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Vatican Criticizes IVF Nobel Award (5th October, 2010)


 

Vatican officials have hit out at the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to the pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, Dr Robert Edwards. They said the award to the British researcher was "completely out of place" and went against all Christian teaching on procreation. Spokesman Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the ANSA news agency that IVF has led to “incomprehensible situations like children born from grandmothers and mothers 'for hire'”. He expressed his horror at "the great number of frozen embryos around the world, which at best are waiting to be transferred to wombs but will most probably end up being abandoned or dying”. The current Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF is morally wrong because it replaced the natural sexual union between husband and wife.

In-vitro fertilization is the process of fertilizing human egg cells by sperm outside a woman's womb. It created the world’s first “test-tube baby” in 1978 and has since created four million babies. IVF has changed the lives of millions of infertile couples who could not have children. The Nobel Prize committee said Professor Edwards' pioneering work had brought "joy to infertile people all over the world". They added: "His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.” The first baby born via IVF, Louise Brown, 32, said the award was "fantastic news". She told reporters she was “so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves”.


WARM-UPS

1. NOBEL PRIZE: Walk around the class and talk to other students about Nobel Prizes. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

 

Vatican / Nobel Prize / pioneers / IVF / incomprehensible / embryos / horror / union / human eggs /test-tube baby / achievements / medical conditions / fantastic news

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. NOBEL PRIZE: Make new rules for who gets Nobel Prizes. Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Nobel Prize for…

Rules

Peace

 

Medicine

 

Literature

 

Economics

 

Physics

 

Other ___________

 

4. IVF: Students A strongly believe IVF is a good thing; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. FANTASTIC NEWS: What’s yours? Talk about news of these things with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you heard.

  • studying news
  • family news
  • money news
  • home news
  • computer news
  • hair news
  • clothes / shopping news
  • food news

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


 
 

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.

A Vatican official hit a member of the Nobel Prize committee.

T / F

b.

The official said IVF is not in line with the way Christians should live.

T / F

c.

The official said an advantage of IVF was women could hire babies.

T / F

d.

The Pope believes IVF isn’t good because it’s unnatural.

T / F

e.

IVF almost always takes place inside a woman’s body.

T / F

f.

Babies born via IVF are created inside test tubes.

T / F

g.

IVF accounts for around 10% of all babies born in the world.

T / F

h.

The world’s first “test-tube baby” is still alive.

T / F

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

1.

officials

a.

unintelligible

2

pioneer

b.

by means of

3.

procreation

c.

method

4.

incomprehensible

d.

representatives

5.

abandoned

e.

hitting

6.

process

f.

dumped

7.

infertile

g.

innovator

8.

afflicting

h.

merits

9.

via

i.

reproduction

10.

deserves

j.

sterile

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.

the awarding of

a.

via IVF

2

the pioneer of in-

b.

teaching on procreation

3.

went against all Christian

c.

he deserves

4.

probably end up

d.

human egg cells

5.

Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF

e.

the Nobel Prize

6.

the process of fertilizing

f.

of infertile couples

7.

changed the lives of millions

g.

being abandoned

8.

afflicting a large proportion

h.

vitro fertilization

9.

The first baby born

i.

is morally wrong

10.

given the recognition

j.

of humanity

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Vatican officials have hit out at the ____________ of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to the ____________ of in-vitro fertilization, Dr Robert Edwards. They said the award to the British researcher was "completely out of ____________" and went against all Christian teaching on procreation. Spokesman Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the ANSA news ____________ that IVF has led to “incomprehensible situations like children born from grandmothers and mothers 'for hire'”. He expressed his horror at "the great number of ____________ embryos around the world, which at best are waiting to be transferred to wombs but will most ____________ end up being abandoned or ____________”. The current Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF is morally wrong because it replaced the natural sexual ____________ between husband and wife.

