Breaking News English

        

1. BURGERS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about burgers. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

Las Vegas / heart attack / cholesterol / ambulance / hospital / beef / saturated fats / hit the headlines / menu / calories / prescriptions / TV commercial / body weight

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. FAST FOOD: On a scale of 1 – 10 (unhealthy), how healthy are these ? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	1 - 10	How to make it healthier
Burgers
Pizza
Kebabs
French fries
Sandwiches
Other ___________

4. BANNED: Students A strongly believe fast food should be banned; Students B strongly believe otherwise.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
5. SUPER-SIZE: Which of these would you like most? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share again.

3-kg-of-beef burger 24-inch pizza with 12 cheeses half-a-chicken burger liter of ice cream with cream

fried breakfast with a dozen eggs fish with 2 kg of chips (fries) liter of cheese fondue 2 kg donut cake

6. FATE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘fate’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A man who ate a burger named after heart surgery had a heart attack.	T / F
b.	The man cooked the burger himself at home.	T / F
c.	The burger contained over 3 kg of beef.	T / F
d.	There was also a special sauce that went with the burger.	T / F
e.	The Heart Attack Grill restaurant has dishes with up to 10,000 calories.	T / F
f.	The restaurant tell customers its food is not bad for their health.	T / F
g.	The restaurant owner promises customers they won’t put on weight.	T / F
h.	A warning with the food says customers may need bigger clothes.	T / F

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

1.	fate	a.	heart attack
2.	aptly	b.	steady
3.	cardiac arrest	c.	hardly
4.	unique	d.	method
5.	barely	e.	destiny
6.	approach	f.	one-of-a-kind
7.	diners	g.	advertisement
8.	commercial	h.	appropriately
9.	stable	i.	clothes
10.	wardrobe	j.	patrons

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	A man at a fast food restaurant tempted	a.	arrest
2.	specializes in cholesterol	b.	effects
3.	he suffered cardiac	c.	talk
4.	a unique special sauce	d.	fate
5.	The gentleman could barely	e.	at the restaurant
6.	The Heart Attack Grill hit	f.	size
7.	Diners	g.	packed food
8.	The ad warns of possible side	h.	full of saturated fats
9.	increase of wardrobe	i.	decay
10.	tooth	j.	the headlines

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

A man at a Las Vegas fast food restaurant tempted fate            (1) ____________ ordering a “Triple Bypass Burger”. The man was dining at the (2) ____________ named Heart Attack Grill – a fast food (3) ____________ that specializes in cholesterol packed food. He was eating a 6,000-calorie hamburger called a “Triple Bypass Burger” when he suffered (4) ____________ arrest. The restaurant owner, Jon Basso, had to (5) ____________ an ambulance and the customer was taken to hospital. The burger contained over 3 kg of beef, 12 slices of bacon, cheese and a   “(6) ____________ special sauce” full of saturated fats. Mr Basso told Fox News how much (7) ____________ his customer was in: “The gentleman could (8) ____________ talk. He was sweating, suffering,” he said.		eatery barely aptly unique distress by cardiac call
The Heart Attack Grill (9) ____________ the headlines for its approach to dining. Some of the high-fat meals on the menu   (10) ____________ as many as 10,000 calories. There is even a warning on the door that the food is bad for your health. Diners at the restaurant are called “(11) ____________” and the serving staff takes “prescriptions” as orders. Patients who                   (12) ____________ more than 158 kg get to eat for free. Mr Basso had a special TV commercial promoting his restaurant. He tells people: “I personally guarantee a (13) ____________ upward progression of body weight.” The ad warns of possible side (14) ____________ that include “repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, (15) ____________ of sexual partners, tooth decay and…in some cases, (16) ____________ death may occur”.		stable weigh contain mild patients effects hit loss

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A man at a Las Vegas fast food restaurant ____________________ ordering a “Triple Bypass Burger”. The man was dining ____________________ Heart Attack Grill – a fast food eatery that specializes in cholesterol packed food. He was eating a 6,000-calorie hamburger called a “Triple Bypass Burger” when he ____________________. The restaurant owner, Jon Basso, had to call an ambulance and the customer ____________________. The burger contained over 3 kg of beef, 12 slices of bacon, cheese and a “unique special sauce” ____________________. Mr Basso told Fox News ____________________ his customer was in: “The gentleman could barely talk. He was sweating, suffering,” he said.
The Heart Attack Grill ____________________ for its approach to dining. Some of the high-fat meals on the menu contain as many as 10,000 calories. There is even a ____________________ that the food is bad for your health. Diners at the restaurant are called “patients” and the serving staff takes “prescriptions” as orders. Patients who ____________________ 158 kg get to eat for free. Mr Basso had a special TV commercial promoting his restaurant. He tells people: “I personally ____________________ upward progression of body weight.” The ad warns of ____________________ that include “repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, loss of sexual partners, tooth decay and…in some cases, ______________________”.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘heart’ and ‘attack’.

heart

attack

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?
4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.
5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

fate fast arrest call full barely

hit many orders free body mild

BURGERS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about burgers 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

