Breaking News English

Saturday February 12, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

British supermodel Kate Moss is in the news for two very different reasons today. Number one is that she has been named the world’s best-dressed woman by readers of the magazine Glamour. Number two is that a naked painting of her has just been auctioned for $7 million. With or without clothes, Ms Moss seems to be a newsmaker. Regarding her wardrobe and fashion taste, it is the second year running she has picked up the Glamour magazine award. The winner was decided by a poll - 8,000 readers. Kate beat off some well-dressed and gorgeous rivals – model Sienna Miller was second and Sarah Jessica Parker, of Sex and the City fame, was third. Worst dressed included Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. As for the nude painting, that was sold for $7.3 million by the auction house Christies. It was a life-sized portrait painted by British painter Lucian Freud (grandson of Sigmund), done in 2002 while Kate was pregnant. Not a bad few days for Kate Moss.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Kate Moss / supermodels / being well-dressed / fashion / nude paintings / 2002 /  good days…

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. SUPERMODEL BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘supermodel’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY WARDROBE: Talk to your partner / group about your wardrobe, or fashion tastes. How has your style changed over the years? Are you well-dressed? Do you care? Would you like nicer clothes?

4. BEING A SUPERMODEL: Talk to your partner / group about being a supermodel. Together, write down five advantages and five disadvantages of being one. Change partners / groups and share your advantages and disadvantages. Change a third or fourth time. Return to your original partner / group and explain what you heard from other students.

5. BEST-DRESSED STUDENT: Take a class poll on who is the best-dressed student in the class. First: In pairs, decide on three things to vote for (colour coordination / originality etc). Your teacher will write each voting category on the board. The class chooses the best five. In groups , talk and decide which student is the winner (10 pts) and second (5 pts) in each category. Teacher collects all the votes and finds the winner.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘naked’, and ‘painting’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. British supermodel Kate Moss is in the news for two reasons.  T / F
2. She has been named the world’s best-dressed woman.  T / F
3. She has been voted as having the world’s best naked body.  T / F
4. A naked painting of her has just been auctioned for $7 million.  T / F
5. It is the second year in a row she has picked up the best-dressed award. T / F
6. Worst dressed woman was Britney Spears.  T / F
7. Kate Moss posed nude for a painting in 2002, while she was pregnant.  T / F
8. It has been a bad few days for Kate Moss.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Kate Moss best dressed and undresed

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘NAKED’/ ‘PAINTING’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. Do you follow fashion?
2. Do you like to know who has been voted the world’s best-dressed woman or man?
3. Do you read fashion magazines?
4. Are clothes important to you?
5. How do you choose which clothes to buy?
6. What clothes would you like to buy now if you had a lot of money?
7. What do you think of supermodels?
8. Would you like to be a supermodel?
9. Who is the best-dressed student in the class?
10. Who is the most gorgeous woman / guy in the world?
11. Would you ever pose naked for a painting?
12. How about if the artist was a famous British painter?
13. Have you had a good, bad or average few days? What has made them good / bad / average?
14. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Kate Moss. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER TO KATE: Write a letter to Kate Moss asking her for all her secrets on how to be well-dressed.

4. FIRST DAY ON THE JOB: Write your diary / journal entry for your first day of your new job of being a supermodel.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. British supermodel Kate Moss is in the news for two reasons.  T
2. She has been named the world’s best-dressed woman.  T
3. She has been voted as having the world’s best naked body.  F
4. A naked painting of her has just been auctioned for $7 million.  T
5. It is the second year in a row she has picked up the best-dressed award. T
6. Worst dressed woman was Britney Spears.  T
7. Kate Moss posed nude for a painting in 2002, while she was pregnant.  T
8. It has been a bad few days for Kate Moss.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

Kate Moss best dressed and undresed

British supermodel Kate Moss is in the news for two very different reasons today. Number one is that she has been named the world’s best-dressed woman by readers of the magazine Glamour. Number two is that a naked painting of her has just been auctioned for $7 million. With or without clothes, Ms Moss seems to be a newsmaker. Regarding her wardrobe and fashion taste, it is the second year running she has picked up the Glamour magazine award. The winner was decided by a poll - 8,000 readers. Kate beat off some well-dressed and gorgeous rivals – model Sienna Miller was second and Sarah Jessica Parker, of Sex and the City fame, was third. Worst dressed included Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. As for the nude painting, that was sold for $7.3 million by the auction house Christies. It was a life-sized portrait painted by British painter Lucian Freud (grandson of Sigmund), done in 2002 while Kate was pregnant. Not a bad few days for Kate Moss.