battle of Waterloo to the British in 1815 and was sent to a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean. He died there six years later, aged 51. The sale of Napoleon's hat comes at the same time as a new movie about him.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Napoleon's Hat - Level 1 Napoleon's Hat - Level 2   or  Napoleon's Hat - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.cbsnews.com/news/napoleon-hat-sold-at-auction-for-a-history-making-price-breaks-record/
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/20/style/napoleons-hat-record-intl-scli/index.html
  • https://news.yahoo.com/napoleons-hat-sells-record-sum-160514514.html


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 hat that Napoleon Bonaparte
  2. sold at an auction
  3. This is a record
  4. The previous
  5. a hat that also
  6. Napoleon liked
  7. He owned around
  8. from the early
  1. hats
  2. record was $2 million
  3. 1800s
  4. for $2.1 million
  5. 120 of them
  6. wore
  7. belonged to Napoleon
  8. for a hat

Paragraph 2

  1. one of France's most
  2. He became emperor
  3. He lost the
  4. sent to
  5. He died there
  6. The sale
  7. at the same
  8. a new movie
  1. six years later
  2. time
  3. of France in 1804
  4. about him
  5. famous people
  6. a tiny island
  7. Battle of Waterloo
  8. of Napoleon's hat

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

(1) ___________________ Napoleon Bonaparte wore (2) ___________________ auction for $2.1 million. This (3) ___________________ for a hat. The (4) _________________ $2 million, for a hat that also belonged to Napoleon. Napoleon liked hats. (5) ___________________ 120 of them. Experts say the latest record-breaking hat is from (6) ___________________.

Napoleon (7) ___________________ France's most famous people. He became emperor of France in 1804. (8) ___________________ Battle of Waterloo to the British in 1815 and was sent to (9) ___________________ in the Atlantic Ocean. He died there (10) ___________________, aged 51. The sale of Napoleon's (11) ___________________ the same time as a new (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

AhatthatNapoleonBonaparteworesoldatanauctionfor$2.1million.Thi
sisarecordforahat.Thepreviousrecordwas$2million,forahatthatalso
belongedtoNapoleon.Napoleonlikedhats.Heownedaround120ofthe
m.Expertssaythelatestrecord-breakinghatisfromtheearly1800s.Na
poleonisoneofFrance'smostfamouspeople.HebecameemperorofFra
ncein1804.HelosttheBattleofWaterloototheBritishin1815andwasse
nttoatinyislandintheAtlanticOcean.Hediedtheresixyearslater,aged5
1.ThesaleofNapoleon'shatcomesatthesametimeasanewmovieabout
him.

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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