Date: March 25, 2005
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

British parents may one day be able to choose the sex of their children. A report from a government science and technology committee has recommended giving parents the right to select the gender of their offspring. However, the politicians involved in creating the report were split in opinion over its recommendations, with five of the eleven committee members refusing to sign it. They blasted it, saying it was like “Frankenstein”. They added, "The report is completely wrong - it is so ridiculous you couldn't make it up." They also said it “ignores the dignity of human life”. Many politicians feel the British public is not yet ready to accept such interference in the process of creation.

The slight majority who endorsed the report, including chairman Dr. Ian Gibson, said they saw little wrong with sex selection, and that it would not have a negative impact on British society. Dr. Gibson said, “People will not go through IVF to choose the sex of their baby and even if they did, it would not … damage the fabric of our society.” There are many medical reasons why parents might want to choose the sex of their child. One example is the various hereditary diseases that are more likely to be passed on to a male or female baby. There is also the question of “sex selection for family balancing”. Parents that already have three boys may want to make sure their next child is a girl.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about babies / designer babies / natural selection / Frankenstein / boys / girls / hereditary diseases / family planning / …

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 increase conversation.

2. BABY BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘baby’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. BOYS & GIRLS: Which are better? With your partner / group, write down five reasons why boys are better, and five reasons why girls are better. Discuss each of these reasons. Change partners / groups and discuss further.

4. ME AS A BOY / GIRL: Talk with your partner about the good and bad things you experienced growing up as a boy / girl. Were you jealous of a brother or sister? Did everyone get treated fairly? Would you like to have been born a different sex? Were you a typical boy/girl? Did you do all the “boys/girls” things? …

5. OPINIONS: Talk about these with your partner.

1. If the science is available, there is nothing wrong with sex selection.
2. Society already accepts IVF (in vitro fertilization). Sex selection is the same.
3. Sex selection treats children like consumer products or fashion items.
4. We must never interfere with God’s work. Creation is sacred.
5. Sounds fun.
6. It’d help couples who already have three boys, or five girls.
7. It’s useful ‘cause you can get the babies bedroom ready and buy lots of pink or blue clothes.
8. Sex selection takes away the fun of not knowing your child’s sex. That’s a special surprise.
9. If there’s a good chance a girl might get the same disease from her mother, then isn’t it better to choose a boy?
10. This is the first step along the road to choosing hair colour and intelligence - risky.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. British parents can choose the sex of their children.  T / F
2. A government report says parents should only have children in spring.  T / F
3. Everyone who created the report agreed with one another.  T / F
4. The British public is totally ready for sex selection.  T / F
5. A top doctor said sex selection would be disastrous for British society.  T / F
6. Many British couples want to choose the sex of their child.  T / F
7. There are medical reasons for parents choosing the sex of their child.  T / F
8. Getting the balance right between boys and girls in a family is important.  T / F

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

(a)	committee	sex
(b)	gender	effect
(c)	offspring	virtue
(d)	blasted	inherited
(e)	dignity	structure
(f)	endorsed	think tank
(g)	impact	damned
(h)	fabric	issue
(i)	hereditary	children
(j)	question	supported

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

(a)	parents may one	eleven committee members
(b)	select the gender of	of our society
(c)	split	majority
(d)	five of the	their offspring
(e)	the dignity of	impact on British society
(f)	slight	diseases
(g)	would not have a negative	sure
(h)	damage the fabric	day be able to
(i)	hereditary	human life
(j)	make	in opinion

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the words on the right into the gaps.

Designer babies row in Britain

British parents may one day be able to choose the sex of their children. A report from a government science and technology __________ has recommended giving parents the right to select the __________ of their offspring. However, the politicians involved in creating the report were split in __________ over its recommendations, with five of the eleven committee members refusing to sign it. They __________ it, saying it was like “Frankenstein”. They added, "The report is completely wrong - it is so ridiculous you couldn't make it up." They also said it “__________ the dignity of human life”. Many politicians feel the British public is not yet ready to accept such interference in the process of creation.		opinion ignores gender committee blasted
The slight majority who __________ the report, including chairman Dr. Ian Gibson, said they saw little wrong with sex selection, and that it would not have a __________ impact on British society. Dr. Gibson said, “People will not go through IVF to choose the sex of their baby and even if they did, it would not … damage the __________ of our society.” There are many medical reasons why parents might want to choose the sex of their child. One example is the various hereditary diseases that are more likely to be __________ on to a male or female baby. There is also the question of “sex selection for family __________”. Parents that already have three boys may want to make sure their next child is a girl.		fabric endorsed negative passed balancing

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. ‘ONE’ / ‘DAY’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. What was interesting in this article?
2. Were you surprised by anything in this article?
3. Do you agree with the report?
4. What are the dangers of sex selection?
5. Would you prefer a boy or a girl?
6. How many kids are best?
7. What do you think of babies?
8. Are we entering the world of “Frankenstein” with sex selection?
9. Would you like to choose the intelligence level of your children?
10. Would you like to select an option that guarantees your children would be free from cancer?
11. What would happen to society if most parents chose to have girls?
12. Is the sex of a child something only God should decide?
13. Would sex selection damage the fabric of society?
14. Would a sex selection policy work in your country?
15. Isn’t sex selection the same as IVF?
16. Isn’t having a balanced family is a great reason for sex selection?
17. What did you like best about this discussion?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

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 information on designer babies. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. DESIGNER BABY: Imagine you are boss of CREATE-A-KID, the world’s largest designer baby company. Create the choices / options available to parents for choosing the characteristics of their next child. Use these in your next class.

4. LETTER TO COMMITTEE: Write a letter to the British committee telling them your feelings about their recommendations.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. British parents can choose the sex of their children.  F
2. A government report says parents should only have children in spring.  F
3. Everyone who created the report agreed with one another.  F
4. The British public is totally ready for sex selection.  F
5. A top doctor said sex selection would be disastrous for British society.  F
6. Many British couples want to choose the sex of their child.  F
7. There are medical reasons for parents choosing the sex of their child.  T
8. Getting the balance right between boys and girls in a family is important.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	committee	think tank
(b)	gender	sex
(c)	offspring	children
(d)	blasted	damned
(e)	dignity	virtue
(f)	endorsed	supported
(g)	impact	effect
(h)	fabric	structure
(i)	hereditary	inherited
(j)	question	issue

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	parents may one	day be able to
(b)	select the gender of	their offspring
(c)	split	in opinion
(d)	five of the	eleven committee members
(e)	the dignity of	human life
(f)	slight	majority
(g)	would not have a negative	impact on British society
(h)	damage the fabric	of our society
(i)	hereditary	diseases
(j)	make	sure

GAP FILL:

Designer babies row in Britain

British parents may one day be able to choose the sex of their children. A report from a government science and technology committee has recommended giving parents the right to select the gender of their offspring. However, the politicians involved in creating the report were split in opinion over its recommendations, with five of the eleven committee members refusing to sign it. They blasted it, saying it was like “Frankenstein”. They added, "The report is completely wrong - it is so ridiculous you couldn't make it up." They also said it “ignores the dignity of human life”. Many politicians feel the British public is not yet ready to accept such interference in the process of creation.

The slight majority who endorsed the report, including chairman Dr. Ian Gibson, said they saw little wrong with sex selection, and that it would not have a negative impact on British society. Dr. Gibson said, “People will not go through IVF to choose the sex of their baby and even if they did, it would not … damage the fabric of our society.” There are many medical reasons why parents might want to choose the sex of their child. One example is the various hereditary diseases that are more likely to be passed on to a male or female baby. There is also the question of “sex selection for family balancing”. Parents that already have three boys may want to make sure their next child is a girl.