The Philippines’ president Gloria Arroyo is currently fighting for her political survival. Opposition leaders started an impeachment process against her on July 25. They want her to resign, saying she is guilty of major crimes. These include election fraud and financial corruption. The impeachment document states: "By so flouting justice and the rule of law, she has committed an unforgivable outrage against the Filipino people." A street rally of 25,000 people called for her resignation.

The impeachment complaint came just hours before she gave her annual state-of-the-nation address. She used the speech to try to reduce public anger. She focused on the country’s need for political reform, to bring greater political stability. She said: “The system clearly needs fundamental change - and the sooner, the better.” Dr. Arroyo has the lowest popularity ratings of any of the last five presidents. She sidestepped talking about the impeachment process, which will, perhaps, end her presidency.

WARM-UPS

1. I’M LEADER: You are the leader of your country. Walk around the classroom and meet the other “world leaders” in your class. Talk about your daily lives, the big issues currently facing you, your rivals etc. Talk also about your honesty. Have you ever lied to the public?

2. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think presidents and prime ministers never lie. Students B think presidents and prime ministers lie in every speech they make. Change partners often.

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

The Philippines / Gloria Arroyo / impeachment / election fraud / elections / corruption / street protests / public anger / popularity ratings

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. PRESIDENT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “president”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE: Write down three fundamental changes you think your government needs to make. In pairs / groups, talk about those things and explain why you think they are fundamental. Repeat the activity by writing down and discussing three fundamental changes you need to make in your life.

6. STREET PROTEST: The Philippines is famous for mass street protests, called “people power”. Which of these things have made / would make you take to the streets and protest? How serious are they? Do they happen in your country?

1. Human rights violations
2. Your president / prime minister having extra-marital sexual relations
3. Going to war against a country that is not your enemy
4. Your country’s immigration policy
5. Police brutality
6. The doubling of income tax
7. A law that prohibits the public wearing of religious symbols
8. The introduction (or removal) of the death penalty
9. Other

Change partners and compare what you talked about.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Philippines’ president Arroyo is fighting for her political survival.	T / F
b.	Her opponents say she is guilty of major crimes.	T / F
c.	Mrs. Arroyo is outraged by many Filipinos.	T / F
d.	A rally of 25,000 Arroyo supporters gathered in the streets.	T / F
e.	Impeachment started hours before an important speech to the nation.	T / F
f.	Dr. Arroyo said the country needed fundamental political reform.	T / F
g.	Dr. Arroyo has very high popularity ratings.	T / F
h.	There is little danger her presidency will end.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	currently	speech
b.	resign	anger
c.	flouting	yearly
d.	outrage	previous
e.	rally	presently
f.	annual	march
g.	address	insulting
h.	reduce	avoided
i.	last	lessen
j.	sidestepped	quit

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	fighting for her	address
b.	started an impeachment process	major crimes
c.	guilty of	the better
d.	the rule	anger
e.	a street	ratings
f.	annual state-of-the-nation	political survival
g.	reduce public	rally of 25,000 people
h.	bring greater	against her
i.	the sooner,	political stability
j.	the lowest popularity	of law

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Philippine president faces impeachment

The Philippines’ president Gloria Arroyo is _______ fighting for her political _______. Opposition leaders _______ an impeachment process against her on July 25. They want her to _______, saying she is guilty of major crimes. These include election _______ and financial corruption. The impeachment document _______: "By so flouting justice and the _______ of law, she has committed an unforgivable outrage against the Filipino people." A street _______ of 25,000 people called for her resignation.		rule survival resign currently states started rally fraud
The impeachment complaint came just _______ before she gave her annual state-of-the-nation _______. She used the speech to try to _______ public anger. She focused on the country’s _______ for political reform, to bring greater political _______. She said: “The system clearly needs fundamental change - and the sooner, the _______.” Dr. Arroyo has the lowest popularity _______ of any of the last five presidents. She sidestepped talking about the impeachment process, which will, perhaps, _______ her presidency.		end stability address better reduce hours ratings need

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘political’ and ‘survival’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.
   

