Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an open-air mass with more than one million young Roman Catholics on Sunday, concluding his four-day trip to Germany. Hordes of people camped out overnight to guarantee their chance of getting close to the pontiff and hearing his sermon. The pilgrims cheered exuberantly when the Pope arrived in the custom made popemobile and ascended the steps to the altar to begin his service. People had come from almost 200 different countries to participate in the tri-annual World Youth Day. The multilingual Pope spoke in four different languages and the crowds listened intently to each of them as he set about stamping his personality and blueprint on his new role.

The Pope delivered a steadfast message about young people needing to embrace the core values of a true religion as defined by Jesus Christ. He spoke of the dangers of newly created religions that simply tried to cash in on fads and trends. He said: “If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.” He warned against taking only those aspects of religion that are appealing and ignoring the remainder: “Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us.” He lamented the rise of secularism across the world and of a “strange forgetfulness of God” throughout modern society.

WARM-UPS

1. RELIGION: Write down the religions below on a piece of paper. Talk to your partner(s) about these religions and what you know about them. What similarities do they share? Change partners and gather more information.

Christianity / Islam / Hinduism / Buddhism / Sikhism / Judaism / Jainism / Shinto

2. VALUES: In pairs / groups, talk about how important the items in this list are to you. Do you think some of these things should be more or less important? Why?

God Money Prayer Clothes Love Entertainment

Religious leaders Sports and movie stars The Bible / Koran / Torah … Books and movies Going to a church / temple … every week Shopping

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

Popes / Pope Benedict XVI / Roman Catholics / Germany / camping / pilgrims / being multilingual / Jesus Christ / trends / consumer products / religion / God

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. GOD: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “God”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. OPINIONS: How far do you agree with the following opinions on religion?

1. Religion creates more problems than it solves.
2. There should be just one world religion.
3. Religion should be the most important things in our lives.
4. Money is the new religion.
5. Religion will always be used as an excuse for war.
6. Religious leaders are not doing a very good job.
7. Religious studies should be an important subject at schools.
8. Religion should be a fundamental part of governments and constitutions.

6. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think religion will save the world. Students B think religion will continue to divide the world. Change partners often.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
 

a.	A million people shook hands with the Pope in Germany.	T / F
b.	Hordes of people camped out overnight to guarantee seeing the Pope.	T / F
c.	The World Youth Day event takes place every four years.	T / F
d.	The Pope stamped his seal on pilgrims’ heads with a blue print.	T / F
e.	The Pope urged young people to embrace the core values of religion.	T / F
f.	The Pope asked people to buy consumer products wisely.	T / F
g.	The Pope is a keen DIY enthusiast.	T / F
h.	The Pope lamented the rise of secularism across the world.	T / F

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

a.	concluding	attentively
b.	sermon	mounted
c.	exuberantly	materialism
d.	ascended	homily
e.	intently	resolute
f.	steadfast	profit from
g.	embrace	wrapping up
h.	cash in on	bemoaned
i.	lamented	accept
j.	secularism	enthusiastically

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

a.	celebrated an	and hearing his sermon
b.	Hordes of people	secularism across the world
c.	getting close to the pontiff	camped out overnight
d.	ascended	values of a true religion
e.	The multilingual Pope spoke	the steps to the altar
f.	embrace the core	to make a profit from it
g.	cash in on	open-air mass
h.	some are even able	that are appealing
i.	those aspects of religion	in four different languages
j.	He lamented the rise of	fads and trends

WHILE READING / LISTENING

SYNONYM FILL: Place the number of the synonym group in the correct gap (It is not important to guess a correct word - any of the synonyms from each group could be put into the relevant gap).

1 million greet Pope in Germany

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an open-air mass with more than one million young Roman Catholics on Sunday, ___ his four-day trip to Germany. ___ of people camped out overnight to guarantee their chance of getting close to the pontiff and hearing his sermon. The pilgrims cheered ___ when the Pope arrived in the custom made popemobile and ascended the steps to the altar to begin his service. People had come from almost 200 different countries to participate in the tri-annual World Youth Day. The multilingual Pope spoke in four different languages and the crowds listened ___ to each of them as he set about stamping his personality and blueprint on his new role.

The Pope delivered a steadfast message about young people needing to ___ the core values of a true religion as defined by Jesus Christ. He spoke of the dangers of newly created religions that simply tried to ___ fads and trends. He said: “If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.” He warned against taking only those ___ of religion that are appealing and ignoring the remainder: “Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us.” He ___ the rise of secularism across the world and of a “strange forgetfulness of God” throughout modern society.

