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Date: Dec 20, 2007
THE ARTICLEPutin is ‘Time’ magazine’s person of 2007The American weekly news magazine Time has named Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as its 2007 "Person of the Year." Putin won the award for bringing stability to Russia at a time when it was experiencing chaos. Time’s managing editor Richard Stengel said the magazine chose Putin because of his "extraordinary feat of leadership” in restoring Russia as a world power. However, he pointed out that the award is not an “honor or endorsement", but is given as "a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - for better or for worse". Past winners of the award include Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This year’s runners up were Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
President Putin is hugely popular in Russia and recently won a landslide election victory. He has reformed the economy and created great wealth. His critics, however, accuse him of being undemocratic and having too much control over the media. Mr Stengel noted that Putin was not a perfect leader, saying: "He's the new czar of Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties, he doesn't care about free speech." Not everyone agreed with the award. The American news network Fox believes the leader of US troops in Iraq General David Petraeus was more deserving. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin was happier. It said: “We do hope this will create a better understanding that Russia is a democratic country and is standing for fair play and avoiding double standards.” WARM-UPS1. MAGAZINES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about magazines. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. PEOPLE OF 2007: With your partner(s), decide on who you think should get the awards below. Change partners and share your findings. Can you agree as a class on one winner for each award?
4. TIME MAGAZINE WINNERS: With your partner(s), discuss why the following previous winners of Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” award won. Do you think they deserved to win?
5. I’M PERSON OF 2007: Spend one minute writing down reasons why you should be Person of the Year. Share your reasons with your partner(s) and talk about them. 6. AWARD: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘award’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 7. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Student A strongly believes that Vladimir Putin was the perfect choice for Person of the Year; Student B believes it was a terrible choice and that person X should have got it. Change partners often. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.The American __________________ Time has named Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as its 2007 "Person of the Year." Putin won the award for bringing stability to Russia at a time when it __________________. Time’s managing editor Richard Stengel said the magazine chose Putin because of his "extraordinary feat of leadership” in restoring Russia as a world power. However, he pointed __________________ an “honor or endorsement", __________________ clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - __________________ worse". Past winners of the award include Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This year’s __________________ Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Chinese President Hu Jintao. President Putin __________________ Russia and recently won a landslide election victory. He has reformed the economy and created great wealth. His critics, however, __________________ undemocratic and having too much control over the media. Mr Stengel noted that Putin was not a perfect leader, saying: "He's __________________ Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties, he doesn't __________________." Not everyone agreed with the award. The American news network Fox believes the leader of US troops in Iraq General David Petraeus __________________. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin was happier. It said: “We do hope this will create a better understanding that Russia is a democratic country and is standing __________________ avoiding double standards.” AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘fair’ and ‘play’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. 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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
STUDENT PERSON OF THE YEAR SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about the person of 2007 in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
-------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGECORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article. The American weekly news magazine Time has (1) ____ Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as its 2007 "Person of the Year." Putin won the award for bringing stability to Russia at a time when it was experiencing (2) ____. Time’s managing editor Richard Stengel said the magazine chose Putin because of his "extraordinary (3) ____ of leadership” in restoring Russia as a world power. However, he pointed (4) ____ that the award is not an “honor or endorsement", but is given as "a clear-eyed recognition of the world (5) ____ it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - for better or for worse". Past winners of the award include Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This year’s runners (6) ____ were Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Chinese President Hu Jintao. President Putin is (7) ____ popular in Russia and recently won a landslide election victory. He has reformed the economy and created (8) ____ wealth. His critics, however, accuse him of being undemocratic and having too much control over the media. Mr Stengel noted that Putin was not a perfect leader, saying: "He's the new czar of Russia and he's dangerous in the (9) ____ that he doesn't care about civil (10) ____, he doesn't care about free speech." Not everyone agreed with the award. The American news network Fox believes the leader of US troops in Iraq General David Petraeus was more (11) ____. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin was happier. It said: “We do hope this will create a better understanding that Russia is a democratic country and is standing for fair play and avoiding (12) ____ standards.”
WRITING:Write about Vladimir Putin for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. 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 about the Time Person of the Year award. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. AWARDS: Make a poster about the prizes you think are most important in the world. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all include similar things? 4. RIVALRY: Write a magazine article about you winning the Time Person of the Year award. Include imaginary interviews with yourself and your best friend. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions. 5. LETTER: Write a letter to Vladimir Putin. Give him three suggestions on what he should do to be a better leader. Give him three reasons why he should take your advice. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Putin is ‘Time’ magazine’s person of 2007The American weekly news magazine Time has named Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as its 2007 "Person of the Year." Putin won the award for bringing stability to Russia at a time when it was experiencing chaos. Time’s managing editor Richard Stengel said the magazine chose Putin because of his "extraordinary feat of leadership” in restoring Russia as a world power. However, he pointed out that the award is not an “honor or endorsement", but is given as "a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - for better or for worse". Past winners of the award include Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This year’s runners up were Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Chinese President Hu Jintao. President Putin is hugely popular in Russia and recently won a landslide election victory. He has reformed the economy and created great wealth. His critics, however, accuse him of being undemocratic and having too much control over the media. Mr Stengel noted that Putin was not a perfect leader, saying: "He's the new czar of Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties, he doesn't care about free speech." Not everyone agreed with the award. The American news network Fox believes the leader of US troops in Iraq General David Petraeus was more deserving. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin was happier. It said: “We do hope this will create a better understanding that Russia is a democratic country and is standing for fair play and avoiding double standards.” LANGUAGE WORK
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