Winning Millions
Pre-Reading Activities
A: Class Discussion
Discuss the following questions with your class.
1.Have you ever won a lottery (lucky number) draw? Do you know anyone who has?
2.How do you think you would feel if you suddenly won millions of dollars in a lottery? Think of some
adjectives to describe your feelings.
B: Reading
Read the article below. How did the couple in the article react to winning millions of dollars? Are you surprised by
their reaction?
Reluctant Lottery Winners Go for the
Money
WINNIPEG Tuesday March 21
(Reuters) - When two shy
Canadians learned they had won an
C$11.4 million ($7.8 million) lottery
jackpot last week they did what
would come unnaturally to most --
they walked away.
On Monday, they changed their
minds and handed in their ticket.
The winners, a middle-aged couple
with three children, walked into a
Winnipeg lottery office last week to
find out how much they had won.
When they were told the sum they
bolted, saying they needed time to
adjust to becoming
multi-millionaires.
Kathleen Polyak, spokeswoman for
the Western Canada Lottery Corp.,
said the win was the largest ever in
the province of Manitoba.
She said the woman and man, a
maintenance worker for the municipal
bus company, had previously
considered themselves to be
unlucky.
Reading Activities
A: Vocabulary
The words in bold are from today's feature article. Match each word with its meaning below.
Words
1.The woman tries to give money regularly to three charity organizations but she sometimes gives money to
other charities.
2.The man made a verbal pledge of $1,000 to his favorite charity.
3.When guests heard that a famous celebrity couple was coming to the party, the place was abuzz with
anticipation.
4.I thought my marriage proposal to my wife was very romantic, however, she might disagree with me.
5.There are ten children so let's split the cake into ten pieces.
Meanings
A.talking or gossiping excitedly.
B.a promise.
C.the act of asking someone to marry you.
D.to divide up.
E.an organization that depends on donations from people to aid in helping others or continue research into
important things.
B: Predicting
Everyone reacts differently when winning the lottery. Look again at the vocabulary words above. Can you guess
what the person did with the money he/she won from the lottery? Write your prediction here.
C: Scanning
Read the following questions and quickly find the answers in today's article below. Was your prediction correct?
1.What is the man's name?
2.How old is he?
3.How much money did he win?
4.How many marriage proposals has he had since he won the money?
5.How many grandchildren does he have?
Man to Give Lottery Fortune to
Charity
TORONTO Thursday March 16
(Reuters) - A Canadian man who won
C$1 million ($685,000) in a lottery
plans to give it all back to charity.
``I bought a ticket for C$100, thinking
I would be giving C$100 to charity --
now I can give C$1 million,'' said
Gerald Swan Wednesday, who won
the jackpot in a lottery operated by
the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The pledge by 61-year-old Swan this
week has set his tiny southern
Ontario community of Orton abuzz.
He has since received nearly 40
marriage proposals, including one
from a woman he supposedly met at
a party 35 years ago. Another
woman wanted him to fund her St.
Lucia fish farm.
The grandfather of four has been
giving to charity since he was a
teen-ager and plans to split the
money among his favorite causes.
``I have lived a good life, God has
looked at me favorably, and I got a
gift -- it is my full intention to give it
back,'' he said.
D: Reading Carefully
Read the article again carefully and find the answers to the following questions in the article.
1.What does Swan plan to do with the money he won in the lottery?
2.Swan entered the lottery so he could give $100 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation but then he decided to
give $1 million dollars. What happened?
3.How long ago did he begin giving money to charities?
4.What is his explanation for giving all of his $1 million to charities?
E: Matching Information
The divided sentences below describe the content of each of the six paragraphs in today's article. Match the
sentence halves in Part 1 with their endings in Part 2.
Part 1
1.Paragraph one is...
2.Swan explains in paragraph two...
3.Paragraph three describes the excitement...
4.Paragraph four gives examples of...
5.Paragraph five...
6.In paragraph six Swan...
Part 2
...of the people in his community.
...a summary of the story.
...gives background information about Swan and what he plans to do with the money.
...explains why he is giving all his money to charity.
...how he won the $1 million.
....how popular Swan is now that he has $1 million dollars.
F: Language
Present perfect (...have/has + past participle verb...) is a preferred tense in newspapers because it can make old
news sound very new. (For example, which sentence sounds more current: 'Mr. Swan received hundreds of
phone calls last week.' or 'Mr. Swan has received hundreds of phone calls.'?)
Circle the correct tense for each of the following sentences.
1.Swan received/has received many marriage proposals since he won the $1 million lottery.
2.One woman wanted/has wanted him to give money to her fish farm, but he declined.
3.He gave/has given some of the money to one of his favorite causes last week.
4.Everyone in Orton was/has been talking about Swan since he won the lottery.
5.He was/has been giving to charities for a long time.
6.Swan believes he lived/has lived a good life.
7.He also believes the $1 million was/has been a gift.
