That's English! - Module 8 - Unit 9: Celebrities

Fame and success are in fashion nowadays; more and more people, especially youngsters, try to become a celebrity. Social networks facilitate to reach this dream. Let's talk about "Celebrities".

General questions

• Why do you think there is a trend to become a celebrity? Would you like to become a celebrity? Why/why not?
• Have you ever met an important person? If so, explain your experience. If not, would you like to meet one? Who would you like to meet?
• Are you interested in celebrities' lives? Have you ever been interested in them? Have you ever tried to copy a famous person's look? 
• What are the main features of a celebrity nowadays?
• Who are the celebrities you like or/and hate most? Give reasons for your answer.
• Choose a celebrity you like and another that you hate and compare them.

Activity 1

This lesson works on REPORTED SPEECH. Although it seemes to be just a grammar point, pay attention to the fact that it's repeatedly used in our daily life conversations, either in English or in Spanish. Let me give you an example:

"Yesteday I talked to my sister about holidays. She said she'd like to go to the beach but she didn't know where to. I suggested spending some days in Andalucía but she refused the idea because she wanted to relax so she hesitated to be able to do it there. I told her to come to the north of Spain with us and she accepted so now we're planning our holiday together.

Do the same with your partner and start your speech with these sentences: Yesterday...

• A friend of mine phoned to talk about her new boyfriend. She said... 
• My boss asked me to go to her office because she had to speak about something important. She explained to me that the company...
• My mother called me because she wanted to chat for a while. She asked me about ...
• My son's teacher called me because he needed to talk to me about my son's marks...

Activity 2

This acitivy has two parts. First, work with your partner on a role-play reproducing an interview with a famous person. Once you finish the conversation (like the one you have in your textbook p.92, exercise 7 and 8) explaine to another mate what your partner  has told you using reported speech. Then swap the roles and repeat the exercise.

Activity 3

To work on listening comprenhension exercises, here you have some examples to practice:

• An example of a new "celebrity": click here
• This one is about leisure: click here
• About celebrities: click here
• Here you are a simple of EOI exam from the Canary Islands: click here

Activity 4

If you want to work a bit with this grammar point, here are some exercises to practise:

• exercise 1    exercise 2 (thee are 2 more exercises withinn this one)    exercise 3 (a list of exercises on reported speech)