Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition after a seven-hour operation yesterday. Doctors operated on Mr. Sharon’s brain to stop bleeding that almost killed him. He had a massive stroke on Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon fights to recover from the surgery, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took control of the government. He will probably govern the country until national elections take place on March 28. Mr. Olmert is a former mayor of Jerusalem. Under Israel’s constitution, he can serve as acting prime minister for up to 100 days.

People in Israel were glued to their television screens throughout the day and night. They watched pictures of the scene outside Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon is now recovering from his two long operations. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, said the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition. He explained: “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a…stroke.” Mr. Sharon must stay under anesthesia for at least 24 hours.

Source: VOA (http://www.voanews.com/english/Ariel-Sharon-Clings-To-Life-in-Critical-Condition.cfm)

Adapted from an article written by Jim Teeple

WARM-UPS

1. ARIEL SHARON: Talk to as many other students as you can to find out what they know about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After you have talked to lots of students, sit down with your partner(s) and share your information. Tell each other what you thought was interesting or surprising. What more would you like to know?

2. LEADERS’ IFS: If Ariel Sharon were something else, what would he be? Discuss this with your partner(s) using the themes below. Talk also about the leader of you own country.

An animal A bird A historical figure A mode of transport

A new technology A fruit A color A place in the world

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

Israel / prime ministers / strokes / life / national elections / governments / glue / TV screens / Jerusalem / hospitals / vital signs / surgery / the next 24 hours

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. QUESTIONS: You are a news reporter. You have an eight-question interview with Ariel Sharon based on the words below. Role play the interview between the reporter and Mr. Sharon with your partner. Change roles and partners.

Palestine George W. Bush The Israeli security barrier Israel

Peace Iran’s President Ahmadinejad Battles Food

5. ARIEL SHARON OPINIONS: Do you agree with these opinions? Discuss them with your partner.

1. Peace in the Middle East will now take a lot longer.
2. Mr. Sharon did more for peace than anyone else.
3. Mr. Sharon has a lot of innocent blood on his hands.
4. Israel is a safer place because of Mr. Sharon.
5. There will never be anyone else like Ariel Sharon.
6. Mr. Sharon was right to leave Gaza.
7. Mr. Sharon is wrong to continue building settlements on the West Bank.
8. A Palestinian country is more uncertain without Ariel Sharon.

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Ariel Sharon suffered a massive heart attack.	T / F
b.	Israel’s opposition party will govern until March.	T / F
c.	Mr. Sharon’s hospitalization may cancel a national election.	T / F
d.	A former Jerusalem mayor will be Israel’s leader for up to 100 days.	T / F
e.	Some Israelis glued themselves to TV screens and went to hospital.	T / F
f.	Mr. Sharon is in critical, but stable, condition.	T / F
g.	Doctors say Mr. Sharon’s vital signs are normal for his condition.	T / F
h.	Mr. Sharon must stay under anesthesia for up to 24 days.	T / F

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

a.	critical	rule
b.	operation	calm
c.	massive	work
d.	govern	huge
e.	serve	images
f.	glued	dangerous
g.	pictures	fixed
h.	long	life-or-death
i.	stable	surgery
j.	vital	lengthy

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	in critical condition	but stable, condition
b.	stop bleeding that almost	to recover from the surgery
c.	Mr. Sharon fights	from his two long operations
d.	govern the country until	up to 100 days
e.	serve as acting prime minister for	measurements
f.	People in Israel were glued	anesthesia for at least 24 hours
g.	Ariel Sharon is now recovering	after a seven-hour operation
h.	Mr. Sharon remains in critical,	national elections take place
i.	vital signs and	to their television screens
j.	Mr. Sharon must stay under	killed him

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WRONG: Which five words of the ten in bold in each paragraph are incorrect or unlikely? With your partner(s), find them and agree on better words.

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition after a seven-hour operation yesterday. Doctors operated on Mr. Sharon’s sprain to stop bleeding that almost killed him. He had a massive stroke on Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon fights to cover from the surgery, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took control of the government. He will probably govern the country until international elections take place on March 28. Mr. Olmert is a farmer mayor of Jerusalem. Under Israel’s constitution, he can serve as acting prime minister for up to 100 years.

People in Israel were glued to their television screens throughout the day and weekend. They watched pictures of the seen outside Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon is now recovering from his two long operations. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the janitor of the hospital, said the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but table, condition. He explained: “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a…stroke.” Mr. Sharon must stay under anesthesia for at least 24 weeks.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in ________ condition after a seven-hour operation yesterday. Doctors operated on Mr. Sharon’s brain to stop _________ that almost killed him. He had a ________ stroke on Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon fights to recover from the surgery, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took control of the government. He will probably ________ the country until national elections take place on March 28. Mr. Olmert is a ________ mayor of Jerusalem. Under Israel’s constitution, he can serve as ________ prime minister for up to 100 days.

People in Israel were ________ to their television screens throughout the day and night. They watched pictures of the ________ outside Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon is now ___________ from his two long operations. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, said the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but ________, condition. He explained: “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a…stroke.” Mr. Sharon must stay _______ anesthesia for at least 24 hours.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. WRONG: 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. STUDENT “ARIEL SHARON” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Ariel Sharon.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

emerged Wednesday clung former 100 days as scheduled

glued lengthy director medically vital 24 hours

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. Do you like Ariel Sharon?
3. What is Ariel Sharon best known for?
4. Do you think Ariel Sharon is a great world leader?
5. Do you think Israel will miss Ariel Sharon?
6. Do you think Palestinians will be worried about Mr. Sharon’s condition?
7. What questions would you like to ask Ariel Sharon?
8. What do you think his answers would be?
9. What adjectives would you use to describe Mr. Sharon?
10. When was the last time you were glued to the TV screen?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. What was your initial reaction to this news?
4. What effects do you think it will have on the Road Map for Peace?
5. How do you think leaders from the Middle East will view this news?
6. Do you think Ariel Sharon has done a lot to achieve peace in the Middle East?
7. Do you think Ariel Sharon is a hero or a criminal?
8. Which regional leaders have had as much charisma as Mr. Sharon has?
9. What are Mr. Sharon’s biggest successes and failures?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, agree on a score from 1 to 10 for the likelihood of the following “headlines” coming true in the next few weeks / months. “1” is totally impossible; “10” is very likely. Discuss the consequences of the events in the headlines being real.

HEADLINE	SCORE	CONSEQUENCES
Shimon Peres is the new Prime Minister
Civil war in Israel
Israel’s new right wing leader reoccupies Gaza
Israel’s new left wing leader gives the West Bank to Palestine
Israel has its first Arab Prime Minister
Coalition government impossible to form

Change partners and talk about the scores you agreed on with your old partner(s).

Talk about the consequences you discussed with your first partner(s).

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 more information on Ariel Sharon. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. THE FUTURE: Write an essay about the short-term future of Israel without Ariel Sharon as leader. Read your essay to your classmates in the next lesson.

4. LETTER: Write a letter to Ariel Sharon. Tell him what you think of his political life. Tell him what you think should happen in the Middle East. Show your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone have similar ideas?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	critical	dangerous
b.	operation	surgery
c.	massive	huge
d.	govern	rule
e.	serve	work
f.	glued	fixed
g.	pictures	images
h.	long	lengthy
i.	stable	calm
j.	vital	life-or-death

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	in critical condition	after a seven-hour operation
b.	stop bleeding that almost	killed him
c.	Mr. Sharon fights	to recover from the surgery
d.	govern the country until	national elections take place
e.	serve as acting prime minister for	up to 100 days
f.	People in Israel were glued	to their television screens
g.	Ariel Sharon is now recovering	from his two long operations
h.	Mr. Sharon remains in critical,	but stable, condition
i.	vital signs and	measurements
j.	Mr. Sharon must stay under	anesthesia for at least 24 hours

WRONG:

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition after a seven-hour operation yesterday. Doctors operated on Mr. Sharon’s brain to stop bleeding that almost killed him. He had a massive stroke on Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon fights to recover from the surgery, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took control of the government. He will probably govern the country until national elections take place on March 28. Mr. Olmert is a former mayor of Jerusalem. Under Israel’s constitution, he can serve as acting prime minister for up to 100 days.

People in Israel were glued to their television screens throughout the day and night. They watched pictures of the scene outside Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon is now recovering from his two long operations. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, said the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition. He explained: “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a…stroke.” Mr. Sharon must stay under anesthesia for at least 24 hours.

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