Elon Musk recently took responsibility for an unpaid bakery bill after his company, Tesla, cancelled an order at the last minute. Giving Pies bakery in San Jose lost $2,000 when Tesla backed out. The bakery expressed their frustration on social media, and Musk offered to pay the bill. He even tried to place a new order, but the bakery couldn’t accept it because they had too many customers. The bakery owner thanked Musk and the community for their support.

Musk found out about the situation from a local news story and quickly responded on social media, saying he would fix the problem. He stressed how important it is for people to trust that Tesla will do its best. The bakery owner explained that they couldn’t fulfill Tesla’s new order because they ran out of pies due to the increased business. The mayor of San Jose also supported the bakery and praised the community for coming together to help a local business owner.

The incident got a lot of attention on social media, with many people praising Musk for taking responsibility and supporting a small business. The bakery became really popular, and even the mayor visited and saw long lines of customers. He encouraged others to support the bakery and thanked Musk for paying for the pies. Overall, this incident showed how social media can help resolve problems and how important it is to support local businesses.

Original news source: Elon Musk eats humble pie over unpaid bakery bill (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– News Summary
Instructions: Divide the class into small groups. Each group will read the article and create a summary of the key points. They should focus on the main events, the involvement of Elon Musk, and the impact on the bakery and the community. After a few minutes, each group will present their summary to the class.

– Opinion Poll
Instructions: Ask the class to think about whether they believe Elon Musk should have taken responsibility for the unpaid bakery bill. Have them discuss in pairs or small groups and gather their opinions. Then, conduct an opinion poll by asking students to raise their hands if they agree or disagree with Musk’s actions. Encourage students to explain their reasoning.

– Vocabulary Pictionary
Instructions: Write down key vocabulary words from the article on separate pieces of paper and put them in a bag or hat. Divide the class into small teams. One student from each team will pick a word from the bag and draw it on the board without using any letters or numbers. The other team members will try to guess the word. The team that correctly guesses the most words wins.

– Pros and Cons
Instructions: Divide the class into two groups: one group will discuss the pros of Elon Musk’s actions, while the other group will discuss the cons. Give each group a few minutes to brainstorm and write down their arguments. Then, have a debate where each group presents their points. Encourage students to use examples from the article to support their arguments.

– Think-Pair-Share
Instructions: Ask the class to think about a time when they took responsibility for something or witnessed someone else taking responsibility. Give them a few minutes to reflect, then have them pair up and share their stories. Afterward, some pairs can share their stories with the entire class.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. What happened to the bakery when Tesla cancelled their order?
2. How did Elon Musk find out about the unpaid bill?
3. Why couldn’t the bakery accept Tesla’s new order?
4. How did Elon Musk respond to the situation on social media?
5. Why did the mayor of San Jose support the bakery?
6. How did the incident gain attention on social media?
7. What did the mayor do after the incident?
8. What did this incident show about the importance of social media and supporting local businesses?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

Elon Musk recently took responsibility for an unpaid bakery bill after his company, Tesla, cancelled an order at the last (1)______. (2)______ Pies bakery in San Jose lost $2,000 when Tesla backed out. The bakery (3)______ their (4)______ on social media, and Musk offered to pay the bill. He even tried to place a new order, but the bakery couldn’t accept it because they had too many (5)______. The (6)______ owner thanked Musk and the community for their support.

Musk found out about the (7)______ from a local news story and quickly responded on (8)______ media, saying he would fix the problem. He stressed how important it is for people to trust that Tesla will do its best. The bakery owner explained that they couldn’t (9)______ Tesla’s new order because they ran out of pies due to the (10)______ business. The (11)______ of San Jose also supported the bakery and praised the community for coming together to help a local business owner.

The incident got a lot of attention on social media, with many (12)______ praising Musk for taking responsibility and supporting a (13)______ business. The bakery became really popular, and even the mayor visited and saw long lines of customers. He encouraged others to support the bakery and thanked Musk for (14)______ for the pies. Overall, this (15)______ showed how social media can help resolve (16)______ and how important it is to support local businesses.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

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

1. What do you think about Elon Musk taking responsibility for the unpaid bakery bill?
2. How would you feel if a company cancelled an order from your business at the last minute?
3. Do you think it’s important for businesses to support each other? Why or why not?
4. Have you ever had a situation where social media helped resolve a problem? Can you share your experience?
5. What do you think about the bakery owner expressing their frustration on social media?
6. How do you think the bakery owner felt when they ran out of pies due to increased business?
7. Do you think it’s important for people to trust that a company will do its best? Why or why not?
8. What would you do if you were in the bakery owner’s position and Elon Musk offered to pay the bill?
9. Have you ever had a situation where a small action had a big impact? Can you share your experience?
10. How do you think the bakery owner felt when the mayor visited and saw long lines of customers?
11. Do you think social media has more positive or negative effects on businesses? Why or why not?
12. What is the importance of supporting local businesses in your community?
13. How do you think the bakery owner felt when the community came together to support them?
14. Do you like it when companies or famous people take responsibility for their mistakes? Why or why not?
15. What is the role of social media in today’s society?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. responsibility
2. cancelled
3. frustration
4. social media
5. support
6. community
7. trust
8. fulfill
9. increased
10. praised
11. attention
12. responsibility
13. popular
14. encouraged
15. resolve

Meanings:
(A) Feeling upset because things didn’t go as planned
(B) Again taking charge of something and being accountable for it
(C) Motivated or advised someone to do something
(D) To meet or satisfy a need, request, or expectation
(E) A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common
(F) Spoken highly of; complimented for good work or actions
(G) Liked by many people; having a lot of fans or admirers
(H) Websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking
(I) To back someone up or stand by them in their actions or decisions
(J) Belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something
(K) Called off or terminated before it could happen
(L) Being noticed or receiving a lot of interest from people
(M) To find a solution to a problem or dispute
(N) Taking charge of something and being accountable for it
(O) Made larger or greater in amount or number
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Why did Giving Pies bakery lose $2,000?
(a) The bakery ran out of pies
(b) Tesla cancelled an order at the last minute
(c) The bakery had too many customers
(d) Musk refused to pay the bill

2. How did Elon Musk find out about the unpaid bakery bill?
(a) From a social media post
(b) From a local news story
(c) From the bakery owner
(d) From the mayor of San Jose

3. Why couldn’t the bakery accept Musk’s new order?
(a) They ran out of pies
(b) They didn’t want to do business with Tesla anymore
(c) Musk didn’t offer to pay for it
(d) They had too many customers

4. How did Musk respond to the situation?
(a) He criticized the bakery on social media
(b) He ignored the bakery’s frustration
(c) He blamed the mayor for the issue
(d) He offered to pay the bakery bill

5. What did the mayor of San Jose do to support the bakery?
(a) He paid for the bakery bill
(b) He criticized Musk for his actions
(c) He praised the community for helping the bakery
(d) He encouraged people to stop supporting the bakery

6. Why did the incident get a lot of attention on social media?
(a) Many people praised Musk for taking responsibility
(b) The bakery became really popular
(c) The mayor visited the bakery
(d) The bakery ran out of pies

7. What did the bakery owner thank Musk and the community for?
(a) Their criticism
(b) Their lack of trust in Tesla
(c) Their support
(d) Their refusal to help the bakery

8. What did this incident show about social media and local businesses?
(a) Social media can help resolve problems
(b) Local businesses need more support
(c) Local businesses should avoid social media
(d) Social media is not important for local businesses

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. Musk refused to pay the bill and didn’t attempt to place a new order.
2. The occurrence went unnoticed on social media and didn’t help the bakery gain popularity.
3. The deputy of San Jose endorsed the bakery and commended the community.
4. Musk found out about the situation from a local news story.
5. The bakery expressed their frustration on social media.
6. The bakery gained $2,000 when Tesla backed out of the order.
7. The bakery couldn’t accept the new order because they had too many customers.
8. Elon Musk paid for a bakery bill after his company cancelled an order.
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. Why did Giving Pies bakery lose $2,000?
2. How did Elon Musk find out about the bakery’s situation?
3. Why couldn’t the bakery accept Elon Musk’s new order?
4. What did the mayor of San Jose do to support the bakery?
5. What did this incident show about the power of social media?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. What happened to the bakery when Tesla cancelled their order?
The bakery lost $2,000 when Tesla cancelled their order at the last minute.

