Meghan Markle opens up about her family: lesson ideas for Intermediate level students

It has been a year since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry left the royal family without giving any clear explanation on it. And now, one year later, they spoke about the hardships they had to overcome in a new Oprah interview clip. Currently, this exclusive interview is one of the hottest discussion topics all over the world. If you want to speak about the royal family and Meghan’s interview with your students, here you will find some lesson ideas suitable for the Intermediate level. Activities are mainly based on one part of the interview, where Meghan is talking about her father’s betrayal and her half-sister. The lesson will help your students hone their listening and speaking skills and enlarge their vocabulary.

Task 1: Warm-up

Look at the pictures. What can you see? What comes to your mind when you see these pictures?

Task 2: Lead-in

— Discuss the questions:

1. What do you think of the idea of monarchy?
2. Is it fair that people are born into a monarchy and automatically lead a privileged life, never having to lift a finger?
3. Would you prefer your country to be a monarchy or republic? Why?

— Do you know who these people in the picture are? Can you describe them? Have you heard the latest news about them?

Task 3: Vocabulary work

Match the words with the definitions. Use your dictionary, if necessary.

— To track down a person

— Frenzy

— To intervene

— Accountability

— Betrayal

— Intentionally

— Gleefully

— To reconcile

— To hunt down

A. A state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behaviour.
B. With awareness of what one is doing.
C. To accept as inevitable.
D. To search for someone or something, often when it is difficult to find that person or thing.
E. To get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action.
F. In a joyous manner.
G. Responsibility.
H. An act of being disloyal to someone or something.
I. To try to find a particular person or thing.

Keys:

1 — D

2 — A

3 — E

4 — G

5 — H

6 — B

7 — F

8 — C

9 — I

Task 4

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words: to track down a person, frenzy, to intervene, accountability,  betrayal, intentionally, gleefully, to reconcile, to hunt down.

1.  Alison joined a support group so that she would have some ___ with others for her actions.
2. If you start dating your best friend’s girlfriend behind his back, that’s an act of ___.
3. The media ___ over the celebrity wedding has made everyone angry.
4. She had spent years trying to ___ her parents.
5. It is really hard for him to ___ himself to the loss of the election.
6. Government officials refused to ___ in the recent disputes.
7. They ___ Tom’s mom ___ and wanted to find some useful information from her.
8. The witness ___ gave misleading answers to the questions.
9. After the competition, the winner danced ___ around the room.

Keys:

— Accountability

— Betrayal

— Frenzy

— Track down

— Reconcile

— Intervene

— Hunted down

— Intentionally

— Gleefully

Task 5: Watching the video

Watch the video (till 03:45) and tick the things mentioned. What does Meghan say about these things?

— Obsession with her personal life.

— Racism.

— A place where Meghan and Harry met for the first time.

— Tracking down her parents.

— Protecting her parents in that media frenzy.

— Meghan going shopping.

— Harry leaving the royal family.

— Tabloids offering people money.

— Father’s betrayal.

Keys:

— Obsession with her personal life.

— Tracking down her parents.

— Protecting her parents in that media frenzy.

— Tabloids offering people money.

— Father’s betrayal.

Task 6

Watch the video till 05:02. What book has Meghan’s half-sister written? Are she and Meghan close?

Keys:

She has written a “Tell all” book about Meghan Markle. No, they have never been close. Meghan grew up as an only child. The last time she saw her half-sister it must have been at least 18 or 19 years ago.

Task 7

Watch the video (till 05:02) again and answer the questions.

Keys:

— What did the tabloids do?

— Did it feel like a betrayal when Meghan found out her father was working with the tabloids?

— What did Meghan’s father say about the incident? Did he accept his blame?

— Did the tabloids hunt Meghan’s mother down? How did she react to it?

— What is Meghan’s half-sister’s last name? When did she change it?

— There was an obsession about anything in Meghan’s world, including tracking down her parents. For over a year, the UK tabloids were trying to find Meghan’s dad, offering people so much money to try to find his address.

— She is not comfortable even talking about it. In fact, it felt like a betrayal.

— Her father told her that he wasn’t working with the tabloids. So, he basically lied to Meghan.

— Yes, tabloids hunted Meghan’s mother down. However, she’s remained in silent dignity for four years watching Meghan go through this.

— She changed her last name back to Markle only when Meghan started dating Harry.

Task 8

Read the comments from Twitter and say how the people feel about the interview. Choose the ones you agree with and explain your choice.

Task 9

Discuss the questions using the new words where possible: to track down a person, frenzy, to intervene, accountability,  betrayal, intentionally, gleefully, to reconcile, to hunt down.

1. Do you think people in the UK respect the Royal family? Why?
2. Should the members of the royal family intervene in Meghan’s personal life? Explain your answer.
3. Was it really tough for Meghan Markle to join the royal family? Why?
4. Do you think Meghan’s father has intentionally caused pain to his daughter?
5. How do you think Harry’s fans feel about the current situation? Is this interview a kind of betrayal to the royal family?
6. If you wrote a post on social media about this interview, what would it be like?