Now complete the following questions. Look at the answers to help you. Use present perfect tense.
8. Question: Have you ever ...................................................................?
Answer: Yes, I have. I won $1,000 once.
9. Question: Have you ever ...................................................................?
Answer: No, I haven't. But I hope to give money to some good causes in the future when I get a job.
10. Question: Has anyone ever ................................................................?
Answer: Yes, but I had to say no because I just wasn't ready to get married at that time.
Post-Reading Activities
You may do one or more of these.
A: Group Discussion
Part One
Your group has won $1 million in a special lottery but there is one condition: You have to donate all the money to
five charity organizations. First, discuss what kinds of charity organizations the members of your group are
interested in. Then, go to a search engine on the Internet and search for more information about organizations.
Some keywords you may wish to search are: charity organizations or nonprofit organizations.
To narrow the search, you could add the name of a country to those keywords. Or if you are interested in a
particular organization, you can just type in the name of that organization.
Part Two
After you have done a thorough web search, your group should decide which five charity organizations you want
to donate money to. Also, decide how much money you will give each charity organization. When you are
finished, present your group's decision to the class and explain why you made these choices.
B: Debate
Your teacher will divide students into two teams to debate the following topic:
The gambling industry is good for society.
Work together with your teammates to prepare your arguments and discuss what your different roles are. Then
debate the topic with the other team.
C: Writing
Write a persuasive essay about the debate topic in Activity B using the information your group presented in the
debate to argue your case.
D: Word Stems
A philanthropist is a person who does good things for others without expecting anything in return, like Gerald
Swan. But did you know that the prefix phil- means 'loving' or 'friendly'? The more literal definition of
philanthropist is a person who loves other people. Work out the meanings of the following phil- words by using
your understanding of the other words in the sentence.
1. The philatelist was delighted by what he saw on the envelope he received air mail from India.
A philatelist is a person who loves to collect...
2. There are many philharmonic societies which organize great concerts.
A philharmonic society is an organization that loves...
3. A philologist might be extremely interested in examining an ancient writing which contains some of the same
sentences found in the Bible.
A philologist is a person who loves to study...
Produced by cmercer
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Produced by cmercer
[email protected]
Winning Millions
TEACHERS' NOTES AND ANSWER KEY
Reading Activities
A: Vocabulary - Answers
1. E; 2. B; 3. A; 4. C; 5. D.
C: Scanning - Answers
1. Gerald Swan; 2. 61; 3. Canadian $1 million; 4. nearly 40; 5. 4.
D: Reading Carefully - Suggested Answers
1. He plans to give it all to charity.
2. He wanted to donate $100 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation so he entered the lottery not expecting to win. Then, to his
surprise, he won the $1 million lottery.
3. He has been giving to charities since he was a teenager.
4. He believes God has been good to him and he was very fortunate to receive a gift. He wants to give the gift back.
E: Matching Information - Answers
1. Paragraph one is...a summary of the story.
2. Swan explains in paragraph two...how he won the $1 million.
3. Paragraph three describes the excitement...of the people in his community.
4. Paragraph four gives examples of....how popular Swan is now that he has $1 million dollars.
5. Paragraph five...gives background information about Swan and what he plans to do with the money.
6. In paragraph six Swan...explains why he is giving all his money to charity.
F: Language - Notes
Sentences 1, 4, 5, 6 use present perfect tense to talk about an action or state which began in the past and is continuing.
Sentences 8 to 10 use present perfect tense to talk about experiences.
F: Language - Answers
1. has received; 2. wanted; 3. gave; 4. has been; 5. has been; 6. has lived; 7. was;
8. Have you ever entered a lottery?
9. Have you ever given money to charity?
10. Have anyone ever proposed to you?
Post-Reading Activities
A: Group Discussion - Notes
If you do not have access to the Internet you can skip Part One and go to Part Two. You may wish to discuss with students
some charity organizations you are familiar with and then get students to discuss causes they are interested in and charity
organizations they are familiar with. In groups they can then choose 5 organizations and decide how much money they will give
to each organization. The money does not have to be divided evenly amongst the five organizations.
B: Debate - Notes
You may want to explain to students that lottery drawings are a form of gambling. For every instant millionaire, there are
thousands and sometimes millions of people who lose money. It might also be a good idea to talk about the word 'society' within
the context of this debate statement. One could argue that society as a whole benefits from the gambling industry because
governments receive a slice of the money and often pour that money back into society to improve things.
On the other hand, it is often said that society as a whole suffers as gambling brings down the moral fiber of a society. One
could look at society as the individuals within a community and surmise that the chance of winning lots of money gives people
hope; conversely, there is the chance that excessive gambling could ruin individual lives.
D: Word Stems - Suggested Answers
1. A philatelist is a person who loves to collect...postage stamps.
2. A philharmonic society is an organization that loves...music.
3. A philologist is a person who loves to study...written records to determine their authenticity and meaning.
