The Reading / Listening - Grow a Garden - Level 5

A game about gardening has broken the record for the most users being online at the same time. The game is called Grow a Garden. It first broke the record on the 14th of June, when there were 16.4 million users. This surpassed the previous milestone of 14.3 million set by the game Fortnite. Grow a Garden then shattered its own record on the 21st of June, with 21.3 million players. This made it the most‑played game ever at a single moment. The game is owned by the game platform Roblox. It said the game's success is "fuelled by exceptional user retention and vibrant social interactions".

Grow a Garden is a simulation game in which players care for a patch of virtual land. Players buy seeds, plant vegetables, and grow flowers. They then harvest their produce to earn in-game money. Users can upgrade their garden to get better tools. They can also unlock rare seeds, exotic crops, and areas like underwater gardens and magical forests. A behavioural expert on the BBC said it is unlikely that Grow a Garden will lead to a love of gardening. He said the game would not encourage real-world gardening any more than Super Mario would encourage plumbing.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Grow a Garden - Level 4 or  Grow a Garden - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4edkdxz2xo
  • https://sherwood.news/markets/roblox-hits-a-52-week-high-as-a-wildly-simple-gardening-game-created-by-a-16/
  • https://www.soapcentral.com/pop-culture/roblox-s-grow-garden-breaks-world-record-16-4m-players-surpassing-fortnite-s-peak
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_a_Garden


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 game about
  2. at the same
  3. This surpassed the previous
  4. shattered its
  5. This made it the most‑
  6. at a single
  7. fuelled by exceptional user
  8. vibrant social
  1. played game ever
  2. interactions
  3. gardening
  4. moment
  5. own record
  6. time
  7. milestone
  8. retention

Paragraph 2

  1. Grow a Garden is a
  2. players care for a patch
  3. buy seeds, plant vegetables,
  4. They then harvest their
  5. They can also unlock rare
  6. a behavioural
  7. lead to a love
  8. the game would not encourage
  1. and grow flowers
  2. expert
  3. seeds
  4. of gardening
  5. of virtual land
  6. produce
  7. real-world gardening
  8. simulation game

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A game about gardening has broken the record for the most users being online at (1) ________________________________________________. The game is called Grow a Garden. It first broke the record on the 14th of June, when there were 16.4 million users. This (2) ________________________________________________ milestone of 14.3 million set by the game Fortnite. Grow a Garden (3) ________________________________________________ own record on the 21st of June, with 21.3 million players. This made it the most‑played game ever at (4) ________________________________________________. The game is owned by (5) ________________________________________________ Roblox. It said the game's success is "fuelled by exceptional user retention and (6) ________________________________________________".

Grow a Garden is a (7) ________________________________________________ which players care for a patch of virtual land. Players buy (8) ________________________________________________, and grow flowers. They then harvest their produce to earn in-game money. Users (9) ________________________________________________ garden to get better tools. They can also unlock rare (10) ________________________________________________, and areas like underwater gardens and magical forests. A behavioural expert on the BBC said it is unlikely that Grow a Garden will lead (11) ________________________________________________ of gardening. He said the game would not encourage real-world gardening any more than Super Mario (12) ________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Agameaboutgardeninghasbrokentherecordforthemostusersbeingo
nlineatthesametime.ThegameiscalledGrowaGarden.Itfirstbrokethe
recordonthe14thofJune,whentherewere16.4millionusers.Thissurpa
ssedthepreviousmilestoneof14.3millionsetbythegameFortnite.Gro
waGardenthenshattereditsownrecordonthe21stofJune,with21.3mil
lionplayers.Thismadeitthemost‑playedgameeveratasinglemoment.
ThegameisownedbythegameplatformRoblox.Itsaidthegame'ssucce
ssis"fuelledbyexceptionaluserretentionandvibrantsocialinteractions
".GrowaGardenisasimulationgameinwhichplayerscareforapatchofvi
rtualland.Playersbuyseeds,plantvegetables,andgrowflowers.Theyt
henharvesttheirproducetoearnin-gamemoney.Userscanupgradeth
eirgardentogetbettertools.Theycanalsounlockrareseeds,exoticcrop
s,andareaslikeunderwatergardensandmagicalforests.Abehavioural
expertontheBBCsaiditisunlikelythatGrowaGardenwillleadtoaloveofg
ardening.Hesaidthegamewouldnotencouragereal-worldgardeninga
nymorethanSuperMariowouldencourageplumbing.

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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