Homework, 22nd January, 2018

Read the article below and answer the questions that go with it. This is due tomorrow (Tuesday, 23rd January). 

Local Girl Wins X-Factor

Chisby Town resident Emma Sheridan was last night crowned 2016 X-Factor winner in front of a television audience of millions. She beat off stiff competition from the other contestants to win a whopping 62% of the public vote, and received high praise from all of the judges, even the often grumpy Simon Cowell, who described her performance of Whitney Houston’s ‘I’m Every Woman’ as ‘spectacular’.

Shock

‘I’m just shell shocked at the moment,’ she told reporters, ‘but in a good way. I never thought anything like this could happen to me. Not in a million years.’ 

Pride

Sheridan, 17, also talked about her pride at having been born and raised in Chisby. ‘I’m just an ordinary girl from a small town who dreamt big. I think coming from humble beginnings is what made me.’

Friendship

‘I’m just so pleased for her,’ said her best friend Maisie Birch. ‘When we were growing up, she was always singing and saying how much she wanted to be a pop star like Taylor Swift.’ The two girls attended Cooper Manor Secondary School before Birch went to college and Sheridan enrolled at the Brit School in London.

Local girl

Many Chisbians took to the streets last night to celebrate their local hero’s success. ‘It’s great for the town,’ shopkeeper Len Barber said. ‘It’s put Chisby on the map. We’re all so proud of her.’

Plans

Sheridan will be returning home tomorrow afternoon to spend some time with her family, and there are rumours that she will be making a special appearance at the Crowndale Shopping Centre in the evening. One thing is sure: if she does turn up, it will be to a hero’s welcome.

Questions

1. Where is Emma Sheridan from?

2. What percentage of the public vote did she win?

3. What adjective is used to describe Simon Cowell?

4. Who originally performed the song ‘I’m Every Woman’?

5. Did Emma think something like this could ever happen to her?

6. How old is Emma?

7. What is the name of Emma’s best friend?

8. What is the name of the barber who has been interviewed for the article?

9. According to the article, what kind of a welcome will Emma get if she turns up at the Crowndale Shopping Centre?

Extension questions

10. How can we tell that this article was written for a local newspaper?

11. Shell shock is something soldiers sometimes suffer from in wars. When Emma uses it to describe how she feels, it is therefore an example of what literary technique?

12. Why do you think the article includes a paragraph where Emma talks about how proud she is to be from Chisby?

13. Overall, the tone of the article is quite friendly and informal. Copy down three parts from it that provide evidence of this.