Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe could go to prison for four years for assault with a weapon. The weapon was a telephone, which Crowe threw into the face of a New York hotel concierge. It hit the front desk worker in the face, cutting him and causing “substantial pain”. Crowe was arrested in Manhattan on June 6 and led to the local police station in handcuffs.

Mr. Crowe’s agent Robin Baum denied that his client had assaulted anyone. Baum said that Crowe got angry with hotel staff because they didn’t assist him when he tried to call to his wife in Australia. An argument started and Crowe flew into a rage. Mr. Crowe regrets that he lost his temper and insists that at no time did he assault anyone or touch any hotel employee.

Australian Crowe, star of the movie Gladiator, has developed a hard man image. He has a history of getting into fights in public. He recently punched his bodyguard, Mark Carroll, while filming his new movie Cinderella Man. Reports say he bit off a chunk of Carroll’s ear, Mike Tyson style. The two quickly made up and became best buddies again.

WARM-UPS

1. ANGRY: Write down the last three times you got angry. Why did you get angry? What did you do to quell your anger? In pairs / groups tell each other about the times you got angry. Did you think about throwing a telephone at someone?

2. TELEPHONE ANGER: In pairs / groups, talk about what makes you angry about telephones. Do you get just a little angry or totally furious? Here are a few things to talk about:

1. Being put on hold.
2. Looking at your telephone bill.
3. Someone taking a long time using a public phone.
4. Other people talking loudly on their mobile phones.
5. Being asked by a recorded voice to press different numbers for different services.
6. Childish ring tones or famous classical music ring tones on mobile phones.
7. Answering machines.
8. The “Greensleaves” tune or other boring music while you are on hold.

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Oscar / Hollywood actors / Russell Crowe / prison / telephones / pain / handcuffs / losing your temper / fighting in public / Mike Tyson

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. STORY PREDICTION: In pairs / groups, use the words from the “CHAT” activity to predict the story in the article. Change partners and compare your stories. If you have different ideas, talk about which you think will be closer to the actual article.

5. WEAPON: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “weapon”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. RUSSELL CROWE: Talk about the man and his movies:

Master and Commander (2003), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Proof of Life (2000), Gladiator (2000), The Insider (1999), LA Confidential (1997), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Romper Stomper (1992), Proof (1991), The Crossing (1990)

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Russell Crowe may star in a new movie called “Jail”.	T / F
b.	Russell Crowe cut a hotel worker’s face with a telephone.	T / F
c.	Mr. Crowe was led to the local police station in handcuffs.	T / F
d.	Mr. Crowe’s agent said his client attacked the hotel worker.	T / F
e.	Mr. Crowe lost his temper because the hotel phones didn’t work.	T / F
f.	Crowe regrets that he lost his temper.	T / F
g.	Crowe has a history of getting into fights in public.	T / F
h.	Crowe bit off part of Mike Tyson’s ear in a fight.	T / F

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

a.	prison	tough guy
b.	assault	big
c.	substantial	background
d.	led	lost one’s temper
e.	denied	taken
f.	assist	jail (USA) gaol (UK)
g.	flew into a rage	help
h.	hard man	disagreed
i.	history	reconciled
j.	made up	attack

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Oscar winning	in handcuffs
b.	assault with	man image
c.	substantial	a weapon
d.	led to the local police station	his temper
e.	got angry	buddies again
f.	Crowe flew	into fights
g.	Crowe regrets that he lost	into a rage
h.	developed a hard	actor
i.	a history of getting	pain
j.	became best	with hotel staff

WHILE READING / LISTENING

SPOT THE MISTAKES: Half of the words in bold in each paragraph are wrong. Circle the incorrect words. Replace them with words that fit.

Jail possible for Russell Crowe

Oscar losing actor Russell Crowe could go to Hollywood for four years for assault with a weapon. The weapon was a telephone, which Crowe carried into the face of a New York hotel concierge. It hit the front desk worker in the face, cutting him and causing “substantial pain”. Crowe was arrested in Manhattan on June 6 and led to the local police badge in handcuffs.

Mr. Crowe’s agent Robin Baum denied that his client had assaulted anyone. Baum said that Crowe got calm with hotel staff because they didn’t assist him when he tried to call to his wife in Australia. An argument started and Crowe swam into a rage. Mr. Crowe regrets that he found his temper and insists that at no time did he assault anyone or touch any police employee.

Australian Crowe, star of the movie Gladiator, has developed a soft man image. He has a physics of getting into fights in public. He recently punched his bodyguard, Mark Carroll, while filming his new cartoon Cinderella Man. Reports say he bit off a chunk of Carroll’s ear, Mike Tyson style. The two quickly made down and became best buddies again.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘front’ and ‘desk’.

• 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. SPOT THE MISTAKES: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Talk about any relationships you can see between the correct and incorrect words. Change partners and see if you found the same relationships.

