Date: April 28, 2005
Level: Harder (Try the easier lesson.)
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

Listening (1:54 - 223.5 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

In an extraordinary act of selflessness, a woman has given birth to five baby boys and then handed them to a couple who were unable to have children. Teresa Anderson, 25, had originally agreed to be a surrogate mother for Luisa Gonzalez and Enrique Moreno for the sum of $15,000. The deal, naturally, was for just one baby. Five embryos were implanted inside Ms Anderson to increase the chances of success. However, she got more than she bargained for when all five started developing. Following this discovery, she refused to accept payment from the genetic parents because of the financial burden she knew they would face. Teresa, a student nurse, has two children of her own.

The quintuplets were delivered by Caesarean section at one-minute intervals. One has a rare heart defect and will need surgery to survive. Doctors had planned to deliver the babies at 34 weeks, but when Ms Anderson’s blood pressure rose, they decided on an early delivery. A team of 25 medical staff was needed for the birth. Ms Anderson said after the delivery: “I thought it was amazing. It was just a wonderful blessing to see those babies and hear their cries.” The new parents were elated. The proud father said: “We were always looking for just one…If it's five, it's for a reason.” He admitted there would be money struggles ahead to make ends meet in raising his new brood.

 

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: selflessness / baby boys / surrogacy / financial burdens / multiple births / wonderful blessings / making ends meet … For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. BABY: 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. KINDNESS: Write down some kind things you have done recently and some of the kindest things you have ever done. Talk with your partner about these acts of kindness. Repeat the activity by writing down the kind (or unkind) things people have done for (to) you.

4. BE KIND: Look at the following list of kind acts. Talk with your partner / group about which you do / would do. How often do you do these? When was the last time you did any of these? How did you feel after? Was it a spontaneous decision to help?

• Give your seat on the train or bus to someone else.
• Allow another shopper at the supermarket checkout to go ahead of you.
• Smile and say “hello” to a stranger in the street.
• Donate some money to charity.
• Tell someone that they are great at their job.
• Lend someone some money and tell the person you don’t want it back.
• When asked for directions, take the person to where they want to go.
• Give a homeless person some food or money.

5. FIVE BABY BOYS: (1) In pairs / groups, spend a minute or two writing down (a) the problems and (b) the joys and good things about having quintuplet baby boys. After you have finished, compare the problems and joys and decide whether you might ever consider having quintuplets. (2) Change partners. Tell your new partners the problems you wrote down. Your new partners will give you reasons why these are not problems at all.

6. 2-MINUTE BOYS OR GIRLS DEBATES: Face each other in pairs and engage in the following fun 2-minute “debates”. Students A take the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:

1. Baby boys are cuter. vs. Baby girls are cuter.
2. Boys are naughtier. vs. Girls are naughtier.
3. Girls are more intelligent. vs. Boys are more intelligent.
4. Girls are quieter and better mannered. vs. Boys are better fun.
5. Boys sulk too much. vs. Girls cry too much.
6. You can play sports with boys. vs. You can play the same sports with girls.
7. Boys grow up to be nicer teenagers. vs. Teenage boys are not nice.
8. Girls need expensive clothes. vs. Boys need expensive toys.
9. Girls are more useful around the house. vs. Boys are way more useful.
10. Girls getting boyfriends is a worry. vs. Boys getting girlfriends is a bigger worry.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘give’ and ‘birth’.

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

1. A woman was extraordinarily selfless.  T / F
2. A woman had five babies and then decided she didn’t want them.  T / F
3. A woman and a childless couple agreed to try and have five babies.  T / F
4. A woman waived her surrogacy fee knowing the parents had little money.  T / F
5. The five babies were all delivered inside five minutes.  T / F
6. All babies are healthy and doing well.  T / F
7. A nurse delivered all of the babies single-handedly.  T / F
8. The proud father is not worried about how to make ends meet.  T / F

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

a.	selflessness	substitute
b.	surrogate	relinquished
c.	sum	get by
d.	waived	strain
e.	burden	ecstatic
f.	intervals	altruism
g.	blessing	offspring
h.	elated	gaps
i.	make ends meet	amount
j.	brood	godsend

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

a.	extraordinary act	her fee
b.	originally	intervals
c.	increase the chances	agreed
d.	she got more than	blessing
e.	she waived	ends meet
f.	delivered by	she bargained for
g.	one-minute	delivery
h.	an early	of selflessness
i.	wonderful	of success
j.	make	Caesarean section

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. SPOT THE MISTAKES: Half of the words in bold in each paragraph are right and half are wrong. Circle the incorrect words and try to replace them with words that fit.

Surrogate mother donates 5 boys

In an extraordinary act of selflessness, a woman has given birth to five baby boys and then footed them to a couple who were unable to have children. Teresa Anderson, 25, had originally agreed to be a surrogate mother for Luisa Gonzalez and Enrique Moreno for the sum of $15,000. The deal, unnaturally, was for just one baby. Five embryos were implanted inside Ms Anderson to increase the chances of success. However, she got more than she haggled for when all five started developing. Following this discovery, she waved her fee, refusing to accept payment from the genetic parents because of the financial burden she knew they would face. Teresa, a student nurse, has two children of her own.

