My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry

Level 3: Advanced

1
  Warmer

a. These artists are among the 30 bestselling female singers of all time, but who is the most
successful of the six and the least successful? Put them in order from 1 to 6.

Adele

Ariana Grande

Pink

Rihanna

Shakira

Taylor Swift

2
  Key words

a. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

bedridden catheter diehard eagerly elated

etched flashback inadvertently overwhelmed revel in
seminal solace stratospheric wing woman

1. If you do something , you do not do it deliberately, and you do not

realise what you are doing.

2. A(n) fan is an extremely loyal fan.

3. A(n) (or man) is someone who helps or protects someone close

to them.

4. If you something, you enjoy it very much.

5. A(n) is a very clear memory of something that happened in

the past.

6. success is at a very high level indeed.

7. A(n) book or album is new and different and influences other

literature or music that comes after it.

8. If you are , you are unable to get out of bed because you are too
weak or ill.
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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced
9. A(n) is a thin tube put into your body to remove a liquid such
as urine.

10. If you are , your emotions are affected in a very powerful way.

11. If you are , you are extremely happy and excited.

12. If something is on your mind or in your memory, you can remember

it very clearly.

13. is something that makes you feel better when you are sad or upset.

14. If you do something , you do it with great enthusiasm.

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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced
Our shared memories – the
concerts, favourite songs,
matching outfits – will last
forever
Bridget Robertson
19 February, 2024
1 It is 10.51 am on Sunday morning and I have
just a few minutes to try to secure Taylor Swift
Eras tickets for her last show in Melbourne.
I am watching the clock count down on the
Ticketek Marketplace website, refreshing the
browser every few seconds. Next to the last
date for the Melbourne leg of the tour, two
greyed-out words state “none available”.
2 Ticketek allows 10 minutes before the website
times out. I have discovered it is more like 15
minutes and, in that time, you are desperately
hoping someone out there is selling tickets at
the precise moment you want to buy them. It is
a narrow window and, so far, I am out of luck.
3 Taylor Swift came into my life inadvertently
through my daughter. She was a diehard
Swiftie from the age of 10. As the only super
fan in her friendship group, I became her
wingwoman and had no choice but to get on
board. Taylor became not just a constant in
both of our lives but the thing that brought us
together during my daughter’s teenage years.
There was the 1989 concert with matching
outfits and the Reputation tour, where we
somehow managed to get seats seven rows
from the front. I will never forget the moment
when Taylor liked one of my daughter’s
Instagram posts. The whole family revelled in
that achievement for days.
4 This week, as I have tried to get tickets, I
have had many flashbacks to those Swiftie
years. The obsession really took hold when
the album 1989 was released. My daughter
was 11 and just about to start high school.
As a music-loving family, 1989 was an album
we all enjoyed listening to; even my indie-
music-loving partner loved it. 1989 was a
groundbreaking record for Taylor, launching
her into a stratospheric pop career. It was also
a seminal album for me and my family beyond
the music.
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5 Not long after the release of 1989, I was
diagnosed with cervical cancer and had to
undergo major surgery. After spending two
days in the ICU and being bedridden for
another three, I was instructed to get up and
get moving. I vividly remember wheeling my
catheter bag and vital signs monitor down the
hallway of the hospital, listening to Taylor’s ‘Out
of the Woods’ on repeat. The line “20 stitches in
a hospital room” resonated on a deep level.
6 At the time, I was in the “in-between” stage
that a lot of cancer patients find themselves
in, where you don’t know what lies ahead.
Thankfully, the surgery went well, and the
margins were good. A few weeks after the
surgery, I was told that I was one of the lucky
ones. Three months later, I was sitting on
a white plastic chair at AAMI Park, seeing
Taylor in concert at the 1989 tour. I distinctly
remember feeling overwhelmed with gratitude
at how fortunate I was to be doing this with
my daughter. We were both elated and it is an
evening that is forever etched in my memory.
7 My daughter is now 20. She moved out of
home six months ago and is working hard
to save money to travel. She is a clever and
confident young woman who knows herself
and is also incredibly kind and thoughtful. As
a parent, I would love to take the credit but
I know that it was not all me. I am certain that
I have Taylor Swift to thank for being a great
role model and a solace to her when she
needed it most.
8 Over the last couple of years, my daughter’s
Swift obsession seemed to have lessened as
she became an adult. I asked her recently if
I could get tickets to the Eras concert; would
she want to go? Her response was, “Of course.
Once a Swiftie, always a Swiftie!”
9 It is now 20 minutes after 12pm on Sunday
afternoon. The concert starts in six hours, and I
have missed the 12pm deadline for resale. But
I am not sorry. This week, as I have tried to get
tickets, I have had many flashbacks to those
Swiftie years. When the concert starts, I will be
reminiscing about all those times spent with my
daughter, making outfits and decorating signs,
listening to Taylor in the car on the way home
from school, and eagerly waiting for new songs
to drop. I will be thinking about all the young
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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced
girls attending the concert with their parents.
Many of them will be seeing Taylor for the first
time, and I will be quietly ecstatic that they are
making memories that will last a lifetime.
© Guardian News and Media 2024
First published in The Guardian, 19/02/2024

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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced

3
  Comprehension check

a. Answer the questions using information from the article.

1. Why did the author refresh the browser every few seconds?

2. How long do you have before the ticket sales website times out?

3. What brought the author and her daughter together during the latter’s teenage years?

4. What ‘achievement’ did the whole family enjoy for many days?

5. Why was 1989 a seminal album for the author and her family ‘beyond the music’?

6. In what sense was the author ‘one of the lucky ones’?

7. What is etched in the author’s memory?

8. Why would the author like to thank Taylor Swift?

9. Why has her daughter’s obsession with Taylor Swift lessened?

10. What will the author be doing when the concert starts?

4
  Key language

a. Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the noun phrases in the right-hand column to
make expressions from the text.

A B

1. have the credit for something

2. refresh a deadline

3. launch flashbacks

4. undergo a web browser

5. take surgery

6. miss his/her career

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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced

b. Use some of the phrases from task A to complete the sentences. You may have to change the
form of the words.

1. This album really as a solo artist.

2. When I was younger, I had to for a broken shoulder.

3. My boss for the new product idea the whole team had
developed together.

4. She couldn’t participate in the competition because she to submit

her application.

5
  Discussion

a. Discuss these statements.

• “Once a Swiftie, always a Swiftie!”

• “You often need luck rather than talent to become a superstar.”

• “Songs remind us of people and places.”

6
  In your own words

a. Use an internet search engine to find information about the most successful singers (male or
female) or groups of 2023 in terms of worldwide sales or streams. Find out when they released
their first album, where they come from, and how many albums they have sold to date.

b. Report your findings to the class.

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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
Key:
Article summary: The article describes 1. inadvertently 8. bedridden
how trying to buy tickets for a pop concert 2. diehard 9. catheter
reminded the author of the relationship a 3. wing woman 10. overwhelmed
particular musical artist created between her 4. revel in 11. elated
and her (now grown-up) daughter. 5. flashback 12. etched
6. stratospheric 13. solace
Time: 45–60 minutes 7. seminal 14. eagerly

Skills: Reading, Speaking 3. Comprehension check

Language focus: Vocabulary
a. The answers given are only suggested answers
and students may correctly answer the questions in
Materials needed: One copy of the
different ways, e.g., in item 3 they may say ‘listening
worksheet per student
to Taylor Swift’ or ‘going to Taylor Swift concerts’ or
just ‘Taylor Swift’.

1. Warmer Key:
1. because she was trying to buy tickets and was
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the topic waiting for someone to sell some
of music and, as the artist featured in the article is 2. ten minutes
Taylor Swift, to encourage learners to think about 3. the music of Taylor Swift
contemporary female artists and where Taylor Swift 4. Taylor Swift liked one of her daughter’s
is located in the list of bestselling female singers of Instagram posts.
all time. Madonna is number one. 5. because it came out shortly before the author’s
cancer diagnosis
Key: 6. Her surgery was a success.
1. Rihanna (2nd in the list) 7. the evening with her daughter at the Taylor Swift
2. Taylor Swift (6th in the list) concert (after her successful surgery)
3. Adele (9th in the list) 8. for being a great role model (and for providing
4. Pink (15th in the list) comfort to her daughter when she most
5. Shakira (27th in the list) needed it)
6. Ariana Grande (30th in the list) 9. because she has become an adult
10. thinking about the times she spent with
2. Key words her daughter

a. Ask students to do the exercise individually and 4. Key language

compare their answers in pairs or small groups. Note
that the term wing woman used in the text is normally a. Students could be asked to do this exercise
used in American English but is used here by the individually and then compare their answers in pairs.
Australian author. Revel in is a phrasal verb and The verb ‘have’ can also be used with ‘surgery’
revel used without ‘in’ is literary and old-fashioned. but the solution given is the only one that uses all
The word solace is often used in the phrase ‘find six verbs.
solace’, as in “She finds solace in reading.”
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 My daughter and I missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift – but I’m not sorry
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes

Key:
1. have flashbacks
2. refresh a web browser
3. launch his/her career
4. undergo surgery
5. take the credit for something
6. miss a deadline

b. Students complete the sentences using phrases

from task A. Notice that in missed the deadline the
article ‘a’ is replaced with ‘the’, which is a more
common collocation.

Key:
1. launched his/her career
2. undergo surgery
3. took the credit
4. missed the deadline

5. Discussion

a. Allow students time to note down their ideas about

each statement and encourage them to say why they
agree or disagree with each one.

6. In your own words

a. The task could also be done as a homework task

and students could then present their reports to
the class.

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