People often talk about “the luck of the Irish”, which means people from Ireland are a little luckier than ordinary people. This proved true on July 30, when Dolores McNamara, from Limerick, won a record $135 million on the European Lottery. Ms. McNamara is still speechless and recovering from the shock of her sudden jackpot win. The lottery had not been won since May and had been rolled over nine times. Hopeful ticket holders around Europe had waited anxiously every Friday to see if their luck might change.

Ms. McNamara had been enjoying a quiet drink in a bar when she checked her ticket. She had told her friend: “There’s little point in checking the ticket. I can’t even win an argument”. However, Lady Luck smiled on her seconds later. She went straight to the police, worried that she might lose the winning lottery ticket. A policeman phoned her bank manager, who put the ticket in a bank safe until the banks opened. Unfortunately, Monday is a national holiday in Ireland. Dolores must wait until Tuesday before she can get her hands on her millions.

WARM-UPS

1. LUCK: Are you a lucky or unlucky person? Write down three pieces of good luck and three pieces of bad luck that you have had in the past week. In pairs / groups, talk about what you wrote. Tell each other how good or bad you think the luck is. Repeat this activity by talking about how lucky you have been in your life.

2. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think everyone in life is born with equal amounts of luck. Students B think some people are naturally luckier than others. Change partners often.

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

Luck / Irish people / lotteries / being speechless / lottery numbers / waiting anxiously / a quiet drink / winning an argument / banks / national holidays

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

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

5. JACKPOT: Do you buy lottery tickets? Have you ever hit the jackpot or won a lot of money? In pairs / groups, talk to each other about lotteries and winning. Do you take part in any other forms of gambling?

6. LIFE’S LOTTERY: People often say life is a lottery – you never know what’s waiting around the corner. In pairs / groups, talk about the possible wonderful or terrible things that could suddenly happen to you (and change your life) in the following situations:

1. Walking into a convenience store.
2. Deciding to start studying English.
3. Taking the airplane instead of the overnight train.
4. Buying a new computer.
5. Starting a new job.
6. Taking the dog for a walk.
7. Buying a lottery ticket.
8. Telephoning your best friend.
9. Checking the time.
10. Other

Change partners and compare what you talked about.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	A lady from Ireland has scooped the jackpot in a lottery.	T / F
b.	Irish people are famous for having lots of luck.	T / F
c.	The lady could not talk after she found out she had won.	T / F
d.	No one had won the jackpot for nineteen successive weeks.	T / F
e.	The winner is also famous for her ability to win arguments.	T / F
f.	The lady went to the police to ask them to protect the ticket.	T / F
g.	Her bank manager ran away with the ticket.	T / F
h.	The lady must wait a month before she can get her cash.	T / F

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

a.	often	normal
b.	ordinary	surprise
c.	recovering	moments
d.	shock	directly
e.	anxiously	frequently
f.	There’s little point	nervously
g.	seconds	vault
h.	straight	getting over
i.	safe	hold
j.	get her hands on	It’s a waste of time

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

a.	a little luckier than	the shock
b.	won a record $135 million	been won since May
c.	recovering from	argument
d.	The lottery had not	drink in a bar
e.	to see if their luck might	to the police
f.	enjoying a quiet	ordinary people
g.	There’s little point	change
h.	win an	on her millions
i.	She went straight	on the European Lottery
j.	get her hands	in checking the ticket

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Irish woman in $135 million lotto win

People often talk about “the luck of the Irish”, which _______ people from Ireland are a little luckier than _______ people. This proved _______ on July 30, when Dolores McNamara, from Limerick, won a _______ $135 million on the European Lottery. Ms. McNamara is still speechless and recovering from the _______ of her sudden jackpot win. The lottery had not been won _______ May and had been rolled over nine times. Hopeful ticket _______ around Europe had waited anxiously every Friday to see if their luck might _______.		record since means true change shock ordinary holders
Ms. McNamara had been enjoying a _______ drink in a bar when she checked her ticket. She had told her friend: “There’s little _______ in checking the ticket. I can’t even _______ an argument”. However, Lady Luck _______ on her seconds later. She went _______ to the police, worried that she might _______ the winning lottery ticket. A policeman phoned her bank manager, who put the ticket in a bank _______ until the banks opened. Unfortunately, Monday is a national holiday in Ireland. Dolores must wait until Tuesday before she can get her _______ on her millions.		smiled point hands quiet safe straight win lose

