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My 1,000
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Tuesday November 16, 2004
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Colin Powell has resigned as American Secretary of State, one of the most powerful jobs in the world. He handed his resignation to George W. Bush earlier today, White House officials said. He will stay in the position he has held for the past four years until a replacement has been found. Speculation has already started over who will fill his shoes. Top of the list is National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who is one of the President’s closest advisors.

Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants who became a US war hero in Vietnam, winning a Purple Heart. He eventually rose to the rank of four-star general, before becoming head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (in charge of America’s army, navy and air force). He became the 65th Secretary of State and was America’s key weapon in trying to persuade the world to invade Iraq at the United Nations Security Council in February 2003. He later admitted he didn’t think any WMD (weapons of mass destruction) would be found.

Powell is the highest-ranking African-American in US history. He talks a lot about this in his autobiography "American Journey". After victory in the 1991 Gulf War, many people believed he would run for President, and win! He had very wide appeal with black and white American voters. He would make a great candidate for the 2008 US election, but for now he wishes to leave public life. When he became Secretary of State in 2000, George W. Bush said, “General Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story."


 
 

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Colin Powell, Iraq War 1991 & 2003, war, Americans, WMD….

2. BECOME AMERICAN: Students talk about whether, like Colin Powell’s parents, they would like to emigrate to America.

3. REPUBLICAN WHO’s WHO: Write these names on the board and brainstorm their positions:
George W. Bush   Dick Cheney   Donald Rumsfeld   Colin Powell   Condoleeza Rice   John Ashcroft   Tom Ridge   Michael R. Bloomberg   Arnold Schwarzenegger   Charlton Heston

4. MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Explain the name of Powell’s book. Ask students to come up with a title for their own autobiographies. Students mill around the classroom trying to sell their books.


 
 

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. SYNONYM DIFFERENCES: Check in a dictionary with your partner the differences between these synonyms:
resign / retire;    speculation / gossip;    immigrant / refugee;   hero / idol;   persuade / brainwash;    confess / admit;   black person / African-American;   autobiography / biography;   goldfish bowl / public life
Circle which one of the synonym pairs students expect to find in the article on Colin Powell.

2. TRUE/FALSE: Students circle whether they believe the following statements to be true of false:
Colin Powell was fired as American Secretary of State. T / F
Colin Powell has been Secretary of State for four years. T / F
Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants. T / F
Colin Powell got a Lilac Heart war medal in Vietnam. T / F
Colin Powell rose to the rank of fifteen-star general. T / F
Colin Powell believed Iraq had no WMD. T / F
Colin Powell is the highest-ranking African-American in US history. T / F
Colin Powell will run for President in 2008. T / F

3. COLIN POWELL’S LIFE:  Students try to piece together details of Colin Powell’s life from the following information
1937 … City College of New York … geology… Vietnam … Purple Heart … helicopter crash …  MBA… Pentagon … Presidents Carter and Reagan …  Gulf War 1991 … Secretary of State … resign.
(Answers found at http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pow0bio-1)

4. WORD MATCH: Students match the ending to the following phrases taken from the text:

 

four-star

Advisor

 

Secretary of

Heart

 

National Security

President

 

Weapons of Mass

State

 

Purple

general

 

run for

Council

 

UN Security

Destruction

 

fill his

shoes

 

 WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Colin Powell Quits

Colin Powell has resigned as American Secretary of State, _________ of the most powerful jobs in the world. He handed his resignation to George W. Bush earlier today, White House officials said. He will stay in the position he has held for the _________ four years until a replacement has been found. Speculation has already started over who will _________ his shoes. Top of the list is National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who is one of the President’s closest advisors.
 

 

closer
one
past
fill

Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants who became a US war _________ in Vietnam, winning a Purple Heart. He eventually rose to the rank of four-star general, before becoming head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (in charge of America’s army, navy and air _________ ). He became the 65th Secretary of State and was America’s _________ weapon in trying to persuade the world to invade Iraq at the United Nations Security Council in February 2003. He later admitted he didn’t think any WMD (weapons of mass _________ ) would be found.
 

 

 force
hero
destruction
key

Powell is the highest-ranking African-American in US _________. He talks a lot about this in his autobiography "American Journey". After _________ in the 1991 Gulf War, many people believed he would run for President, and win! He had very _________ appeal with black and white American voters. He would make a great candidate for the 2008 US election, but for now he wishes to leave public _________ . When he became Secretary of State in 2000, George W. Bush said, “General Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story."

 

victory
life
history
wide

 

2. SYNONYM DIFFERENCES:  Students check their choices against the article.

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

4. WORD MATCH: Students check their answers to the word 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 questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class.

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

4. POWELL MIRROR:  Students ask each other the following questions based on vocabulary taken from the article:
a. Have you ever resigned from / quit a job?
b. Would you like to be one of the most powerful people in the world? What would you do with your power?
c. What is (was) your position in your company? Did you rise through the positions?
d. What is the longest position you’ve held?
e. When you left a previous job, was a suitable replacement found?
f. What are/were you in charge of in your company / school / at home?
g. Would you like to be a soldier? (Why/not?)
h. If you were Colin Powell, would you have invaded Iraq?
i. Do you think Colin Powell should run for President in 2008?
j. Are you interested in a job in public office?

5. 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.

6. MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Students make notes on the key details and events in their lives. Recount autobiographies to one another. Question / explore further.

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 Colin Powell. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. RESEARCH: Search the Internet and write your own article on Colin Powell.

4. MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Students write theirs.

ANSWERS

REPUBLICAN WHO’s WHO: George W. Bush (President)   Dick Cheney (Vice-President)   Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defence)   Condoleeza Rice (National Security Advisor)   Colin Powell (Secretary of State)   John Ashcroft (ex-Attorney General)  Tom Ridge    Michael R. Bloomberg (Mayor of New York)   Arnold Schwarzenegger (Governor of California)   Charlton Heston (President of the National Rifle Association

TRUE/FALSE:
Colin Powell was fired as American Secretary of State. F
Colin Powell has been Secretary of State for four years. T
Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants. T
Colin Powell got a Lilac Heart war medal in Vietnam. F
Colin Powell rose to the rank of fifteen-star general. F
Colin Powell believed Iraq had no WMD. F
Colin Powell is the highest-ranking African-American in US history. T
Colin Powell will run for President in 2008. F?

WORD MATCH: Students match the ending to the following phrases taken from the text:

 

four-star

general

 

Secretary of

State

 

National Security

Advisor

 

Weapons of Mass

Destruction

 

Purple

Heart

 

run for

President

 

UN Security

Council

 

fill his

shoes

 

 FULL TEXT

Colin Powell Quits

Colin Powell has resigned as American Secretary of State, one of the most powerful jobs in the world. He handed his resignation to George W. Bush earlier today, White House officials said. He will stay in the position he has held for the past four years until a replacement has been found. Speculation has already started over who will fill his shoes. Top of the list is National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who is one of the President’s closest advisors.
Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants who became a US war hero in Vietnam, winning a Purple Heart. He eventually rose to the rank of four-star general, before becoming head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (in charge of America’s army, navy and air force). He became the 65th Secretary of State and was America’s key weapon in trying to persuade the world to invade Iraq at the United Nations Security Council in February 2003. He later admitted he didn’t think any WMD (weapons of mass destruction) would be found.
Powell is the highest-ranking African-American in US history. He talks a lot about this in his autobiography "American Journey". After victory in the 1991 Gulf War, many people believed he would run for President, and win! He had very wide appeal with black and white American voters. He would make a great candidate for the 2008 US election, but for now he wishes to leave public life. When he became Secretary of State in 2000, George W. Bush said, “General Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story."

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