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Tuesday November 16, 2004 THE ARTICLEColin 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 DOWNS1. 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: 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 IDEAS1. SYNONYM DIFFERENCES: Check in a dictionary with your partner the differences between these synonyms: 2. TRUE/FALSE: Students circle whether they believe the following statements to be true of false: 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:
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES1. GAP-FILL: Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps. Colin Powell Quits
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 IDEAS1. 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: 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. HOMEWORK1. 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. ANSWERSREPUBLICAN 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: WORD MATCH: Students match the ending to the following phrases taken from the text:
FULL TEXT Colin Powell QuitsColin 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. Help Support This Web Site
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