Sunday January 9, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Superstar Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have ended recent speculation about their rocky marriage and announced they are separating. They issued a joint statement, saying, “We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate.” They quashed rumours that their split was due to recent tabloid speculation about an impending break – “For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media.” It seems to be a clean break with none of the usual Hollywood-style muckraking, accusations and law suits. They made it clear that, “We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another.” Hollywood hunk Pitt, 41, and Friends actress, Aniston, 35, met on a blind date in 1988. They immediately became one of the hottest celebrity romances until their extravagant million-dollar, star-studded wedding in 2000.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Brad Pitt / Jenifer Aniston / Hollywood / superstar marriages / the comedy Friends / being 'just good friends' / divorce / tabloid gossip / …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. FRIENDS BRAINSTORM: Brainstorm facts and feelings about the comedy Friends, and let students talk about what's on the board in pairs / groups. .

3. BRAD'S MOVIES: In pairs / groups, students talk about / rate / rank the following Brad Pitt movies:

Ocean's Twelve (2004), Troy (2004), Ocean's Eleven (2001), The Mexican (2001), Snatch (2000), Fight Club (1999), Meet Joe Black (1998), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), The Devil's Own (1997), Sleepers (1996), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Seven (1995), Legends of the Fall (1994), Interview with the Vampire (1994), True Romance (1993), Kalifornia (1993), A River Runs Through It (1992), Johnny Suede (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991)

4. MY EXPERIENCE: In pairs / groups students share experiences of relationship break-ups. Have you remained 'just good friends'? Is it possible to remain 'just good friends'?

5. GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE: In pairs discuss the following grounds for divorce - rank and agree on the three most serious and the three least serious:

- Couple has conflicting personal beliefs
- Couple becomes bored with marriage / drifted apart
- Desertion (one partner leaves the home)
- Adultery / Infidelity
- Communication problems
- One partner wants children, the other doesn't
- Cruel treatment (wife beating / husband bashing / emotional cruelty)
- Bigamy / Polygamy
- Imprisonment of one partner (or both?)
- Spousal Indignities
- Institutionalization (one partner has been put in a psychiatric home)
- Irretrievable Breakdown of some kind
- Alcohol or drug abuse
- Problems with the in-laws
- Financial reasons

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘superstar’ and ‘couple’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Superstar Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are getting married.  T / F
(b)  They issued a joint statement about splitting up.  T / F
(c)  They were together for seven years.  T / F
(d)  They split up due to recent tabloid specul ation about their marriage problems.  T / F
(e)  They are going to take each other to the cleaners in the divorce courts.  T / F
(f)  They are still good friends. T / F
(g)  They met on a blind date in 1998.  T / F
(h)  They had a million-dollar wedding.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	Hollywood	current
(b)	couple	celebrity
(c)	recent	heartthrob
(d)	rocky	press
(e)	separate	gossip
(f)	rumours	over-the-top
(g)	media	pair
(h)	remain	part
(i)	hunk	shaky
(j)	extravagant	continue

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have ended	separate
(b)	They issued a joint	of things
(c)	formally	suits
(d)	tabloid	date
(e)	these sorts	recent speculation
(f)	clean	break
(g)	law	wedding
(h)	Hollywood	statement
(i)	blind	hunk
(j)	star-studded	speculation

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston separate

Superstar Hollywood __________ Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have ended recent speculation about their rocky __________ and announced they are separating. They issued a joint statement, saying, “We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to __________ separate.” They quashed rumours that their __________ was due to recent tabloid speculation about an impending break – “For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to __________ that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media.” It seems to be a __________ break with none of the usual Hollywood-style muckraking, accusations and law suits. They made it clear that, “We happily remain committed and caring friends with great __________ and admiration for one another.” Hollywood hunk Pitt, 41, and Friends actress, Aniston, 35, met on a blind date in 1988. They immediately became one of the __________ celebrity romances until their extravagant million-dollar, star-studded wedding in 2000.

marriage hottest love explain couple split clean formally

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. DEFINITIONS:  Students check their answers to the definitions exercise.

4. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonym exercise.

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

6. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

7. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. ‘SUPERSTAR’/ ‘COUPLE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

2. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

3. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

4. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

5. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

6. ARTICLE DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a) Is Brad Pitt the biggest hunk around?
(b) Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?
(c) Do you really care that Brad and Jennifer are separating?
(d) Are they a good example of how married people should separate?
(e) Shouldn't marriage be forever?
(f) Should Jennifer get half of Brad's wealth upon divorce?
(g) How many of your exes have you remained good friends with?
(h) Were all of your previous separations clean breaks or did things get nasty?
(i) Do you read tablid newspapers?
(j) Are you interested in celebrity gossip?
(k) Would you ever go on / Have you ever been on a blind date?
(l) Would you like / did you have an extravagant wedding?
(m)  If you had a star-studded wedding, who would you invite?
(n) Do you know any couples who broke up and remained 'just good froends'?
(o) Is divorce too easy these days?
(p)  Teacher’s additional questions.

7. MARRIAGE GUIDANCE: Students take turns in playing marriage guidance counsellor. Each student chooses a different question and asks for advice. However, that student is never happy with the advice and always counters with a 'yes, but... + problem with advive':

- How do I learn what 's important to my spouse?
- Why do I put up with him/her anymore?
- Why does everything he/she says irritate me?
- Have I married the wrong man/woman?
- Why doesn't he/she ever clean the house?
- When will he/she come out of his/her own world and see me?
- How do I love a selfish man/woman?
- How do I convince him/her to have kids?
- What do I do with a not good looking husband/wife?
- Why does he/she argue with me evertime I bring up money?
- Why am I so afraid to talk to him/her?
- Why can't he/she let go of his/her mother?
- Why am I more affectionate than him/her?
- Why do we keep having the same argument?
- Why can't I forgive him/her for the past?
- When I plan something, why does he/she defy it every time?
- Why does my whole life feel like a constant "to do" list?
- Why do I want a relationship with every attractive man/woman I see on the train?

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Brad or Jennifer. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MARRIAGE GUIDANCE: Create an information poster outlining your ideas for a long-lasting marriage.

4. BLIND DATE: Write down ten questions you would like to ask the other person before you go on a blind date with them (questions to be used in a follow-up class).

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Superstar Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are getting married.  F
(b)  They issued a joint statement about splitting up.  T
(c)  They were together for seven years.  T
(d)  They split up due to recent tabloid speculation about their marriage problems.  F
(e)  They are going to take each other to the cleaners in the divorce courts.  F
(f)  They are still good friends. T
(g)  They met on a blind date in 1998.  T
(h)  They had a million-dollar wedding.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	Hollywood	celebrity
(b)	couple	pair
(c)	recent	current
(d)	rocky	shaky
(e)	separate	part
(f)	rumours	gossip
(g)	media	press
(h)	remain	continue
(i)	hunk	heartthrob
(j)	extravagant	over-the-top

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have ended	recent speculation
(b)	They issued a joint	statement
(c)	formally	separate
(d)	tabloid	speculation
(e)	these sorts	of things
(f)	clean	break
(g)	law	suits
(h)	Hollywood	hunk
(i)	blind	date
(j)	star-studded	wedding

GAP FILL:

Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston separate

Superstar Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have ended recent speculation about their rocky marriage and announced they are separating. They issued a joint statement, saying, “We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate.” They quashed rumours that their split was due to recent tabloid speculation about an impending break – “For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media.” It seems to be a clean break with none of the usual Hollywood-style muckraking, accusations and law suits. They made it clear that, “We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another.” Hollywood hunk Pitt, 41, and Friends actress, Aniston, 35, met on a blind date in 1988. They immediately became one of the hottest celebrity romances until their extravagant million-dollar, star-studded wedding in 2000.