Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce engagement

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are getting married. After dating for several years, the superstar singer and one of America’s most famous footballers made the announcement on social media on Wednesday – and fans shared their reaction in record time.

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” was the caption to the joint post shared to Swift’s and Kelce’s Instagram accounts.

The post included several images of Swift and Kelce in a wooded glade*, including one with Kelce on bended knee in a traditional proposal position.

For the photos, Swift donned a blue Polo Ralph Lauren dress while Kelce wore a navy cable-knit sweater, also by Polo Ralph Lauren.

The pair can be seen embracing while Swift shows of a huge rock on her finger.

According to the New York Post, Swift’s engagement ring features an old mine brilliant-cut diamond in a gold bezel* setting, which was designed by Kelce with the help of Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine Jewellery.

PRESIDENTIAL SEAL OF APPROVAL

US President Donald Trump took time out of his day to congratulate the all-American pair.

“I think he’s a great player, I think he’s a great guy,” Mr Trump said, interrupting a lengthy cabinet meeting in Washington, DC.

“I think that she’s a terrific person,” he said. “So I wish them a lot of luck.”

Mr Trump’s gracious* comments towards Swift were in stark* contrast to some of his other more negative remarks about the megastar, who has consistently backed the Democrats*.

Within one hour of the lovebirds posting their news, 7.3 million people liked Kelce’s social media post and 10 million gave a thumbs up or equivalent to Swift’s post.

The Shake it Off singer and the Kansas City Chiefs tight-end* – both aged 35 – began dating in August of 2023 when Kelce attended Swift’s Eras concert in Kansas City.

The loved up duo has posted plenty of affectionate pics to social media since their romance began.

And just weeks ago on Travis’ New Heights podcast in an interview with Travis’ brother Jason Kelce, Swift revealed all the details about her forthcoming twelfth album, titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Despite what the title of her 12th album suggests, Swift said the music was less about being onstage and more about the personal journey, entirely reflective of her life “behind the curtain” while on the globetrotting Eras Tour.

“This (album cover) represents the end of my night,” Swift said.

“My main goals were melodies that were so infectious, you’re almost angry at it, and lyrics that are just as vivid but crisp and focused and completely intentional.”

The album will be released on October 3.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• glade: a small, cleared area of grass in a forest
• gracious: behaving in a polite, calm and pleasant manner
• tight-end: in American football (gridiron), the position is an offensive end who lines up close to the tackle and can act as a lineman or receiver
• stark: in this context, absolute or complete, but also bare, empty
• Democrats: the more liberal of the two major political parties in the US, the other being the more conservative Republicans

EXTRA READING

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Scottish fans trigger seismic Swift

Swifties get Reputation wrong

QUICK QUIZ

1. Approximately how many fans liked Travis Kelce’s post announcing the engagement in the first hour?
2. Approximately how many more millions gave a thumbs-up on Tay Tay’s social post?
3. What is the name of Swift’s forthcoming album?
4. The ring is described as what kind of diamond in what kind of setting?
5. The couple were dressed by what classic American fashion brand for their photos?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What did she mean?
What do you think Taylor Swift meant when she wrote, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”? Write sentences explaining your opinion.

Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

2. Extension
Write the lyrics to a song. Your song should be about how you think Taylor Swift would react to, or what she would think about, Donald Trump’s message to her on her engagement.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.