Sir Paul McCartney has become the first musician to broadcast live to an audience in space. The former Beatle woke up the crew of the International Space Station, orbiting 352 kilometers above Earth, with a special galactic rendition of two songs fittingly chosen for the landmark gig. The tunes were beamed into space from a concert he was giving in Anaheim, California. The first was the Beatles classic Good Day Sunshine and the second was a track titled English Tea from his new album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The mini concert and live footage of the two-man space audience listening to it were broadcast on NASA’s own television channel. Astronauts are usually woken up with recorded songs, but this marked the first time live music was used.

Sir Paul said he decided to broadcast the Good Day Sunshine song to “repay the favor” after NASA had used it to wake the Space Shuttle Discovery crew earlier this year. He said he had been “extremely proud” the song was chosen to alert the crew to favorable landing conditions on Earth for the second attempt at returning from space. The initial landing attempt had been aborted due to bad weather. Before his performance, Sir Paul stated: “I can’t believe that we’re actually transmitting to space.…This is sensational. I love it.” It seemed astronaut Bill McArthur and his Russian counterpart, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, were equally appreciative of their musical awakening. Mr. McArthur did a couple of zero-gravity flips in gratitude and told Sir Paul: “We consider you an explorer, just as we are.”

WARM-UPS

1. SIR PAUL SEARCH: Talk to your classmates and find out as much as you can about Sir Paul McCartney. After you have finished, sit down with your partner(s) and share your information. Talk about the things that surprised you or the things you are glad you found out.

2. MY LIVE CONCERT: In pairs / groups, talk about your favorite musical artists. Have you ever been to see them live? At which of these places would you like / go to see their concert? How do you think they would sound? How would you feel?

On the International Space Station	Their house / mansion / chateau
In the middle of the Sahara Desert	In a recording studio
In your room	On top of a mountain
The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony	On a Balinese beach

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

Musicians / live broadcasts / The Beatles / International Space Station / English tea / chaos / creation / concerts / NASA / astronauts / bad weather / zero gravity

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

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

5. LIFE SONGS: What are your favorite songs / pieces of music? Write the tunes that you feel are best to listen to in the situations below. Explain your choices to your partner(s).

1. When feeling sad __________________________________________________
2. To wake up in the morning ___________________________________________
3. To feel good when going to work / school _______________________________
4. To exercise to _____________________________________________________
5. To add to a very romantic moment ____________________________________
6. To annoy your neighbors ____________________________________________
7. When you want to be the artist _______________________________________
8. To dance to _______________________________________________________
9. Other ____________________________________________________________

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Paul McCartney went into space to sing two songs.	T / F
b.	Two songs were specially selected as a wake-up call for astronauts.	T / F
c.	NASA TV broadcast footage of astronauts listening to Paul McCartney.	T / F
d.	Live music was used to wake up astronauts for just the second time.	T / F
e.	Sir Paul McCartney said he felt he owed NASA a flavor.	T / F
f.	A Beatles song signaled favorable weather to the Space Shuttle crew.	T / F
g.	A Russian spaceman was also appreciative of Sir Paul’s renditions.	T / F
h.	A Space Station astronaut called Sir Paul McCartney a space explorer.	T / F

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

a.	rendition	aired
b.	fittingly	thankful
c.	gig	signified
d.	broadcast	terminated
e.	marked	version
f.	repay	opposite number
g.	aborted	aptly
h.	counterpart	thanks
i.	appreciative	concert
j.	gratitude	return

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

a.	broadcast live	for the landmark gig
b.	a special galactic rendition of	of the two-man space audience
c.	fittingly chosen	the first time live music was used
d.	live footage	had been aborted due to bad weather
e.	this marked	cosmonaut Valery Tokarev
f.	repay	to an audience in space
g.	alert the crew to favorable	zero-gravity flips
h.	The initial landing attempt	landing conditions on Earth
i.	…his Russian counterpart,	two songs
j.	McArthur did a couple of	the favor

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WHICH WORD? Delete the incorrect word from each pair in italics.

Paul McCartney’s Space Station concert

Sir Paul McCartney has become the first musician to broadcast alive / live to an audience / audio in space. The former Beatle woke up the crew of the International Space Station, arbitrating / orbiting 352 kilometers above Earth, with a special galactic rendition / condition of two songs fittingly chosen for the landmark gig. The tunes were teemed / beamed into space from a concert he was giving in Anaheim, California. The first was the Beatles classical / classic “Good Day Sunshine” and the second was a track titled “English Tea” from his new album “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard”. The mini concert and live header / footage of the two-man space audience listening to it were broadcast on NASA’s own television channel. Astronauts are usually woken up with recorded songs, but this sparked / marked the first time live music was used.

Sir Paul said he decided to broadcast the “Good Day Sunshine” song to “repay the favor / flavor” after NASA had used it to wake the Space Shuttle Discovery crew earlier this year. He said he had been “extremely prodded / proud” the song was chosen to alert / assert the crew to favorable landing conditions on Earth for the second attempt at returning from space. The initial / signature landing attempt had been aborted / supported due to bad weather. Before his performance, Sir Paul stated: “I can’t believe that we’re actually transmitting to space.…This is sensational. I love it.” It seemed astronaut Bill McArthur and his Russian contraband / counterpart, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, were equally / equal appreciative of their musical awakening. Mr. McArthur did a couple of zero-gravity flips / flops in gratitude and told Sir Paul: “We consider you an explorer, just as we are.”

