The Reading / Listening - 2020 - Level 0

People thought 2020 would be a great year. Few people knew that the world would change so much. The biggest news was COVID-19. Many people died. There were lockdowns and people wore masks. The death of George Floyd in the USA started the Black Lives Matter movement. Joe Biden was voted as the President-elect of the USA.

People will have different memories of 2020. One man will never forget the explosion in Beirut. He thanked God his family was not hurt. A UK nurse said the news of the vaccines for COVID-19 made her happy. A woman in Japan was sad that the Tokyo Olympics were postponed. She said 2021 would be a good year.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    2020 - Level 1,  2020 - Level 2   or  2020 - Level 3

Sources
    BreakingNewsEnglish.com


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. People thought 2020 would
  2. Few people knew
  3. the world would change so
  4. The biggest news
  5. There were
  6. people wore
  7. the Black Lives Matter
  8. Biden was voted as the
  1. lockdowns
  2. movement
  3. masks
  4. President-elect
  5. that
  6. be a great year
  7. was COVID-19
  8. much

Paragraph 2

  1. People will have different
  2. One man will never
  3. his family was
  4. news of the vaccines
  5. made
  6. A woman in Japan
  7. the Tokyo Olympics were
  8. She said 2021 would
  1. for COVID-19
  2. postponed
  3. her happy
  4. was sad
  5. be a good year
  6. forget
  7. not hurt
  8. memories of 2020

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

People thought 2020 (1) ___________________ great year. Few people (2) ___________________ world would change so much. The (3) ___________________ COVID-19. Many people died. There were lockdowns and (4) ___________________. The death of George Floyd (5) ___________________ started the Black Lives Matter movement. Joe Biden (6) ___________________ the President-elect of the USA.

People (7) ___________________ memories of 2020. One man will never forget (8) ___________________ Beirut. He thanked God his family (9) ___________________. A UK nurse said (10) ___________________ the vaccines for COVID-19 made her happy. A woman in Japan (11) ___________________ the Tokyo Olympics were postponed. She said 2021 would (12) ___________________ year.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Peoplethought2020wouldbeagreatyear.Fewpeopleknewthatthewor
ldwouldchangesomuch.ThebiggestnewswasCOVID-19.Manypeopl
edied.Therewerelockdownsandpeopleworemasks.ThedeathofGeor
geFloydintheUSAstartedtheBlackLivesMattermovement.JoeBidenw
asvotedasthePresident-electoftheUSA.Peoplewillhavedifferentmem
oriesof2020.OnemanwillneverforgettheexplosioninBeirut.Hethanke
dGodhisfamilywasnothurt.AUKnursesaidthenewsofthevaccinesforC
OVID-19madeherhappy.AwomaninJapanwassadthattheTokyoOlym
picswerepostponed.Shesaid2021wouldbeagoodyear.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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