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GENERAL ENGLISH · BREAKING NEWS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GAMESTOP
SHARES
SHOCKER!
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Expemo code:
15B2-55MD-B31E

1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Have you bought a video game in the last two years? Where? Why did you decide to buy it?
2. Have you bought any company shares in the last two years? Where? Why did you decide to buy
them?

2 Scanning for details

You’re going to read a text (page 3) about the basics of investing. Before you do, skim through the
text to find words and phrases in bold which mean the same as the following words.

1. backfire go wrong

2. have no fear don’t worry

the general public
3. ordinary people in a particular country

4. hedge your bet lower your risk of losing

like a knife through butter
5. something that cuts easily

6. the lot everything

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GAMESTOP SHARES SHOCKER!

Where would you find the following article?

A) In a university text book

B) In a magazine

C) In a serious newspaper

3 Understanding the text

Decide if the following statements are true or false.

1. The cost of GameStop’s shares has increased steadily lately. F

2. The price of shares varies according to how well people think the company will perform. T
3. In the example, WoodenWeaponzRus loses value because their weapons aren’t as good at cutting
butter. F
4. Shorting stocks requires someone to borrow stocks, sell them, and then buy them back at a lower
price. T
5. It is possible to lose money by shorting stocks. T
6. A hedge fund reduces risk by investing in one or two stocks. F

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UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
GAMESTOP SHARES SHOCKER!
Finance 101
Winning and losing in the world of finance
1.
With GameStop’s rocketing share price making
headlines recently, the world of finance has been
drawing more attention than normal from the general
public. But what if, like many, you have no idea what
they are talking about? You don’t know stocks from
socks? Have no fear, here at Finance 101 we are here
to help!
2.
Let’s start with shares! A share is a little piece of
a company that you can buy. How much it costs
depends on both how well the company is doing now,
and how well people think the company is going to
do in the future. As with all trade, the price of shares
depends on supply and demand. So if a lot of people
want them, the price goes up. If not, it goes down.
3.
Now imagine that we go back in history, and you
find a company that makes weapons out of wood:
spears, arrows, swords, the lot. Anyone who wants
a weapon, goes to them. You would invest in that
company because you see that business is good,
so you buy shares. Then, someone invents steel.
Now there’s a company down the road selling steel
weapons and showing people how their swords slice
through wooden swords like a knife through butter.
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4.
If I now borrow your shares from you and give you
a small amount of money to say thank you, I can sell
your shares. Let’s say you have 10 shares and I get 5
gold coins for each share, so I now have 50 gold coins.
5.
More and more people buy steel weapons and the
price of WoodenWeaponzRus shares falls to 2 gold
coins per share. Then I buy 10 shares back for the
price of 20 gold coins and give them back to you. I
have made 30 gold coins. Thank you very much! This
is called ’shorting stocks’.
6.
Where it can backfire, is if I sell my shares and make
50 gold coins in profit, and then the price goes up.
Now I’ve got to spend more money to buy them
back - and return the shares to you. This is what
happened with the hedge funds that were expecting
GameStop’s stock to go down.
7.
What is a hedge fund? Well, that’s a large amount
of money controlled by a manager that is invested in
multiple stocks. The idea is to make as much money
as possible and reduce the risk of losing money.
If you ’hedge your bets’, you lower the chance of
losing money. That is what hedge funds do. Until
GameStop!
Sources: The Conversation, BBC, Reuters, The Guardian
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GAMESTOP SHARES SHOCKER!

4 Before you listen - prediction

In the Breaking News podcast, you will hear the following numbers. What do you predict they will
be connected to?

1. $2.80
2. $340
3. 1700%
4. $19 billion
5. 2008

Now listen and check if your predictions were correct.

5 Synonyms

The newsreader uses the following words in the podcast. Underline the words which have a similar
meaning.

1. rapid

a. smooth b. speedy c. steady

2. financial

a. economic b. serious c. salary

3. soaring

a. quickly b. moving c. rocketing

4. gains

a. advantages b. changes c. strengths

5. goal

a. win b. aim c. score

6. revenge

a. beat b. hurt c. payback

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GAMESTOP SHARES SHOCKER!

6 Understanding the news

Answer the following questions with no more than three words from the podcast.

How many people were involved in the rise in share price?

1. THOUSANDS

How long has GameStop been having problems?

2. for many years

When did their stock hit the lowest share price?

3. last year

Who wanted to profit from GameStop’s loss?

4. hedgefound manager

What is Reddit?

5. online discussion site

Where did some of the small investors send their money?

6. charity

Who do some see this as a fight between?

rich and poor
7.

Where are the new battles going to be?

8. online treading markets

Now listen again and answer the questions.

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GAMESTOP SHARES SHOCKER!

7 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is your opinion of the small investors? Is this something you would be tempted to be involved
in? Why? Why not?
2. What is your opinion of the hedge fund managers? Do you think they deserved to lose money, or
do you see them as victims? Why?

8 Extension activity

Read the following extracts from news stories.

Wallstreetbets, the Reddit forum where users discussed buying GameStop shares, was
banned from its server due to accusations of hate speech and spreading misinformation.
This happened on the same day that Wall Street lost billions. The forum has moved to other
servers, while ....

...argued that Wall Street short sellers help bring attention to companies which are being
mismanaged and aren’t being honest. They can potentially save ordinary investors large
amounts in lost earnings, keeping the market more accessible for all ...

Does the information in the extracts change your opinion on the story? Why? Why not?

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