Tuesday January 4, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Shirley Chisholm, the first black American woman elected to Congress, and the first black person or woman to run for president of the United States, has died at the age of 80. She was born in a poor area of Brooklyn, New York, but studied and worked hard and entered politics in 1965. She won a seat in Congress in 1969, and remained there until 1982. In 1972, Ms. Chisholm ran for president of the United States, although she got less than seven per cent of the vote. She said,
“I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo”.
Her running was more symbolic that realistic, but did change perceptions of who can run for president. In her book “The Good Fight” she said,
“The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start.”
However, she retired from politics because of her inability to bring about change in the conservative Congress. She said,
“Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs … it is ruled by a small group of old men.”
She always fought for women's and minority rights, and was also a staunch critic of the Vietnam War. She often said she experienced more personal discrimination because she was a woman than because she was black. The Reverend Jesse Jackson told Associated Press Shirley Chisholm was
“a woman of great courage … She was an activist and she never stopped fighting. … She refused to accept the ordinary, and she had high expectations for herself and all people around her.”
She said she wanted to be remembered for ‘having guts’.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

NOTE: The term 'black' is widely used in the British-English speaking world and is widely used in the American media. The term 'Afro-American' is more commonly used in the United States.

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about black people in America / women in America / discrimination in America / discrimination / / changing your world / having guts / …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. I CAN DO IT: Each student writes down the thing they most want to do in the world. Talk to other students about this thing, and what and how they can do it. Each new partner encourages them to do it.

3. MY COUNTRY AND EQUALITY: Talk about the minorities in your own country. Who are they? How are they treated? What rights do they (not) have? Could they ever run for political office? Are they good or bad for your country?

4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
- America is a great nation. vs. America has too many faults to be great.
- America is still dominated by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs). vs America is an inclusive cosmopolitan society.
- In America women and men are equal. vs. Why has there been no female president?
- In America blacks and whites are equal. vs. Whites are ten times more equal than blacks
- A woman would be a great president. vs. A woman would be too weak.
- Ethnic minorities make valuable contributions to a country and enrich its culture. vs. Ethnic minorities commit a lot of crime and waste taxes.
- You should never stop fighting. vs. Fighting is no good.

PRE-READING I DEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘black’, and ‘woman’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  The first black American woman elected to Congress has died.  T / F
(b)  She was also the first black person or woman to run for president of the United States.  T / F
(c)  She was also the first black person to become president of the United States.  T / F
(d)  She ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds against winning.  T / F
(e)  She believes minorities running for president will never be taken seriously.  T / F
(f)  She brought about much change in the conservative American Congress. T / F
(g)  She said America is ruled by a small group of old men.  T / F
(h)  She wants to be remembered for ‘having guts’.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	black	campaign
(b)	elected	determination
(c)	run	defended
(d)	hopeless	acknowledge
(e)	will	chosen
(f)	status quo	futile
(g)	respond	dogged
(h)	fought	Afro-American
(i)	staunch	backbone
(j)	guts	current situation

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	run for	politics
(b)	entered	perceptions
(c)	status	of the Vietnam War
(d)	more symbolic	seriously from the start
(e)	change	president
(f)	he or she will be taken	elected
(g)	She always fought for	‘having guts’
(h)	a staunch critic	than realistic
(i)	democratically	women's and minority rights
(j)	she wanted to be remembered for	quo

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

First black US Congresswoman dies

Shirley Chisholm, the first black American woman __________ to Congress, and the first black person or woman to __________ for president of the United States, has died at the age of 80. She was born in a poor area of Brooklyn, New York, but studied and worked hard and entered politics in 1965. She won a seat in Congress in 1969, and remained there until 1982. In 1972, Ms. Chisholm ran for president of the United States, although she got less than seven per cent of the vote. She said, “I ran for the presidency, __________ hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo”. Her running was more symbolic that realistic, but did change __________ of who can run for president. In her book “The Good Fight” she said, “The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start.” However, she retired from politics because of her __________ to bring about change in the conservative Congress. She said, “Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs … it is __________ by a small group of old men.” She always fought for women's and minority rights, and was also a staunch critic of the Vietnam War. She often said she experienced more personal __________ because she was a woman than because she was black. The Reverend Jesse Jackson told Associated Press Shirley Chisholm was “a woman of great courage … She was an activist and she never stopped fighting. … She refused to accept the ordinary, and she had high expectations for herself and all people around her.” She said she wanted to be remembered for ‘having __________’.

inability despite elected ruled guts run perceptions discrimination

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonym exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase 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. ‘BLACK’/ ‘WOMAN’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

2. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

3. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

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

5. STUDENT-GENERATED 'GUTS' 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. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

6. 'GUTS' DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  What do you think of Ms. Shirley Chisholm's achievements?
(b)  What kind of legacy do you think she has left?
(c)  Will she be remembered for 'having guts'?
(d)  Will you be remembered for 'having guts'?
(e)  How would you like to be remembered?
(f)  Is Shirley Chisholm an American success story?
(g)  When will there be a black and/or female American president?
(h)  Will Condoleeza Rice become America's fist female and black president?
(i)  Is the color of your skin an issue in your country?
(j)  How are people of different skin colors seen / treated in your country?
(k) Would you like to change the status quo?
(l) Do you have a strong will like Ms. Chisholm's?
(m) Is America really ruled by a small group of old men? How about your country?
(n) What if your country was ruled by women?
(o) Have you ever had to fight for something, especially your rights?
(p) Have you ever felt / been discriminated against?
(q) Ms. Chisholm had high expectations for herself. How about you and your expectations of yourself?
(p)  Teacher’s additional questions

7. INEQUALITY: In pairs students choose a group of oppressed people and create a presentation on who the people are, the kind of discrimination they face, and what should be done to create equality in their case. Give presentations to the class / other pairs/groups and discuss.

8. EXTENDED WARMERS: Students take part in extended fluency versions of the warmers above, which seem conducive to greater discussion.

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 Shirley Chisholm. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. RIGHTS INFO: Create a poster on a minority group you know of / are one of.

4. LETTER TO SHIRLEY: Write a letter to Shirley Chisholm telling her what you feel about her.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  The first black American woman elected to Congress has died.  T / F
(b)  She was also the first black person or woman to run for president of the United States.  T / F
(c)  She was also the first black person to become president of the United States.  T / F
(d)  She ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds against winning.  T / F
(e)  She believes minorities running for president will never be taken seriously.  T / F
(f)  She brought about much change in the conservative American Congress. T / F
(g)  She said America is ruled by a small group of old men.  T / F
(h)  She wants to be remembered for ‘having guts’.  T / F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	black	Afro-American
(b)	elected	chosen
(c)	run	campaign
(d)	hopeless	futile
(e)	will	determination
(f)	status quo	current situation
(g)	respond	acknowledge
(h)	fought	defended
(i)	staunch	dogged
(j)	guts	backbone

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	run for	president
(b)	entered	politics
(c)	status	quo
(d)	more symbolic	than realistic
(e)	change	perceptions
(f)	he or she will be taken	seriously from the start
(g)	She always fought for	women's and minority rights
(h)	a staunch critic	of the Vietnam War
(i)	democratically	elected
(j)	she wanted to be remembered for	‘having guts’

GAP FILL:

First black US Congresswoman dies