The Reading / Listening - Opera - Level 0

France will help Saudi Arabia to get its first orchestra and opera. The two countries signed a cultural agreement. The Paris Opera will help Saudi Arabia make its own performances. The first opera house will be in Saudi's second largest city, Jeddah. Saudi will spend $64 billion on entertainment in the next 10 years.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan is to modernize Saudi. France will help with tourism. It will preserve old sites in Saudi's region of Al-Ula. Another important part of the agreement is to translate books. France said it was important to translate books, "in both directions, from Arabic into French and French into Arabic".

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Opera - Level 1,  Opera - Level 2   or  Opera - Level 3

Sources
  • http://www.arabnews.com/node/1281546/saudi-arabia
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43703236
  • http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2018/04/09/Saudi-French-agreement-to-launch-opera-house-and-orchestra.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 :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. France will help
  2. get its first orchestra
  3. two countries signed a cultural
  4. make its own
  5. The first opera
  6. Saudi's second
  7. spend
  8. in the
  1. largest city
  2. performances
  3. $64 billion
  4. and opera
  5. agreement
  6. next 10 years
  7. house
  8. Saudi Arabia

Paragraph 2

  1. Mohammed bin Salman's
  2. modernize
  3. France will help with
  4. It will preserve old
  5. Saudi's region
  6. Another important part of
  7. translate
  8. from Arabic
  1. tourism
  2. into French
  3. the agreement
  4. plan
  5. books
  6. Saudi
  7. sites
  8. of Al-Ula

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

France will help Saudi Arabia to (1) ___________________ orchestra and opera. The two countries (2) __________________ agreement. The Paris (3) ___________________ Saudi Arabia make its (4) ___________________. The first opera house will be in Saudi's (5) ___________________ city, Jeddah. Saudi will spend $64 billion on entertainment (6) ___________________ 10 years.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (7) __________________ modernize Saudi. France will (8) ___________________. It will preserve (9) ___________________ Saudi's region of Al-Ula. Another important (10) ___________________ agreement is to translate books. France said it (11) ___________________ translate books, "(12) ___________________, from Arabic into French and French into Arabic".

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

FrancewillhelpSaudiArabiatogetitsfirstorchestraandopera.Thetwoc
ountriessignedaculturalagreement.TheParisOperawillhelpSaudiAra
biamakeitsownperformances.ThefirstoperahousewillbeinSaudi'ssec
ondlargestcity,Jeddah.Saudiwillspend$64billiononentertainmentint
henext10years.CrownPrinceMohammedbinSalman'splanistomoder
nizeSaudi.Francewillhelpwithtourism.ItwillpreserveoldsitesinSaudi'
sregionofAl-Ula.Anotherimportantpartoftheagreementistotranslat
ebooks.Francesaiditwasimportanttotranslatebooks,"inbothdirectio
ns,fromArabicintoFrenchandFrenchintoArabic".

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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