1 Reading
a Read the email and tick (✓) the correct answer.
a Jack played professional football in the 1960s.
b Jack played for Newcastle United for five years.
c Jack joined Newcastle United in 1953.
d Jack scored 100 goals for the factory team.
Hi Carla
I’ve been talking to Dad about our family history and I’ve found out some interesting things about his brother Giacomo, our Uncle Jack. Well, apparently, he was a professional footballer for a few years in the 1950s!
Jack left school at 16 in 1948 and worked in a car factory in Newcastle for five years. While he was working there, he used to play football every Saturday for the factory team. One day some men came to watch him from Newcastle United. They offered him a contract so in 1953 Jack left the car factory and became a professional footballer. Apparently, he played for Newcastle United from 1953 until 1959 and scored over 100 goals for them. However, he broke his leg badly in 1959 and had to give up playing professional football.
After that, he got a job as a sports teacher at a local secondary school and that’s where he met his wife, Auntie Giulia. She was an Art teacher. They fell in love and got married two years later, in 1961. Our cousins Luigi and Anna were born in 1962 and 1964. As you know, we left Great Britain and came to live here in Australia in 1965, so it was quite difficult for Dad and Uncle Jack to keep in touch after that.
Meanwhile, in 1969 Uncle Jack and Auntie Giulia opened an Italian restaurant called La Forchetta in the centre of Newcastle. During the 1970s and 1980s this was the most popular Italian restaurant in Newcastle. Sadly, in 1992 Uncle Jack was killed in a car crash and Auntie Giulia decided to sell the restaurant.
When I travel to the UK on business later this year, I’m planning to meet our cousins, Luigi and Anna.
Hope to see you soon
Paolo
b Read the email again. Are the sentences true or false?
1 Paolo and Carla’s uncle used to be a professional footballer.
2 When Jack was 16 he played for Newcastle United.
3 Jack was still playing professional football in the 1960s.
4 Jack and Giulia got married two years after they met.
5 Jack and Giulia died in 1992.
Answer
a c
b True: 1, 4; False: 2, 3, 5
2 Writing Skills – Describing time
Match 1-6 with a-f to make sentences.
1 She lived in Buenos Aires for _f_
2 He continued studying until he was 22. Meanwhile,
3 He visited the Grand Canyon during
4 Uncle Julian was a major in the army from 1986
5 She worked as a receptionist over
6 My parents met a long time ago while
a his first business trip to the USA.
b his twin brother was working in the family’s shoe factory.
c they were both teaching English in Indonesia.
d the summer holidays when it was particularly busy.
e until his retirement a few years ago.
f seven years before moving to England.
Answer
2 b 3 a 4 e 5 d 6 c
3 Writing
Read the notes. Imagine your grandfather was James Cooper. Write his biography.
Notes for biography of James Cooper (Grandad)
Introduction: James Cooper (Grandad). My sister and I very fond of him. Remember lunch with grandparents every Sunday when young. Always made us laugh – lots of jokes and funny stories.
Life story:
1928 Born London. Very happy childhood. 1 brother & 2 sisters.
1936 Family moved to Montreal. Stayed there 10 years. Spoke English and French.
1946-1952 Studied medicine at Cambridge University, UK.
1952 Graduated from Cambridge.
1953-1962 Worked in different hospitals in UK.
1962-1975 Job in hospital in San Francisco. Met Elspeth Clark (Grandma).
1964 Married Elspeth.
1965 My mother born. No other children.
1975-1980 Job in Johannesburg, South Africa. Friendship with famous heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard.
1988 Retired aged 60.
2000 Died aged 72. Miss him very much.
Answer
Suggested answer
My grandad’s name was James Cooper and my sister and I were very fond of him. When we were children we used to go to my grandparents’ house every Sunday for lunch. Grandad had a great sense of humour. He used to tell us terrible jokes and funny stories about his travels around the world.
James Cooper was born in London in 1928 and he had a very happy childhood. He had one brother and two sisters and they all got on very well. In 1936, his family moved to Montreal, in Canada, and he lived there for 10 years. He grew up speaking English and French fluently and in 1946 he returned to the UK to study medicine at Cambridge University. He graduated in 1952 and worked as a doctor in different hospitals in the UK from 1953 until 1962.
In 1962, he got a job at a hospital in San Francisco and lived in the USA for the next 13 years. While he was working there, he met Grandma and they got married in 1964. One year later, my mother was born. They didn’t have any other children, so she was an only child. When my mother was 10, Grandad was offered a job in South Africa and so they all went to live in South Africa in 1975. They lived there for five years and they then returned to San Francisco in 1980. During their stay in Johannesburg, Grandad became good friends with the famous South African heart surgeon, Christiaan Barnard.
Grandad retired in 1988 and died 12 years later, in 2000. We all miss him very much.
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