The Super Bowl last Sunday was very exciting. The Green Bay Packers won over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the first quarter of the game, the Packers scored two touchdowns. It looked like the game might be a blow-out for the Packers. But then the Steelers scored with just seconds left in the half, putting the score at 21 to 10 at half-time. The Steelers kept the game close, but the Packers ended up winning 31 to 25.
The Packers have won 14 National Football League championships, and four Super Bowls.
Some of the drama on the field took place before the opening whistle even blew. Singer Christina Aguilera sang the U.S. national anthem for the more than 93 million people who watched, world-wide. And she blew it. Aguilera flubbed the words of what is likely the United States’ best-loved and most well-known song.
Instead of singing, “O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming.”
She sang: “What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming.”
Oops! Even most Canadians could tell you that those aren’t the words. The camera panned around the audience, to show the faces of confused players and audience members. They were wondering what was going on.
Aguilera said she lost her place in the song as she was singing. She said she was so caught up in the singing that she forgot where she was in the song.
Lots of people have been talking about this spectacular flop. Some people jokingly ask if Aguilera will have to give back one of her Grammys (major singing award in the U.S.).
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Writing/Discussion Prompt
If you were interviewing Christina Aguilera after the game and were allowed to ask her three questions, what would they be? If possible, have a friend or a parent pretend to be Christina Aguilera and see how they answer your questions.
Reading Prompt
Are there parts of today’s article that give you, the reader, an impression of how the writer feels about Christina Aguilera or what happened? Find these examples in the text. Explain how those sentences reveal the writer’s opinion.
Junior
Identify the point of view presented in texts, ask questions to identify missing or possible alternative points of view, and suggest some possible alternative perspectives (OME, Reading: 1.9)
Grammar Feature: Hyphen (compound words)
A writer uses a hyphen when joining a word describing an action (adverb) to an action word (verb) just before the thing being discussed (noun). Today’s article includes the example below.
Aguilera flubbed the words of what is likely the United States’ best-loved and most well-known song.
Write two sentences that have hyphenated compound words in them.
