Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin is considered an important figure in the development of the film industry, as his character, "The Tramp," was there from the beginning. He was born in London in 1889. His father was absent, and his mother was committed to a mental institution when he was 14, so he grew up in poverty, struggling, and in work houses part of the time. He started acting early and came to the U.S. at the age of 19, where he was steadily employed and then became famous. He sought control over his own movies and became political, criticizing Hitler and then some American politicians, and eventually had to leave the U.S. for Switzerland. He was a perfectionist and tried to make everything perfect in his films, which sometimes took him years to make.


___ 1. Who is The Tramp?
a. a friend of Charlie Chaplin
b. the character that Charlie Chaplin played
c. an important figure in the development of the film industry
d. the inventor of modern film

___ 2. What characterizes his childhood? a. he was poor and his life was hard
b. he traveled a lot
c. he was committed
d. he worked on houses

___ 3. When did he first come to the U.S.?
a. 1900
b. 1908
c. 1889
d. 1919

___ 4. Which is true of his movies?
a. Some were political
b. He controlled them strongly
c. Some included "The Tramp"
d. All of the above

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini was a famous escape artist in the early 20th century, from about 1900 until the mid 1920's, and was the highest paid performer in what was known as vaudeville for many years. He was born Erik Weisz in Hungary, and his family, which included his father, Rabbi Weisz, moved to Appleton, Wisconsin and then New York City, changing their names to Weiss. He started out trying to be a magician, but around 1900 was convinced to focus on escape, and he toured Europe, challenging police departments to lock him up and see if he couldn't get out of any kind of handcuffs, locks, or binding. He was very successful in getting out of various enclosures, and never failed to impress audiences with his ability to escape anything. His wife Bess served as his assistant for most of his performances. He became a celebrity and eventually used his power to be a leader of the magic community and to debunk spiritualists who had falsely claimed some occult connection to the dead or the powers of the universe. He lived most of his life and died in New York City, where his gravesite is being restored.

___ 1. What do we know about Erik Weisz and Harry Houdini?
a. they are different names for the same person
b. Mr. Weisz is a magician but Mr. Houdini is an escape artist
c. Mr. Weisz is more successful than Mr. Houdini
d. Mr. Weisz died before Mr. Houdini became famous

___ 2. When he performed in Europe, what were the police supposed to do?
a. ignore him
b. try to imprison him
c. get him to leave town
d. collect the money for his performances

___ 3. What did his wife do during his performances?
a. she became a celebrity
b. she helped him
c. she collected the money
d. she impressed audiences

___ 4. Which was NOT a place where Houdini lived?
a. Hungary
b. Appleton, Wisconsin
c. Europe
d. New York City

Joe Biden

Joe Biden was born November 20, 1941 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Scranton was having hard economic times, and his family moved to Delaware in 1953. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972. At the time he was the sixth youngest senator ever elected to the Senate. But he had a long career in the Senate, until he became Vice President under Obama from 2009 to 2017. He married Jill Jacobs in 1977 and they are still married.

 

___ 1. Why did his family probably move to Delaware?
            a. better climate and weather

            b. for work opportunities

            c. there were family members already there

            d. easier to run for Senate

 

___ 2. How old was he when he was first elected to the Senate?

a.     19

b.     31

c.      53

d.     72

 

___ 3. Why do most people know his name?
            a. because he is from Scranton

            b. because he married Jill Jacobs

            c. because he was Vice President

            d. because he had a long career

 

___ 4. How long was he Vice President?

a.     37 years

b.     8 years

c.      45 years

d.     5 years

A new era

Dear Reader,
Bear with me. This site has gone over eleven years without a post. But I am reviving it for a reason.

The basic idea behind it was good. Wikipedia is a trove of biographies, of thousands or millions of people, all interesting and all famous to some degree ranging from zero to a hundred, say, with a hundred being the ones that everyone knows.

Now as esl/efl teachers we can look at our students, see who they care about, open up their biography, make a quick exercise, and start from the people they will want to read about. That was the original intention of this site. The teachers I taught in Peru all felt like they weren't qualified to make good exercises. But they are. You read it, you know English, you make clean questions, you get better at all this stuff through practice. If you can't do it, I can, and will make exercises for people who you choose to have your students read about.

What I've found is a world hungry for esl/efl exercises that are easy and accessible. This of course also exists in a range: 0 and one, anyone can do it, even with zero English. A hundred: a little more extensive reading, harder exercises. The world needs all kinds.

I am considering providing some, just because I can. Stay tuned. By the way, I love Wikipedia. I think it has opened up a new world for us. I respect the difficulty of what they do.

To the question, "How can you do this without simply copying Wikipedia?" I will answer this: Simply close the site while you write. Some sentences will be on the tip of your tongue, like "He was born in 1948." Well, there are only so many ways to say that, and just because somebody on Wikipedia said it before I did, doesn't mean they own it. But if I'm not reading and writing at the same time, I'm writing it myself. Then I'm checking the facts. It's public information. I don't feel like I'm stealing anything.

It's all for the purpose of getting people interested in reading; that's the way I look at it. My teachers in Peru were struggling with that. Why should our students read anything in English? "Because I can provide things that are interesting to you" is the only answer that is acceptable really. Don't rule by force or negative consequences; making them hate English will simply turn them away for years when they actually have their own choice. And it's only a language. You haven't bought a whole culture by simply using it.

You will watch a gradual transformation of this site. I hope you enjoy it.