Tuesday February 1, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic senator for New York, and former First Lady of the United States, collapsed earlier while making a speech in Buffalo, New York. Prior to her collapse she had complained of stomach pains and said she had some sort of flu bug. In the middle of her speech she sat down, telling her press secretary she felt weak. She then fainted. Her condition did not seem too serious, however, as she was able to regain consciousness, stand up and leave the building unaided after a short recovery time. She said she wanted to stick to her schedule and didn’t need to go to hospital. She was able to make it to her next appointment on time and didn’t need to go to hospital, nor see a doctor. Her next appearance was at a Catholic college, where she gave a speech on healthcare. Ms Clinton is the wife of former US President Bill Clinton and an active campaigner for comprehensive healthcare coverage, abortion, and women’s’ rights. She may become the first female president of the United States, and, of course, the first husband and wife team to be president.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Hillary Clinton / making speeches / fainting sticking to schedules / Bill Clinton / first female US president…
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. HILARY BRAINSTORM: Put all the words on the board that students associate with Hillary Clinton. Use these as springboard for conversation in pairs / groups.

3. FIRST LADY: In pairs list all the advantages and disadvantages of being the First Lady of the USA. Rank which are the best advantages and which the worst disadvantages. Look at the disadvantages and decide whether you would still like to be a superstar.

4. 30-SECOND SPEECHES: Students placed in groups. Choose one of the speeches the teacher has written on the board. Tell the students in your group what the speech is. When your group says, ‘go’, make an impromptu speech for 30 seconds. The group gives you a score from 1 to 10. Next speechmaker. At the end, decide in a group who was the best speechmaker.
Alternative 1: Student 1 sits down, student 2 makes same speech but tries to improve it or radically change it:
Alternative 2: The group chooses a speech for you.

Speech topics:

(a)  Female President of America.
(b)  Local telephone calls should be free.
(c)  This school.
(d)  How to learn vocabulary.
(e)  Michael Jackson.
(f)  The importance of donating money to Tsunami relief.
(g)  Tea.
(h)  Making speeches.
(i)  The usefulness of having two pairs of hands.
(j)  The meaning of life.
(k)  My hairstyle
(l)  Other teacher/student determined speeches.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:
(a)  Hillary Clinton is the Republican senator for New York.  T / F
(b)  She is the former First Lady of the United States.  T / F
(c)  She collapsed earlier while making a speech.  T / F
(d)  She had complained of chest pains and bad headaches.  T / F
(e)  Her condition did not seem too serious.  T / F
(f)  She needed hospitalization for an hour or so.  T / F
(g)  She was able to make it to her next appointment on time.  T / F
(h)  She will become the first female president of the United States  T / F

3. DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) former (adj)
(i) the one or thing that happened or was before the present thing or person
(ii) somebody who loves filling out questionnaires, surveys

(b) collapsed (v)
(i) to suddenly fall down on the floor
(ii) to clap your hands very loudly non-stop.

(c) prior to (prep)
(i) before
(ii) after

(d) bug (n)
(i) a virus that attacks people or computers and makes them ill
(ii) to really really annoy someone

(e) fainted (v)
(i)  pretended to be some else
(ii) lost consciousness and fell to the floor

(f) consciousness (n)
(i) the condition of being asleep and dreaming
(ii) the condition of being awake and thinking

(g) recovery (n)
(i) the time needed to return to normal condition
(ii) to check an area for danger before going hiking

(h) campaigner (n)
(i) a homeless person who lives in a tent
(ii) someone who raises money, gives speeches and works for a special issue

(i) comprehensive (adj)
(i) something that is so big it covers everything and includes everyone
(ii) thinking about all opinions and facts equally and fairly

(j) abortion (n)
(i) to really hate something
(ii) ending a pregnancy by taking out the embryo or fetus before it can survive

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

(a)	former	virus
(b)	collapsed	ex
(c)	prior to	woman
(d)	stomach	collapsed
(e)	bug	champion
(f)	fainted	fainted
(g)	recovery	abdomen
(h)	campaigner	inclusive
(i)	comprehensive	revival
(j)	female	before

 

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

(a)	Democratic Senator	First Lady
(b)	former	time
(c)	prior	team
(d)	she had complained of	for New York
(e)	regain	campaigner
(f)	short recovery	consciousness
(g)	she gave	rights
(h)	active	stomach pains
(i)	women’s’	a speech
(j)	husband and wife	to her collapse