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

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

5. STUDENT “LOTTERY” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about lotteries and winning money.

• 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:

often ordinary speechless sudden rolled change

quiet even straight manager safe hands

DISCUSSION

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

1. What did you think when you first read this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What adjectives would you use to describe this story?
4. Do you think some people are luckier than others?
5. How would you react in the seconds or minutes after finding out you had won such a large amount of money?
6. Have you ever won any money?
7. Have you ever waited anxiously for something to happen?
8. How amazing do you think having $135 million would be?
9. Have you ever been left totally speechless?
10. Who’s the luckiest person you know?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. Do you buy lottery tickets?
4. Are you a gambler?
5. Do you ever feel that life is a lottery?
6. Are you good at winning arguments?
7. What would you do if you got your hands on $135 million?
8. What do you think of lotteries?
9. Will you go and buy a lottery ticket after this lesson?
10. Did you like this discussion?

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

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

GAMBLING: Talk to your partner(s) about the following forms of gambling. Which do you think are dangerous? What are the dangers? Which have you tried? What was the attraction?

After you have finished, rank the forms of gambling. Put the most dangerous at the top.

FORMS	DANGERS	ATTRACTIONS
Lottery tickets
Horse racing
Bingo
Pachinko
Fruit / Slot  machines
Casinos
Poker / Cards  with friends
Russian Roulette

Change partners and explain what you discussed with your previous partner(s).

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Irish woman in $135 million lotto win

People often talk about “the _____ of the Irish”, which means people from Ireland are a little luckier than _________ people. This proved true on July 30, when Dolores McNamara, from Limerick, won a _________ $135 million on the European Lottery. Ms. McNamara is still _________ and recovering from the shock of her sudden jackpot win. The lottery had not been won _________ May and had been _________ over nine times. Hopeful ticket holders around Europe had waited _________ every Friday to see if their luck might change.

Ms. McNamara had been enjoying a _________ drink in a bar when she checked her ticket. She had told her friend: “There’s little _________ in checking the ticket. I can’t even win an argument”. However, _________ _________ smiled on her seconds later. She went _________ to the police, worried that she might lose the winning lottery ticket. A policeman phoned her bank manager, who put the ticket in a bank _________ until the banks opened. Unfortunately, Monday is a national holiday in Ireland. Dolores must wait until Tuesday before she can get her _________ on her millions.

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 European Lottery. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. LOTTERY PROJECT: Write a plan for a lottery project – a cause that you feel should benefit from the lottery millions. You have $10 million to spend. How do you spend it? Describe your project to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

4. DIARY / JOURNAL: Imagine you have won $135 million. Write the entry in your journal / diary about the day after your win. Read your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. T

d. F

e. F

f. T

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	often	frequently
b.	ordinary	normal
c.	recovering	getting over
d.	shock	surprise
e.	anxiously	nervously
f.	There’s little point	It’s a waste of time
g.	seconds	moments
h.	straight	directly
i.	safe	vault
j.	get her hands on	hold

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	a little luckier than	ordinary people
b.	won a record $135 million	on the European Lottery
c.	recovering from	the shock
d.	The lottery had not	been won since May
e.	to see if their luck might	change
f.	enjoying a quiet	drink in a bar
g.	There’s little point	in checking the ticket
h.	win an	argument
i.	She went straight	to the police
j.	get her hands	on her millions

GAP FILL:

Irish woman in $135 million lotto win

People often talk about “the luck of the Irish”, which means people from Ireland are a little luckier than ordinary people. This proved true on July 30, when Dolores McNamara, from Limerick, won a record $135 million on the European Lottery. Ms. McNamara is still speechless and recovering from the shock of her sudden jackpot win. The lottery had not been won since May and had been rolled over nine times. Hopeful ticket holders around Europe had waited anxiously every Friday to see if their luck might change.

Ms. McNamara had been enjoying a quiet drink in a bar when she checked her ticket. She had told her friend: “There’s little point in checking the ticket. I can’t even win an argument”. However, Lady Luck smiled on her seconds later. She went straight to the police, worried that she might lose the winning lottery ticket. A policeman phoned her bank manager, who put the ticket in a bank safe until the banks opened. Unfortunately, Monday is a national holiday in Ireland. Dolores must wait until Tuesday before she can get her hands on her millions.

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