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Unhappy marriages can break the heart (21st November, 2014)

The Reading / Listening - Level 3

A new study shows that people in unhappy marriages have a higher risk of getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is riskier for older women. They get more heart disease than men because of the stress of being in a relationship gone wrong. The study is from Michigan State University in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of being in an unhappy marriage has a big impact on the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason for older women having more heart problems is because they are generally more caring. A wife is more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way round. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can get stressed about this.

Dr Lui's team studied the health of 1,200 married men and women aged 57 to 85 over a five-year period. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital quality. They asked about whether they spent free time with or apart from their partner. They also asked if they could trust and rely on their spouse, and whether their spouse asks them to do too many things and is unfair. The doctors looked at the quality of the marriages to see who was happy and who was not. They then compared this with the number of heart attacks and strokes people had. People in bad marriages were more depressed, more obese and had higher blood pressure.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 0, Level 1 or Level 2

Sources

http://www.medicaldaily.com/marital-problems-lead-heart-troubles-particularly-older-women-true-broken-heart-311398
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2841109/How-bad-relationship-quite-literally-break-heart-trapped-bad-marriage-increases-risk-heart-disease.html#ixzz3JaLfGJuI
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/an-unhappy-marriage-can-literally-break-your-heart-30759272.html

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. BROKEN HEARTS: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about broken hearts. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

unhappy marriages / broken heart / riskier / stress / impact / caring / sick / husband / health / couples / quality / free time / heart attacks / depressed / blood pressure

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. MARITAL STRESS: How can we help couples stressed about these things? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	What kind of problems?	How to solve them
Money
Housework
Communication
Love
Other friends
Bad habits

4. HAPPIER: Students A strongly believe married people are happier than single people; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. LOVE: Rank these with your partner. Put the best ways a spouse can show his/her love at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• a kiss

• share the housework

• say, "you look nice"

• buy presents

• go for a walk together

• thank them

• say, "You make me happy"

• hold hands

6. RISK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "risk". 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.	An unhappier marriage gives men more health problems.	T / F
b.	The study is from Cambridge University in the U.K.	T / F
c.	A researcher said husbands are a little more caring than wives.	T / F
d.	A wife can get stressed if she is too ill to look after her husband.	T / F
e.	The study looked at 1,200 married people in their 40s and 50s.	T / F
f.	The couples were asked about how much time they spent together.	T / F
g.	Researchers compared the quality of marriage to heart attacks.	T / F
h.	Unhappily married people were more overweight.	T / F

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

1.	risk	a.	mostly
2.	impact	b.	sad
3.	generally	c.	care for
4.	likely	d.	time frame
5.	look after	e.	depend
6.	period	f.	chance
7.	quality	g.	overweight
8.	rely	h.	probable
9.	depressed	i.	effect
10.	obese	j.	condition

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

1.	have a higher risk	a.	wrong
2.	A bad marriage is riskier	b.	period
3.	being in a relationship gone	c.	apart from their partner
4.	a big impact	d.	round
5.	the other way	e.	on the health of our heart
6.	over a five-year	f.	strokes
7.	marital	g.	of getting a broken heart
8.	time with or	h.	pressure
9.	heart attacks and	i.	quality
10.	higher blood	j.	for older women

GAP FILL

A new study shows that people in unhappy marriages have a higher (1) ____________ of getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is riskier for older women. They get more heart (2) ____________ than men because of the stress of being in a relationship gone (3) ____________. The study is from Michigan State University in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of being in an (4) ____________ marriage has a big (5) ____________ on the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason for older women having more heart problems is because they are (6) ____________ more caring. A wife is more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way (7) ____________. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can get (8) ____________ about this.

wrong
risk
round
impact
disease
stressed
unhappy
generally

Dr Lui's team studied the health of 1,200 married men and women (9) ____________ 57 to 85 over a five-year (10) ____________. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital quality. They asked about whether they spent free time with or (11) ____________ from their partner. They also asked if they could trust and (12) ____________ on their spouse, and whether their spouse asks them to do too many things and is (13) ____________. The doctors looked at the quality of the marriages to see who was happy and who was not. They then compared this with the (14) ____________ of heart attacks and strokes people had. People in bad marriages were more (15) ____________, more obese and had higher blood (16) ____________.