BURGERS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘burger’?
c)	What do you think about what you read?
d)	Would you like to try the Triple Bypass Burger?
e)	Should such burgers be banned?
f)	What do you think of the Heart Attack Grill restaurant?
g)	When was the last time you tempted fate?
h)	What do you think of people who would order a burger with 3 kg of beef?
i)	Do you have any sympathy for the man who had a heart attack?
j)	What do you think of burgers?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you think of the restaurant’s approach to dining?
c)	Do you think restaurants such as the Heart Attack Grill could catch on?
d)	What do you think of the idea of people eating for free if they weigh over 158 kg?
e)	How important are burgers in your life?
f)	Would you be worried about an increase in your wardrobe size?
g)	How healthy are hamburgers?
h)	What is in your ideal burger?
i)	Why do you think Mr Basso said ‘mild death” might occur?
j)	What questions would you like to ask restaurant owner Jon Basso?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

A man at a Las Vegas fast food restaurant (1) ____ fate by ordering a “Triple Bypass Burger”. The man was (2) ____ at the aptly named Heart Attack Grill – a fast food (3) ____ that specializes in cholesterol packed food. He was eating a 6,000-calorie hamburger called a “Triple Bypass Burger” when he suffered cardiac arrest. The restaurant owner, Jon Basso, had to (4) ____ an ambulance and the customer was taken to hospital. The burger contained over 3 kg of beef, 12 slices of bacon, cheese and a “unique special sauce” full of (5) ____ fats. Mr Basso told Fox News how much distress his customer was in: “The gentleman could (6) ____ talk. He was sweating, suffering,” he said.
The Heart Attack Grill (7) ____ the headlines for its approach to dining. Some of the high-fat meals on the menu contain as many as 10,000 calories. There is even a warning on the door that the food is bad for your health. (8) ____ at the restaurant are called “patients” and the serving staff takes “prescriptions” (9) ____ orders. Patients who weigh more than 158 kg (10) ____ to eat for free. Mr Basso had a special TV commercial promoting his restaurant. He tells people: “I personally guarantee a stable upward progression of body weight.” The ad warns (11) ____ possible side effects that include “repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, loss of sexual partners, tooth decay and…in some cases, mild death may (12) ____”.
Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	temptation	(b)	tempting	(c)	tempts	(d)	tempted
2.	(a)	dining	(b)	wining	(c)	shining	(d)	whining
3.	(a)	eats	(b)	eatery	(c)	eating	(d)	eater
4.	(a)	reserve	(b)	ask	(c)	call	(d)	shout
5.	(a)	saturate	(b)	saturates	(c)	saturated	(d)	saturation
6.	(a)	bared	(b)	barely	(c)	bares	(d)	bare
7.	(a)	punched	(b)	attacked	(c)	smacked	(d)	hit
8.	(a)	Diners	(b)	Dinners	(c)	Dines	(d)	Dins
9.	(a)	was	(b)	as	(c)	has	(d)	is
10.	(a)	set	(b)	let	(c)	bet	(d)	get
11.	(a)	by	(b)	at	(c)	of	(d)	from
12.	(a)	occur	(b)	occurs	(c)	occurrence	(d)	occurring

 
 

WRITING

Write about burgers for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.
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HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.
2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about very high-calorie burgers. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. BURGERS: Make a poster about burgers. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. TRIPLE BYPASS: Write a magazine article about the Triple Bypass Burger. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.
Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).
5. LETTER: Write a letter to a heart specialist. Ask him/her three questions about burgers. Give him/her three of your opinions on them. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

T

b.

F

c.

T

d.

T

e.

T

f.

F

g.

F

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	fate	a.	destiny
2.	aptly	b.	appropriately
3.	cardiac arrest	c.	heart attack
4.	unique	d.	one-of-a-kind
5.	barely	e.	hardly
6.	approach	f.	method
7.	diners	g.	patrons
8.	commercial	h.	advertisement
9.	stable	i.	steady
10.	wardrobe	j.	clothes

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	A man at a fast food restaurant tempted	a.	fate
2.	specializes in cholesterol	b.	packed food
3.	he suffered cardiac	c.	arrest
4.	a unique special sauce	d.	full of saturated fats
5.	The gentleman could barely	e.	talk
6.	The Heart Attack Grill hit	f.	the headlines
7.	Diners	g.	at the restaurant
8.	The ad warns of possible side	h.	effects
9.	increase of wardrobe	i.	size
10.	tooth	j.	decay

GAP FILL:

6,000-calorie burger gives man heart attack

A man at a Las Vegas fast food restaurant tempted fate (1) by ordering a “Triple Bypass Burger”. The man was dining at the (2) aptly named Heart Attack Grill – a fast food (3) eatery that specializes in cholesterol packed food. He was eating a 6,000-calorie hamburger called a “Triple Bypass Burger” when he suffered (4) cardiac arrest. The restaurant owner, Jon Basso, had to (5) call an ambulance and the customer was taken to hospital. The burger contained over 3 kg of beef, 12 slices of bacon, cheese and a “(6) unique special sauce” full of saturated fats. Mr Basso told Fox News how much (7) distress his customer was in: “The gentleman could (8) barely talk. He was sweating, suffering,” he said.
The Heart Attack Grill (9) hit the headlines for its approach to dining. Some of the high-fat meals on the menu (10) contain as many as 10,000 calories. There is even a warning on the door that the food is bad for your health. Diners at the restaurant are called “(11) patients” and the serving staff takes “prescriptions” as orders. Patients who (12) weigh more than 158 kg get to eat for free. Mr Basso had a special TV commercial promoting his restaurant. He tells people: “I personally guarantee a (13) stable upward progression of body weight.” The ad warns of possible side (14) effects that include “repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, (15) loss of sexual partners, tooth decay and…in some cases, (16) mild death may occur”.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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