PENGUIN READERS Teacher’s notes LEVEL 1 Teacher Support Programme Jennifer Lopez Rod Smith restaurant businesses, and more importantly, she is a very good mother. Background and themes Making dreams come true: Jennifer Lopez shows that it is possible for dreams to come true—even if they seem difficult, or even impossible. Lopez dreams about becoming a singer, dancer and actress, and in the end, by following her dreams, she succeeds in making them a reality. Discussion activities Pages 1–7 Before reading 1 Discuss: Ask students to look at the picture on the Summary cover of the book. Who is the woman in the picture? Pages 1–7: The book starts in the Bronx, New York, in Do you like the way she looks? Why/why not? Does the 1970, shortly after Jennifer’s Lopez’s birth. Four years later, picture on the cover of the book make you want to read she is a beautiful and interesting young girl who loves to the book? Why/why not? perform in front of her family. One year later, she starts 2 Research: Put students into pairs and get them to look up the word in a dictionary or on the Internet. going to a school of theater and dance, and soon she can dream Make the exercise into a competition—the first pair sing, act and dance very well. By 1991, Lopez’s hard work of students to find the definition wins. They should pays off, and she gets a job as a dancer on the TV show, stand up and read the definition out loud to the rest In Living Color. of the class. Finally, each student should describe a Lopez changes her focus to acting in 1993, getting roles dream that he or she has. on several TV shows. By 1995, she has acted in several After reading successful movies, including Money Train and Jack. In 3 Artwork: Get students to draw a picture of one of the 1997, Lopez marries her Cuban boyfriend, Ojani Noa, events in Lopez’s life described in pages 1 to 7. When and in the same year, she is in four different movies— they have finished, they should stand at the front of Blood and Wine, Anaconda, U-Turn and Selena. In 1998, the classroom and describe their picture to the rest of she is in Out of Sight, and her voice is in the animated the class, and the class should guess which event the picture illustrates. movie, Antz. However, her marriage isn’t as successful as her career, and she and her husband divorce. Pages 8–14 Pages 8–14: In 1999, Lopez has a new boyfriend—a Before reading famous singer named Sean Coombs. He has problems 4 Research: Ask students to bring information about Jennifer Lopez to class. Put a large piece of paper with the police, so, in 2000, Lopez stops seeing him. on the wall and then get students to attach their A year later, she marries a dancer named Cris Judd, but information to the piece of paper to make a wall the marriage only lasts a year. In 2003, she stars in a display. movie called Gigli with Ben Affleck, who becomes her boyfriend. However, the movie isn’t popular, and soon After reading her relationship with Affleck ends. After being in several 5 Pair work: Get students to work in pairs and discuss the following questions: Do you like Jennifer Lopez’s unsuccessful movies, Lopez falls in love with the singer, movies? Why/why not? Do you like her music? Why/why Marc Anthony. They get married in 2004. not? The book shifts focus to Lopez’s singing career, moving 6 Discuss: Write the phrase role model on the board back to 1999, when she makes her first CD, On the 6. Her and teach students what it means (a person children success continues in 2001, when her next CD is released, can look up to) Do you think Jennifer Lopez is a good role model? Write this question on the board and get J-Lo, which reaches number one in the United States. students to discuss it in small groups. Her next several CDs—J to tha L-O! The Remixes, This Is Me, Rebirth, Como Ama Una Mujer and Brave—are also Vocabulary activities very successful. She is also successful in the clothes and For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to www.penguinreaders.com. c Pearson Education Limited 2008 Jennifer Lopez - Teacher’s notes 1 of 1.