Breaking News English

        

1. BAD LANGUAGE: Walk around the class and talk to other students about bad language. Change partners often. Share your findings with your first partner.

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

top officials / clamp down / bad language / trial / racially and sexually offensive / governing body / insulting / abusive / gestures / address behavior / role models

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. SWEARING:  Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Swearing…	How bad?	Should it be stopped? How?
at parents
with friends
in sports
in politics
in front of kids
under your breath

4. FOUL: Students A strongly believe there is a place for foul language; Students B strongly believe not.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. ROLE MODELS: Who should definitely not use bad language? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best role model at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

grandmother teacher monarch son/daughter

political leader church leader captain of national sports team spouse

6. INSULT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'insult'. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	People want the use of rude words to be banned in world soccer.	T / F
b.	An ex-England soccer captain was on trial for abusive language.	T / F
c.	The player was found guilty of racially insulting another player.	T / F
d.	A players' representative said bad language did not damage the game.	T / F
e.	Another top official wants action to stop bad language in soccer.	T / F
f.	World football rules allow players to be sent off for using bad language.	T / F
g.	An anti-racism official said role models should be paid more.	T / F
h.	John Terry said bad language was OK on the football pitch.	T / F

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

1.	calls	a.	disgusting
2.	clamp down on	b.	deteriorated
3.	offensive	c.	have an impact on
4.	foul	d.	controlling
5.	suffered	e.	deal with
6.	governing	f.	demands
7.	banned	g.	OK
8.	address	h.	stamp out
9.	influence	i.	rude
10.	acceptable	j.	prohibited

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	clamp down on the	a.	sexually offensive language
2.	the reputation of English soccer	b.	and abusive language
3.	accused of using racially and	c.	on bad language
4.	The court found Terry not	d.	group Kick it Out
5.	the level of foul	e.	use of bad language
6.	there should now be a clampdown	f.	address their behaviour
7.	insulting or abusive language	g.	guilty of the charges
8.	it would cause them to	h.	was badly damaged
9.	the anti-racism	i.	"acceptable"
10.	bad language on the pitch was	j.	and/or gestures

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

There are calls from (1) ____________ officials in British football to clamp down on the use of bad language in the game. Many believe the reputation of English soccer was (2) ____________ damaged this week during the trial of former England captain John Terry. Mr Terry, also captain of Premier League side Chelsea, was (3) ____________ of using racially and sexually offensive language (4) ____________ Anton Ferdinand, a player with Queens Park Rangers. The court found Terry not                       (5) ____________ of the charges but the case has brought to   (6) ____________ the level of (7) ____________ and abusive language used by players in Britain. Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), believes that the image of English football has suffered at the (8) ____________ this week.		towards foul accused trial top guilty badly light
PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle believes there should now be a clampdown (9) ____________ bad language. He said the laws of world football's governing body, FIFA, allow the referee to       (10) ____________ a player off for "using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or (11) ____________ ". Mr Carlisle said: "If players were sent off and (12) ____________ because of the language, it would cause them to address their behaviour. It would (13) ____________ the clubs to clamp down on it too." Lord Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racism group Kick it Out, said: "I think at the highest (14) ____________ of football it's got to stop because these are people who are highly paid role models, they (15) ____________ their fans." However, both Terry and Ferdinand said bad language on the (16) ____________ was "acceptable".		gestures pitch banned on level send influence cause

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

There are (1) ________________________ in British football to clamp down on the use of bad language in the game. Many believe the reputation of English soccer (2) ________________________ is week during the trial of former England captain John Terry. Mr Terry, also captain of Premier League side Chelsea, was (3) ________________________ and sexually offensive language towards Anton Ferdinand, a player with Queens Park Rangers. The court found Terry (4) ________________________ but the case has         (5) ________________________ level of foul and abusive language used by players in Britain. Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), (6) ________________________ of English football has suffered at the trial this week.

PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle believes (7) ________________________ clampdown on bad language. He said the laws of world football's governing body, FIFA, allow the referee (8) ________________________ for "using offensive, insulting or abusive (9) ________________________ ". Mr Carlisle said: "If players were sent off and banned because of the language, it would (10) ________________________ dress their behaviour. It would cause the clubs to clamp down on it too." Lord Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racism group Kick it Out, said: "I think (11) ________________________ football it's got to stop because these are people who are highly paid role models, (12) ________________________." However, both Terry and Ferdinand said bad language on the pitch was "acceptable".

