First Certificate Masterclass

Unit 3 Extra activity

Talented people
Student A
Nicole Mary Kidman was born on 1
3

in Hawaii but grew up in

. Her first love was ballet but she later took up 5

. She

dropped out of high school to pursue a career in acting and eventually made her
debut in 1983 in Bush Christmas at the age of 7

. She would later

become famous in the US.

She won over Hollywood when she starred in 9

in 1990 with Tom

of

Cruise. After a whirlwind romance, the couple got married on 11

the same year and went on to adopt two children, called Isabella and Conor.

Despite steady employment during the 1990s with a succession of films including
13

in 1992,

in 1993 and

in 1995, she still

hadnt proved herself as a leading lady. That changed when she starred in To Die
. Although her public life was very

For for which she won a 15

successful, her private life wasnt, and in 2001 she and Cruise announced they
were separating due to 17

Her career has continued to go from strength to strength. In 2001, she won her
second Golden Globe for Best Actress in Moulin Rouge. A year later, she became
the first Australian Actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in The Hours
for which she was paid 19

Kidman has proved herself to be a brilliant actress who has become an

international icon.

Unit 3 Extra Activity Oxford University Press

First Certificate Masterclass

Unit 3 Extra activity

Talented people
Student B
Nicole Mary Kidman was born on 21 June 1967 in 2
Australia. Her first love was 4

but grew up in

but she later took up mime and drama.

She dropped out of high school to pursue a career in acting and eventually made
at the age of sixteen. She would later become

her debut in 1983 in 6

famous in 8

She won over Hollywood when she starred in Days of Thunder in 1990 with
10

. After a whirlwind romance, the couple got married on Christmas

and

Eve of the same year and went on to adopt two children, called 12

. Despite steady employment during the 1990s with a succession of

films including Far and Away in 1992, My Life in 1993 and Batman Forever in
1995, she still hadnt proved herself as a leading lady. That changed when she
starred in 14

for which she won a Golden Globe. Although her public

she and

life was very successful, her private life wasnt, and in 16

Cruise announced they were separating due to career conflicts.

Her career has continued to go from strength to strength. In 2001, she won her
second Golden Globe for Best Actress in 18

. A year later, she became

the first Australian actress to win the Best Actress Academy Award for The Hours for
which she was paid $7,500,000.
Kidman has proved herself to be 20

who has become an international

icon.

Unit 3 Extra Activity Oxford University Press

First Certificate Masterclass

Unit 3 Teachers notes and key

Talented people
Activity

Reading and speaking, with an optional follow-up writing

activity.

Aim

Students practise asking and answering questions in the past

tense about a famous person.

Time

30 minutes, longer if the writing is done

Number of students Any

Before class

Photocopy enough worksheets for half the class to be

Student A and the other half to be Student B.

Procedure
1 Ask students if they know anything about Nicole Kidman. Preteach some of the
vocabulary related to the text if necessary (win over, whirlwind romance, leading
lady, Golden Globe, debut, star).

2 Divide the class into group A and group B and give out the worksheets. Tell them
they must find the missing information, which the other group has, by writing
some questions; they must use the information in the texts as prompts to help form
the questions. Give an example if necessary: write Madonna was born in

and elicit the question where was Madonna born?.

3 Once they have written the questions, put the students into A/B pairs and tell them
to find the missing information, and complete their texts, by asking and answering
their questions.

4 When they have done this, tell them to compare their information to check it is all
correct. Ask them to tell each other something interesting they learnt about Nicole
Kidmans life.

Follow-up writing activity

1 Students decide what the topic of each paragraph is about (paragraph 1: factual
information/early years; paragraph 2: her career in the 1990s; paragraph 3: her
career since 2000; paragraph 4: her current situation)

2 Students choose a famous person and write a biography about him/her using the
Nicole Kidman biography as a model.

Unit 3 Extra Activity Oxford University Press

First Certificate Masterclass

Key
Nicole Mary Kidman was born on 1 21 June 1967 in 2 Hawaii but grew up in
3 Australia. Her first love was 4 ballet but she later took up 5 mime and drama. She
dropped out of high school to pursue acting and eventually made her debut in
1983 in 6 Bush Christmas at the age of 7 sixteen. She would later become famous
in the 8 US.
She won over Hollywood when she starred in 9 Days of Thunder in 1990 with
10 Tom Cruise. After a whirlwind romance, the couple got married on 11 Christmas
Eve of the same year and went on to adopt two children, 12 Isabella and Connor.
Despite steady employment during the 1990s with a succession of films including
13 Far and Away in 1992, My Life in 1993 and Batman Forever in 1995, she still
hadnt proved herself as a leading lady. That changed when she starred in 14 To Die
For for which she won a 15 Golden Globe. Although her public life was very
successful, her private life wasnt, and in 16 2001 she and Cruise announced that
they were separating due to 17 career conflicts.
Her career has continued to go from strength to strength. In 2001, she won her
second Golden Globe for Best Actress in 18 Moulin Rouge! A year later, she
became the first Australian actress to win the Best Actress Academy Award for The
Hours for which she was paid 19 $7,500,000.
Kidman has proved herself to be a 20 brilliant actress who has become an
international icon.
Suggested questions for Student A:
1 When was Nicole Kidman born?
3 Where did she grow up?
5 What did she take up after ballet?
7 How old was she when she starred in Bush Christmas?
9 Which film did she win over Hollywood with?
11 When did she get married to Tom Cruise?
13 Which films did she star in in 1992, 1993 and 1995?
15 What did she win for To Die For?
17 Why did she and Tom Cruise separate?
19 How much was she paid for The Hours?
Suggested questions for Student B:
2 Where was Nicole born?
4 What was her first love?
6 Which film did she make her debut in?
8 Where would she later become famous?
10 Who did she star with in Days of Thunder?
12 What are the names of their two adopted children?
14 Which film did she win a Golden Globe for?
16 When did she separate from Tom Cruise?
18 For which film did she win a Golden Globe as Best Actress?
20 What has Kidman proved herself to be?

Unit 3 Extra Activity Oxford University Press