News-based English language activities from the global newspaper

October 2009
Level ≥ Lower intermediate
Style ≥ Lesson plan
Welcome to the Guardian Weekly’s special news-based materials to support learners and teachers of English.
Each month, the Guardian Weekly newspaper selects topical news articles that can be used to practise English
language skills. The materials are graded for two levels: advanced and lower intermediate. These worksheets
can be downloaded free from guardianweekly.co.uk/learningenglish/. You can also find more advice for
teachers and learners on the site.

Clinic for internet addicts opens in US

Materials prepared by Janet Hardy-Gould

Instructions
Lesson focus: reading, role play
Materials sheet: copies of the article
Time: 50 minutes

1 Tell students they are going to read an article about Answers: 1 c 2 b 3 a 4 c 5 a 6 b

the hobby of a 19-year-old American man. Ask them to
guess the hobby. Brainstorm a list including playing video
games and surfing the internet. 3 mins
2 Then ask: What are the positive and negative things
about hobbies? For example: positive – they can help you
to socialise with other people, negative – they can take
up most of your time. In pairs, students write a list of pos-
itive and negative things. During class feedback feed in
vocabulary: social life, group activities, take a break from,
addicted to/addict, glued to. 10 mins
3 Give out the questions below and go through them. Give
out copies of the article. Students read and choose cor-
rect answers. Class feedback. 12 mins
1 The centre is for people who spend too much time:
a at the office. b on the phone. c online.
2 The residents at the centre do activities:
a in pairs. b in small groups. c in big groups.
3 Cash’s first patient was addicted to:
a video games. b exercising. c household chores.
4 People have been slow to recognise the addiction in:
a China. b South Korea. c the US.
5 Ben began to have problems when he started:
a at college. b at the centre. c at work.
6 Ben found the game a good way to:
a study. b meet people. c help his problem.
4 Ask students if they have a good memory. Read the text
out loud this time, while the students follow the text and
remember as many details as possible. Then ask them
to cover up the article. Read out the questions below. In
pairs students note the answers. 10 mins
a Where is the new centre?
b How much does the course cost?
c How long is the course?
d When did Cash have her first addicted patient?
e What internet game did Ben play?
f How many hours a day did Ben play the game?
Answers: a Seattle. b $14,000. c 45 days. d 1994. e World
of Warcraft. f 16 or 17.
5 Students now do a role play in pairs between Ben and
his last friend at college. The friend suggests to Ben how
he can change his life. Go through possible suggestions
and answers eg “Why don’t you join a university club?”; “I
suppose so”. Students prepare their roles and then do the
role play. 15 mins
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper

October 2009

Materials sheet Article: Clinic for internet

addicts opens in US
1 If you have to take a quick break from reading this article
to send a text message or check your Blackberry, then the
good news is that help is at hand.
2 A new centre for cyberspace addicts has opened in the
US city of Seattle. It claims to be America’s first residen-
tial centre for people addicted to the internet and video
games.

3 For $14,000, six people at a time can spend 45 days fight-

ing against their constant need to connect to the internet.
Residents are given counselling and psychotherapy, as
well as group activities such as household chores, walks
Ben Alexander, left, gets therapy Stephen Brashear/AP Photo in the grounds and exercising.

Student tasks 4 The centre, in the countryside about 50km outside

1 Read the article to choose the correct answers to these
quesions.
1 The centre is for people who spend too much time:
a at the office. b on the phone. ­c ­online.
2 The residents at the centre do ­activities:
a in pairs. b in small groups. c in big groups.
3 Cash’s first patient was addicted to:
a video games. b exercising. c household chores.
4 People have been slow to recognise the addiction in:
a China. b South Korea. c the US.
5 Ben began to have problems when he started:
a at college. b at the centre. c at work.
6 Ben found the game a good way to:
a study. b meet people. c help his problem.
2 Listen to the questions and write your answers here
a
b of him, the social life at university seemed very boring.
c and found help with his gaming problem.
­Seattle, is the idea of therapist Hilarie Cash. She recorded
her first case of cyberspace addiction in 1994, with a
­patient so glued to video games that he lost his marriage
and two jobs. But until this summer she had only met
­patients on a day-by-day basis.
5 Cash points out that although countries such as China,
South Korea and Taiwan have places where internet ad-
dicts can find help, America has been slow to recognise
the ­problem.
6 Ben Alexander, 19, was one of the centre’s first residents.
He became addicted to the video game World of Warcraft,
which took up most of his time awake. He started playing
the game when he was a new student at Iowa University.
“At first it was a couple of hours a day. By midway through
the first semester, I was playing 16 or 17 hours a day,” he
said.
7 By comparison to the whizz-bang on the screen in front
He came to see the game as an “easy way to socialise and
meet people”. Alexander eventually left the university

8 “I don’t think I’ll go back to World of Warcraft any time

d soon,” he said.

Original article by Ed Pilkington, ­rewritten by

e Janet Hardy-Gould