 

1 exuberantly enthusiastically excitedly eagerly	2 cash in on profit from capitalize on exploit	3 lamented bemoaned mourned regretted	4 concluding wrapping up winding up bringing to a close
5 intently attentively closely keenly	6 embrace accept hold tight welcome	7 hordes throngs droves multitudes	8 aspects facets features forms

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. SYNOMYM FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the synonym fill. 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. STUDENT “RELIGION” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about religion.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

mass overnight cheered ascended participate stamping

core cash consumer remainder do-it-yourself secularism

DISCUSSION

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

1. What were your initial thoughts on this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think of Pope Benedict XVI?
4. Would you camp out overnight to hear a religious leader?
5. Are religious leaders important to you?
6. How important is religion to you?
7. Do you think there are dangers in secularism?
8. Do religions and churches need to change with the times?
9. What do you think of the Roman Catholic Church?
10. Is there a “forgetfulness of God” in modern society?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Would you like to be more religious?
4. Do you think there would be fewer wars without religions?
5. Do you think religion can be dangerous?
6. Why do people believe so obsessively in just one religion?
7. Do you think it’s realistic that people in the 21^st century should follow values set out thousands of years ago?
8. Do you think it’s wrong for people to make money from religion?
9. Do you think religion should play a greater part in education, government and constitutions?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ONE RELIGION: You are a committee member of the new World Religion Council. Just one religion will replace all others. In pairs / groups, discuss the core values of the new religion.

Point	Core values – Your ideas
Worship
Family planning
Women
Prayer
After death
Capitalism
Law and  punishment
Education

Change partners and show each other your ideas for a new religion.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

1 million greet Pope in Germany

Pope Benedict XVI __________ an open-air mass with more than one million young Roman Catholics on Sunday, __________ his four-day trip to Germany. __________ of people camped out overnight to guarantee their chance of getting close to the pontiff and hearing his sermon. The __________ cheered exuberantly when the Pope arrived in the custom made popemobile and __________ the steps to the altar to begin his service. People had come from almost 200 different countries to participate in the ___________ World Youth Day. The multilingual Pope spoke in four different languages and the crowds listened ___________ to each of them as he set about stamping his personality and blueprint on his new role.

The Pope delivered a __________ message about young people needing to embrace the core values of a true religion as __________ by Jesus Christ. He spoke of the dangers of newly created religions that simply tried to cash in on __________ and trends. He said: “If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer __________. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.” He warned against taking only those __________ of religion that are appealing and ignoring the __________: “Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us.” He lamented the rise of __________ across the world and of a “strange forgetfulness of God” throughout __________ society.

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 more information on Pope Benedict XVI. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. LETTER: Write a letter to Pope Benedict XVI. Tell him what you think of his belief that people should live their lives in the way Jesus Christ taught. Read your letters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

4. RELIGION: Create a poster comparing two of the world’s religions. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	concluding	wrapping up
b.	sermon	homily
c.	exuberantly	enthusiastically
d.	ascended	mounted
e.	intently	attentively
f.	steadfast	resolute
g.	embrace	accept
h.	cash in on	profit from
i.	lamented	bemoaned
j.	secularism	materialism

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	celebrated an	open-air mass
b.	Hordes of people	camped out overnight
c.	getting close to the pontiff	and hearing his sermon
d.	ascended	the steps to the altar
e.	The multilingual Pope spoke	in four different languages
f.	embrace the core	values of a true religion
g.	cash in on	fads and trends
h.	some are even able	to make a profit from it
i.	those aspects of religion	that are appealing
j.	He lamented the rise of	secularism across the world

SYNONYM FILL:

1 million greet Pope in Germany

BNE: Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an open-air mass with more than one million young Roman Catholics on Sunday, ---4--- his four-day trip to Germany. ---7--- of people camped out overnight to guarantee their chance of getting close to the pontiff and hearing his sermon. The pilgrims cheered ---1--- when the Pope arrived in the custom made popemobile and ascended the steps to the altar to begin his service. People had come from almost 200 different countries to participate in the tri-annual World Youth Day. The multilingual Pope spoke in four different languages and the crowds listened ---5--- to each of them as he set about stamping his personality and blueprint on his new role.

The Pope delivered a steadfast message about young people needing to ---6--- the core values of a true religion as defined by Jesus Christ. He spoke of the dangers of newly created religions that simply tried to ---2--- fads and trends. He said: “If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.” He warned against taking only those ---8--- of religion that are appealing and ignoring the remainder: “Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us.” He ---3--- the rise of secularism across the world and of a “strange forgetfulness of God” throughout modern society.

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