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Paul McCartney’s Space Station concert

Sir Paul McCartney has become the first musician to __________ live to an audience in space. The former Beatle woke up the _____ of the International Space Station, orbiting 352 kilometers above Earth, with a special _________ rendition of two songs fittingly chosen for the landmark ____. The tunes were beamed into space from a concert he was giving in Anaheim, California. The first was the Beatles ________ Good Day Sunshine and the second was a track titled English Tea from his new album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The mini concert and live ________ of the two-man space audience listening to it were broadcast on NASA’s own television channel. Astronauts are usually woken up with recorded songs, but this ________ the first time live music was used.

Sir Paul said he decided to broadcast the Good Day Sunshine song to “________ the ________” after NASA had used it to wake the Space Shuttle Discovery crew earlier this year. He said he had been “extremely proud” the song was chosen to ________ the crew to favorable landing conditions on Earth for the second attempt at returning from space. The ________ landing attempt had been ________ due to bad weather. Before his performance, Sir Paul stated: “I can’t believe that we’re actually transmitting to space.…This is ________. I love it.” It seemed astronaut Bill McArthur and his Russian counterpart, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, were ________ appreciative of their musical awakening. Mr. McArthur did a couple of zero-gravity ________ in ________ and told Sir Paul: “We consider you an explorer, just as we are.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. WHICH WORD? In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers.

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

5. STUDENT “SIR PAUL McCARTNEY” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Sir Paul McCartney, The Beatles and the International Space Station.

• 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:

first galactic beamed classic footage marked

favor alert aborted actually equally consider

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. Do you like Sir Paul McCartney or The Beatles?
3. Do you think Sir Paul McCartney was a good choice of artist to make the first live broadcast into space
4. What song or piece of music do you think would be fitting to transmit into space?
5. How do you wake up in the morning?
6. Do you have may favors to repay?
7. What are you “extremely proud” of?
8. Do you have a favorite Beatles song?
9. Do you think spending billions of dollars on the International Space Station is a good idea?
10. Do you think Sir Paul McCartney is an explorer?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. Do you like to be woken up to music?
3. Would you like to spend some time on the International Space Station?
4. Do you like English tea?
5. Do you think this broadcast is really such a landmark event or more of a publicity stunt?
6. Why do you think it has taken NASA so long to arrange for live music to be broadcast into space?
7. What do you think astronauts or cosmonauts do all day on the International Space Station?
8. What questions would you like to ask those on board the International Space Station?
9. What do you think their answers would be?
10. Did you like this discussion?

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

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

SPACE STATION LIFE: You have to go to the International Space Station for one year. You are only allowed to take a limited number of things with you. Write these things in the table and talk about your reasons with your partner(s).

THING	REASONS
A song
A book
A photograph
A software program
A personal memento
A painting
An item of clothing
Other ____________________

Change partners.  Now you are going to the International Space Station together. You can only take four things each. Compromise and decide what each of you will take

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 associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the International Space Station. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. SONGS: Write a short essay about your favorite songs. How long have they been favorites? How do they make you feel? Show what you wrote to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to the astronauts and cosmonauts living on board the International Space Station. Ask them questions about their life in space. Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about or ask similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. T

d. F

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	rendition	version
b.	fittingly	aptly
c.	gig	concert
d.	broadcast	aired
e.	marked	signified
f.	repay	return
g.	aborted	terminated
h.	counterpart	opposite number
i.	appreciative	thankful
j.	gratitude	thanks

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	broadcast live	to an audience in space
b.	a special galactic rendition of	two songs
c.	fittingly chosen	for the landmark gig
d.	live footage	of the two-man space audience
e.	this marked	the first time live music was used
f.	repay	the favor
g.	alert the crew to favorable	landing conditions on Earth
h.	The initial landing attempt	had been aborted due to bad weather
i.	…his Russian counterpart,	cosmonaut Valery Tokarev
j.	McArthur did a couple of	zero-gravity flips

WHICH WORD?

Paul McCartney’s Space Station concert

Sir Paul McCartney has become the first musician to broadcast alive / live to an audience / audio in space. The former Beatle woke up the crew of the International Space Station, arbitrating / orbiting 352 kilometers above Earth, with a special galactic rendition / condition of two songs fittingly chosen for the landmark gig. The tunes were teemed / beamed into space from a concert he was giving in Anaheim, California. The first was the Beatles classical / classic “Good Day Sunshine” and the second was a track titled “English Tea” from his new album “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard”. The mini concert and live header / footage of the two-man space audience listening to it were broadcast on NASA’s own television channel. Astronauts are usually woken up with recorded songs, but this sparked / marked the first time live music was used.

Sir Paul said he decided to broadcast the “Good Day Sunshine” song to “repay the favor / flavor” after NASA had used it to wake the Space Shuttle Discovery crew earlier this year. He said he had been “extremely prodded / proud” the song was chosen to alert / assert the crew to favorable landing conditions on Earth for the second attempt at returning from space. The initial / signature landing attempt had been aborted / supported due to bad weather. Before his performance, Sir Paul stated: “I can’t believe that we’re actually transmitting to space.…This is sensational. I love it.” It seemed astronaut Bill McArthur and his Russian contraband / counterpart, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, were equally / equal appreciative of their musical awakening. Mr. McArthur did a couple of zero-gravity flips / flops in gratitude and told Sir Paul: “We consider you an explorer, just as we are.”

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