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The Disastrous Date

A Warmer

Work with another student and ask each other these questions:

Are you concerned about your privacy when you use the
internet?

Would you use a credit card to buy something on the internet?

Have you ever used a chat room on the internet?

Do you think people are too trusting when using services such as chat on
the internet?

Do you think it could be risky to use chat rooms?

B Introduction

This is Bruce.

He is 43 years old. He works in a bank and he finds his job very

boring.

On the weekend, he likes gardening and bird watching from his

conservatory. Last year, he won a prize for the best yellow orchid
in the local flower competition. He has been single for 12 years.

This is Sheila.

She is 46 years old. She works in the local supermarket, Food4U. She
loves her job.

In the evenings she plays bridge and on the weekend, she likes to
buy antiques downtown. Last year, her cat won Best of Breed at the
local Cat and Dog Show. She has been single for 14 years.

Bruce and Sheila are both members of the over-40’s dating website,
NeverTooLate.com where they can exchange e-mail messages and use a chat
room too.

They don’t use their real names on the website.

Bruce’s nickname on the site is handsomeprince43.

Sheila has chosen snowwhite_46 as her nickname.

Bruce and Sheila met each other on NeverTooLate.com about three months
ago and have been exchanging messages. Now they have decided they want to
meet.

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C Reading

Read the last session of chat between Bruce and Sheila on the website and the
e-mail messages they send to each other on the morning of their first meeting.

Handsomeprince43: So I was thinking it would be nice to finally meet up.

Snowwhite_46: :-)
Handsomeprince43: Is that a yes?
Snowwhite_46: yeah, I think it would be great.
Handsomeprince43: wow, I didn’t think you would agree.
Snowwhite_46: I’m pretty nervous though. I haven’t been on a date for many years.
Handsomeprince43: LOL! Neither have I! Hey, it’ll be fine. I don’t bite
Snowwhite_46: where do you want to go?
Handsomeprince43: How about we meet at the zoo? At 3 p.m. on Thursday?
Snowwhite_46: OK, that sounds perfect. How will I recognize you?
Handsomeprince43: I’ll be wearing a red tie!
Snowwhite_46: Look, send me an email on Thursday morning, just to confirm.
Handsomeprince43: Will do! Bye – see you Thursday…

From: handsomeprince43@nevertoolate.com
To: snowwhite_46@nevertoolate.com
Date: Thursday, 17 May 11.12am

That’s fine for me. See you at 3 p.m.

HP
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: snowwhite_46@nevertoolate.com
To: handsomeprince43@nevertoolate.com
Date: Thursday, 17 May 11:07am

Hello Handsome Prince,

There’s an ice cream shop just inside the zoo entrance. I will meet you
outside that shop at 3 p.m. Let me know if this is a problem for you…

See you later

Snow White
--------------------------------------------------------
From: handsomeprince43@nevertoolate.com
To: snowwhite_46@nevertoolate.com
Date: Thursday, 17 May 10:42am

Hi Snow White,

Just writing to confirm for this afternoon. Let me know where you want
to meet and at what time. I’m really looking forward to it!

Your Handsome Prince

D Reading Comprehension

Answer the following questions based on the chat transcript and the e-mails
between Bruce and Sheila.

1. Who suggested meeting?

2. Why does Bruce say “I don’t bite”?
3. Why will Bruce wear a red tie when he goes to the zoo?
4. Where are they going to meet?

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E Reading

After an “eventful” date, both Bruce and Sheila wrote a Date Diary on the
website NeverTooLate.com. What were the problems during the date?

Date Diary Date Diary

Handsomeprince43 Snowwhite_46
Let us know below how your date went. Try and Let us know below how your date went. Try and
give as much information as possible. give as much information as possible.

Where/When did you meet? Where/When did you meet?

We met at the zoo. I had left my We had spoken both by chat and e-mail
watch at home so I arrived over about the meeting time and place and
twenty minutes late. She wasn’t very he turned up twenty minutes late. I
happy about this! Sorry! was furious!

Was your date nicely dressed? Were you?
I forgot to wear the red tie I had
promised her so there was a lot of
confusion at the beginning. I was
quite offended because she lost her
temper with me.
Was your date nicely dressed? Were you?
Even when he did eventually turn up,
I didn’t have a clue who he was. Some
strange man touched me on the
shoulder and said “Hey, Snowy!” I
shouted at him. Maybe I was wrong.

What did you speak about? What did you speak about?

We went to see the big cats first in
the zoo and I said I hated cats. She
was quite offended by that but I
don’t know why. So I changed subjects
and tried to talk to her about
politics.
I quickly discovered he was a cat-
hater. He said only stupid people
owned cats! It was at this point that
I wanted the date to end. He just
seemed to want to speak to me about
the most boring things. He even began
talking about some philosophy.

Did the date go well? Did the date go well?

It was a waste of time going to the
zoo. She didn’t have her glasses so
she said to me that everything was a
blur! What a waste of time and money.
When she was saying goodbye to me,
she called me John! I felt awful.
No! It was a disaster. He kept asking
me to read things even though he knew
I didn’t have my glasses. By the end,
I couldn’t even remember his name. I
called him John who is my uncle. I am
sorry about that.

F Grammar

The teacher will divide the class into two groups.

Group A – look at Bruce’s Date Diary.

Group B – look at Sheila’s Date Diary.

Write sentences using the third conditional to say how Bruce and Sheila could
have acted differently on their date.

e.g. If Bruce hadn’t arrived so late, Sheila wouldn’t have been so angry.

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Teacher Notes
Target Language: Internet dating, third conditional
Duration: 70 minutes

1 Structure and Timing (all times approximate)

A. Warmer (10 minutes)

B. Introduction (15 minutes)
C. Reading (10 minutes)
D. Reading Comprehension (5 minutes)
E. Reading (10 minutes)
F. Grammar (15 minutes)

Total: 70 minutes.

2 Procedure

A. Warmer

Any discussion about using chat rooms on the Internet should be

accompanied by a warning, especially to younger students, about
the possible risks involved in using them. No personal
information, for example telephone numbers, addresses, place
of work/study, should ever be given out in a chat room.

Students work in pairs to work through the given questions. This is a topic that is
bound to produce a lot of conversation: everyone has an opinion about topics such as
internet, privacy and chat rooms.

B. Introduction

Ask students to read the two pen-portraits of our two protagonists. Ask some basic
comprehension questions to check understanding:

What is Bruce’s job?

What does Bruce do in his free time?
Does Sheila like her job?
etc.

The concept of online dating shouldn’t cause any problems with your students. Note to
students that Bruce and Sheila do not use their real names on the site but nicknames.

C. Reading

This is the first of the readings in the lesson plan. Students should be given the
chance to read different types of text in English. Here is a text type, a chat room
transcript, which isn’t too difficult but contains a few things that they might not have
seen before: yeah, wow, LOL (laugh out loud), will do…

The e-mails are simpler. Remember the most recent mails are at the TOP of the
“screen” so to read the mails chronologically, you must start from the bottom!

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D. Reading Comprehension

Ask students to complete this exercise alone and do a brief feedback. The questions
are not demanding and shouldn’t cause any problems.

Answer Key

1. Bruce.
2. Because Sheila said she was nervous.
3. So that Sheila can recognize him.
4. Outside an ice-cream shop inside the entrance to the zoo.

E. Reading

Explain to students that these are accounts of the date by Bruce and Sheila, written
on a “Date Diary” page on the fictitious dating website.

The students will read both date diaries, but only concentrate on one of them for the
following grammar activity.

Also in this reading, the vocabulary isn’t too testing though the following verbs and
expressions may cause some difficulty:

to turn up, lose one’s temper, not have a clue, at this point, everything was a
blur

F. Grammar

Divide the class into two, one half to concentrate on Bruce’s account and the other
half who will work with Sheila’s Date Diary.

Ensure the students read the example sentence carefully and understand what it
means. If necessary, you can do a quick review of the form of the third conditional.

Now ask the two groups to read through Bruce and Sheila’s date diaries to find other
examples of the third conditional to write. In a larger class, each of these halves of
the class can further be divided to make things easier.

In the post-exercise feedback, be strict with the form of the third conditional, revising
again the structure if necessary. If you have the example on the board, you can use it
as a template for the other sentences.

Answer Key

These are examples. Other alternatives are possible.

If Bruce hadn’t left his watch at home, he wouldn’t have been late.
If Bruce hadn’t been late, the date wouldn’t have started so badly.
If Bruce had worn the red tie as promised, Sheila wouldn’t have been confused.
If Bruce hadn’t shouted “Hey, Snowy!” at Sheila, she wouldn’t have shouted at him.
If Bruce hadn’t said he hated cats, Sheila wouldn’t have been offended.
If Sheila had understood what Bruce was saying about politics, she wouldn’t have been bored.
If Sheila had had her glasses, she would have enjoyed the zoo more.
If Bruce hadn’t asked her to read so much, Sheila wouldn’t have felt so bad.
If Sheila hadn’t called him John, Bruce wouldn’t have felt awful.

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