rely
aged
number
apart
pressure
period
depressed
unfair

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	people in unhappy marriages have a higher risk of ______ heart
	a. setting a broken b. letting a broken c. wetting a broken d. getting a broken
2)	more heart disease than men because of the stress of being in a relationship ______
	a. been wrong b. done wrong c. gone wrong d. hone wrong
3)	the stress of being in an unhappy marriage has a big ______ health
	a. impact on the b. impact in the c. impact to the d. impact up the
4)	… older women having more heart problems is because they are ______
	a. general be more caring b. general lie more caring c. generalise more caring d. generally more caring
5)	more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than ______
	a. the other way rounded b. the other weigh round c. the other way round d. the other why round
6)	studied the health of 1,200 married men and women aged 57 to 85 over ______
	a. a five-year periods b. a five-year periodical c. a five-year period d. a five-year peer he had
7)	The researchers asked the married couples questions about their ______
	a. marital qualities b. marital quality c. marital qualify d. marital qualifies
8)	They also asked if they could trust and ______ spouse
	a. rely on their b. relay on their c. re-lie on their d. really on their
9)	They then compared this with the number of heart attacks and ______
	a. strokes people had b. stroke people had c. stokes people had d. stoke people had
10)	more depressed, more obese and had ______
	a. higher bloody pressure b. higher blooded pressure c. higher bloods pressure d. higher blood pressure

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A new study shows that people (1) ___________________ have a higher risk of getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is riskier for older women. They get more heart disease than men because (2) ___________________ in a relationship gone wrong. The study is from Michigan State University in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of being in an unhappy marriage (3) ___________________ the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason for older women having (4) ___________________ is because they are generally more caring. A wife is more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than (5) ___________________. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can (6) ___________________.

Dr Lui's team (7) ___________________ 1,200 married men and women aged 57 to 85 over (8) ___________________. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital quality. They asked about whether they spent free time (9) ___________________ their partner. They also asked if they could (10) ___________________ their spouse, and whether their spouse asks them to do too many things and is unfair. The doctors looked (11) ___________________ the marriages to see who was happy and who was not. They then compared this with the number of heart attacks and strokes people had. People in bad marriages were more depressed, more obese and had (12) ___________________.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	Who has a higher risk of getting a broken heart?
2.	Who is a bad marriage riskier for?
3.	What do unhappy marriages have a big impact on?
4.	Who is likely to be more caring?
5.	Who gets more stressed if they cannot look after their spouse?
6.	How many people did the researchers look at?
7.	How long did the study take?
8.	Who did researchers want to know if the people trusted?
9.	What did researchers compare marital quality to (apart from strokes)?
10.	What was higher with people in bad marriages?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	Who has a higher risk of getting a broken heart?	6.	How many people did the researchers look at?
	a) people in their 40s and 50s b) husbands c) newlyweds d) people in unhappy marriages		a) 2,100 b) 12,000 c) 1,200 d) 2,200
2.	Who is a bad marriage riskier for?	7.	How long did the study take?
	a) newlyweds b) older women c) husbands d) lawyers		a) 5 years b) 6 years c) 9 years d) 10 years
3.	What do unhappy marriages have a big impact on?	8.	Who did researchers want to know if the people trusted?
	a) society b) money c) statistics d) our heart's health		a) their lawyer b) their doctor c) their spouse d) their counsellor
4.	Who is likely to be more caring?	9.	What did researchers compare marital quality to (apart from strokes)?
	a) husbands b) younger women c) wives d) older men		a) age b) heart attacks c) salary d) weight
5.	Who gets more stressed if they cannot look after their spouse?	10.	What was higher with people in bad marriages?
	a) husbands b) newlyweds c) spouses d) wives		a) blood pressure b) divorce c) newlyweds d) electricity bills

ROLE PLAY

Role A – A kiss

You think a kiss is the best way to show your love to your spouse. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a present, a "Thank you" or a compliment.

Role B – A present

You think a present is the best way to show your love to your spouse. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a kiss, a "Thank you" or a compliment.