2. How did Elon Musk find out about the unpaid bill?
Elon Musk found out about the unpaid bill from a local news story.

3. Why couldn’t the bakery accept Tesla’s new order?
The bakery couldn’t accept Tesla’s new order because they had too many customers and ran out of pies.

4. How did Elon Musk respond to the situation on social media?
Elon Musk responded to the situation on social media by offering to pay the bakery bill and expressing the importance of trust in Tesla.

5. Why did the mayor of San Jose support the bakery?
The mayor of San Jose supported the bakery because he praised the community for coming together to help a local business owner.

6. How did the incident gain attention on social media?
The incident gained attention on social media because the bakery expressed their frustration on social media, and people praised Elon Musk for taking responsibility.

7. What did the mayor do after the incident?
After the incident, the mayor visited the bakery and encouraged others to support it.

8. What did this incident show about the importance of social media and supporting local businesses?
This incident showed how social media can help resolve problems and how important it is to support local businesses.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) minute
(2) Giving
(3) expressed
(4) frustration
(5) customers
(6) bakery
(7) situation
(8) social
(9) fulfill
(10) increased
(11) mayor
(12) people
(13) small
(14) paying
(15) incident
(16) problems
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. responsibility
Answer: (N) Taking charge of something and being accountable for it

2. cancelled
Answer: (K) Called off or terminated before it could happen

3. frustration
Answer: (A) Feeling upset because things didn’t go as planned

4. social media
Answer: (H) Websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

5. support
Answer: (I) To back someone up or stand by them in their actions or decisions

6. community
Answer: (E) A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common

7. trust
Answer: (J) Belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something

8. fulfill
Answer: (D) To meet or satisfy a need, request, or expectation

9. increased
Answer: (O) Made larger or greater in amount or number

10. praised
Answer: (F) Spoken highly of; complimented for good work or actions

11. attention
Answer: (L) Being noticed or receiving a lot of interest from people

12. responsibility
Answer: (B) Again taking charge of something and being accountable for it

13. popular
Answer: (G) Liked by many people; having a lot of fans or admirers

14. encouraged
Answer: (C) Motivated or advised someone to do something

15. resolve
Answer: (M) To find a solution to a problem or dispute
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. Why did Giving Pies bakery lose $2,000?
Answer: (b) Tesla cancelled an order at the last minute

2. How did Elon Musk find out about the unpaid bakery bill?
Answer: (b) From a local news story

3. Why couldn’t the bakery accept Musk’s new order?
Answer: (d) They had too many customers

4. How did Musk respond to the situation?
Answer: (d) He offered to pay the bakery bill

5. What did the mayor of San Jose do to support the bakery?
Answer: (c) He praised the community for helping the bakery

6. Why did the incident get a lot of attention on social media?
Answer: (a) Many people praised Musk for taking responsibility

7. What did the bakery owner thank Musk and the community for?
Answer: (c) Their support

8. What did this incident show about social media and local businesses?
Answer: (a) Social media can help resolve problems
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. Musk refused to pay the bill and didn’t attempt to place a new order. (Answer: False)
2. The occurrence went unnoticed on social media and didn’t help the bakery gain popularity. (Answer: False)
3. The deputy of San Jose endorsed the bakery and commended the community. (Answer: False)
4. Musk found out about the situation from a local news story. (Answer: True)
5. The bakery expressed their frustration on social media. (Answer: True)
6. The bakery gained $2,000 when Tesla backed out of the order. (Answer: False)
7. The bakery couldn’t accept the new order because they had too many customers. (Answer: True)
8. Elon Musk paid for a bakery bill after his company cancelled an order. (Answer: True)
Go back to questions ⇧