The quintuplets were posted by Caesarean section at one-minute interviews. One has a rare heart defect and will need surgery to survive. Doctors had planned to deliver the babies at 34 weeks, but when Ms Anderson’s blood pressure rose, they decided on an early delivery. A team of 25 medical staff was needed for the birth. Ms Anderson said after the delivery: “I thought it was amazing. It was just a wonderful blessing to see those babies and hear their cries.” The new offspring were elated. The proud father said: “We were always looking for just one…If it's five, it's for a reason.” He admitted there would be money struggles ahead to make beginnings meet in raising his new brood.

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. SPOT THE MISTAKES: Check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

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

4. STUDENT SURROGACY SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down questions about surrogate mothers, or on the article. Ask other classmates your questions and report back to your original partner/ group to compare your findings.

5. ‘GIVE’ / ‘BIRTH’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. How did this article make you feel?
2. Were you surprised at anything you read in the article?
3. Did reading the article change your opinion of the world?
4. What do you think of babies?
5. Which are better, baby boys or baby girls?
6. How many babies would you like?
7. How kind are you?
8. Have you ever done an extraordinary act of selflessness?
9. What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
10. Is everyone in the world kind?
11. Have you ever met any really unkind people?
12. Who is the unkindest person you know?
13. What do you know about surrogacy?
14. What do you think about surrogacy?
15. What do you think about Teresa Anderson’s act?
16. Would you have waived the $15,000 fee?
17. Have you ever got more than you bargained for?
18. Do you have any financial burdens at the moment?
19. Is it a struggle for you to make ends meet?
20. When was the last time you were elated?
21. Did you like this discussion?
22. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. KIND LEADER: In pairs / groups, think of a world leader you think should be kinder. Write down the things you want that leader to do to be kinder. Discuss the likelihood of these things ever happening in your lifetime. Change partners / groups and share the things you wrote. Ask your new partners for their comments.

8. KIND HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, choose one of these (imaginary) headlines below and develop the story, background, characters, what happened, what the kind thing was, what people were quoted as saying, the future…. Change partners / groups and report the story you created. Be prepared to answer questions from your new partners.

• George W. Bush has change of heart
• China and Japan friends again
• Roses for everyone
• Israelis and Palestinians celebrate together
• World Kindness Day a huge success
• Pensioner helps the man who burgled her

Story headline:
Background
People
What happened?
Why was it kind?
What did the main character say?
What did the other main character say?
What did person X say?
Conclusion

 

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 surrogacy. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY KIND SCHEDULE: Write a list of kind things you will do within the next week. Try and do them. Report to your classmates on your success.

4. LETTER: Write a letter to Teresa Anderson telling her what you think of her kind act.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. A woman was extraordinarily selfless.  T / F
2. A woman had five babies and then decided she didn’t want them.  T / F
3. A woman and a childless couple agreed to try and have five babies.  T / F
4. A woman waived her surrogacy fee knowing the parents had little money.  T / F
5. The five babies were all delivered inside five minutes.  T / F
6. All babies are healthy and doing well.  T / F
7. A nurse delivered all of the babies single-handedly.  T / F
8. The proud father is not worried about how to make ends meet.  T / F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	selflessness	altruism
b.	surrogate	substitute
c.	sum	amount
d.	waived	relinquished
e.	burden	strain
f.	intervals	gaps
g.	blessing	godsend
h.	elated	ecstatic
i.	make ends meet	get by
j.	brood	offspring

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	extraordinary act	of selflessness
b.	originally	agreed
c.	increase the chances	of success
d.	she got more than	she bargained for
e.	she waived	her fee
f.	delivered by	Caesarean section
g.	one-minute	intervals
h.	an early	delivery
i.	wonderful	blessing
j.	make	ends meet

SPOT THE MISTAKES: The correct words are those in bold.

Surrogate mother donates 5 boys

In an extraordinary act of selflessness, a woman has given birth to five baby boys and then handed them to a couple who were unable to have children. Teresa Anderson, 25, had originally agreed to be a surrogate mother for Luisa Gonzalez and Enrique Moreno for the sum of $15,000. The deal, naturally, was for just one baby. Five embryos were implanted inside Ms Anderson to increase the chances of success. However, she got more than she bargained for when all five started developing. Following this discovery, she waived her fee, refusing to accept payment from the genetic parents because of the financial burden she knew they would face. Teresa, a student nurse, has two children of her own.

The quintuplets were delivered by Caesarean section at one-minute intervals. One has a rare heart defect and will need surgery to survive. Doctors had planned to deliver the babies at 34 weeks, but when Ms Anderson’s blood pressure rose, they decided on an early delivery. A team of 25 medical staff was needed for the birth. Ms Anderson said after the delivery: “I thought it was amazing. It was just a wonderful blessing to see those babies and hear their cries.” The new parents were elated. The proud father said: “We were always looking for just one…If it's five, it's for a reason.” He admitted there would be money struggles ahead to make ends meet in raising his new brood.