The Reading / Listening - Brad Pitt - Level 4

Movie star Brad Pitt has facial blindness. This is a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to recognize people's faces. Sufferers can forget the face of a family member or their own face. The condition is called prosopagnosia. It affects about 1 in 40 people. It causes anxiety in social situations. Sufferers avoid situations in which they will meet people. They may become withdrawn. In extreme cases, they may not leave their home.

Brad Pitt, 58, has not been diagnosed with prosopagnosia. He said nobody believed him when he could not remember their name. He said: "People hate me because they think I'm disrespecting them." One strategy he used was to ask people where he had met them before. However, this made things worse. He explained: "People were more offended.…like 'You're being egotistical.'" Pitt hopes speaking about facial blindness will raise awareness of it.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Brad Pitt - Level 5 or  Brad Pitt - Level 6

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/07/entertainment/brad-pitt-facial-blindness/index.html
  • https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/07/inside-brad-pitts-years-long-battle-with-face-blindness-16957863/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia


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. This is a neurological
  2. difficult to recognize
  3. It affects about
  4. It causes anxiety in
  5. Sufferers
  6. They may become
  7. In extreme
  8. they may not leave
  1. 1 in 40 people
  2. avoid situations
  3. their home
  4. people's faces
  5. cases
  6. social situations
  7. disorder
  8. withdrawn

Paragraph 2

  1. diagnosed with
  2. He said nobody believed
  3. they think I'm disrespecting
  4. One strategy
  5. ask people where he had
  6. However, this made things
  7. You're being
  8. raise awareness
  1. them
  2. egotistical
  3. met them before
  4. of it
  5. he used
  6. him
  7. worse
  8. prosopagnosia

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Movie star Brad Pitt has facial blindness. This is a neurological (1) ___________________ it difficult to recognize people's faces. Sufferers can forget the (2) ___________________ family member or their own face. The (3) ___________________ prosopagnosia. It affects about 1 in 40 people. It (4) ___________________ social situations. Sufferers avoid situations in which they will meet people. They (5) ___________________. In extreme cases, they may not (6) ___________________.

Brad Pitt, 58, has not (7) ___________________ prosopagnosia. He said nobody believed him when he could (8) __________________ name. He said: "People hate me because they think (9) ___________________." One strategy he used was to ask people where he had met them before. However, this (10) ___________________. He explained: "People were more offended....like (11) ___________________.'" Pitt hopes speaking about facial blindness will (12) ___________________ it.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

MoviestarBradPitthasfacialblindness.Thisisaneurologicaldisorderth
atmakesitdifficulttorecognizepeople'sfaces.Suffererscanforgetthefa
ceofafamilymemberortheirownface.Theconditioniscalledprosopagn
osia.Itaffectsabout1in40people.Itcausesanxietyinsocialsituations.S
ufferersavoidsituationsinwhichtheywillmeetpeople.Theymaybecom
ewithdrawn.Inextremecases,theymaynotleavetheirhome.BradPitt,
58,hasnotbeendiagnosedwithprosopagnosia.Hesaidnobodybelieve
dhimwhenhecouldnotremembertheirname.Hesaid:"Peoplehatemeb
ecausetheythinkI'mdisrespectingthem."Onestrategyheusedwastoa
skpeoplewherehehadmetthembefore.However,thismadethingswor
se.Heexplained:"Peopleweremoreoffended....like'You'rebeingegoti
stical.'"Pitthopesspeakingaboutfacialblindnesswillraiseawarenessof
it.

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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