Monday December 20, 2004

Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Love him or loathe him, US President George W. Bush is TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2004. It is the second time he has received the accolade, having previously won in 2000. TIME has a habit of picking history’s winners as Bush again joins the company of other notorious winners of the award, most notably Adolf Hitler (1938), Josef Stalin (1942), and the Ayatollah Khomeini (1979). Bush won the award for “reframing reality to match his design”, much the same as Hitler, Stalin and Khomeini.

The magazine said Mr Bush won the award “For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years.” Bush said he knows his presidency “is one that has drawn some fire, whether it be at home or around the world” and that he doesn’t “expect many short-term historians to write nice things about me.” He didn’t mention whether long-term historians would be kinder to him.

TIME's choices for Person of the Year are often controversial. Editors are asked to “choose the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill—newsworthy—not necessarily praiseworthy” George W. Bush was certainly newsworthy in 2004. TIME managing editor Jim Kelly said: “even those who may not have voted for him will acknowledge that this is one of the more influential presidents of the last 50 years.” Whether his influence keeps him in the same ilk as Hitler and Stalin remains to be seen.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Time magazine / Person of 2004 / Hitler / Stalin / Khomeini / George W. Bush / American influence …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. COMPARISONS: Students make comparisons in pairs between TIME magazine winners Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush. Invite pairs to share their comparisons and write them on the board. The class then discuss the fairness or unfairness of these.

3. BUSH’S LEGACY: During a prime time press conference on April 13, President Bush was asked to name a mistake that he has made since taking office and what he has learned from it. Bush, who was unable to answer the question, admitted "maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with [a mistake]." But weeks later, Bush still hasn't answered the question. Here are some classic mistakes a President of the United States should not make, but which George W. Bush did. Students discuss / laugh / cry / get angry about the ones they know of:
- Failing to build a real international coalition prior to the Iraq invasion, forcing the US to shoulder the full cost and consequences of the war.
- Not equipping troops in Iraq with adequate body armor or armored HUMVEES.
- Making a case for war which ignored intelligence that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
- Predicting along with others in his administration that US troops would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.
- Predicting Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction.
- Wildly underestimating the cost of the war.
- Announcing that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, below a "Mission Accomplished" banner - more U.S. soldiers have died in combat since Bush's announcement than before it.
- Having no real plan for the occupation of Iraq.
- Telling Americans there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
- Saying: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories."
- Ignoring the importance of the Middle East peace process, which has deteriorated with little oversight or strategy evident in the region.
- Undermining the War on Terrorism by preemptively invading Iraq.
- Failing to develop a specific plan for dealing with North Korea.
- Abandoning the United States' traditional role as an evenhanded negotiator in the Middle East peace process.
- Abandoning the Kyoto Treaty without offering an alternative for reducing greenhouse effect.

(Taken from the American Progress Report)

4. 2004 AWARDS: Students make their choices for Person of the Year / Do-Gooder of the Year / Villain of the Year / Buffoon of the Year / Star of the Year / Nice Person of the Year / Biggest Bush Mistake of the Year .

5. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
Bush deserves it. vs. No way.
We shouldn’t mention Hitler and Bush in the same breath. vs Why not?
Bush is America’s greatest ever President. vs How can you say that.
Bush is an intelligent man. vs. Excuse me?!!
Bush is a good Christian and is doing God’s work. vs. What kind of Christianity / Whose God?
Bush was newsworthy in 2004. vs. But not praiseworthy.
Long-term historians will be kind to Bush. vs. That’s impossible.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘time’, and ‘person’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  This is the second time he has received the accolade.  T / F
(b)  Adolf Hitler won the same award.  T / F
(c)  TIME has a habit of picking losers.  T / F
(d)  Bush won the award for shooting people with guns.  T / F
(e)  Bush said he knows his presidency is very popular worldwide.  T / F
(f)  Bush doesn’t expect many short-term historians to write nice things about him.  T / F
(g)  TIME's choices for Person of the Year are always uncontroversial.  T / F
(h)  George W. Bush was praiseworthy in 2004.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	love	tendency
(b)	loathe	attract criticism
(c)	habit	exactly
(d)	notorious	adore
(e)	literally	infamous
(f)	figuratively	detest
(g)	draw fire	contentious
(h)	controversial	type
(i)	praiseworthy	metaphorically
(j)	ilk	deserving

