News by Levels · Level 3 · For teachers
Teacher guide & answers
In this lesson: Distinguish a real award from the fictional events in the winning novel.
Harrison’s Booker Win Marks an Age Record
How to use these two pages
Give learners the student worksheet. It contains the story and questions, without the answers. Keep this guide for yourself. Use it to lead the activity and explain the answers afterwards.
Student worksheetA simple 15–20-minute lesson
- Before reading · 2 minutes
Show the title. Ask: “What do you think this story is about?”
- Read and answer · 8–10 minutes
Give out the student worksheet. Learners read for the main idea, then reread to answer the 2 questions. They can compare answers with a partner.
- Discuss and write · 5–8 minutes
Check the answers below together. Ask learners to point to the clue in the story, then finish with the open question.
Adjust the support: Let learners use word help or Level 1 if needed. For a challenge, compare the wording in another level. This activity is not a proficiency test.
Answers to the 2 questions
The question numbers match the student worksheet. Each answer includes a reason and the clue learners can find in the story.
Which event is presented as real?
Correct answer: C — Harrison receiving the award
Why: The text reports the award, then explicitly identifies the imagined disaster as fiction.
Clue in the story: His dystopian novel The End of Everything received the £50,000 award. Its imagined disaster is fiction, rather than a report of a real event.
What does the 60-year figure describe?
Correct answer: B — His writing career
Why: The opening paragraph attaches 60 years to his writing career.
Clue in the story: The Booker Prizes named M. John Harrison its 2026 winner on November 9. Aged 81, the British author became the prize’s oldest winner after a writing career spanning 60 years.
The open question: accept different answers
Ask learners: Write a brief account that keeps the award and the novel’s events separate.
One possible answer: Harrison won the Booker Prize at 81 after a 60-year writing career. The award is real, while the disaster in The End of Everything belongs to its fictional world.
This is an example, not the only correct answer. Look for a relevant idea, a reason and the learner’s own words. Learners can answer aloud or write one or two sentences.
Grammar to discuss
Correction with rather than
fiction, rather than a report of a real event
Rather than contrasts the type of text: imagined fiction versus factual reporting. It does not deny the real award.