Some people threw soup at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris. The Mona Lisa is a very famous painting made by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century. It is kept safe behind bulletproof glass, so it wasn’t damaged. The people who threw the soup said they want everyone to have good and healthy food to eat, and they don’t like how food is made and sold now.

This soup-throwing event shows that some people are very worried about having enough good food for everyone. They chose the Mona Lisa because many people know about it, and they wanted to show how serious they are. They think we need to change how we grow and share food so everyone can have enough. Throwing soup was their way of asking for these changes.

Even though throwing soup at a painting is a surprising way to show you care about something, it makes people think. By choosing the Mona Lisa, they hoped more people would listen to their worries about food. This event makes us think about how food, art, and caring for others are connected. It starts conversations on how to make sure everyone has enough good food in the future.

Original news source: Watch: Soup thrown at Mona Lisa painting (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– News Summary
Instructions: After reading the article, students will work in pairs to write a summary of the news. They should include the main points of the article and try to keep it concise.

– Opinion Poll
Instructions: Divide the class into small groups and have them discuss their opinions on the soup-throwing event. Then, each group will create a poll with three questions related to the topic. They will then go around the class and ask other groups to answer their poll questions. Finally, they will share the results with the rest of the class.

– Vocabulary Pictionary
Instructions: Write down key vocabulary words from the article on separate pieces of paper and put them in a hat. Divide the class into pairs. One student from each pair will pick a word from the hat and draw a picture to represent it. Their partner will then try to guess the word based on the drawing.

– Keyword Hangman
Instructions: Choose a keyword from the article and write the number of letters on the board as blanks. Students will take turns guessing letters to try and fill in the blanks. If they guess a correct letter, it will be filled in. If they guess a wrong letter, a part of the hangman will be drawn. The objective is for students to guess the keyword before the hangman is complete.

– Pros and Cons
Instructions: Divide the class into two groups. One group will discuss the pros of throwing soup at the Mona Lisa, while the other group will discuss the cons. Give students some time to prepare their arguments. Then, have a debate in which each group presents their points. Encourage students to use persuasive language and provide evidence to support their arguments.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. What did some people throw at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris?
2. Who made the Mona Lisa painting?
3. Why is the Mona Lisa kept behind bulletproof glass?
4. Why did the people throw soup at the Mona Lisa?
5. What do the people who threw the soup want to change?
6. Why did they choose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
7. What does this event make people think about?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

Some people threw soup at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris. The Mona Lisa is a very famous painting (1)______ by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th (2)______. It is (3)______ safe behind bulletproof glass, so it wasn’t damaged. The people who threw the soup said they want everyone to have good and healthy food to eat, and they don’t like how food is made and sold now.

This soup-throwing event shows that some people are very worried about (4)______ enough (5)______ food for everyone. They chose the (6)______ Lisa because many people know about it, and they wanted to show how serious they are. They think we need to change how we grow and (7)______ food so everyone can have enough. (8)______ soup was their way of asking for these changes.

Even though (9)______ soup at a painting is a surprising way to show you care about something, it makes people think. By choosing the Mona Lisa, they (10)______ more people would listen to their worries about (11)______. This event makes us think about how food, art, and caring for others are connected. It (12)______ conversations on how to make sure everyone has enough good food in the future.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.

1. What is the Mona Lisa painting?
2. How would you feel if someone threw soup at a famous painting?
3. Do you like the idea of everyone having good and healthy food to eat? Why or why not?
4. Do you think it’s important to change how we grow and share food? Why or why not?
5. Why do you think the people chose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
6. How do you think throwing soup at a painting can make people think?
7. What do you think about the connection between food, art, and caring for others?
8. How can events like this start conversations about having enough good food?
9. Have you ever seen a famous painting? How did it make you feel?
10. Do you think throwing soup is a good way to ask for changes? Why or why not?
11. What other ways could people show their worries about having enough good food?
12. How can we make sure everyone has enough good food in the future?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. famous
2. century
3. bulletproof
4. damaged
5. healthy
6. serious
7. grow
8. share
9. surprising
10. caring
11. connected
12. conversations

Meanings:
(A) Made to stop bullets from going through
(B) Joined together or related
(C) Good for your body
(D) A period of 100 years
(E) To make plants or food come up from the ground
(F) Known by many people
(G) Very important and not joking
(H) To give some of what you have to others
(I) Talks between people
(J) Hurt or broken
(K) Not expected, makes you say “wow”
(L) Showing kindness and concern for others
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. When was the Mona Lisa painting made?
(a) 18th century
(b) 20th century
(c) 21st century
(d) 16th century

2. Why is the Mona Lisa kept behind bulletproof glass?
(a) To keep it safe
(b) To make it shine
(c) To hide it
(d) To sell it

3. Why did the people throw soup at the Mona Lisa?
(a) To show they want everyone to have good food
(b) To damage the painting
(c) To make it more famous
(d) To make people laugh

