Video: Clarifying information

(A2), B1, B2, C1

In the BBC game show "Would I Lie to You', celebrities have to read out a sentence about themselves  on a card. Sometimes this sentence is true, sometimes false. The other panellists  then have to  ask questions about the story behind the sentences and decide if the person is telling the truth or not. In this video you will hear Rhod Gilbert talking about this story:

"A mistake I made in France meant that someone in England got hospitalised"

First you will watch the video to understand the main points of the story, then complete some missing words from the questions asked by the panellists. Finally, you will do an exercise to practise other questions to check or clarify information. Video time: 4 mins 28 secs  Activity time 30 - 45 minutes.

Task:

1   Watch the video the first time and find out

-  who the person in England was

-  why Rhod was in France

-  why the person in England got hospitalized

2  Listen again and complete the questions

_____________ you  _____________  learnt to read?

_____________ the mistake you made in the French language?

What _____________ the nature of this mistake?

What _____________ you _____________ in France?

What colour hair _____________ she _____________?

Can you _____________ us _____________ the incident?

Why _____________ they ask you to do that?

What was the relationship between Anne and the person ____________ had ____________ you to talk?
How _____________ you know _____________?

What _____________ next?

So she _____________  _____________ how to speak to the family?

What did you _____________ wrong? What did you _____________ wrong?

What does that _____________?

And that’s a mistake, _____________ ?

What happened?  _____________ they then rush her to this hospital?

3 Do the exercise on checking and clarifying

The video is here.
Exercise 3 is here.
The answers are at the bottom of the page.
If you would like a pdf version of Exercises 1 and 2, click here.














Answers 

1  The person in England was a girl called Anne whose father was a caretaker in the school in France where Rhod was teaching. Anne was ill but neither she nor her father could communicate in English with her host family. Rhod spoke to the daughter who said she had 'une angine' (sore throat), which Rhod translated for the host family as "angina". As angina is a serious heart condition in English, the family rushed her to the hospital.

2 (words in order) have, just, was, was, were, doing, does have, talk, though, did, that, asked, did, know, happened, didn't, know, do, say, mean, right, did