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FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Paul the Octopus
(11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)

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Paul The Octopus Is Dead (27th October, 2010)

The underwater world is in mourning over the death of Paul the octopus. The world’s most famous eight-legged mollusc passed away on Monday. He shot to fame during the FIFA World Cup and became an international celebrity. He correctly predicted the winner of seven games, including the final and both semi-finals. His legend is now surrounded by mystery. Many people believe he died in July and was replaced by his keepers. Film maker Jiang Xiaohas has made a new movie about his death, called “Who Killed Paul the Octopus?”

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It’s amazing how Paul became so well known. It is mysterious how he picked the winning team for seven games in a row. The chances of that happening are one in a million or billion. There are many who will miss Paul. Many of his friends in the ocean depths swam arm in arm in arm in arm yesterday. They all wore eight black armbands each to remember their psychic pal. Reginald, an octopus from the South Pacific, said Paul enjoyed his life and was a great football fan. He added: “I’m just glad he didn’t end up as a plate of sushi.”

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PHRASE MATCH

Match the following phrases from the article.

Paragraph 1

1.	in	a.	away
2	eight-	b.	mourning
3.	passed	c.	about his death
4.	He correctly predicted	d.	by mystery
5.	surrounded	e.	legged mollusc
6.	a new movie	f.	the winner

Paragraph 2

1.	Paul became so well	a.	in arm
2	seven games in	b.	armbands
3.	one in a	c.	a row
4.	swam arm	d.	known
5.	black	e.	fan
6.	football	f.	million

LISTENING GAP FILL

The underwater world ___________________ the death of Paul the octopus. The world’s ___________________-legged mollusc passed away on Monday. He shot to fame during the FIFA World Cup and became an international celebrity. ___________________ the winner of seven games, including the final and both semi-finals. His legend ___________________ mystery. Many people believe he died in July ___________________ his keepers. Film maker Jiang Xiaohas has made a new movie ___________________ “Who Killed Paul the Octopus?”

It’s amazing how Paul ___________________. It is mysterious how he picked the winning team for ___________________. The chances of that happening are one in a million or billion. There are ___________________ Paul. Many of his friends in the ocean ___________________ arm in arm in arm yesterday. They all wore eight black armbands ___________________ their psychic pal. Reginald, an octopus from the South Pacific, said Paul enjoyed his life and was a great football fan. He added: “I’m just glad he didn’t ___________________ sushi.”

MULTIPLE CHOICE

The underwater world is (1) ____ mourning over the death of Paul the octopus. The world’s most famous eight-legged mollusc passed (2) ____ on Monday. He shot to (3) ____ during the FIFA World Cup and became an international celebrity. He correctly predicted the winner of seven games, including the final and (4) ____ semi-finals. His legend is now surrounded by (5) ____. Many people believe he died in July and was replaced by his keepers. Film maker Jiang Xiaohas has made a new movie about his death, (6) ____ “Who Killed Paul the Octopus?”

It’s amazing how Paul became (7) ____ well known. It is mysterious how he picked the winning team for seven games in a (8) ____. The chances of that happening are one in a million or billion. There are many who will (9) ____ Paul. Many of his friends in the ocean depths (10) ____ arm in arm in arm in arm yesterday. They all wore eight black armbands each (11) ____ remember their psychic pal. Reginald, an octopus from the South Pacific, said Paul enjoyed his life and was a great football fan. He added: “I’m just glad he didn’t end (12) ____ as a plate of sushi.”

Put the correct words from this table into the article.

1.	(a)	on	(b)	an	(c)	in
2.	(a)	away	(b)	over	(c)	down
3.	(a)	famous	(b)	fame	(c)	famously
4.	(a)	all	(b)	every	(c)	both
5.	(a)	mysterious	(b)	mysteries	(c)	mystery
6.	(a)	calls	(b)	called	(c)	calling
7.	(a)	so	(b)	such	(c)	as
8.	(a)	row	(b)	low	(c)	tow
9.	(a)	miss	(b)	missing	(c)	misses
10.	(a)	swim	(b)	swam	(c)	swum
11.	(a)	for	(b)	by	(c)	to
12	(a)	down	(b)	up	(c)	on

SPELLING

Spell the jumbled words (from the text) correctly.

Paragraph 1
1.	The tdarewrenu world
2.	over the ethad of Paul
3.	undigr the FIFA World Cup
4.	predicted the ewninr
5.	surrounded by ytmysre
6.	Film rkmae
Paragraph 2
7.	It’s zniagam
8.	he picked the inwnnig team
9.	one in a imonlli
10.	the naoec depths
11.	bereremm their psychic pal
12.	a taelp of sushi

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	keepers. Film maker Jiang Xiaohas has made a new movie about his death, called “Who Killed Paul the Octopus?”
( )	his life and was a great football fan. He added: “I’m just glad he didn’t end up as a plate of sushi.”
( )	team for seven games in a row. The chances of that happening are one in a million or billion. There are
( )	It’s amazing how Paul became so well known. It is mysterious how he picked the winning
( )	finals. His legend is now surrounded by mystery. Many people believe he died in July and was replaced by his
( )	international celebrity. He correctly predicted the winner of seven games, including the final and both semi-
( )	many who will miss Paul. Many of his friends in the ocean depths swam arm in arm in arm in arm yesterday. They all
( )	The underwater world is in mourning over the death of Paul the octopus. The world’s most famous eight-
( 1 )	legged mollusc passed away on Monday. He shot to fame during the FIFA World Cup and became an
( )	wore eight black armbands each to remember their psychic pal. Reginald, an octopus from the South Pacific, said Paul enjoyed

THE READING / TAPESCRIPT

With a partner, put the words back into the correct order.

1.	is mourning The world in underwater.
2.	famous eight The - world’s legged most mollusc.
3.	the Cup shot during World He fame FIFA to.
4.	games the winner He of correctly seven predicted.
5.	believe people Many July in died he.
6.	became It’s so amazing well how known Paul.
7.	the picked He row a in games seven for team winning.
8.	chances of that happening are one in a million The.
9.	friends in the ocean depths swam arm in arm His.
10.	end of a He sushi up didn’t plate as.

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

WRITING

Write about death for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

______________________________________________________________________________

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. DEATH: Search the Internet and find more information about death. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about Paul the octopus. Include imaginary interviews with his friends. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

4. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Paul’s friends. Ask him/her three questions about Paul. Give him/her three of your opinions on Paul’s abilities and the mystery surrounding his death. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Your partner will answer the questions you asked.

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News English Lessons FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Paul the Octopus (11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)