The Reading / Listening - Selfies - Level 0

Tourists do silly things for selfies. A tourist in Italy damaged a priceless painting in a famous museum. The man wanted a photo of himself in front of a 300-year-old painting. He nearly fell over. He put his hand through the painting. Museum staff reported him to the police. Experts say the artwork isn't badly damaged.

The tourist made people angry. The museum said selfies are a headache and are "now out of control". The museum has strict rules to stop bad behaviour. It wants people to respect Italy's culture. The director of another Italian museum said: "Sometimes we lose our minds to take a picture, and we don't think."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Selfies - Level 1 Selfies - Level 2   or  Selfies - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14837713/Fury-Italy-tourist-tears-hole-18th-century-painting-posing-selfie.html
  • https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/medici-portrait-damaged-by-tourist-at-uffizi-galleries-florence-1234745923/
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5yky19623o


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. Tourists do silly
  2. A tourist
  3. damaged a priceless
  4. The man wanted a photo
  5. He nearly fell
  6. He put his hand
  7. Museum staff reported him
  8. the artwork isn't badly
  1. through the painting
  2. painting
  3. damaged
  4. over
  5. things for selfies
  6. of himself
  7. in Italy
  8. to the police

Paragraph 2

  1. The tourist made people
  2. selfies are
  3. out of
  4. The museum has strict
  5. stop bad
  6. respect Italy's
  7. Sometimes we lose our
  8. take a
  1. minds
  2. rules
  3. culture
  4. a headache
  5. picture
  6. angry
  7. behaviour
  8. control

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Tourists do (1) _________________________________________________ selfies. A tourist in Italy (2) _________________________________________________ painting in a famous museum. The man wanted a photo (3) _________________________________________________ front of a 300-year-old painting. He (4) _________________________________________________. He put his hand through the painting. Museum staff reported him (5) _________________________________________________. Experts say (6) _________________________________________________ badly damaged.

The tourist (7) _________________________________________________. The museum said selfies are a headache and are "now (8) _________________________________________________". The museum has (9) _________________________________________________ stop bad behaviour. It wants (10) _________________________________________________ Italy's culture. The director of another Italian museum said: "Sometimes we (11) _________________________________________________ to take a picture, and (12) _________________________________________________."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Touristsdosillythingsforselfies.AtouristinItalydamagedapricelesspai
ntinginafamousmuseum.Themanwantedaphotoofhimselfinfrontofa
300-year-oldpainting.Henearlyfellover.Heputhishandthroughth
epainting.Museumstaffreportedhimtothepolice.Expertssaytheartw
orkisn'tbadlydamaged.Thetouristmadepeopleangry.Themuseumsa
idselfiesareaheadacheandare"nowoutofcontrol".Themuseumhasstr
ictrulestostopbadbehaviour.ItwantspeopletorespectItaly'sculture.T
hedirectorofanotherItalianmuseumsaid:"Sometimesweloseourmind
stotakeapicture,andwedon'tthink."

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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