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'bad' and 'language'.

bad

language

• 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 activity. 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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

calls believe side guilty level image

laws gestures banned cause highest acceptable

BAD LANGUAGE SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about bad language in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

 
 

BAD LANGUAGE DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the term 'bad language'?
c)	What do you think of people who use bad language?
d)	Is the language you use particularly bad?
e)	Have you ever been shocked because of bad language?
f)	Do you think bad language in English is worse, not as bad or the same as in your language?
g)	Who should never use bad language?
h)	Do you think there are people who never use bad language?
i)	Is thinking bad language as bad as using it?
j)	Do you think it's OK for sports players to use bad language?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do soccer players have a bad image?
c)	Which is worse – a tennis player using bad language or a soccer player? Why?
d)	Is it OK for soccer players to swear on the pitch as long as they don't abuse or insult anyone?
e)	What do you think of sending a player off for swearing?
f)	What should soccer players say instead of a 4-letter word when they are really frustrated with themselves?
g)	Do you think players would swear less if they knew they could be sent off for using foul language?
h)	Do footballers have a bigger responsibility to not swear because they are paid so well?
i)	The two soccer players mentioned in the article both said swearing on the pitch is acceptable. What do you think of their opinion?
j)	What questions would you like to ask former England captain John Terry about the use of bad language?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

There are (1) ____ from top officials in British football to clamp down on the use of bad language in the game. Many believe the (2) ____ of English soccer was badly damaged this week during the trial of former England captain John Terry. Mr Terry, also captain of Premier League side Chelsea, was accused (3) ____ using racially and sexually offensive language (4) ____ Anton Ferdinand, a player with Queens Park Rangers. The court found Terry not guilty of the charges but the case has brought to (5) ____ the level of foul and abusive language used by players in Britain. Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), believes that the image of English football has (6) ____ at the trial this week.

PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle believes there should now be a clampdown on bad language. He said the laws of world football's (7) ____ body, FIFA, allow the referee to send a player off for "using (8) ____, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures". Mr Carlisle said: "If players were sent off and banned because of the language, it would cause them to (9) ____ their behaviour. It would cause the clubs to clamp down on it too." Lord Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racism group Kick it Out, said: "I think at the highest (10) ____ of football it's got to stop because these are people who are highly paid (11) ____ models, they (12) ____ their fans." However, both Terry and Ferdinand said bad language on the pitch was "acceptable".

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	callers	(b)	callings	(c)	called	(d)	calls
2.	(a)	mutation	(b)	reputation	(c)	deputation	(d)	malnutrition
3.	(a)	of	(b)	by	(c)	at	(d)	as
4.	(a)	from	(b)	of	(c)	towards	(d)	through
5.	(a)	beam	(b)	ray	(c)	light	(d)	shine
6.	(a)	surfed	(b)	suffered	(c)	staffed	(d)	stuffed
7.	(a)	governing	(b)	roaming	(c)	flowering	(d)	engaging
8.	(a)	defensive	(b)	expensive	(c)	pensive	(d)	offensive
9.	(a)	stamp	(b)	address	(c)	post	(d)	reply
10.	(a)	plateau	(b)	flat	(c)	destruction	(d)	level
11.	(a)	roll	(b)	reel	(c)	role	(d)	real
12.	(a)	acceptable	(b)	acceptance	(c)	accepting	(d)	acceptability

WRITING

Write about bad language for 10 minutes. Correct your partner's paper.

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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 out more about bad language. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. BAD LANGUAGE: Make a poster about bad language. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. ON THE PITCH: Write a magazine article about banning bad language on the football pitch (or other sporting area). Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the boss of FIFA. Ask him three questions about bad language. Give him three of your opinions on it and whether it should be stopped. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

F

d.

F

e.

T

f.

T

g.

F

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	calls	a.	demands
2.	clamp down on	b.	stamp out
3.	offensive	c.	rude
4.	foul	d.	disgusting
5.	suffered	e.	deteriorated
6.	governing	f.	controlling
7.	banned	g.	prohibited
8.	address	h.	deal with
9.	influence	i.	have an impact on
10.	acceptable	j.	OK

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	clamp down on the	a.	use of bad language
2.	the reputation of English soccer	b.	was badly damaged
3.	accused of using racially and	c.	sexually offensive language
4.	The court found Terry not	d.	guilty of the charges
5.	the level of foul	e.	and abusive language
6.	there should now be a clampdown	f.	on bad language
7.	insulting or abusive language	g.	and/or gestures
8.	it would cause them to	h.	address their behaviour
9.	the anti-racism	i.	group Kick it Out
10.	bad language on the pitch was	j.	"acceptable"

GAP FILL:

Calls to punish bad language in football

There are calls from (1) top officials in British football to clamp down on the use of bad language in the game. Many believe the reputation of English soccer was (2) badly damaged this week during the trial of former England captain John Terry. Mr Terry, also captain of Premier League side Chelsea, was (3) accused of using racially and sexually offensive language (4) towards Anton Ferdinand, a player with Queens Park Rangers. The court found Terry not (5) guilty of the charges but the case has brought to (6) light the level of (7) foul and abusive language used by players in Britain. Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), believes that the image of English football has suffered at the (8) trial this week.

PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle believes there should now be a clampdown (9) on bad language. He said the laws of world football's governing body, FIFA, allow the referee to (10) send a player off for "using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or (11) gestures". Mr Carlisle said: "If players were sent off and (12) banned because of the language, it would cause them to address their behaviour. It would (13) cause the clubs to clamp down on it too." Lord Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racism group Kick it Out, said: "I think at the highest (14) level of football it's got to stop because these are people who are highly paid role models, they (15) influence their fans." However, both Terry and Ferdinand said bad language on the (16) pitch was "acceptable".

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - b

3 - a

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - a

8 - d

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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