{"id":684,"date":"2026-10-20T14:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/news-lesson-spy-at-openai-a2\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T20:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T20:23:02","slug":"news-lesson-spy-at-openai-a2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/news-lesson-spy-at-openai-a2\/","title":{"rendered":"News Lesson: A Spy at OpenAI? (A2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In October 2026, an engineer at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, was arrested and accused of hiding a secret listening device in an executive meeting room. OpenAI says its own AI helped to identify the suspect. This lesson tells the story, which reads like a spy thriller, and gets students talking about secrets, spying and surveillance at work. This A2 version tells the story simply, with vocabulary for crime, work and secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Level:<\/strong> A2 \u00b7 <strong>Time:<\/strong> 45 to 90 minutes. Pick the activities that suit your class. They work in almost any order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lesson Activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/reveal\/picquiz.php?w=d7ec3c12\">Warmer: What Is He Doing?<\/a> &#8211; picture reveal: a man pressing a glass against the wall to listen next door. Teach <em>eavesdrop<\/em> and <em>overhear<\/em>, then ask what a modern spy would use instead.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/categorise\/activity.php?w=93cfb977\">Prediction: True or False?<\/a> &#8211; Students guess which 10 statements about the case are true, then check after reading.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/sentence\/match.php?w=446ce3c5\">Vocabulary: Pre-teach the Key Words<\/a> &#8211; Match 10 words from the text to their meanings before reading (strange, secret, device, record, fire, arrest, guilty, court&#8230;).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/cloze\/exercise_hint.php?w=82cb1f6d\">Reading: A Spy in the Office?<\/a> &#8211; A short graded news story with 10 gaps and a word bank.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/cards\/cardset.php?w=b87d091b\">Discussion: Spies, Secrets and Technology<\/a> &#8211; 10 conversation questions about spy films, secrets at work, cameras and AI tools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/ranking\/exercise.php?w=f457c545\">Speaking: Ranking<\/a> &#8211; How much would you accept at work? Students rank nine security measures, from ID cards to AI that checks all your messages, then compare with a partner.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Teacher Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For a shorter lesson, use the warmer, the reading and the discussion cards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Grammar focus: the reading uses the past simple for the story (found, met, fired, arrested) and &#8220;say&#8221; for reported claims (investigators say&#8230;). Ask students to retell the story in order.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The suspect has not been convicted. The lesson does not name him; encourage students to talk about the case, not the person.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The case is ongoing. Check the latest news before class in case there are new developments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow-up: students write a short news report about an imaginary office mystery, using the reporting language from the text.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teaching a stronger group? Try the <a href=\"\/hub\/lesson-plans\/news-lesson-spy-at-openai-b2\/\">B2 version of this lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In October 2026, an engineer at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, was arrested and accused of hiding a secret listening device in an executive meeting room. OpenAI says its own AI helped to identify the suspect. This lesson tells the story, which reads like a spy thriller, and gets students talking about secrets, spying and &#8230; <a title=\"News Lesson: A Spy at OpenAI? (A2)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/news-lesson-spy-at-openai-a2\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about News Lesson: A Spy at OpenAI? (A2)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":593,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-684","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":704,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/684\/revisions\/704"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}