The man who turned blue

ESL Lessons: True Stories

A printable worksheet for story-based English conversation classes.

Difficulty: Intermediate B1

PDF: The man who turned blue

Warm-up

Have you seen the movie "Avatar"? What do you remember about it?

Vocabulary Match

carer •• looks after people
confused •• right way
dye •• at once
scrubbing •• unsure
properly •• rubbing hard
immediately •• color liquid

Vocabulary Answers

carerlooks after people
confusedunsure
dyecolor liquid
scrubbingrubbing hard
properlyright way
immediatelyat once

True Story

Listen and fill in the blanks with words from above.

Tommy Lynch, a 42-year-old man from England, had a very strange morning recently. When he woke up, he was shocked to see that his skin was bright blue.

His roommate, who is a professional ________, was very worried. He thought Tommy could not breathe ________, so he rushed him to the hospital ________. At the emergency room, doctors were ________ at first. However, they soon discovered the truth. They rubbed Tommy's arm with a simple alcohol wipe, and the blue color came off!

The cause was not a disease; Tommy had slept on new, unwashed blue sheets. "I looked like an avatar," Tommy joked. He spent the next week ________ the ________ off his skin.

Tommy Lynch, a 42-year-old man from England, had a very strange morning recently. When he woke up, he was shocked to see that his skin was bright blue.

His roommate, who is a professional carer, was very worried. He thought Tommy could not breathe properly, so he rushed him to the hospital immediately. At the emergency room, doctors were confused at first. However, they soon discovered the truth. They rubbed Tommy's arm with a simple alcohol wipe, and the blue color came off!

The cause was not a disease; Tommy had slept on new, unwashed blue sheets. "I looked like an avatar," Tommy joked. He spent the next week scrubbing the dye off his skin.

Quiz

  1. How old is Tommy Lynch?
  2. What color was Tommy's skin when he woke up?
  3. Who took Tommy to the hospital?
  4. What did the doctors use to remove the blue color?

Quiz Answers (examples)

  1. 42 years old
  2. Bright blue
  3. His roommate
  4. An alcohol wipe

True or False

  1. Tommy's skin turned blue because of a new disease. T F
  2. The doctors were confused at first. T F
  3. Tommy's roommate is an Avatar. T F

True or False Answers

  1. False
  2. True
  3. False

Conversation

A:Tommy, you'd better do the washing.
B:You're right. I'll put a load in now.
A:Don't forget to hang it out when it's done.
B:Yeah, yeah, and bring it in later... I know the drill.
A:I still can't believe you didn't wash those sheets!
B:And I can't believe you took me to the ER!

Discussion

  1. Do you always wash new clothes or bedsheets before you use them?
  2. How often do you do the laundry? Who usually hangs it out to dry?
  3. Which housework task do you enjoy the most, and which one do you hate?
  4. Would you like to have blue skin for a day? Why or why not?
  5. What character from a film would you like to be?

Further Reading

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/i-rushed-hospital-after-waking-33562265

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