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	love him or	same as
(b)	having previously	hat
(c)	a habit of	and figuratively
(d)	much the	won
(e)	sticking to	some fire
(f)	literally	loathe him
(g)	ten-gallon-	in the White House
(h)	a majority	his guns
(i)	he deserved to be	of voters
(j)	drawn	picking history’s winners

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Bush named ‘Person of 2004’

Love him or __________ him, US President George W. Bush is TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2004. It is the second time he has received the __________, having previously won in 2000. TIME has a habit of picking history’s winners as Bush again joins the company of other __________ winners of the award, most notably Adolf Hitler (1938), Josef Stalin (1942), and the Ayatollah Khomeini (1979). Bush won the award for “reframing __________ to match his design”, much the same as Hitler, Stalin and Khomeini.		reality loathe notorious accolade
The magazine said Mr Bush won the award “For __________ to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his __________ leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years.” Bush said he knows his presidency “is one that has drawn some __________, whether it be at home or around the world” and that he doesn’t “expect many short-term historians to write nice things about me.” He didn’t __________ whether long-term historians would be kinder to him.		fire mention sticking ten-gallon-hat
TIME's choices for Person of the Year are often __________. Editors are asked to “choose the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill—newsworthy—not necessarily __________” George W. Bush was certainly newsworthy in 2004. TIME managing editor Jim Kelly said: “even those who may not have voted for him will __________ that this is one of the more influential presidents of the last 50 years.” Whether his __________ keeps him in the same ilk as Hitler and Stalin remains to be seen.		praiseworthy mention influence acknowledge

 

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

4. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

5. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. BUSH DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions:

(a)  Should Bush have got this award?
(b)  Who else should have got this award?
(c)  Do you think TIME should give this award to people like Hitler?
(d)  Bush won the award for “reframing reality to match his design.” Is it healthy for the world when a leader ‘reframes reality’?
(e)  Hitler and Stalin also reframed reality. Do you see any comparisons between them and Bush?
(f)  Is Bush intelligent?
(g)  Is Bush a good leader?
 (h)  How has Bush changed your country / the world?
(i)  What action / event / image in 2004 will you remember Bush for?
(j)  Why do you think a majority of Americans re-elected Bush?(i)  Bush also won the award “For sticking to his guns.” Can you think of occasions where you have stuck to your guns?
(m)  How will history judge George W. Bush?
(n)  Has President George W. Bush done anything that is praiseworthy in your eyes?
(o)  Teacher’s additional questions

6. WARMER REPEAT: Re-do some of the warmers with a greater focus on extended fluency.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Time magazines people of the year. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: Imagine George W. Bush was one day indicted to appear before the International Court for war crimes. Write an account of what lawyers might say to prosecute him.

4. LETTER TO GEORGE: Write a letter to US President George W. Bush either congratulating him on his deserved award, or being critical of his policies.

5. NO BUSH-BASHING: Perhaps Bush is unfairly criticized in the media and he is really a kind man with the interests of the world’s people at heart. Write a letter explaining why people should stop this terrible Bush-Bashing, and why he should be seen more as a kind and caring world uncle, rather than a chimpanzee.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  This is the second time he has received the accolade.  T
(b)  Adolf Hitler won the same award.  T
(c)  TIME has a habit of picking losers.  ? (oh OK, False, according to the article)
(d)  Bush won the award for shooting people with guns.  ? (oh OK, False, according to the article)
(e)  Bush said he knows his presidency is very popular worldwide.  F
(f)  Bush doesn’t expect many short-term historians to write nice things about him.  T
(g)  TIME's choices for Person of the Year are always uncontroversial.  F
(h)  George W. Bush was praiseworthy in 2004.  ?

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	love	adore
(b)	loathe	detest
(c)	habit	tendency
(d)	notorious	infamous
(e)	literally	exactly
(f)	figuratively	metaphorically
(g)	draw fire	attract criticism
(h)	controversial	contentious
(i)	praiseworthy	deserving
(j)	ilk	type

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	love him or	loathe him
(b)	having previously	won
(c)	a habit of	picking history’s winners
(d)	much the	same as
(e)	sticking to	his guns
(f)	literally	and figuratively
(g)	ten-gallon-	hat
(h)	a majority	of voters
(i)	he deserved to be	in the White House
(j)	drawn	some fire