Breaking News English

THE ARTICLE

Prince Charles announced his engagement yesterday to his lover of 30 years, the divorced Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles. After years of intense public interest and debate over whether the couple should walk down the aisle and marry, the British heir to the throne finally decided to tie the knot. The British people are equally split over the news, with a third approving, a third disapproving, and the rest totally fed up with Royal stories. Queen Elizabeth II, Tony Blair, and Princes William and Harry are all delighted. It will not be a traditional church wedding, as the Church of England frowns upon divorced people remarrying while their ex-partner is still alive. No one yet knows whether or not it’ll be a white wedding. However, the ceremony will take place in Windsor Castle. Camilla will not be a queen if Charles becomes king. Instead she will be a Princess Consort, but she will have the cool-sounding title of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall (Cornwall is a small town in the south-west of England). Many people were originally against Charles’ relationship with Camilla, as Princess Diana blamed Camilla for the break-up of her marriage. In recent years people have accepted Charles’ love for Mrs. Parker Bowles. The happy day is set for April 8. Honeymoon details are unknown.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about the Prince Charles / Princess Diana / British Royal scandal and gossip / Royal weddings / kings / wedding days / honeymoons…

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. CHARLES BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Prince Charles. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY COUNTRY’S ROYALS: Talk to your partner / group about the Royal (or important) families in your country. What similarities / differences do they have with the British royals?

4. BEING A KING/QUEEN: Talk to your partner / group about being the king/queen of a country. Together, write down five advantages and five disadvantages of being a king/queen. Change partners / groups and share your advantages and disadvantages. Change a third or fourth time. Return to your original partner / group and explain what you heard from other students.

5. OPINIONS: Talk to your partner about the following opinions on the upcoming Royal wedding:

1. It’s wonderful news.
2. Prince Charles should not marry Camilla because she'll never be Princess Diana.
3. I’m fed up with hearing about Charles and Camilla.
4. Camilla should be able to become queen.
5. Just another story about the crazy British Royal family.
6. If Charles marries Camilla, he should not become king.
7. It’s terrible they have been in love since 1970.
8. If two divorced people want to marry, whose business is it?
9. I wish the happy couple all the best for their future together.
10. If I were Princes William or Harry, I’d be really angry.
11. Another person the British taxpayer has to give its money to. No thank you.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘public’ and ‘interest’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. Prince Charles is marrying his 30-year-old lover.  T / F
2. Prince Charles is going to tie the knot for a second time.  T / F
3. British people are wildly enthusiastic about this news.  T / F
4. A third of British people are fed up with hearing Royal news.  T / F
5. Princes William and Harry are both delighted. T / F
6. It’ll be a white wedding.  T / F
7. Camilla will be known as Princess Camilla after the wedding.  T / F
8. The happy day is set for April 8.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Prince Charles to remarry

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘PUBLIC’/ ‘INTEREST’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of the news of Prince Charles engagement?
2. Do you like Prince Charles?
3. Is he a handsome Prince?
4. Did you like Princess Diana?
5. The Church of England does not accept divorced people remarrying if an ex-partner is still alive. What do you think of this?
6. Should Camilla become queen (British law says she can’t)?
7. What do you think of the British Royal family?
8. British newspapers are forever making fun of the Royal family. Could this happen in your country?
9. Who should be the next king of England, Prince Charles or Prince William?
10. Do you agree with the idea of a Royal family?
11. Would you like to marry into a royal family?
12. Would you like to be king / queen of your country?
13. Many people in Britain regard the Royal family as a joke. Do you understand this?
14. When do you want to (did you) tie the knot?
15. Which people in your country are you fed up with seeing on TV every day / week?
16. Where would you like to (did you) go on honeymoon?
17. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Prince Charles. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER TO CHARLES: Write a letter t o HRH Prince Charles telling him your thoughts on the announcement of his engagement.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Prince Charles is marrying his 30-year-old lover.  F
2. Prince Charles is going to tie the knot for a second time.  T
3. British people are wildly enthusiastic about this news.  F
4. A third of British people are fed up with hearing Royal news.  T
5. Princes William and Harry are both delighted. T
6. It’ll be a white wedding.  F
7. Camilla will be known as Princess Camilla after the wedding.  F
8. The happy day is set for April 8.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

GAP FILL:

Prince Charles to remarry

Prince Charles announced his engagement yesterday to his lover of 30 years, the divorced Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles is 56 years old, his intended a year older. After years of intense public interest and debate over whether the couple should walk down the aisle and marry, the British heir to the throne finally decided to tie the knot. The British people are equally split over the news, with a third approving, a third disapproving, and the rest totally fed up with Royal stories. Queen Elizabeth II, Tony Blair, and Princes William and Harry are all delighted. It will not be a traditional church wedding, as the Church of England frowns upon divorced people remarrying while their ex-partner is still alive. No one yet knows whether or not it’ll be a white wedding. However, the ceremony will take place in Windsor Castle. Camilla will not be a queen if Charles becomes king. Instead she will be a Princess Consort, but she will have the cool-sounding title of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall (Cornwall is a small town in the south-west of England). Many people were originally against Charles’ relationship with Camilla, as Princess Diana blamed Camilla for the break-up of her marriage. In recent years people have accepted Charles’ love for Mrs. Parker Bowles. The happy day is set for April 8. Honeymoon details are unknown.