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “COUNTRY LEADER” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about national leaders.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

survival process guilty flouting unforgivable rally

hours reduce reform sooner ratings end

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you first saw this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. Do you follow events in the Philippines?
4. Are you interested in political events in other countries?
5. What do you know about politics in the Philippines?
6. What do you know about Gloria Arroyo?
7. Do you think she is a good and strong leader?
8. Do you think she is guilty of major crimes?
9. Have you ever taken part in a street protest?
10. Do you love your nation’s leader?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. What do you think is the hardest part of being a nation’s leader?
4. What do people get angry about in your country?
5. What fundamental changes need to take place in your country?
6. Is your nation’s leader(s) honest and strong?
7. Does the leader of your country have good popularity ratings?
8. What issues are currently facing your nation’s leader?
9. What issues in life are you currently facing?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

LEADERSHIP: What qualities are important to be a good leader? Discuss the importance of those below. Place a score of 1 (not important) to 10 (highly important) in the “Importance” boxes. Talk about whether your nation’s leader and/or Mrs. Arroyo have these attributes. Finally, discuss whether you have these qualities.

QUALITIES	IMPORTANCE	YOUR LEADER / MRS. ARROYO	YOU
Never lies
Highly intelligent
Brilliant speech maker
Wonderful smile
Dynamic style
Squeaky clean  public life
Lovely clothes
Opposes war

Change partners and share what you heard from your earlier partner(s).

Discuss whether you would be a good president / prime minister and why (not).

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Philippine president faces impeachment

The Philippines’ president Gloria Arroyo is ________ fighting for her political survival. Opposition leaders started an impeachment ________ against her on July 25. They want her to ________, saying she is guilty of major crimes. These include election fraud and ________ corruption. The impeachment document states: "By so flouting ________ and the rule of law, she has committed an unforgivable ________ against the Filipino people." A street ________ of 25,000 people called for her resignation.

The impeachment ________ came just hours before she gave her annual state-of-the-nation ________. She used the speech to try to reduce public anger. She ________ on the country’s need for political reform, to bring greater political ________. She said: “The system clearly needs fundamental change - and the ________, the better.” Dr. Arroyo has the lowest popularity ________ of any of the last five presidents. She sidestepped talking about the impeachment process, which will, perhaps, end her __________.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Philippines’ president Gloria Arroyo. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. MY LEADER: Make a poster outlining the strong and weak points of your nation’s leader. Where are the areas for improvement? Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all have similar opinions of your leaders?

4. LETTER TO GLORIA ARROYO: Write a letter to Gloria Arroyo. Tell her what you think of her leadership. Give her advice on what to do in the next few months. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	currently	presently
b.	resign	quit
c.	flouting	insulting
d.	outrage	anger
e.	rally	march
f.	annual	yearly
g.	address	speech
h.	reduce	lessen
i.	last	previous
j.	sidestepped	avoided

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	fighting for her	political survival
b.	started an impeachment process	against her
c.	guilty of	major crimes
d.	the rule	of law
e.	a street	rally of 25,000 people
f.	annual state-of-the-nation	address
g.	reduce public	anger
h.	bring greater	political stability
i.	the sooner,	the better
j.	the lowest popularity	ratings

GAP FILL:

Philippine president faces impeachment

The Philippines’ president Gloria Arroyo is currently fighting for her political survival. Opposition leaders started an impeachment process against her on July 25. They want her to resign, saying she is guilty of major crimes. These include election fraud and financial corruption. The impeachment document states: "By so flouting justice and the rule of law, she has committed an unforgivable outrage against the Filipino people." A street rally of 25,000 people called for her resignation.

The impeachment complaint came just hours before she gave her annual state-of-the-nation address. She used the speech to try to reduce public anger. She focused on the country’s need for political reform, to bring greater political stability. She said: “The system clearly needs fundamental change - and the sooner, the better.” Dr. Arroyo has the lowest popularity ratings of any of the last five presidents. She sidestepped talking about the impeachment process, which will, perhaps, end her presidency.

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