Role C – A "Thank you"

You think a "Thank you" is the best way to show your love to your spouse. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a present, a kiss or a compliment.

Role D – A compliment

You think a compliment is the best way to show your love to your spouse. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a present, a "Thank you" or a kiss.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

broken

heart

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:

unhappy
riskier
wrong
big
likely
sick

1,200
whether
rely
see
number
blood

BROKEN HEARTS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about broken hearts 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.

BROKEN HEARTS DISCUSSION

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

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the word 'marriage'?
3)	What do people need to do to stay happy in a marriage?
4)	What do you think about what you read?
5)	Why are women more affected by bad marriages?
6)	What things make a marriage go bad?
7)	How can couples repair a bad marriage?
8)	Are wives more caring than husbands?
9)	Why aren't husbands as caring as wives?
10)	What experiences do you have of a broken heart?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	Are you (would you be) a good husband/wife?
13)	Is marriage more difficult today than it was in the past?
14)	How much time should a married couple spend together?
15)	What are the biggest things married couples argue about?
16)	What roles do husbands and wives have in a marriage?
17)	What would you do if your marriage gave you health problems?
18)	How important is it to talk about marriage problems?
19)	What one piece of advice would you give a married couple?
20)	What questions would you like to ask the doctors?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

A new study shows that people in unhappy marriages have a (1) ____ risk of getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is riskier for older women. They get more heart disease than men because of the stress of (2) ____ in a relationship gone wrong. The study is from Michigan State University in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of being in an unhappy marriage has a big impact (3) ____ the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason for older women (4) ____ more heart problems is because they are generally more caring. A wife is more (5) ____ to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way (6) ____. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can get stressed about this.

Dr Lui's team studied the health of 1,200 married men and women (7) ____ 57 to 85 (8) ____ a five-year period. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital quality. They asked about whether they spent free time with or (9) ____ from their partner. They also asked if they could trust and rely on their spouse, and whether their (10) ____ asks them to do too many things and is unfair. The doctors looked at the quality of the marriages to see who was happy and who was not. They then compared this (11) ____ the number of heart attacks and strokes people had. People in bad marriages were more depressed, more obese and had higher (12) ____ pressure.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	heighten	(b)	higher	(c)	highest	(d)	highs
2.	(a)	been	(b)	being	(c)	belong	(d)	be
3.	(a)	by	(b)	of	(c)	in	(d)	on
4.	(a)	has	(b)	having	(c)	had	(d)	have
5.	(a)	likes	(b)	likely	(c)	liked	(d)	likable
6.	(a)	long	(b)	square	(c)	round	(d)	up
7.	(a)	ages	(b)	aging	(c)	aged	(d)	ageless
8.	(a)	under	(b)	through	(c)	over	(d)	through
9.	(a)	part	(b)	parts	(c)	parted	(d)	apart
10.	(a)	foe	(b)	lovey-dovey	(c)	praise	(d)	spouse
11.	(a)	with	(b)	as	(c)	for	(d)	on
12.	(a)	bloody	(b)	blooded	(c)	blood	(d)	bloods

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	A bad marriage is esirirk for older women
2.	They get more heart essdiea than men
3.	being in a esrthaiopnli gone wrong
4.	has a big pticam on the health
5.	they are eylgnaler more caring
6.	more likely to provide ptusopr
Paragraph 2
7.	over a five-year doperi
8.	questions about their marital uatyqli
9.	hehrtwe they spent free time
10.	rely on their upsseo
11.	domecrap this with the number…
12.	had higher blood rsrepsue

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	quality. They asked about whether they spent free time with or apart from their partner. They also asked
( )	round. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can get stressed about this.
( )	people had. People in bad marriages were more depressed, more obese and had higher blood pressure.
( )	impact on the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason for older women having more heart problems is because
( )	was not. They then compared this with the number of heart attacks and strokes
( )	they are generally more caring. A wife is more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way
( )	getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is riskier for older women. They get more heart disease
( 1 )	A new study shows that people in unhappy marriages have a higher risk of
( )	if they could trust and rely on their spouse, and whether their spouse asks them to do too
( )	in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of being in an unhappy marriage has a big
( )	than men because of the stress of being in a relationship gone wrong. The study is from Michigan State University
( )	many things and is unfair. The doctors looked at the quality of the marriages to see who was happy and who
( )	Dr Lui's team studied the health of 1,200 married men and women aged
( )	57 to 85 over a five-year period. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	a in higher unhappy risk marriages have People.
2.	marriage women is riskier A for bad older.
3.	a unhappy being The big marriage in stress impact has an of.
4.	husband care for Provide her support sick and.
5.	after A sick look husband is cannot her wife and.
6.	1,200 The aged men health 57 and of women married.
7.	them too asks do things spouse to many Their.
8.	doctors the the The at of looked quality marriages.
9.	compared this with the number of heart attacks They then.
10.	depressed more were marriages bad in People.

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

A new study shows that people in / on unhappy marriages have a higher risk of getting a broken heart. A bad marriage is risked / riskier for older women. They get more heart disease than men because of the stress of been / being in a relationship gone wrong. The study is from Michigan State University in the USA. Lead researcher Dr Hui Lui said the stress of / for being in an unhappy marriage has a big compact / impact on the health of our heart. Dr Lui said one reason / reasonable for older women having more heart problems is because they are generally more caring / cared. A wife is more likely / liked to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way round / up. Also, if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband, she can get stressed about these / this.

Dr Lui's team studied the health / healthy of 1,200 married men and women aged 57 to 85 over a five-year period / frame. The researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital qualify / quality. They asked about whether they spent free time with or parts / apart from their partner. They also asked if they could trust and relay / rely on their spouse, and whether their spouse asks them to do too many thinks / things and is unfair. The doctors looked at the quality of the marriages / married to see who was happy and who was not. They then compared / comparison this with the number of heart attacks and stroking / strokes people had. People in bad marriages were more depressed, more obese and had higher blood / bloody pressure.

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

_ n_w st_dy sh_ws th_t p__pl_ _n _nh_ppy m_rr__g_s h_v_ _ h_gh_r r_sk _f g_tt_ng _ br_k_n h__rt. _ b_d m_rr__g_ _s r_sk__r f_r _ld_r w_m_n. Th_y g_t m_r_ h__rt d_s__s_ th_n m_n b_c__s_ _f th_ str_ss _f b__ng _n _ r_l_t__nsh_p g_n_ wr_ng. Th_ st_dy _s fr_m M_ch_g_n St_t_ _n_v_rs_ty _n th_ _S_. L__d r_s__rch_r Dr H__ L__ s__d th_ str_ss _f b__ng _n _n _nh_ppy m_rr__g_ h_s _ b_g _mp_ct _n th_ h__lth _f __r h__rt. Dr L__ s__d _n_ r__s_n f_r _ld_r w_m_n h_v_ng m_r_ h__rt pr_bl_ms _s b_c__s_ th_y _r_ g_n_r_lly m_r_ c_r_ng. _ w_f_ _s m_r_ l_k_ly t_ pr_v_d_ s_pp_rt _nd c_r_ f_r h_r s_ck h_sb_nd th_n th_ _th_r w_y r__nd. _ls_, _f _ w_f_ _s s_ck _nd c_nn_t l__k _ft_r h_r h_sb_nd, sh_ c_n g_t str_ss_d _b__t th_s.

Dr L__'s t__m st_d__d th_ h__lth _f 1,200 m_rr__d m_n _nd w_m_n _g_d 57 t_ 85 _v_r _ f_v_-y__r p_r__d. Th_ r_s__rch_rs _sk_d th_ m_rr__d c__pl_s q__st__ns _b__t th__r m_r_t_l q__l_ty. Th_y _sk_d _b__t wh_th_r th_y sp_nt fr__ t_m_ w_th _r _p_rt fr_m th__r p_rtn_r. Th_y _ls_ _sk_d _f th_y c__ld tr_st _nd r_ly _n th__r sp__s_, _nd wh_th_r th__r sp__s_ _sks th_m t_ d_ t__ m_ny th_ngs _nd _s _nf__r. Th_ d_ct_rs l__k_d _t th_ q__l_ty _f th_ m_rr__g_s t_ s__ wh_ w_s h_ppy _nd wh_ w_s n_t. Th_y th_n c_mp_r_d th_s w_th th_ n_mb_r _f h__rt _tt_cks _nd str_k_s p__pl_ h_d. P__pl_ _n b_d m_rr__g_s w_r_ m_r_ d_pr_ss_d, m_r_ _b_s_ _nd h_d h_gh_r bl__d pr_ss_r_.

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

a new study shows that people in unhappy marriages have a higher risk of getting a broken heart a bad marriage is riskier for older women they get more heart disease than men because of the stress of being in a relationship gone wrong the study is from michigan state university in the usa lead researcher dr hui lui said the stress of being in an unhappy marriage has a big impact on the health of our heart dr lui said one reason for older women having more heart problems is because they are generally more caring a wife is more likely to provide support and care for her sick husband than the other way round also if a wife is sick and cannot look after her husband she can get stressed about this

dr lui's team studied the health of 1200 married men and women aged 57 to 85 over a five-year period the researchers asked the married couples questions about their marital quality they asked about whether they spent free time with or apart from their partner they also asked if they could trust and rely on their spouse and whether their spouse asks them to do too many things and is unfair the doctors looked at the quality of the marriages to see who was happy and who was not they then compared this with the number of heart attacks and strokes people had people in bad marriages were more depressed more obese and had higher blood pressure

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

Anewstudyshowsthatpeopleinunhappymarriageshaveahigherriskof
gettingabrokenheart.Abadmarriageisriskierforolderwomen.Theyge
tmoreheartdiseasethanmenbecauseofthestressofbeinginarelations
hipgonewrong.ThestudyisfromMichiganStateUniversityintheUSA.L
eadresearcherDrHuiLuisaidthestressofbeinginanunhappymarriage
hasabigimpactonthehealthofourheart.DrLuisaidonereasonforolder
womenhavingmoreheartproblemsisbecausetheyaregenerallymorec
aring.Awifeismorelikelytoprovidesupportandcareforhersickhusban
dthantheotherwayround.Also,ifawifeissickandcannotlookafterherh
usband,shecangetstressedaboutthis.DrLui'steamstudiedthehealtho
f1,200marriedmenandwomenaged57to85overafive-yearperio
d.Theresearchersaskedthemarriedcouplesquestionsabouttheirmari
talquality.Theyaskedaboutwhethertheyspentfreetimewithorapartfr
omtheirpartner.Theyalsoaskediftheycouldtrustandrelyontheirspous
e,andwhethertheirspouseasksthemtodotoomanythingsandisunfair.
Thedoctorslookedatthequalityofthemarriagestoseewhowashappya
ndwhowasnot.Theythencomparedthiswiththenumberofheartattack
sandstrokespeoplehad.Peopleinbadmarriagesweremoredepressed,
moreobeseandhadhigherbloodpressure.

FREE WRITING

Write about broken hearts for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

It is more stressful being married than being single. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 bad marriages. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. BROKEN HEARTS: Make a poster about broken hearts. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. MARRIAGE: Write a magazine article about marriage. Include imaginary interviews with people who are happily married and with people who are unhappily married.

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. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on broken hearts. Ask him/her three questions about broken hearts. Give him/her three of your ideas on how to fix a broken heart. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

F

b

F

c

F

d

T

e

F

f

T

g

T

h

T

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	risk	a.	chance
2.	impact	b.	effect
3.	generally	c.	mostly
4.	likely	d.	probable
5.	look after	e.	care for
6.	period	f.	time frame
7.	quality	g.	condition
8.	rely	h.	depend
9.	depressed	i.	sad
10.	obese	j.	overweight

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	People in unhappy marriages
2.	Older women
3.	The health of our heart
4.	Wives
5.	Wives
6.	1,200
7.	5 years
8.	Their spouse
9.	Heart attacks
10.	Blood pressure

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

d

2.

b

3.

d

4.

c

5.

d

6.

c

7.

a

8.

c

9.

b

10.

a

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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Unhappy marriages can break the heart (21st November, 2014)

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