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Hillary Clinton collapses

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic senator for New York, and __________ First Lady of the United States, collapsed earlier while making a __________ in Buffalo, New York. Prior to her collapse she had complained of stomach pains and said she had some __________ of flu bug. In the middle of her speech she sat down, telling her press secretary she felt weak. She then fainted. Her condition did not seem too __________, however, as she was able to regain consciousness, stand up and leave the building unaided after a short recovery time. She said she wanted to __________ to her schedule and didn’t need to go to hospital. She was able to make it to her next appointment on time and didn’t need to go to hospital, nor see a doctor. Her next appearance was at a Catholic college, where she __________ a speech on healthcare. Ms Clinton is the wife of former US President Bill Clinton and an __________ campaigner for comprehensive healthcare coverage, abortion, and women’s’ rights. She may become the first female president of the United States, and, of course, the first husband and wife __________ to be president.

serious   sort          active          former         gave         team           speech         stick

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

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

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

6. 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. ‘STOMACH’/ ‘PAIN’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  What do you think of Hillary Clinton?
(b)  Do you think she would be a good US president?
(c)  How does she compare to the ‘First Lady (or Husband)’ of your country?
(d)  She is an active campaigner for comprehensive healthcare coverage, abortion, and women’s’ rights. What do you think about these?
(e)  Have you ever given a speech?
(f)  Are you good at or do you like making speeches?
(g)  Have you ever fainted or collapsed?
(h)  Do you always stick to your schedule and make it to appointments on time?
(i)  Are female presidents, prime ministers, premieres, chancellors… better than men?
(j)  Who would be a better president, Hillary Clinton or Condoleeza Rice?
(k) Teacher / Student additional questions

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 the treaty. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. HILLARY POSTER: Create a campaign poster ab out why Hillary Clinton should be next US president.

4. LETTER TO HILLARY: Write a letter to Hillary Clinton telling her your thoughts on her possible bid to become president.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Hillary Clinton is the Republican senator for New York.  F
(b)  She is the former First Lady of the United States.  T
(c)  She collapsed earlier while making a speech.  T
(d)  She had complained of chest pains and bad headaches.  F
(e)  Her condition did not seem too serious.  T
(f)  She needed hospitalization for an hour or so.  F
(g)  She was able to make it to her next appointment on time.  T
(h)  She will become the first female president of the United States  ?

DEFINITIONS:

(a) former (adj)
(i) the one or thing that happened or was before the present thing or person

(b) collapsed (v)
(i) to suddenly fall down on the floor

(c) prior to (prep)
(i) before

(d) bug (n)
(i) a virus that attacks people or computers and makes them ill

(e) fainted (v)
(ii) lost consciousness and fell to the floor

(f) consciousness (n)
(ii) the condition of being awake and thinking

(g) recovery (n)
(i) the time needed to return to normal condition

(h) campaigner (n)
(ii) someone who raises money, gives speeches and works for a special issue

(i) comprehensive (adj)
(i) something that is so big it covers everything and includes everyone

(j) abortion (n)
(ii) ending a pregnancy by taking out the embryo or fetus before it can survive

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	former	ex
(b)	collapsed	fainted
(c)	prior to	before
(d)	stomach	abdomen
(e)	bug	virus
(f)	fainted	collapsed
(g)	recovery	revival
(h)	campaigner	champion
(i)	comprehensive	inclusive
(j)	female	woman

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Democratic Senator	for New York
(b)	former	First Lady
(c)	prior	to her collapse
(d)	she had complained of	stomach pains
(e)	regain	consciousness
(f)	short recovery	time
(g)	she gave	a speech
(h)	active	campaigner
(i)	women’s’	rights
(j)	husband and wife	team

GAP FILL:

Hillary Clinton collapses

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic senator for New York, and former First Lady of the United States, collapsed earlier while making a speech in Buffalo, New York. Prior to her collapse she had complained of stomach pains and said she had some sort of flu bug. In the middle of her speech she sat down, telling her press secretary she felt weak. She then fainted. Her condition did not seem too serious, however, as she was able to regain consciousness, stand up and leave the building unaided after a short recovery time. She said she wanted to stick to her schedule and didn’t need to go to hospital. She was able to make it to her next appointment on time and didn’t need to go to hospital, nor see a doctor. Her next appearance was at a Catholic college, where she gave a speech on healthcare. Ms Clinton is the wife of former US President Bill Clinton and an active campaigner for comprehensive healthcare coverage, abortion, and women’s’ rights. She may become the first female president of the United States, and, of course, the first husband and wife team to be president.