Spelling mistake outside Welsh school

Nick's ESL News Lessons

A printable worksheet for news-based English conversation classes.

Date: 2023/05/08

Difficulty: Intermediate B1

PDF: Spelling mistake outside Welsh school
YouTube: Spelling mistake outside Welsh school

Vocabulary Match

misspelled -   - made clear
contractors -   - spelled wrong
responsible for -   - believed
faded -   - washed out
suspected -   - workers
clarified -   - in charge of

Article

Road workers in Swansea, Wales misspelled the word "school" outside Llangyfelach Primary School in both English and Welsh. The English word was spelled "shcool" and the Welsh word was spelled "ysool" instead of "ysgol."

The energy company responsible for the mistake said they would be returning to fix the English typo. The Welsh misspelling was unclear as the paint was faded, but it is suspected that it had been there for a while.

The leader of Swansea Council clarified that they were not responsible for the mistake. This is not the first time such a mistake has been made, as contractors made a similar error outside a "shcool" in Brighton less than a year ago.

In Wales, there are two main languages, English and Welsh. The government says public signs must have both languages.

Quiz

  1. What did the energy company responsible for the mistake say they would do?
  2. Who clarified that they were not responsible for the mistake?

Conversation

A: Oh no, we misspelled "school" on the last road sign!
B: Haha, looks like we messed up the Welsh one, too.
A: I can't believe we messed up both languages.
B: Yeah, it's a bit embarrassing, isn't it?
A: We better fix the English one right away.
B: I think we both need to go back to "shcool"!

Discussion

  1. What do you know about Wales? Can you speak any Welsh?
  2. How do you think the students at the school felt about the misspelling?
  3. Are people better at spelling these days, or worse? Why?

Vocabulary Answers

misspelled → spelled wrong
contractors → workers
responsible for → in charge of
faded → washed out
suspected → believed
clarified → made clear

Quiz Answers (examples)

  1. They would be returning to fix the English typo.
  2. The leader of Swansea Council.

Source Material

https://metro.co.uk/2023/04/26/swansea-road-workers-spell-school-wrong-in-both-english-and-welsh-18675921/


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