Love Story - Activity Worksheets
Love Story - Activity Worksheets
Love Story - Activity Worksheets
The story
Oliver Barrett, who is studying at Harvard University,
meets a girl called Jenny Cavilleri, who is studying at
Radcliffe University. They are very different people, in
terms of background, character and interests. Oliver’s Background
nd to the story
father is a wealthy banker, and Jenny’s is a hard- The author, Erich Segal, was born in 1937. Love Story,
y
working baker. Oliver’s great interest is sport, and published in 1970, was his first novel. It became an
Jenny’s is music. Their attitudes to their families are international bestseller and a very popular film.
different, too. Jenny is very close to her father, and The story is set in the USA, in the late 1960s, when
calls him by his first name, while Oliver always seems the British pop group The Beatles were at the height of
annoyed with his father, and cannot communicate their popularity. Harvard is one of the most respected
with him. and prestigious universities in North America, and
Despite these differences, Oliver and Jenny fall is on the East coast of the United States. A classic
in love, and decide to marry after their graduation. career path for an American lawyer would be to
Oliver’s father thinks his son is getting married too graduate from Harvard University, then study for three
young, and refuses to allow him any more money. more years at Harvard Law School, in order to take the
Oliver has three years of law school ahead of him final qualifying legal exams, as Oliver does in the story.
before he can practise as a lawyer, and is too proud Traditional universities, like Harvard and Yale, often
to plead with his father, so Jenny gives up her music consider sporting ability to be almost as important as
scholarship in Paris and works as a teacher to support intellectual achievement, and a high sporting profile
Oliver. They are very poor, but happy. Jenny tries hard may even help a graduate to gain employment.
to bring Oliver and his father together, but without
success. Finally, Oliver finishes at law school, with Before reading
excellent results, and is immediately offered a well- Here are some ways to help your students approach
paid job with a large company in New York. Now they the story:
are comfortably off, and can look forward to having a 1 Give students the title of the book and show them
baby. the picture on the cover. Ask them to try and guess
But nothing happens, and when they go to consult what kind of the story it is.
a doctor, he tells Oliver that Jenny is dying of a serious 2 Give students a copy of the text on the back
blood disease. Oliver is horrified and tries to keep it a cover of the book, and of the story introduction
secret from Jenny, but she soon discovers the truth. on the first page. When they have read the texts,
A month later Jenny goes into hospital. Oliver has ask them a few questions about the story, or use
to borrow a lot of money from his father to pay the the Before Reading Activities in the back of each
medical bills, but he still cannot bring himself to talk Bookworm.
properly to his father, or tell him about Jenny. She 3 Use the pre-reading activity in this worksheet.
dies in Oliver’s arms. Oliver’s father hears about her 4 If there is a recording of this title, play the first few
illness, and comes to offer help. For the first time, pages and stop at an interesting point.
Oliver breaks down, and accepts his father’s love and
support.
Word search
S C H O L A R S H I P H
C W O Z A F P O O R I U
O D C Q W A P A S T A S
R Y K E Y T J Q P V N B
E I E X E H F X I Z O A
X N Y A R E L A T I O N
W G J M A R R I A G E D
K I S S G I R L L O V E
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To the teacher
Aim: To introduce students to key vocabulary any difficult words. Ask students to suggest what
Time: 15–20 minutes kind of story might include these words, and then
Organization: Give one copy of the word search to ask them to make sentences using two or more of
each student or put the word search on an overhead these words each time.
projector. Give the students ten minutes to find as Key: scholarship, poor, pasta, key, relation, marriage,
many words as possible. Go through words they kiss, girl, love, score, dying, hockey, exam, lawyer,
have identified and help them with the meanings of father, hospital, piano, husband.
EVENT OrdEr
To the teacher
Aim: To revise and summarize the story and it has been checked, ask them to tell the story
Time: 20–30 minutes in pairs or as a round, adding details to make it more
Organization: Give out copies of the worksheet to interesting. Alternatively you could ask them to
groups or pairs of students. The sentences, which connect up pairs of sentences with suitable linking
make up a summary of the story are in the wrong words.
order. Ask students to put them in the correct order. Key: 1p, 2i, 3n, 4e, 5k, 6l, 7g, 8m, 9a, 10o, 11b, 12j,
When they have completed the re-ordering exercise, 13c, 14h, 15d, 16r, 17f, 18q.
Snap! or Pelmanism
SET ONE
Scoring goals Ray Stratton
Twenty-five
The piano Paris
To the teacher
Aim: To revise events and key facts of the narrative two corresponding cards are put down, one after the
Time: 30–40 minutes other, the player who realizes it first shouts ‘Snap!’
Organization: Make a pack of fifty-two cards by and can pick up the whole pile of cards in the centre.
cutting out and sticking each of the words and Play continues until one player holds all the cards and
sentences on a piece of card. The pack consists is therefore the winner.
of two sets of twenty-six cards. The first set has For PELMANISM put all the cards face down on
characters, actions or objects on the cards, and the the table, either in parallel rows (this makes it much
second set has complete sentences with information easier!) or at different angles to each other. Each
from the story. The aim is for students to match up player turns over two cards at a time. If the cards are
the two sets of cards. The games are best played in a matching pair, that player keeps both cards, and has
groups of three or four students: each group needs a another turn. If they do not match, they are turned
complete pack of fifty-two cards. over again, and the next person has a turn. Players
For SNAP! give the players equal numbers of try to remember where cards are, and the winner is
cards, face down. Each player in turn lays one of their the one with the most pairs of cards at the end of
cards, face up, on a pile in the centre of the-table. If the game.
Snap! or Pelmanism
SET TWO
Oliver and Jenny first THIS is Oliver’s car. THIS is what Oliver
meet HERE. thinks talking to his
father is like.
Jenny loves having THIS.
Jenny sometimes wears
THESE. Oliver eats THESE on
HE is a good friend of his first visit to Jenny’s
Oliver’s. father.
Oliver’s father was
chosen to play in
THESE. Jenny wins a scholarship Oliver wants to call his
to study music HERE. son this.