Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 10 March 2015
NB! For WEEKLY audio stories check out LISTEN & LEARN 🔈
Couple Cancels Big Wedding For Kindness Tour
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- honeymoon: a trip newlyweds take after a wedding
- budget: money set aside for a specific purpose
- social media: online media networks, such as Facebook or Twitter
- philanthropist: one who supports charities and people (often financially)
Comprehension Questions
- What is the couple doing instead of having a big wedding and honeymoon?
- How are they deciding which act to do in each state?
- Why did the couple decide to do this?
Discussion Questions: Do you think big weddings are a waste of money? Why, or why not?
show Answershide Answers
Couple Cancels Big Wedding For Kindness Tour
A young couple in the US decided to give up their plans for a big wedding and honeymoon, and use their budget to go on a tour of kindness instead. Rather than having the wedding of their dreams, Mark and Ismini Svensson exchanged their vows in a courthouse. For the past two years, they have been using their wedding budget to travel to every state in the US to complete an act of kindness. Along the way, the couple has been taking suggestions they receive on social media. During the tour, they have done a variety of kind acts, including helping the elderly with grocery shopping, raising money for an animal shelter, and visiting disabled athletes and children in the hospital. The couple decided to do this in memory of Ismini Svensson’s father, a philanthropist who died tragically at a charity event while talking about love and kindness.
- The couple is touring the US and doing an act of kindness in each state instead of having a big wedding and honeymoon.
- They are turning to social media for suggestions on acts of kindness to do in each state.
- The couple decided to do this after the woman’s father died of a heart attack while speaking about love and kindness at a charity event.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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