This is part 5 in our book club series on Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. In this episode we look at chapters 18-23, discuss the things that happen and dig into some of the vocabulary.
Why not encourage your high level students to read and listen along with us? You’ll find the other 4 episodes on our SoundCloud page.
Image credit: Mark Wilding
Anna Balquin, one of the listeners to our podcast made this fantastic listening activity based around a section of episode 3 about food. The extract you’ll need is 10.57 – 15.09, download the student handout and answer key below:
Student Handout
Pre-listening
1. Discuss these questions with your partner:
• What’s your favourite comfort food?
• What do you think a ‘supper club’ is?
• What do you know about food from the USA? What are some traditional American dishes?
2. First listen
We’re going to listen to Nicole talk about her supper club. What kind of food does she serve?
3. Second listen: listen again and answer the following questions.
1. How long has Nicole been living in Barcelona?
2. What did Nicole serve with the brisket?
3. Do the supper club guests usually know each other?
4. Where did gumbo come from?
5. Which cultures does the dish gumbo mix?
6. What’s the first thing you do when making gumbo?
7. What is the holy trinity?
8. What were the main ingredients of the gumbo that Nicole made?
9. How does Katy express that she likes the sound of Nicole’s gumbo?
4. Look at this quote from the audio and discuss its meaning with your partner.
“I love to gather people around the table that are from different walks of life”
Answer key:
2. First listen
We’re going to listen to Nicole talk about her supper club. What kind of food does she serve? Southern US soul food
3. Second listen: listen again and answer the following questions.
1. How long has Nicole been living in Barcelona? over a decade
2. What did Nicole serve with the brisket? collard greens, sweet potato mash, green beans, crispy shallots
3. Do the supper club guests usually know each other? no
4. Where did gumbo come from? Louisiana New Orleans
5. Which cultures does the dish gumbo mix? West African with French
6. What’s the first thing you do when making gumbo? Make a roux (butter, flour)
7. What is the holy trinity? Onion, celery, bell peppers
8. What were the main ingredients of the gumbo that Nicole made? prawn chicken sausage and bacon
9. How does Katy express that she likes the sound of Nicole’s gumbo? “Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering!”
Image credit: Mark Wilding
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There’s still time to donate to Mental Health Friendly to help them set up classes for people suffering and recovering from mental health problems:
https://gogetfunding.com/shay-educational-consultant/
Episode 9 of the podcast is all about travelling, do you like to travel light? Have you got the travel bug? We spoke to two people who definitely have, Jon and Ania from hitchhikershandbook.com; they came on the show to tell us about their various adventures. We also spoke to people about their weird and wonderful travel experiences as well as our vocabulary section “5 Ways to Say.” Below you’ll find the timings of the episode in case you want to skip ahead or use specific parts in class:
Timings:
Tim and Katy travel stories – 0 -13.30
Main Interview – John and Ania – 13.30 – 30.00
5 Ways to say – travel vocab – 30.10 – 35.00
Vox pops – Shay – 35.20 – 40.30
Outro – 40.35 – End
Enjoy! We appreciate any comments or feedback, let us know in the comments here or on Twitter or Facebook.
Check out Jon and Ania’s blog below: