Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on the CD

The pioneer of the compact disc (CD) Norio Ohga has died aged 81 of multiple organ failure in the Japanese capital Tokyo. Mr Ohga was president and chairman of Sony between 1982 and 1995. He is credited with pioneering the use of the CD. Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982. Mr Ohga was responsible for its size. He recommended a disc should be 12 cm in diameter because it contained enough space to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is 75 minutes long. The size of CDs have remained unchanged since and became the format for DVDs. CD sales in Japan overtook record sales within five years of their introduction. Ohga was an avid music enthusiast and studied to become an opera singer in his youth.

Sony's current chairman, Sir Howard Stringer, paid tribute to Mr Ohga’s leadership and vision. He said the former chairman transformed Sony from a company that sold radios and electronics into a global entertainment giant. Ohga rose through the Sony ranks at a speed highly unusual for a Japanese company and was an executive by his 30s. Ohga moved Sony into new directions, making them an international player. He was key in the purchase of Hollywood studio Colombia Pictures and the record company CBS. He also oversaw the launch of Sony’s highly successful PlayStation game console. Mr Stringer said: “By redefining Sony as a company encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed.”

WARM-UPS

1. CDS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about CDs. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

pioneers / Japanese capital / chairman / CDs / Beethoven / format / record sales / tributes / leadership / vision / executives / Hollywood /PlayStation / hardware

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. TECH COMPANIES: What do you think of them? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Company	Strengths	Weknesses
Sony
Apple
Google
Nokia
Microsoft
Facebook

4. INVENTION: Students A strongly believe the CD was a life-changing invention; Students B strongly believe it wasn’t. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. TECHNOLOGY: Which have been most important? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

CDs
flash
mp3s
game consoles

mobile phones
digital cameras
watch
iPad / tablet computers

6. COMPACT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘compact’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	The pioneer of the CD died from cancer in his Tokyo home.	T / F
b.	Norio Ohga was Sony’s president of Sony for 13 years.	T / F
c.	He made CDs with enough space for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.	T / F
d.	The former Sony chairman once trained to be an opera singer.	T / F
e.	Sony’s current chairman made no comment about Mr Ohga’s death.	T / F
f.	Mr Ohga became Sony’s youngest ever executive in his early 40s.	T / F
g.	Mr Ohga bought a Hollywood movie studio and record company.	T / F
h.	He had very little part to play in the launch of the Sony PlayStation.	T / F

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

1.	pioneer	a.	including
2	credited	b.	fan
3.	recommended	c.	very
4.	remained	d.	changed
5.	enthusiast	e.	suggested
6.	current	f.	managed
7.	transformed	g.	innovator
8.	highly	h.	stayed
9.	oversaw	i.	recognized
10.	encompassing	j.	present

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	multiple organ	a.	key
2	credited with pioneering the	b.	unchanged since
3.	12 cm in	c.	music enthusiast
4.	The size of CDs have remained	d.	giant
5.	an avid	e.	failure
6.	paid	f.	diameter
7.	a global entertainment	g.	as a company
8.	Ohga rose through	h.	use of the CD
9.	He was	i.	the Sony ranks
10.	redefining Sony	j.	tribute to…

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

The (1) ____________ of the compact disc (CD) Norio Ohga has died aged 81 of multiple organ (2) ____________ in the Japanese capital Tokyo. Mr Ohga was president and chairman of Sony between 1982 and 1995. He is (3) ____________ with pioneering the use of the CD. Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982. Mr Ohga was responsible for its (4) ____________. He recommended a disc should be 12 cm in diameter because it contained enough space to (5) ____________ Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is 75 minutes long. The size of CDs have (6) ____________ unchanged since and became the format for DVDs. CD sales in Japan overtook record sales (7) ____________ five years of their introduction. Ohga was an (8) ____________ music enthusiast and studied to become an opera singer in his youth.

store
within
size
failure
avid
pioneer
remained
credited

Sony's (9) ____________ chairman, Sir Howard Stringer, paid tribute to Mr Ohga’s leadership and (10) ____________. He said the former chairman transformed Sony from a company that sold radios and electronics into a global entertainment (11) ____________. Ohga rose through the Sony ranks at a speed (12) ____________ unusual for a Japanese company and was an executive by his 30s. Ohga moved Sony into new directions, making them an international player. He was (13) ____________ in the purchase of Hollywood studio Colombia Pictures and the record company CBS. He also oversaw the (14) ____________ of Sony’s highly successful PlayStation game console. Mr Stringer said: “By redefining Sony as a company encompassing (15) ____________ hardware and software, Ohga-san (16) ____________ where other Japanese companies failed.”

highly
both
vision
key
current
succeeded
giant
launch

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

_____________________ compact disc (CD) Norio Ohga has died aged 81 of multiple organ failure in the Japanese capital Tokyo. Mr Ohga was president and chairman of Sony between 1982 and 1995. _____________________ pioneering the use of the CD. Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982. Mr Ohga was _____________________. He recommended a disc should be 12 cm in diameter because it contained _____________________ Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is 75 minutes long. The size of CDs have remained _____________________ became the format for DVDs. CD sales in Japan overtook record sales within five years of their introduction. Ohga was an _____________________ and studied to become an opera singer in his youth.

Sony's current chairman, Sir Howard Stringer, _____________________ Mr Ohga’s leadership and vision. He said the former chairman transformed Sony from a company that sold radios and electronics into _____________________ giant. Ohga _____________________ ranks at a speed highly unusual for a Japanese company and was an executive by his 30s. Ohga moved Sony into new directions, making them an international player. He _____________________ of Hollywood studio Colombia Pictures and the record company CBS. He also _____________________ of Sony’s highly successful PlayStation game console. Mr Stringer said: “By redefining Sony as a company _____________________ hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

compact

disc

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 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 how they were used in the text:

pioneer
credited
size
ninth
format
youth

paid
giant
speed
directions
launch
failed

STUDENT CDS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about CDs 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

CDS DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘CD’?
c)	How useful are CDs?
d)	Do you prefer music on CD, record or mp3?
e)	What do you think of Norio Ohga’s achievements?
f)	How is it people have such vision?
g)	What do you think of the company Sony?
h)	Are you an avid music enthusiast?
i)	When do you think CDs will become museum pieces?
j)	What do you think of the story behind the size of the CD?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Have you ever shown leadership and vision?
c)	What do you think of how Mr Ohga changed Sony into an entertainment giant?
d)	Why was it unusual for Mr Ohga to become an executive in his 30s?
e)	What makes Japanese companies so successful?
f)	Which company has the best game console?
g)	Is Sony the best Japanese company?
h)	What has been Sony’s best product?
i)	In which direction(s) should Sony go next?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Sony's current chairman, Sir Howard Stringer?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The pioneer of the compact disc (CD) Norio Ohga has died aged 81 of (1) ____ organ failure in the Japanese capital Tokyo. Mr Ohga was president and chairman of Sony between 1982 and 1995. He is (2) ____ with pioneering the use of the CD. Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982. Mr Ohga was responsible (3) ____ its size. He recommended a disc should be 12 cm in diameter because it contained enough space to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is 75 minutes (4) ____. The size of CDs have (5) ____ unchanged since and became the format for DVDs. CD sales in Japan overtook record sales within five years of their introduction. Ohga was an avid music enthusiast and studied to become an opera singer in his (6) ____.

Sony's current chairman, Sir Howard Stringer, (7) ____ tribute to Mr Ohga’s leadership and vision. He said the former chairman transformed Sony from a company that sold radios and electronics into a global entertainment (8) ____. Ohga rose through the Sony ranks at a speed (9) ____ unusual for a Japanese company and was an executive (10) ____ his 30s. Ohga moved Sony into new directions, making them an international player. He was key in the purchase of Hollywood studio Colombia Pictures and the record company CBS. He also (11) ____ the launch of Sony’s highly successful PlayStation game console. Mr Stringer said: “By redefining Sony as a company (12) ____ both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	multiple	(b)	multiply	(c)	multiples	(d)	multiplication
2.	(a)	charged	(b)	credited	(c)	debited	(d)	summed
3.	(a)	by	(b)	with	(c)	for	(d)	at
4.	(a)	length	(b)	longer	(c)	longs	(d)	long
5.	(a)	remaining	(b)	remains	(c)	remainder	(d)	remained
6.	(a)	young	(b)	teenager	(c)	youth	(d)	teen
7.	(a)	paid	(b)	pay	(c)	pays	(d)	payment
8.	(a)	dwarf	(b)	giant	(c)	monster	(d)	creature
9.	(a)	high	(b)	heighten	(c)	highly	(d)	heights
10.	(a)	by	(b)	at	(c)	on	(d)	with
11.	(a)	oversees	(b)	overseas	(c)	overseen	(d)	oversaw
12.	(a)	compasses	(b)	encompassing	(c)	encompass	(d)	compass

WRITING

Write about CDs for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 out more about Norio Ohga. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CDS: Make a poster about CDs. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. PIONEER: Write a magazine article about Norio Ohga. Include imaginary interviews with people who knew him.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the Sony chairman. Ask him three questions about Sony. Give him three ideas on how to keep the company at the top. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	pioneer	a.	innovator
2	credited	b.	recognized
3.	recommended	c.	suggested
4.	remained	d.	stayed
5.	enthusiast	e.	fan
6.	current	f.	present
7.	transformed	g.	changed
8.	highly	h.	very
9.	oversaw	i.	managed
10.	encompassing	j.	including

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	multiple organ	a.	failure
2	credited with pioneering the	b.	use of the CD
3.	12 cm in	c.	diameter
4.	The size of CDs have remained	d.	unchanged since
5.	an avid	e.	music enthusiast
6.	paid	f.	tribute to…
7.	a global entertainment	g.	giant
8.	Ohga rose through	h.	the Sony ranks
9.	He was	i.	key
10.	redefining Sony	j.	as a company

GAP FILL:

“Father of the CD” dies

The (1) pioneer of the compact disc (CD) Norio Ohga has died aged 81 of multiple organ (2) failure in the Japanese capital Tokyo. Mr Ohga was president and chairman of Sony between 1982 and 1995. He is (3) credited with pioneering the use of the CD. Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982. Mr Ohga was responsible for its (4) size. He recommended a disc should be 12 cm in diameter because it contained enough space to (5) store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is 75 minutes long. The size of CDs have (6) remained unchanged since and became the format for DVDs. CD sales in Japan overtook record sales (7) within five years of their introduction. Ohga was an (8) avid music enthusiast and studied to become an opera singer in his youth.

Sony's (9) current chairman, Sir Howard Stringer, paid tribute to Mr Ohga’s leadership and (10) vision. He said the former chairman transformed Sony from a company that sold radios and electronics into a global entertainment (11) giant. Ohga rose through the Sony ranks at a speed (12) highly unusual for a Japanese company and was an executive by his 30s. Ohga moved Sony into new directions, making them an international player. He was (13) key in the purchase of Hollywood studio Colombia Pictures and the record company CBS. He also oversaw the (14) launch of Sony’s highly successful PlayStation game console. Mr Stringer said: “By redefining Sony as a company encompassing (15) both hardware and software, Ohga-san (16) succeeded where other Japanese companies failed.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - a

2 - b

3 - c

4 - d

5 - d

6 - c

7 - a

8 - b

9 - c

10 - a

11 - d

12 - b

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:04 - 991KB)

“Father of the CD” Dies (25th April, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT CDS SURVEY

CDS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

“Father of the CD” dies

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

My 1,000 Ideas e-Book	Breaking News English HOME \| HELP MY SITE \| 000s MORE FREE LESSONS	My 1,000 Ideas e-Book

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF Handout - with all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:04 - 991KB)

“Father of the CD” Dies (25th April, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT CDS SURVEY

CDS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

“Father of the CD” dies

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities