Bristol's Street Art (B1)

A – Before you startAnswer the questions with a partner.1. What do you know about the English city of Bristol?2. Have you ever been there?3. Who or what are the following? If you don't know, try to guess. Then look quickly through the main article and check your answers.

a. Harvey's Bristol Creamb. John Cabotc. Wallace & Gromitd. Massive Attack and Portisheade. Banksyf. Tesco

B – Read and answerRead the main article and answer the questions.1. What famous work of engineering can you see in Bristol?2. Why is Bristol's port historically important?3. What are Aardman Studios famous for besides the Wallace & Gromit series?4. What musical style originated in Bristol?5. What is the mystery surrounding Banksy? 6. How does the author describe Banksy's art?7. What protest is going on in Bristol's Stokes Croft area?8. What's free in Stokes Croft?

C – Listen and answer (Optional)N.B. This interview is graded as C1, so don’t be discouraged if you find it difficult. Try to understand the main points.Read these statements. Then listen to the interview with Andrew Council, without reading, and write T (true) or F (false).1. Andrew Council's graffiti are called "urban monsters".2. Andrew says Bristol's graffiti writers are usually people who are liked by the local community.3. He thinks the styles of the various artists are quite similar.4. Andrew's favourite graffiti depicts an elephant and a skull.5. Banksy's work "Mild Mild West" is a protest against police violence.

D – Listen, read and check your answersListen to the interview while reading the text.(If you did Exercise C, check your answers while reading.)

E – Learn it! Use it!Complete these sentences with words from the glossary. (You may have to adapt the expression in some way; e.g. change from plural to singular.)1. Our new computer is very fast. It's a _______ improvement on our old one.2. Decorating those porcelain vases requires a lot of _______.3. The London Eye, built for the Millenium celebrations, is now one of the city's _______ attractions.4. Our baby son never goes to bed without his favourite ______ ______.5. Getting selected for the Olympic rowing team was a great _______ for James.6. This ring isn't _______ much but I often wear it because it belonged to my grandmother.7. We got to the port ten minutes late and found that our ship had already _______.

F – Ready for PET? (Paper 1, Reading: Part 5)Choose the correct word in brackets for each space.Banksy is one of the 1_________ (much/more/most/very) famous living artists, 2_________ (yet/still/even/despite) some consider him to be more a vandal 3_________ (and/that/of/than) an artist. Banksy began his career 4_________ (with/like/so/as) a graffiti artist in Bristol between 1992 and 1994 and went 5_________ (on/ahead/away/forward) to become renowned for his 'guerrilla' art, 6_________ (that/which/who/what) appeared on walls in London, Brighton, and 7_________ (too/ever/even/either) on the West Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians. Now his works sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds and 8_________ (many/lot/dozens/majority) of celebrities, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera, 9_________ (are/have/want/will) become collectors of his pieces. However, 10_________ (which/that/what/this) generates the most publicity for Banksy is the fact that his true identity is a secret, known only to a few trusted friends.

G – Talk about it In pairs or groups. 1. Are there any graffiti on walls in your area?2. If so, do you find them attractive? Why (not)?3. Do you see writers as artists or vandals?4. Do you think urban artists are justified in decorating derelict buildings? Why (not)?5. What do you think of street artists like Banksy who sell their works for large sums of money?

Answers

A – Before you start3. a. A type of sweet sherry. b. The English name for the Venetian explorer, Giovanni Caboto.c. A series of animated cartoons. d. Pop groups of the 1980s. e. A famous graffiti artist. f. A supermarket chain.B – Read and answer1. The Clifton Suspension Bridge. 2. Because in 1497 Giovanni Caboto sailed from here to discover Newfoundland and because in the 18th century it was an important port in the slave trade. 3. They also made the hit movie Chicken Run. 4. Trip-hop. 5. Few people know his true identity. 6. He describes it as irreverent and ironic. 7. A protest against a big Tesco supermarket. 8. You can get free items in the Free Shop, and asylum seekers can see films for free. D – Listen, read and check your answers1. F – They're called urban dinosaurs. 2. T 3. F – He says they're very diverse. 4. F – It depicts a crocodile and a skull. 5. T E – Learn it! Use it! 1. huge 2. skill 3. major 4. teddy bear 5. achievement 6. worth 7. sailed F – Ready for PET?1. most 2. yet 3. than 4. as 5. on 6. which 7. even 8. dozens 9. have 10. what