The Reading / Listening - Blueberries - Level 4

A farmer in Australia has broken the record for growing the world's biggest blueberry. The giant berry weighed 20.4 grams. This smashed the previous record of 16.2 grams. The record-breaker was as wide as a table tennis ball. It was 39.31 millimetres in diameter. It was 10 times heavier than a regular blueberry. The farmer said he was happy to be verified by Guinness World Records. He said his fruit was because of "good breeding".

The blueberry is from the Eterna variety. The farmer said this is "a consistently large fruit" with a great flavour. He added: "While the fruit is large, there's absolutely no compromise on quality or flavour." At first, he was unsure if he had broken the record. He said he had to check the weighing scales to make sure. When asked what he would do with his prize berry, he said he might use it in a smoothie.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Blueberries - Level 5 or  Blueberries - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2024/3/behemoth-blueberry-grown-in-australia-verified-as-heaviest-ever-767762
  • https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-14/guinness-world-records-worlds-heaviest-blueberry-costa-berries/103585822
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/15/australia/worlds-heaviest-blueberry-scli-intl/index.html


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. broken the
  2. The giant berry weighed
  3. This smashed the previous
  4. as wide as a
  5. It was 39.31 millimetres
  6. 10 times heavier than
  7. verified by
  8. his fruit was because of good
  1. a regular blueberry
  2. record
  3. Guinness World Records
  4. record
  5. breeding
  6. 20.4 grams
  7. table tennis ball
  8. in diameter

Paragraph 2

  1. The blueberry is from
  2. a consistently
  3. a great
  4. no compromise
  5. unsure if had broken the
  6. check the weighing
  7. asked what he would do
  8. he might use it in
  1. large fruit
  2. record
  3. a smoothie
  4. flavour
  5. on quality
  6. with his prize
  7. the Eterna variety
  8. scales to make sure

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A farmer in Australia has (1) ___________________ for growing the world's biggest blueberry. The (2) ___________________ 20.4 grams. This smashed the (3) ___________________ 16.2 grams. The record-breaker was (4) ___________________ a table tennis ball. It was 39.31 millimetres in diameter. It was 10 times heavier than (5) ___________________. The farmer said he was happy to be verified by Guinness World Records. He said his fruit was because (6) ___________________.

The blueberry is from the Eterna variety. The farmer said this is "a consistently large fruit" with (7) ___________________. He added: "While the fruit is large, there's absolutely (8) ___________________ quality or flavour." At first, he (9) ___________________ he had broken the record. He said he had to check (10) ___________________ to make sure. When asked what he would do with (11) ___________________, he said he might use it (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

AfarmerinAustraliahasbrokentherecordforgrowingtheworld'sbigges
tblueberry.Thegiantberryweighed20.4grams.Thissmashedtheprevi
ousrecordof16.2grams.Therecord-breakerwasaswideasatabletenn
isball.Itwas39.31millimetresindiameter.Itwas10timesheavierthana
regularblueberry.ThefarmersaidhewashappytobeverifiedbyGuinne
ssWorldRecords.Hesaidhisfruitwasbecauseof"goodbreeding".Thebl
ueberryisfromtheEternavariety.Thefarmersaidthisis"aconsistentlyl
argefruit"withagreatflavour.Headded:"Whilethefruitislarge,there's
absolutelynocompromiseonqualityorflavour."Atfirst,hewasunsureif
hehadbrokentherecord.Hesaidhehadtochecktheweighingscalestom
akesure.Whenaskedwhathewoulddowithhisprizeberry,hesaidhemig
htuseitinasmoothie.

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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