SPEAK UP IN CLASS WORKSHEETS

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Before starting to do the exercise, have a look at this entry: http://englishtips-self-taught.blogspot.com/2011/07/amy-macdonald.html

Amy MacDonald – For the Record (C1)

A - Before you start, talk to a partner.

1. What do you know about Amy MacDonald?

2. Do you like her music?

3. Can you name any other Scottish pop stars?

4. Have you seen or heard Lady Gaga? If so, what do you think of her?

B - Listen and answer

Read these statements. Then listen (without reading) and write T (True) or F (False).

1. Amy MacDonald spent her childhood in Glasgow.

2. About three million of her singles have been sold.

3. She claims that a conversation with fans on Twitter was misrepresented by the press.

4. Amy says she’s in debt to her record company at the moment.

5. She thinks her anonymity is due to her lifestyle.

6. She talks about a pop star who wore a wig to avoid being recognised while travelling on a plane.

C - Read and answer

Read the article and answer the questions with a partner.

1. Why is Amy’s commercial success surprising?

2. What did she mean when she said she hadn’t made any money from selling her CD?

3. What does she say about her financial situation at the moment?

4. Why don’t people recognise her?

5. What is Amy’s attitude to Lady Gaga’s behaviour during the flight to the north of Sweden?

6. What should Lady Gaga have done, according to Amy?

D - Learn it! Use it!

Complete these sentences with words from the glossary. (You may have to adapt the expression in some way; e.g. change the subject, or change from singular to plural.)

1. Having one of her poems published in a magazine was a great __________ for my aunt.

2. You can’t go for a job interview in that __________ suit. You’ll have to buy a new one.

3. Let’s put the __________  _________. It wasn’t me who let your secret out.

4. If you don’t update your anti-virus regularly you’re just __________ disaster.

5. My dad always __________ about the programmes on TV but he watches them all the same.

6. With a credit card it’s easy to spend too much and get into __________ .

7. Tom thinks he’s something special. I hate the way he __________ himself.

8. Most of the company’s __________ comes from its sales of electrical goods.

E - Ready for CAE? (Paper 3 Part 2)

Complete the text. Use only one word in each space.

There are quite a (1)__________ similarities between Amy MacDonald and Paolo Nutini. They were (2)__________ born in Scotland in 1987. Paolo (3)__________ up in a place near Glasgow and so (4)__________ Amy. Then there’s the way in (5)__________ they took the music world by storm. One difference, (6)__________ , is that they support different Glasgow football teams. (7)__________ a Catholic, Nutini naturally supports Celtic, (8)__________ MacDonald is a Protestant and is therefore a Rangers fan, (9)__________ the fact that her boyfriend Steve Lovell used to play (10)__________ another Glasgow team, Partick Thistle.

It’s now four years (11)__________ Amy signed a record contract at the age of 18 and in that time she has gone from (12)__________ an unknown teenage singer-songwriter to an international star, but she says she doesn’t see herself (13)__________ famous. Perhaps this is why she refuses to behave (14)__________ a celebrity and prefers to be anonymous. And (15)__________ her album sales have made her wealthy, she still lives in a small town just outside Glasgow.

Talk about it

In pairs or groups.

1. Do you agree with Amy MacDonald that a lot of celebrities like being followed around by the press?

2. Why do you think so many people are interested in reading about celebrities in gossip magazines?

3. It has been said that we live in a “celebrity society” in which gossip and fame equal power. Do you agree?