The Reading / Listening - Love Letters - Level 0

Researchers just studied 104 letters that were unopened for 265 years. The letters were written to French sailors. Their warship was taken by Britain in 1758. The sailors could not open and read their mail because the letters were taken to London. They gathered dust for two and a half centuries. Many of the letters were love letters.

Researchers studied the letters. They gave a rare look at history. The writers were lovers, parents, sisters and wives. They all had different writing abilities. The letters showed how we live in things like pandemics and wars. The messages were like those people write today. They were about caring for people, and passion.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Love Letters - Level 1 Love Letters - Level 2   or  Love Letters - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/06/world/french-letters-national-archives-scn/index.html
  • https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231107-confiscated-french-love-letters-finally-opened-after-265-years
  • https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/raunchy-love-letters-from-250-years-ago-are-making-us-want-to-loosen-our-corsets/ar-AA1juN4y


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. Researchers just
  2. unopened
  3. The letters were written to
  4. Their warship was
  5. the letters
  6. They gathered
  7. for two and a
  8. Many of the letters were
  1. half centuries
  2. French sailors
  3. dust
  4. studied 104 letters
  5. love letters
  6. were taken to London
  7. for 265 years
  8. taken by Britain

Paragraph 2

  1. Researchers studied
  2. They gave a rare
  3. The writers were
  4. parents, sisters
  5. They all had different writing
  6. things like pandemics
  7. The messages were like those
  8. They were about caring
  1. for people
  2. and wives
  3. and wars
  4. the letters
  5. people write today
  6. lovers
  7. abilities
  8. look at history

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Researchers just studied 104 (1) ___________________ unopened for 265 years. The letters (2) ___________________ French sailors. Their warship (3) ___________________ Britain in 1758. The sailors could not (4) ___________________ their mail because the letters were taken to London. They gathered (5) ___________________ and a half centuries. Many of the letters (6) ___________________.

Researchers studied the letters. They (7) ___________________ look at history. The writers (8) ___________________, sisters and wives. They all had (9) ___________________. The letters showed how we live (10) ___________________ pandemics and wars. The messages (11) ___________________ people write today. They were about (12) ___________________, and passion.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Researchersjuststudied104lettersthatwereunopenedfor265years.T
heletterswerewrittentoFrenchsailors.TheirwarshipwastakenbyBrita
inin1758.Thesailorscouldnotopenandreadtheirmailbecausethelette
rsweretakentoLondon.Theygathereddustfortwoandahalfcenturies.
Manyoftheletterswereloveletters.Researchersstudiedtheletters.The
ygaveararelookathistory.Thewriterswerelovers,parents,sistersand
wives.Theyallhaddifferentwritingabilities.Thelettersshowedhowweli
veinthingslikepandemicsandwars.Themessageswerelikethosepeopl
ewritetoday.Theywereaboutcaringforpeople,andpassion.

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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