4. Why did the people choose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
(a) Because it is small
(b) Because it is cheap
(c) Because it is new
(d) Because it is well-known

5. What did the people hope to achieve by throwing soup at the Mona Lisa?
(a) Make people buy more soup
(b) Make people think about food issues
(c) Make people forget about food
(d) Make people angry

6. What does the article say about throwing soup at a painting?
(a) It is a common way to show you care about something
(b) It is a surprising way to show you care about something
(c) It is a funny way to show you care about something
(d) It is a quiet way to show you care about something

7. What did the people hope more people would do after the soup-throwing event?
(a) Ignore them
(b) Buy more soup
(c) Listen to their worries about food
(d) Watch more paintings

8. What does the article say the event makes people think about?
(a) How to throw soup properly
(b) How to clean a painting
(c) How food, art, and caring for others are connected
(d) How to cook soup

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. Some people poured soup over the Mona Lisa painting in Paris.
2. The painting is protected by bulletproof glass, so it wasn’t damaged.
3. The soup-throwing incident halted conversations about ensuring everyone has enough good food in the future.
4. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century.
5. They are content with how food is currently grown and sold.
6. The soup-throwing was unrelated to asking for changes in the food system.
7. The event was meant to make people think about food and caring for others.
8. The soup-throwers want everyone to have good and healthy food to eat.
Go to answers ⇩

📝 Write a Summary:

Write a summary of this news article in two sentences.

Writing Questions:

Answer the following questions. Write as much as you can for each answer.

1. What did some people throw at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris?
2. Why did the people throw soup at the painting?
3. Was the Mona Lisa painting damaged by the soup?
4. Why did the people choose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
5. What do the people want to change about how we grow and share food?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. What did some people throw at the Mona Lisa painting in Paris?
They threw soup at the Mona Lisa painting.

2. Who made the Mona Lisa painting?
Leonardo da Vinci made the Mona Lisa painting.

3. Why is the Mona Lisa kept behind bulletproof glass?
The Mona Lisa is kept behind bulletproof glass to keep it safe and protected from any damage.

4. Why did the people throw soup at the Mona Lisa?
The people threw soup at the Mona Lisa to show that they want everyone to have good and healthy food to eat and to express their concerns about how food is made and sold now.

5. What do the people who threw the soup want to change?
The people who threw the soup want to change how we grow and share food so that everyone can have enough.

6. Why did they choose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
They chose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at because it is a very famous painting that many people know about, and they wanted to grab people’s attention and make them think about their concerns about food.

7. What does this event make people think about?
This event makes people think about the connection between food, art, and caring for others, and it starts conversations about how to ensure that everyone has enough good food in the future.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) made
(2) century
(3) kept
(4) having
(5) good
(6) Mona
(7) share
(8) Throwing
(9) throwing
(10) hoped
(11) food
(12) starts
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. famous
Answer: (F) Known by many people

2. century
Answer: (D) A period of 100 years

3. bulletproof
Answer: (A) Made to stop bullets from going through

4. damaged
Answer: (J) Hurt or broken

5. healthy
Answer: (C) Good for your body

6. serious
Answer: (G) Very important and not joking

7. grow
Answer: (E) To make plants or food come up from the ground

8. share
Answer: (H) To give some of what you have to others

9. surprising
Answer: (K) Not expected, makes you say “wow”

10. caring
Answer: (L) Showing kindness and concern for others

11. connected
Answer: (B) Joined together or related

12. conversations
Answer: (I) Talks between people
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. When was the Mona Lisa painting made?
Answer: (d) 16th century

2. Why is the Mona Lisa kept behind bulletproof glass?
Answer: (a) To keep it safe

3. Why did the people throw soup at the Mona Lisa?
Answer: (a) To show they want everyone to have good food

4. Why did the people choose the Mona Lisa to throw soup at?
Answer: (d) Because it is well-known

5. What did the people hope to achieve by throwing soup at the Mona Lisa?
Answer: (b) Make people think about food issues

6. What does the article say about throwing soup at a painting?
Answer: (b) It is a surprising way to show you care about something

7. What did the people hope more people would do after the soup-throwing event?
Answer: (c) Listen to their worries about food

8. What does the article say the event makes people think about?
Answer: (c) How food, art, and caring for others are connected
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. Some people poured soup over the Mona Lisa painting in Paris. (Answer: False)
2. The painting is protected by bulletproof glass, so it wasn’t damaged. (Answer: True)
3. The soup-throwing incident halted conversations about ensuring everyone has enough good food in the future. (Answer: False)
4. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century. (Answer: True)
5. They are content with how food is currently grown and sold. (Answer: False)
6. The soup-throwing was unrelated to asking for changes in the food system. (Answer: False)
7. The event was meant to make people think about food and caring for others. (Answer: True)
8. The soup-throwers want everyone to have good and healthy food to eat. (Answer: True)
Go back to questions ⇧