News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 1

April 2011
Level ≥ Advanced
Style ≥ Individual or group activities
Welcome to the Guardian Weekly’s special news-based materials to support learners and teachers of
English. Each month, the Guardian Weekly newspaper selects topical news articles that can be used to
practise English language skills. The materials are graded for two levels: Advanced and Lower Intermediate.
These worksheets can be downloaded free from guardian.co.uk/weekly/. You can also find more advice
for teachers and learners from the Guardian Weekly’s Learning English section on the site.
Materials prepared by Janet Hardy-Gould

French street artist plans global project

Human face of slum ... JR’s giant eyes in Rio de Janeiro Antonio Lacerda/EPA

2 Look at the headline, photo and caption of the

Before reading article. Make notes under these headings.
1 The article is about public art. Discuss these a Name/nationality of artist
questions with a partner.
a What examples of official public art can you find in
your area, eg sculptures, statues, monuments, mosaics b General type of art
etc?
b What examples of street art can you find, eg graffiti
art, murals, chalk pictures on the pavement etc? c Artist’s future plans
c What are the differences between the official art and
the street art? Which do you prefer? Why?
Share your ideas with the class.
≥2
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
d Number of images in photo
e Location of images
3 Look at the adjectives below and check any
unknown words. Circle the words you think might
appear in the article.
average vast super-sized
insignificant tiny monumental
discreet huge imperceptible
billboard-sized
Article
French street artist plans
global project
1 Can art change the world? It may be able to
change the way that certain parts of it look.
Coming soon to a wall near you: a vast, black-
and-white billboard-sized print of a face – which
could be yours, your mother’s, your child’s or a
stranger’s.
2 It’s the latest project by the French street artist
JR: one of the biggest global art projects ever
attempted, a public art initiative conceived on a
monumental scale.
3 For the project, which JR is calling Inside Out,
and which he launched last month at TED2011,
the annual ideas festival in California, he is
seeking collaborators from across the world.
4 He is asking people everywhere to supply him
with photos, which he will then return, blown
up to billboard-sized prints. He wants us to paste
them up for him: on walls, roofs, across buildings
and fences – anywhere possible, and preferably
in places that matter to us. It is street art super-
sized.
5 The project won him this year’s TED prize, which
involves being given $100,000 and “One Wish To
Page 2
April 2011
Change The World”. And he announced that this
was it: “I wish for you to stand up for what you
care about by participating in a global art project
and together we’ll turn the world inside out.”
6 It’s not the first time the 28-year-old has
attempted to change a street or cityscape. He has
taken photos of teenagers from the Paris suburbs
and posted them across the city’s more chi-chi
areas. He has covered roofs in a Kenyan shanty
town, Kibera, with huge photographic portraits
of women who live there. And in Brazil he pasted
the walls of a favela in Rio with vast, black-
and-white eyes to give it, quite literally, a more
human face.
7 This time, he wants to use not just his
photographs, but ones taken by as many
different people as possible, and for them to post
them in as many locations as they can. It is, he
says, “a chance for everyone to share who they
are and what they stand for”. He is asking people
to take a photo of “someone they care about and
post it somewhere it matters”.
8 Upload the photo with details of what you want
to do, and he will send you back a huge print for
you to post where you want.
9 “Art is not meant to change the world,” he told
the TED audience. But it can change perceptions,
and ultimately it is that that will “enable you to
change the world”.
Carole Cadwalladr Long Beach
Glossary
initiative (noun) an important new plan for achieving a
particular purpose
cityscape (noun) the way a city looks, or the way it
looks from a particular place
to stand up for something (phrasal verb) to support an
idea, particularly when it is under threat or attack
chi-chi (adjective) when a place or thing tries very hard
to be chic and stylish, but it looks too elaborate or false
≥3
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 3

April 2011

b Would you like to see the Inside Out photos around

While reading your town? Why?/Why not?
1 Read the article. Then write yes [Y] or no [N] next
to the statements. Rewrite the incorrect ones with
information from the text.
The new project ...
a is one of the largest art initiatives ever planned.
b was officially announced at a US festival of ideas.
c will use photos taken by the artist JR.
d has won the artist a major award.
e is a continuation of JR’s work, which has only
appeared in Rio.
f asks people to take and upload photos of women’s
faces.
g involves sending people giant prints to paste up
where they choose. After reading
2 Read the article again. Note the paragraph number 1 Look at this summary of the article. Replace the
where can you find the following information. words in bold with synonyms from the text. Write
a The name of the project plus when and where it your answers below. You may need to change the
was first unveiled. form of the words.
b Examples of JR’s previous street art. French artist JR has (a) officially started his new (b)
c An introduction to the idea of seeing a giant photo worldwide art (c) project at TED2011 – the (d) yearly
of your relative. event which celebrates new ideas. He is (e) looking for
d JR’s statement about his one desire to improve the helpers in different countries to take pictures of loved
planet. ones and upload them to his website. He will then (f)
e The types of places where people should paste the enlarge the photos so people can (g) stick them up in a
huge photos. wide range of (h) places.
f JR’s opinions on how art can affect the world. JR has (i) tried to change the cityscape in various
g A description of the huge size of the project. countries before. For example, he put (j) huge black and
white eyes around the walls of a Rio (k) favela.
3 Work with a partner. Answer the questions below a
with reference to the text.
a What do you think are the advantages and b
disadvantages of an art project like this?
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
≥4
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 4

April 2011

2 Verb patterns Examples of JR’s work

Look at the verb patterns in these sentences from
the article.
He wants us to paste them up for him … para 4
He is asking people to take a photo of “someone they
care about …” para 7
The verbs below follow the same pattern – verb +
object + infinitive:
ask, call for, enable, encourage, get, help, invite,
persuade, tell, want, would like
Use four of the verbs to write sentences about the
artist JR. For example:
The artist has invited everybody to upload their photos.
Last year, JR persuaded the inhabitants of a slum to Women’s eyes in the Kibera slum in Kenya JR
paste giant prints on their walls.

Israelis and Palestinians on Isreal’s border wall AP

Activity – discussion
Imagine that you are going to participate in the
Inside Out project. Answer the questions below.
Then work in small groups and compare ideas.
a Who would you take a photo of? Why?
b What part of the person’s face would you use?
c What expression would the person have?
d Where would you paste the giant photo? Why?
e What effect might the photo have on your area?
To participate in Inside Out, go to:
insideoutproject.net
Giant eyes on the banks of the Seine, Paris Martin Bureau/AFP
2a3b6c1d5e4f9g2
Answers
Before reading After reading
2 a JR; French. b Street art. c Global street art project. d Six. e A slum in Rio de 1 a launched b global c initiative d annual e seeking f blow up g paste up/post
Janeiro. h locations i attempted j vast k slum
3 super-sized, huge, vast, monumental, billboard-sized

While reading
1 a Y b Y c N – will use photos taken by as many different people as possible. d Y e
N – is a continuation of JR’s work, which has appeared in Paris, Kibera and Rio. f N
– asks people to take and upload photos of someone they care about. g Y