Task 7 Listening Worksheet from ESL Short stories

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       TARGET LANGUAGE: talking about the band ‘The Beatles in pairs and in groups, listening and understanding an audio, reading and comprehension of a text, True/False exercise and debate. This is a listening activity addressed to 1^st Bachillerato students.The activity consists on:

     a)      Completing the text while listening to the audio provided. The students will have two chances to do this activity.

        b) Answering some questions about the text they just completed.

     c)      Final debate about the influence of the Beatles in history and some statements to discuss.

The aim of this task is to practice the all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) according to students level and age.

·                     talk about a picture and  answer some questions

·                     fill in the blank while listening to an audio

·                     reading and comprehension of a text

·                     final debate.

           1.     Lead-in. Look at the following picture and talk to your partner:

    Here you have the link for the audio: http://www.eslfast.com/eslread/ss/s071.htm

     Do you know who are these guys?

-         What is the name of this group/band? Discuss with your partner.

-         Do you know their names?

1   2..Listening. Now you are going to listen to a fragment about ‘The Beatles’. Read carefully the text and complete it. You can it listen it twice.

The Beatles are an English group of musicians  Liverpool, England that took America by storm with  appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on primetime . The group's first appearance was seen by more  73 million viewers in February, 1964, introducing the  to the American people. In the months to , the group became the biggest Rock ‘N' Roll  ever to hit the United States.

The group's  opened the door for other British bands to  their way to America. Bands such as the  Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Dave  Five were soon playing their music to American .

The Beatles were made up by four of  finest musicians to ever play rock music. Their  singer was Paul McCartney, and drummer Ringo Starr.  still play to this day. Two of the  members, singers/songwriters, John Lennon, and George Harrison have  passed away, but their music lives in American  to this day. The Beatles have sold more  in the United States than any other country  the world.

There was controversy in the U.S.  to the group's first appearance. Conservative Americans viewed  Beatles as upstarts, with brash, new ideas, lyrics,  sound. The young generation of the time was  for a change, and the Beatles gave them  they wanted. They were nicknamed the "Mop Tops"  of their long, bowl-like haircuts that flew in face of convention in the 60s. Nothing was  to stop the Beatles though. Their music is  popular today as it was 50 plus years . This February, the Grammy Awards presented a special  celebrating the 50th anniversary of the group's first  on the Ed Sullivan Show.

2  3.   Reading. Look at the text again and answer the following questions.

1. Where are the Beatles from?

a.         ?    The United States

b.        ?    England

c.         ?    Spain

d.        ?    Canada

2. The Beatle's first television appearance in the United States was on the _________.

1.   ?    Jerry Springer Show
2.   ?    Conan O'Brian Show
3.   ?    Ed Sullivan Show
4.   ?    Lucille Ball Show

3. How many people saw the Beatle's first television appearance?

1.   ?    Hundreds.
2.   ?    Thousands.
3.   ?    Millions.
4.   ?    Billions.

4. Who was the drummer for the Beatles?

1.   ?    John Lennon
2.   ?    Paul McCartney
3.   ?    George Harrison
4.   ?    Ring Starr

5. The Beatles' haircuts were called _________.

1.   ?    The Arthur
2.   ?    Mop Tops
3.   ?    Mushroom Tops
4.   ?    Long Tops

4. True or False exercise. 

-  The group was formed by six members.

- The  Beatles have sold more albums that any other band in the music history.

-  Two of the original members, John Lennon and George Harrison have tragically passed away.

- Paul McCartney was born in Poland.

5. Debate. Now, in groups students have to talk/discuss the following statements:  YES/NO and WHY?. Finally, each group will show their oppinion to the rest of the class.

- The Beatles are the greatest band in history.

-The Beatles were made up by four of the finest musicians.

-The Beatles name were John, Paul, George and Ringo.

-The groups’ success opened the door for other British bands.

-John Lennon or Paul McCartney. Who was the leader of the Beatles?

-The Beatles unfortunately broke up in 1970 after many problems.

-The Beatles' disbandment marked the end or the beginning of an era?