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT ANGER SURVEY: In pairs / groups write down questions about anger and losing your temper.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

prison threw substantial handcuffs denied assist

rage at no time image history bodyguard buddies

 DISCUSSION

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

1. What thoughts entered your head when you saw this headline?
2. Do you think Russell Crowe is a dangerous man?
3. Do you think Russell Crowe is a bad man?
4. Do you think Russell Crowe is a good actor?
5. Do Hollywood actors have a responsibility to behave in public?
6. Should Russell Crowe go to jail for throwing the telephone?
7. Should a court judge look at Mr. Crowe’s history of fighting?
8. Have you ever thrown anything across the room in anger?
9. When was the last time you flew into a rage?
10. Have you ever had a fist fight in public?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. Do you like Russell Crowe?
3. Is there a danger that he might go free because he’s a star?
4. If you hit someone with a phone and went to prison for four years, but Russell Crowe gets nothing, how would you feel?
5. If you were the hotel concierge, would you accept money from Mr. Crowe and not press charges, or would you press charges?
6. Do you think Hollywood studios should ban Russell Crowe?
7. Do you think this incident is a storm in a tea cup?
8. Do you want to watch his latest movie Cinderella Man?
9. Do you have a favorite Russell Crowe movie?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

TEMPER TEMPER: Is it easy for you to control your anger? Do you get angry with people a lot? Do different people make you angry every day?

1. Complete the following sentences:

I get angry with…

myself my parents George W. Bush my boss people on the train / bus God people in the street car drivers people from other countries other _________

when if because whenever over for

_______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________. _______________________________________.

2. Talk to your partner(s) about what you wrote. Give each other advice on how to cope with your anger in each of the above situations.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Jail possible for Russell Crowe

Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe _____ __ __ ______ for four years for assault with a weapon. The weapon was a telephone, which Crowe threw ____ ___ ____ ___ a New York hotel concierge. It hit the front desk worker in the face, cutting him and causing “___________ pain”. Crowe was arrested in Manhattan on June 6 and ___ __ ___ _____ police station in handcuffs.

Mr. Crowe’s agent Robin Baum denied ____ ___ _____ ___ assaulted anyone. Baum said that Crowe got angry with hotel staff because they _____ ______ ____ when he tried to call to his wife in Australia. An argument started and Crowe ____ ____ __ ____. Mr. Crowe regrets that ___ _____ ____ _______ and insists that at no time did he assault anyone or touch any hotel employee.

Australian Crowe, star of the movie Gladiator, ___ _________ a hard man image. He has __ ________ ___ getting into fights in public. He recently punched his bodyguard, Mark Carroll, while filming his new movie Cinderella Man. Reports ___ __ ___ ____ a chunk of Carroll’s ear, Mike Tyson style. The two _______ ____ ___ and became best buddies again.

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 word partners of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Russell Crowe’s criminal proceedings. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. ANGER: Make a poster that tells people the best way to deal with anger. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you have the same ideas?

4. PUNISHMENT: Imagine you are the judge in Russell Crowe’s court case. Write down the punishment Mr. Crowe will receive for his actions. Explain your reasons for giving the punishment. Describe the responsibilities Mr. Crowe has as a role model and public figure. Read your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all give similar punishments or write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. T

d. F

e. T

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	prison	jail (USA) gaol (UK)
b.	assault	attack
c.	substantial	big
d.	led	taken
e.	denied	disagreed
f.	assist	help
g.	flew into a rage	lost one’s temper
h.	hard man	tough guy
i.	history	background
j.	made up	reconciled

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Oscar winning	actor
b.	assault with	a weapon
c.	substantial	pain
d.	led to the local police station	in handcuffs
e.	got angry	with hotel staff
f.	Crowe flew	into a rage
g.	Crowe regrets that he lost	his temper
h.	developed a hard	man image
i.	a history of getting	into fights
j.	became best	buddies again

SPOT THE MISTAKES:

Jail possible for Russell Crowe

Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe could go to prison for four years for assault with a weapon. The weapon was a telephone, which Crowe threw into the face of a New York hotel concierge. It hit the front desk worker in the face, cutting him and causing “substantial pain”. Crowe was arrested in Manhattan on June 6 and led to the local police station in handcuffs.

Mr. Crowe’s agent Robin Baum denied that his client had assaulted anyone. Baum said that Crowe got angry with hotel staff because they didn’t assist him when he tried to call to his wife in Australia. An argument started and Crowe flew into a rage. Mr. Crowe regrets that he lost his temper and insists that at no time did he assault anyone or touch any hotel employee.

Australian Crowe, star of the movie Gladiator, has developed a hard man image. He has a history of getting into fights in public. He recently punched his bodyguard, Mark Carroll, while filming his new movie Cinderella Man. Reports say he bit off a chunk of Carroll’s ear, Mike Tyson style. The two quickly made up and became best buddies again.

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