Monday February 7, 2005
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Pope John Paul II proved he was well enough earlier to wave to his adoring public and well-wishers below his hospital window. Crowds of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to watch the 84-year-old pope on giant video screens. He even said a few lines in Latin from a prayer, although his voice was hoarse and frail, and managed to make the sign of the cross. A Vatican aide read his message, which gave every indication the pope considered himself still in charge of the Catholic Church, “Even here in the hospital, surrounded by other sick people, to whom I send my affectionate thoughts, I continue to serve the church and all of humanity.” This was his first public appearance since being rushed to hospital last week with breathing difficulties. His few lines also meant he has continued his record of speaking to the public every single Sunday since he became pope in 1978. He even delivered a speech four days after he was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981. He is currently battling Parkinson’s disease, arthritis and flu.

Teacher's notes plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf 

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Pope John Paul II / the Catholic Church / serving humanity / the Vatican / religion / world leaders / …

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. POPE BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Pope John Paul II. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY RELIGIOUS LEADERS: Who is / are the religious leader (s) of your religion / country? Talk with your partner about their importance; How much they are respected; The good they do; What they are not doing that they should be …

4. PAPAL OPINIONS: Talk to your partner / group about the following opinions on the pope:

1. Pope John Paul II should step down and let someone younger and stronger take over.
2. Pope John Paul II is doing God’s work and cannot stop until he dies.
3. There should be a retirement age for popes.
4. Pope John Paul II has done a lot of good for the world.
5. Pope John Paul II and his successors need to do more to reconcile and work with other faiths.
6. Pope John Paul II is a very special man and a true role model for all people.
7. Pope John Paul II is too behind the times on many social issues such as abortion and contraception.
8. The next pope should make the Vatican free from scandal and corruption.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

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

1. Pope John Paul II wasn’t well enough to wave to people.  T / F
2. Many well-wishers gathered below his hospital window.  T / F
3. Crowds of people gathered in the Vatican to watch the pope on giant video screens.  T / F
4. He gave a 10-minute speech in Latin.  T / F
5. He managed to make the sign of the cross.  T / F
6. He visited all of the other patients in his hospital.  T / F
7. He has delivered a speech every Sunday since becoming pope in 1978.  T / F
8. He survived an assassination attempt in 1981.  T / F

3. DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) proved (v)
(i) did something to make other people believe you could do it
(ii) read a speech written by someone else, a speech writer

(b) adoring (adj)
(i) showing great love for, acting in a very loving way
(ii) placing many posters and flyers around a town to publicize an event or a product

(c) hoarse (adj)
(i) a large four-legged animal that runs very fast
(ii) a rough sounding voice – like when you have a sore throat

(d) frail (adj)
(i) physically very weak, easy to break or be injured
(ii) a method of cooking eggs by using very hot stones to cook them

(e) aide (n)
(i) a kind of personal helper
(ii) a fizzy drink / soda that has special ingredients to increase your energy levels

(f) affectionate (adj)
(i) when one event has very serious consequences for another event
(ii) showing your warm love to someone else

(g) serve (v)
(i) to work for and help other people
(ii) to kneel down on the floor and bow your head in front of a religious image

(h) humanity (n)
(i) all people in the world considered as one group
(ii) the number of people there are in the world

(i) assassination (adj)
(i) to have a serious talk with a temple / church / mosque / synagogue leader
(ii) to try to kill a very important person

(j) battling (v)
(i) a style of playing baseball or cricket that is very aggressive
(ii) fighting very hard to beat a disease

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

(a)	proved	croaky
(b)	adoring	sign
(c)	crowds	the boss
(d)	hoarse	respiratory
(e)	frail	hordes
(f)	indication	showed
(g)	in charge of	fragile
(h)	breathing	murder
(i)	assassination	fighting
(j)	battling	loving

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

(a)	proved he was well	gathered in St. Peter’s Square
(b)	adoring	appearance since being rushed to hospital
(c)	Crowds of people	and frail
(d)	He even said a few lines	diffi culties
(e)	his voice was hoarse	in charge
(f)	make the sign of	public
(g)	the pope considered himself still	attempt in 1981
(h)	his first public	in Latin
(i)	breathing	the cross
(j)	he was shot in an assassination	enough

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Pope gives brief address

Pope John Paul II __________ he was well enough earlier to wave to his adoring public and well-wishers below his hospital window. Crowds of people __________ in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to watch the 84-year-old pope on giant video screens. He even said a few lines in Latin from a prayer, although his __________ was hoarse and frail, and managed to make the sign of the cross. A Vatican aide read his __________, which gave every indication the pope considered himself still in charge of the Catholic Church, “Even here in the hospital, __________ by other sick people, to whom I send my affectionate thoughts, I continue to serve the church and all of __________.” This was his first public appearance since being rushed to hospital last week with breathing difficulties. His few lines also meant he has continued his __________ of speaking to the public every single Sunday since he became pope in 1978. He even delivered a speech four days after he was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981. He is currently __________ Parkinson’s disease, arthritis and flu.

voice     record      proved      message     battling      gathered      humanity      surrounded

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms 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. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

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

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

4. 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.

5. ‘BRIEF’/ ‘ADDRESS’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of Pope John Paul II?
2. What do you think of the Catholic Church?
3. Do you think Pope John Paul II should retire and allow someone younger to take charge?
4. Should the Catholic Church allow female priests, or even a female pope?
5. Catholic priests are not allowed to get married. Should they be?
6. What do you know of the relationship between the Catholic Church and other religions?
7. What do you respect about Pope John Paul II?
8. Do you think religions are a force for good?
9. Should the Catholic Church and other religions be doing more to help the world’s poor people?
10. How important is religion to you?
11. What other religions do you most respect?
12. Why do you think Pope John Paul II is so loved around the world?
13. Teacher / Student additional questions

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 Pope John Paul II. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. POPE JOHN PAUL II: Create a poster on the life of Pope John Paul II.

4. MY BATTLE: Write a short story about one battle you have had in your life (i.e. to pass your driving test, run a marathon, lose 5 kg in weight, remember English vocabulary …).

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Pope John Paul II wasn’t well enough to wave to people.  F
2. Many well-wishers gathered below his hospital window.  T
3. Crowds of people gathered in the Vatican to watch the pope on giant video screens.  T
4. He gave a 10-minute speech in Latin.  F
5. He managed to make the sign of the cross.  T
6. He visited all of the other patients in his hospital.  F
7. He has delivered a speech every Sunday since becoming pope in 1978.  T
8. He survived an assassination attempt in 1981.  T

DEFINITIONS:

(a) proved (v)
(i) did something to make other people believe you could do it

(b) adoring (adj)
(i) showing great love for, acting in a very loving way

(c) hoarse (adj)
(ii) a rough sounding voice – like when you have a sore throat

(d) frail (adj)
(i) physically very weak, easy to break or be injured

(e) aide (n)
(i) a kind of personal helper

(f) affectionate (adj)
(ii) showing your warm love to someone else

(g) serve (v)
(i) to work for and help other people

(h) humanity (n)
(i) all people in the world considered as one group

(i) assassination (adj)
(ii) to try to kill a very important person

(j) battling (v)
(ii) fighting very hard to beat a disease

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	proved	showed
(b)	adoring	loving
(c)	crowds	hordes
(d)	hoarse	croaky
(e)	frail	fragile
(f)	indication	sign
(g)	in charge of	the boss
(h)	breathing	respiratory
(i)	assassination	murder
(j)	battling	fighting

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	proved he was well	enough
(b)	adoring	public
(c)	Crowds of people	gathered in St. Peter’s Square
(d)	He even said a few lines	in Latin
(e)	his voice was hoarse	and frail
(f)	make the sign of	the cross
(g)	the pope considered himself still	in charge
(h)	his first public	appearance since being rushed to hospital
(i)	breathing	difficulties
(j)	he was shot in an assassination	attempt in 1981

 

GAP FILL:

Pope gives brief address

Pope John Paul II proved he was well enough earlier to wave to his adoring public and well-wishers below his hospital window. Crowds of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to watch the 84-year-old pope on giant video screens. He even said a few lines in Latin from a prayer, although his voice was hoarse and frail, and managed to make the sign of the cross. A Vatican aide read his message, which gave every indication the pope considered himself still in charge of the Catholic Church, “Even here in the hospital, surrounded by other sick people, to whom I send my affectionate thoughts, I continue to serve the church and all of humanity.” This was his first public appearance since being rushed to hospital last week with breathing difficulties. His few lines also meant he has continued his record of speaking to the public every single Sunday since he became pope in 1978. He even delivered a speech four days after he was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981. He is currently battling Parkinson’s disease, arthritis and flu.