Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon emerged from seven hours of surgery in critical, but stable, condition after suffering a massive stroke Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon clung to life, Israel moved to a transitional administration that is expected to govern the country until national elections on March 28. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem, can serve as Israel's acting prime minister for up to 100 days, taking the country through the elections. Mr. Olmert met with Ariel Sharon’s staff and chaired a cabinet meeting at which it was agreed that Israel will hold national elections as scheduled on March 28.

Eyes in Israel were glued to television screens that showed pictures of the scene outside Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon underwent two lengthy operations after suffering a massive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, says the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition in a medically induced coma. “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a hemorrhagic stroke,” the doctor explained. “As part of the treatment Prime Minister Sharon is under anesthesia and he is ventilated, at least for the next 24 hours.”

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

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 / mayors / Jerusalem / eyes / glue / TV screens / 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 to achieve.
2. Mr. Sharon did more to create conditions 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 withdraw from Gaza.
7. Mr. Sharon is wrong to continue building settlements on the West Bank.
8. Palestinian statehood is more uncertain without Ariel Sharon.

6. STROKE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with strokes. 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 administration will govern until March.	T / F
c.	A former Jerusalem mayor will act as Israel’s head for up to 100 days.	T / F
d.	Mr. Sharon’s hospitalization threatens a scheduled national election.	T / F
e.	Some Israelis glued their eyes to TV screens and went to hospital.	T / F
f.	Mr. Sharon had two very long operations.	T / F
g.	Doctors put Mr. Sharon in a coma to allow him to recover.	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	monumental
b.	stable	brought about
c.	massive	sleep
d.	serve	stuck
e.	chaired	dangerous
f.	glued	had
g.	underwent	life-or-death
h.	induced	sound
i.	coma	act
j.	vital	led

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

a.	Ariel Sharon emerged	two lengthy operations
b.	Mr. Sharon clung	to a transitional administration
c.	Israel moved	a cabinet meeting
d.	serve as Israel's acting prime minister	and measurements
e.	chaired	induced coma
f.	Eyes in Israel	from seven hours of surgery
g.	Ariel Sharon underwent	and he is ventilated
h.	a medically	for up to 100 days
i.	All the vital signs	were glued to television screens
j.	Sharon is under anesthesia	to life

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 replacements.

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon submerged from seven hours of surgery in critical, but stable, condition after suffering a massive strike Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon clung to life, Israel moved to a transitional administration that is expected to govern the country until national elections on March 28. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a farmer mayor of Jerusalem, can serve as Israel's acting prime minister for up to 100 days, taking the country through the elections. Mr. Olmert met with Ariel Sharon’s staff and tabled a cabinet meeting at which it was agreed that Israel will hold national elections as schemed on March 28.

Eyes in Israel were glued to television screens that showed pictures of the seen outside Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon underwent two wide operations after suffering a massive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, says the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition in a medically induced comma. “All the viral signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a hemorrhagic stroke,” the doctor explained. “As part of the treatment Prime Minister Sharon is over anesthesia and he is ventilated, at least for the next 24 hours.”

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon _________ from seven hours of surgery in ________, but stable, condition after suffering a massive stroke Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon _______ to life, Israel moved to a _____________ administration that is expected to govern the country until national elections on March 28. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem, can _______ as Israel's acting prime minister for up to 100 days, taking the country through the elections. Mr. Olmert met with Ariel Sharon’s staff and _______ a cabinet meeting at which it was agreed that Israel will _______ national elections as scheduled on March 28.

Eyes in Israel were _______ to television screens that showed pictures of the scene outside Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon underwent two _______ operations after suffering a massive stroke and __________ hemorrhage. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, says the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition in a medically __________ coma. “All the ______ signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a hemorrhagic stroke,” the doctor explained. “As part of the treatment Prime Minister Sharon is under ______________ and he is ventilated, at least for the next 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 single act is Ariel Sharon best known for?
4. Do you think Ariel Sharon is a great world leader?
5. Do you think there’ll be a political vacuum in Israel in Mr. Sharon’s absence?
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 your eyes 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 more to achieve peace in the Middle East than anyone else?
7. Do you think Ariel Sharon is a hero or a criminal?
8. Which regional leaders have had as much charisma, weight and political savvy 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 absolutely impossible; “10” is very likely. Discuss the consequences of the events in the headlines being real.

HEADLINE	SCORE	CONSEQUENCES
Shimon Peres is elected Prime Minister
Civil war in Israel
Israel’s new right wing leader reoccupies Gaza
Israel’s new left wing leader OKs dismantling of West Bank settlements
Israel elects 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. T

d. F

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	critical	dangerous
b.	stable	sound
c.	massive	monumental
d.	serve	act
e.	chaired	led
f.	glued	stuck
g.	underwent	had
h.	induced	brought about
i.	coma	sleep
j.	vital	life-or-death

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Ariel Sharon emerged	from seven hours of surgery
b.	Mr. Sharon clung	to life
c.	Israel moved	to a transitional administration
d.	serve as Israel's acting prime minister	for up to 100 days
e.	chaired	a cabinet meeting
f.	Eyes in Israel	were glued to television screens
g.	Ariel Sharon underwent	two lengthy operations
h.	a medically	induced coma
i.	All the vital signs	and measurements
j.	Sharon is under anesthesia	and he is ventilated

WRONG:

Ariel Sharon in critical condition

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon emerged from seven hours of surgery in critical, but stable, condition after suffering a massive stroke Wednesday. As Mr. Sharon clung to life, Israel moved to a transitional administration that is expected to govern the country until national elections on March 28. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem, can serve as Israel's acting prime minister for up to 100 days, taking the country through the elections. Mr. Olmert met with Ariel Sharon’s staff and chaired a cabinet meeting at which it was agreed that Israel will hold national elections as scheduled on March 28.

Eyes in Israel were glued to television screens that showed pictures of the scene outside Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, where Ariel Sharon underwent two lengthy operations after suffering a massive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital, says the 77-year-old Mr. Sharon remains in critical, but stable, condition in a medically induced coma. “All the vital signs and measurements are according to what is expected after such a long surgery and after a hemorrhagic stroke,” the doctor explained. “As part of the treatment Prime Minister Sharon is under anesthesia and he is ventilated, at least for the next 24 hours.”

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