Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering her in-laws by serving them poisonous mushrooms in a family dinner. The case has gathered huge media attention in Australia and all around the world for the jury had to weigh up the evidence and the lies, to decide if the poisonings were deliberate or not, and for the family relationships between the victims, the murderer and her estranged husband.
B2 learners who are not familiar with the story will find it difficult to understand the details at first, so I recommend them to read Rachel Treisman's report for NPR first, An Australian woman is found guilty of murdering her in-laws by toxic mushrooms, where they will come across interesting words like: death cap mushrooms, guilty, estranged [husband], beef Wellington, a paste, [finely] chopped [mushrooms], [multiple organ] failure, a witness, a twist and turn, a prosecutor, a motive, to plead [non-guilty], [three] counts [of murder], to forage [mushrooms], to cover up [her actions], to prove [her guilty], a recap, a split, an amicable [relationship], to pull out, a quirk, amanita phalloides mushrooms, to be discharged, scrutiny, back and forth, to throw up, to acknowledge, a grocery store, to dispose of [something], the stand, to dump, a knee-jerk [reaction], to dig [deeper], to cover her tracks, a deception, a fabricated [cancer claim], to plant the seed, a lump, to spark [a search for death cap mushrooms], to cherry-pick, a ruse, to take a leap,
After reading the text, C1 students can listen to a 3-minute NPR radio report and check how much they understand the American accent, where they can pick up words such as: to grip, a suburban [mom], to pass up, an estranged [husband], death cap mushrooms, the leftovers, bizarre, to fake [a cancer diagnosis], to forage for [mushrooms], to chalk it up, a [kitchen] mix-up, devastated, on [pretty] decent [terms], to pull out, to recap. To fully understand all the words in the report, C1 learners will problably have to use the transcript after listening a couple of times.For further information, students can read the following Wikipedia entry, 2023 Leongatha mushroom murders, watch this 9News story to test their understanding of Australian accent (C2 level) or watch the shorter ABC YouTube video below, also in Australian English: