Date: March 30, 2005
Level: Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

The USA’s First Lady Laura Bush headed for Afghanistan today for a whirlwind five-hour trip. She will arrive in Kabul amid tight security and be immediately whisked around her various engagements in the Afghan capital. Her whole visit has been shrouded in secrecy due to security concerns; details of her “tour” only emerged after her plane took off. While on Afghan soil she will meet President Hamid Karzai and have a morale-boosting dinner with US troops, during which she is sure to pass on words of thanks and praise from her husband. Mrs. Bush told reporters she has wanted to visit Afghanistan for many years but has always delayed her trip because of the Taliban.

The main purpose of her trip is to show solidarity with Afghanistan’s women and highlight how her husband’s actions have improved their lives since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. “She wants to be able to see the advances made for women in Afghanistan and to underscore the United States' long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan,” said Susan Whiston, the First Lady's press secretary. Besides meeting the Afghan President and dining with soldiers she will visit a Women's Teacher Training Institute and meet with students and teachers, and attend a ceremony in which a $17.7 million grant will be awarded to the American University in Kabul.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about 5-hour trips / first ladies/ Laura Bush / Afghanistan / Hamid Karzai / Taliban / Afghan women / female teachers / Afghan democracy…

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. LAURA BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with America’s First Lady Laura Bush. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY 5 HOURS: Where would you like to go in the world for five hours? Write down a minute-by-minute plan of your whirlwind tour. Include things to see, do, eat, buy; people to visit, photos to take, toilet breaks (?) etc. Talk with your partner / group about your plans and ask each other questions. Decide after who has the best plan.

4. OPINIONS: Read and these people’s opinions about Laura Bush’s visit. Do you share these opinions?:

1. “Five hours is a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.” (American taxpayer)
2. “What a woman! Laura is as brave as her husband.” (American Republican)
3. “What is a first lady? Was she democratically elected?” (Iraqi housewife)
4. “Anything that can highlight how the lives of women in Afghanistan have improved is great.” (Nigerian teacher)
5. “If your gonna come all this way, why not spend a day or two and get lots of publicity for us Afghan women?” (Afghan woman)
6. “The wives of world leaders should stay out of politics.” (World leader – male)
7. “I’m so looking forward to Mrs. Bush’s visit. She shows the world cares about us.” (Female trainee teacher – Kabul)
8. “She’s the perfect woman.” (A president)

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

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

1. A new supersonic jet will speed Mrs. Bush to Afghanistan in just five hours.  T / F
2. There are many whirlwinds in the Afghan capital.  T / F
3. While on Afghan soil she will meet President Hamid Karzai.  T / F
4. Mrs. Bush has wanted to visit Afghanistan since she was seven years old.  T / F
5. The main purpose of her trip is to show solidarity with Afghanistan’s women.  T / F
6. She wants to show America’s commitment to the people of Afghanistan.  T / F
7. She will teach a sample class at a teacher training institute.  T / F
8. She will watch $17.7 million being given to the American University in Kabul.  T / F

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

(a)	headed	swept
(b)	whirlwind	oneness
(c)	whisked	pledge
(d)	shrouded	left
(e)	morale-boosting	emphasize
(f)	solidarity	fortifying
(g)	fall	covered
(h)	underscore	lightning
(i)	commitment	subsidy
(j)	grant	overthrow

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

(a)	headed	of thanks
(b)	amid tight	will be awarded
(c)	shrouded	solidarity with
(d)	While on Afghan	commitment
(e)	pass on words	for Afghanistan
(f)	The main	soil
(g)	show	purpose of her trip
(h)	see the advances	in secrecy
(i)	long-term	made for women
(j)	a $17.7 million grant	security

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Laura Bush’s 5-hour Afghan trip

The USA’s First Lady Laura Bush __________ for Afghanistan today for a whirlwind five-hour trip. She will arrive in Kabul __________ tight security and be immediately whisked around her various engagements in the Afghan capital. Her whole visit has been shrouded in secrecy __________ to security concerns; details of her “tour” only emerged after her plane took off. While on Afghan soil she will meet President Hamid Karzai and have a morale-boosting dinner with US troops, during which she is sure to __________ on words of thanks and praise from her husband. Mrs. Bush told reporters she has wanted to visit Afghanistan for many years but has always __________ her trip because of the Taliban.		due headed delayed amid pass
The main purpose of her trip is to show solidarity with Afghanistan’s women and __________ how her husband’s actions have improved their lives since the __________ of the Taliban in 2001. “She wants to be able to see the __________ made for women in Afghanistan and to underscore the United States' long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan,” said Susan Whiston, the First Lady's press secretary. Besides meeting the Afghan President and __________ with soldiers she will visit a Women's Teacher Training Institute and meet with students and teachers, and attend a ceremony in which a $17.7 million grant will be __________ to the American University in Kabul.		advances highlight dining awarded fall

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. ‘HOUR’ / ‘TRIP’: 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. What do you think of Laura Bush?
4. What do you think of first ladies (or first gentlemen)?
5. Is Mrs. Bush’s visit worthwhile?
6. Was Mrs. Bush’s husband’s invasion of Afghanistan worthwhile?
7. Should Mrs. Bush take on a bigger role in highlighting women’s issues?
8. What does the first lady (or gentleman) do in your country?
9. What do you think of other first ladies in the world?
10. Who is the second lady in the USA / your country?
11. Have you ever been on a whirlwind tour?
12. Would you like to visit Kabul?
13. Is there some place you have been dying to visit?
14. Should Laura Bush run to be America’s next president?
15. Don’t you think George W. and Laura are role models as a married couple?
16. Did you like this discussion?
17. 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 Laura Bush. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. AFGHAN WOMEN: Write a short news article on how the lives of Afghan women have improved.

4. LAURA’S DIARY: Write the diary entry for Mrs. Laura Bush’s five-hour trip to Kabul.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. A new supersonic jet will speed Mrs. Bush to Afghanistan in just five hours.  F
2. There are many whirlwinds in the Afghan capital.  F
3. While on Afghan soil she will meet President Hamid Karzai.  T
4. Mrs. Bush has wanted to visit Afghanistan since she was seven years old.  F
5. The main purpose of her trip is to show solidarity with Afghanistan’s women.  T
6. She wants to show America’s commitment to the people of Afghanistan.  T
7. She will teach a sample class at a teacher training institute.  F
8. She will watch $17.7 million being given to the American University in Kabul.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	headed	left
(b)	whirlwind	lightning
(c)	whisked	swept
(d)	shrouded	covered
(e)	morale-boosting	fortifying
(f)	solidarity	oneness
(g)	fall	overthrow
(h)	underscore	emphasize
(i)	commitment	pledge
(j)	grant	subsidy

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	headed	for Afghanistan
(b)	amid tight	security
(c)	shrouded	in secrecy
(d)	While on Afghan	soil
(e)	pass on words	of thanks
(f)	The main	purpose of her trip
(g)	show	solidarity with
(h)	see the advances	made for women
(i)	long-term	commitment
(j)	a $17.7 million grant	will be awarded

GAP FILL:

Laura Bush’s 5-hour Afghan trip

The USA’s First Lady Laura Bush headed for Afghanistan today for a whirlwind five-hour trip. She will arrive in Kabul amid tight security and be immediately whisked around her various engagements in the Afghan capital. Her whole visit has been shrouded in secrecy due to security concerns; details of her “tour” only emerged after her plane took off. While on Afghan soil she will meet President Hamid Karzai and have a morale-boosting dinner with US troops, during which she is sure to pass on words of thanks and praise from her husband. Mrs. Bush told reporters she has wanted to visit Afghanistan for many years but has always delayed her trip because of the Taliban.

The main purpose of her trip is to show solidarity with Afghanistan’s women and highlight how her husband’s actions have improved their lives since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. “She wants to be able to see the advances made for women in Afghanistan and to underscore the United States' long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan,” said Susan Whiston, the First Lady's press secretary. Besides meeting the Afghan President and dining with soldiers she will visit a Women's Teacher Training Institute and meet with students and teachers, and attend a ceremony in which a $17.7 million grant will be awarded to the American University in Kabul.