 

 

 

probably
place
union
awarding
frozen
pioneer
dying
agency

In-vitro fertilization is the ____________ of fertilizing human egg cells by sperm outside a woman's womb. It created the world’s first “test-____________ baby” in 1978 and has since created four million babies. IVF has changed the ____________ of millions of infertile couples who could not have children. The Nobel Prize committee said Professor Edwards' pioneering work had brought "____________ to infertile people all over the world". They added: "His achievements have made it possible to ____________ infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large ____________ of humanity, including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.” The first baby born ____________ IVF, Louise Brown, 32, said the award was "fantastic news". She told reporters she was “so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he ____________”.

 

 

lives
treat
deserves
process
joy
proportion
tube
via

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Vatican officials __________________ awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to the pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, Dr Robert Edwards. They said the award to the British researcher was "__________________" and went against all Christian teaching on procreation. Spokesman Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the ANSA news agency that IVF has led to “_____________________ like children born from grandmothers and mothers 'for hire'”. He ____________________ "the great number of frozen embryos around the world, which at best are waiting to be transferred to wombs but will most probably ____________________ or dying”. The current Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF is morally wrong because it replaced ____________________ between husband and wife.

In-vitro fertilization is ____________________ human egg cells by sperm outside a woman's womb. It created the world’s first “test-tube baby” in 1978 ____________________ four million babies. IVF has changed the lives of millions of infertile couples who could not have children. The Nobel Prize committee said Professor Edwards' ____________________ brought "joy to infertile people all over the world". They added: "His achievements have ____________________ treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than ____________________ worldwide.” The first baby born via IVF, Louise Brown, 32, said the award was "fantastic news". She told reporters she was “so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the ______________________”.


 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

medicine

prize

 

 

 

  • 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. GAP FILL: 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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

  • awarding
  • place
  • against
  • hire
  • frozen
  • union
  • cells
  • since
  • lives
  • possible
  • fantastic
  • deserves

STUDENT IVF SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about IVF in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

 

STUDENT 1

_____________

STUDENT 2

_____________

STUDENT 3

_____________

Q.1.

 

 

 

 

Q.2.

 

 

 

 

Q.3.

 

 

 

 

Q.4.

 

 

 

 

Q.5.

 

 

 

 

  • Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
  • Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

IVF DISCUSSION

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

a)

What did you think when you read the headline?

b)

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Nobel’?

c)

Do you think the Vatican is right to be angry over this?

d)

What do you know about IVF?

e)

Do you think religions should get more up to date, or are the old teachings the best?

f)

Do you think the “incomprehensible situations” are as bad as the Vatican suggests?

g)

Are you also horrified at labs freezing embryos?

h)

What do you think of IVF as a scientific advance?

i)

Is IVF morally wrong?

j)

Would you ever consider IVF if you couldn’t have children?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

a)

Did you like reading this article?

b)

Do you think the Vatican believes the four million babies have no right to life?

c)

What would infertile couples think about the Vatican’s views?

d)

Is joy and happiness at the birth of a baby more important than how it was created?

e)

How surprised are you at the 10% statistic?

f)

Are there limits to where IVF should go next (e.g. cloning, etc.)?

g)

What did the world think of the first ever “test-tube baby”?

h)

What do you think Louise Brown thinks of the Vatican’s views?

i)

Do you think Dr Edwards deserves the Prize?

j)

What questions would you like to ask Dr Robert Edwards?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Vatican officials have hit out at the (1) ____ of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to the pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, Dr Robert Edwards. They said the award to the British researcher was "completely out of (2) ____" and went against all Christian teaching (3) ____ procreation. Spokesman Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the ANSA news agency that IVF has led to “incomprehensible situations like children born from grandmothers and mothers '(4) ____  hire'”. He expressed his horror at "the great number of frozen embryos around the world, which at best are waiting to be transferred to (5) ____ but will most probably end up being abandoned or dying”. The current Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF is morally wrong because it replaced the natural sexual (6) ____ between husband and wife.

In-vitro fertilization is the process of fertilizing human egg cells by sperm outside a woman's womb. It created the world’s first “test-(7) ____ baby” in 1978 and has (8) ____ created four million babies. IVF has changed the lives of millions of infertile couples who could not have children. The Nobel Prize committee said Professor Edwards' pioneering work had brought "(9) ____ to infertile people all over the world". They added: "His achievements have made it possible to (10) ____ infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.” The first baby born (11) ____ IVF, Louise Brown, 32, said the award was "fantastic news". She told reporters she was “so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the (12) ____ he deserves”.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.

(a)

awards

(b)

award

(c)

awarded

(d)

awarding

2.

(a)

location

(b)

here

(c)

place

(d)

venue

3.

(a)

in

(b)

on

(c)

at

(d)

by

4.

(a)

for

(b)

at

(c)

from

(d)

by

5.

(a)

tombs

(b)

bombs

(c)

wombs

(d)

combs

6.

(a)

reunion

(b)

onion

(c)

unison

(d)

union

7.

(a)

tubular

(b)

tube

(c)

tubby

(d)

tub

8.

(a)

since

(b)

past

(c)

for

(d)

ago

9.

(a)

joyful

(b)

joy

(c)

joyous

(d)

joyously

10.

(a)

treatment

(b)

treats

(c)

treat

(d)

treated

11.

(a)

via

(b)

viva

(c)

vie

(d)

vim

12.

(a)

recognized

(b)

recognizes

(c)

recognize

(d)

recognition

WRITING

Write about IVF for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 out more about the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. IVF: Make a poster about IVF. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. HITTING OUT: Write a magazine article about the Nobel Prize for Medicine going to IVF research. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula. Ask him three questions about IVF. Give him three of your opinions on IVF. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

F

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

F

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.

officials

a.

representatives

2

pioneer

b.

innovator

3.

procreation

c.

reproduction

4.

incomprehensible

d.

unintelligible

5.

abandoned

e.

dumped

6.

process

f.

method

7.

infertile

g.

sterile

8.

afflicting

h.

hitting

9.

via

i.

by means of

10.

deserves

j.

merits

PHRASE MATCH:

1.

the awarding of

a.

the Nobel Prize

2

the pioneer of in-

b.

vitro fertilization

3.

went against all Christian

c.

teaching on procreation

4.

probably end up

d.

being abandoned

5.

Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF

e.

is morally wrong

6.

the process of fertilizing

f.

human egg cells

7.

changed the lives of millions

g.

of infertile couples

8.

afflicting a large proportion

h.

of humanity

9.

The first baby born

i.

via IVF

10.

given the recognition

j.

he deserves

GAP FILL:

Vatican criticizes IVF Nobel award

Vatican officials have hit out at the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to the pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, Dr Robert Edwards. They said the award to the British researcher was "completely out of place" and went against all Christian teaching on procreation. Spokesman Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the ANSA news agency that IVF has led to “incomprehensible situations like children born from grandmothers and mothers 'for hire'”. He expressed his horror at "the great number of frozen embryos around the world, which at best are waiting to be transferred to wombs but will most probably end up being abandoned or dying”. The current Pope Benedict XVI believes IVF is morally wrong because it replaced the natural sexual union between husband and wife.

In-vitro fertilization is the process of fertilizing human egg cells by sperm outside a woman's womb. It created the world’s first “test-tube baby” in 1978 and has since created four million babies. IVF has changed the lives of millions of infertile couples who could not have children. The Nobel Prize committee said Professor Edwards' pioneering work had brought "joy to infertile people all over the world". They added: "His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.” The first baby born via IVF, Louise Brown, 32, said the award was "fantastic news". She told reporters she was “so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves”.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - c

3 - b

4 - a

5 - c

6 - d

7 - b

8 - a

9 - b

10 - c

11 - a

12 - d

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