Anti-fur protestor Heather Mills McCartney is threatening to stalk actress Jennifer Lopez. The wife of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has targeted Ms Lopez because of the singer-actor’s love of fur. Ms Lopez often attends movie premieres and awards shows wearing expensive fur coats. She says she wants to be “educated” as to why she should not wear them. She has angered animal rights activists for many years. They accuse her of making fur fashionable. She has made it an attractive item for the young and wealthy to want to buy.

Ms McCartney’s latest stalking attempt ended painfully when she lost her prosthetic leg in a fight with security guards at the New York offices of Ms Lopez’s fashion company. Ms McCartney wanted to deliver a DVD to Ms Lopez, which contained a documentary of how animals were brutally killed or skinned alive for their fur. Ms McCartney had to replace her artificial leg in a stairwell, as the guards refused her entry to a restroom. She promised to continue her crusade against Ms Lopez, and to “show up” at her home or “get a hold of her at her premieres”.

WARM-UPS

1. JENNIFER LOPEZ: In pairs / groups, talk about Jennifer Lopez, her music, films and fashion.

2. ANIMAL RIGHTS: Look at the sentences below about animal rights. In pairs / groups, discuss whether you agree with them.

1. No animals should be killed for food. We should all be vegetarian.
2. Animals should not be killed for their fur. Fur is worn by beautiful animals and ugly people.
3. Laboratory testing on animals by cosmetics companies is totally wrong.
4. Bull fighting should be banned immediately.
5. Many horses die because of horseracing, just so people can gamble. It should be stopped.
6. Animals live in the wild. Owning a pet should be illegal.

3. I’M A MINK: You are now a mink. You have heard rumors that humans like wearing mink coats. Some of your family and friends have mysteriously disappeared. Speak to the other “minks” in your class about what is happening and what you are worried about.

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

Fur / Jennifer Lopez / Sir Paul McCartney / The Beatles / fashion companies / mink coats / animal rights / stalking / animals skinned alive / movie premieres

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

5. FUR COATS: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with fur coats. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. $10,000 PRESENT: If someone gave you a $10,000 present, what would you want? Rank these gifts in order of which you would want most:

1. _____ White mink fur coat
2. _____ Gold necklace
3. _____ Armani suit
4. _____ Top-of-the-range mountain bike
5. _____ Week-long holiday in Tahiti
6. _____ Stereo equipment
7. _____ A 1927-vintage bottle of red wine
8. _____ A very small car

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Jennifer Lopez has been arrested for stalking fur coat designers.	T / F
b.	The wife of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is stalking Jennifer Lopez.	T / F
c.	Jennifer Lopez has a fashion company that sells fur coats.	T / F
d.	Animal rights campaigners say Ms Lopez is making fur more popular.	T / F
e.	Ms McCartney lost a leg in a fight with Ms Lopez’s security guards.	T / F
f.	Ms McCartney wanted to give Ms Lopez the new Paul McCartney DVD.	T / F
g.	Guards allowed Ms McCartney to use a restroom to replace her leg.	T / F
h.	Ms McCartney promised to stop stalking Ms Lopez.	T / F

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

a.	protestor	fake
b.	ex	rich
c.	attends	former
d.	accuse	finished
e.	wealthy	campaign
f.	latest	campaigner
g.	ended	most recent
h.	brutally	blame
i.	artificial	cruelly
j.	crusade	goes to

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

a.	Anti-fur	making fur fashionable
b.	Lopez often attends movie	coats
c.	expensive fur	at her home
d.	She has angered	premieres and awards shows
e.	They accuse her of	a DVD to Ms Lopez
f.	McCartney’s latest stalking	killed
g.	McCartney wanted to deliver	protestor
h.	animals were brutally	attempt ended painfully
i.	skinned	animal rights activists
j.	show up	alive for their fur

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WHICH WORD? Strike through the incorrect word in the italicized pairs.

Jennifer Lopez in anti-fur stalking

Anti-fur protestor / protector Heather Mills McCartney is threatening to stalk actress Jennifer Lopez. The wife of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has targeted / hijacked Ms Lopez because of the singer-actor’s love of fur / fir. Ms Lopez often attends movie premieres and awards shows wearing expensive / expenses fur coats. She says she wants to be “educated” as to why she should not wear them. She has angered animal rights activities / activists for many years. They accuse her of making fur fashionable. She has made it an attractive item for the young and wealthy / worthless to want to buy.

Ms McCartney’s latest stalking attempt ended painfully when she found / lost her prosthetic leg in a fight / flight with security guards at the New York offices of Ms Lopez’s fashion company. Ms McCartney wanted to deliver / produce a DVD to Ms Lopez, which contained a documentary of how animals were brutally killed or stripped / skinned alive for their fur. Ms McCartney had to replace her artificial / artistic leg in a stairwell, as the guards refused her entry to a restroom. She promised to continue her crusade / cruise against Ms Lopez, and to “show up / down” at her home or “get a hold of her at her premieres”.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. WHICH WORD? In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. 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 “FUR” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Jennifer Lopez, fur and stalking.

• 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:

threatening love attends educated activists wealthy

latest deliver documentary stairwell crusade show up

DISCUSSION

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

1. What were your thoughts when you first saw this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think about Jennifer Lopez?
4. What do you think about fur coats?
5. Do you think Ms  McCartney should be arrested for stalking?
6. Do you think Jennifer Lopez’s security guards should be arrested for hurting Heather Mills McCartney?
7. What do you think Sir Paul McCartney thinks about his wife’s actions?
8. Is it wrong for J-Lo to attend movie premieres wearing $10,000 mink coats?
9. Should animal rights activists be angry at J-Lo?
10. Do you want to own a fur coat?

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. What do you think of Heather Mills McCartney’s actions?
4. Do you think Jennifer Lopez should watch the DVD of minks being skinned alive?
5. Do you think you would change your lifestyle if you saw how brutally some animals are killed?
6. Do you think there are better ways for Ms McCartney to tell Ms Lopez about fur?
7. If you were Jennifer Lopez, would you ask police to stop Heather Mills McCartney stalking you?
8. How strongly do you believe in animal rights?
9. Which music do you like better, The Beatles or J-Lo?
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

ROLE PLAY: This role play is to discuss whether or not Heather Mills McCartney should be arrested for stalking. Team up with classmates who have the same role as you. Develop your roles and discuss ideas and “strategies” before the role play begins.

Introduce yourself to the other role players.

Role A – J-Lo You are angry that McCartney woman is stalking you. She is giving you and your fashion company lots of bad publicity. There is nothing wrong with buying fur coats. It is fashion. You think Ms McCartney should focus on more important issues, such as war or hungry children. THINK OF MORE REASONS TO BE ANGRY ABOUT.

Role B – Heather Mills McCartney You are very angry that such a high profile singer and actress is wearing and selling fur. You have proof animals die in great pain. You believe celebrities have a responsibility to teach people about the Earth and its creatures. You will not stop trying to talk to J-Lo. You are not stalking her. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY KILLING ANIMALS FOR FUR IS BAD.

Role C – Mink farmer You are fed up with animal rights protesters attacking your mink farm and giving your industry a bad name. No one attacks leather in the same way. Farming mink is the same as farming chickens. People who say minks die in pain or are skinned alive are liars. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY THE FUR TRADE IS A DECENT ONE.

Role D – Minky the mink You have insider information that millions of animals suffer great pain before they die. Mink farmers don’t want to spend money on making sure minks die “nicely”. You don’t understand why humans want to wear mink when artificial fur is warmer and cheaper. You’re worried about your family. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY YOUR FRIENDS SHOULD NOT BE SLAUGHTERED.

Change roles and repeat the role play. Comment in groups about the differences between the two role plays.

In pairs / groups, discuss whether you really believe in what you said while you were in your roles.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Jennifer Lopez in anti-fur stalking

Anti-fur _________ Heather Mills McCartney is threatening to stalk actress Jennifer Lopez. The wife of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has _________ Ms Lopez because of the singer-actor’s love of fur. Ms Lopez often _________ movie premieres and awards shows wearing expensive fur coats. She says she wants to be “educated” as to why she should not wear them. She has _________ animal rights activists for many years. They _________ her of making fur fashionable. She has made it an attractive item for the young and _________ to want to buy.

Ms McCartney’s latest stalking _________ ended painfully when she lost her prosthetic leg in a fight with _________ guards at the New York offices of Ms Lopez’s fashion company. Ms McCartney wanted to _________ a DVD to Ms Lopez, which contained a documentary of how animals were brutally killed or _________ alive for their fur. Ms McCartney had to replace her artificial leg in a stairwell, as the guards _________ her entry to a restroom. She promised to continue her _________ against Ms Lopez, and to “show up” at her home or “get __ ______ ____ her at her premieres”.

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 Jennifer Lopez. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. THE FUR TRADE: Make a poster about the fur trade. Start from the beginning with mink or sable farms and end with the fashion industry and animal rights activists. Did you all find out similar things?

4. LETTER TO JENNIFER OR HEATHER: Write a letter to Jennifer Lopez or Heather Mills McCartney (or both). Tell her/them what you think of fur and of Heather’s stalking of Jennifer. Tell her/them what should happen to help this situation. Read your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar solutions?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. T

d. T

e. T

f. F

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	protestor	campaigner
b.	ex	former
c.	attends	goes to
d.	accuse	blame
e.	wealthy	rich
f.	latest	most recent
g.	ended	finished
h.	brutally	cruelly
i.	artificial	fake
j.	crusade	campaign

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Anti-fur	protestor
b.	Lopez often attends movie	premieres and awards shows
c.	expensive fur	coats
d.	She has angered	animal rights activists
e.	They accuse her of	making fur fashionable
f.	McCartney’s latest stalking	attempt ended painfully
g.	McCartney wanted to deliver	a DVD to Ms Lopez
h.	animals were brutally	killed
i.	skinned	alive for their fur
j.	show up	at her home

WHICH WORD?

Jennifer Lopez in anti-fur stalking

Anti-fur protestor / protector Heather Mills McCartney is threatening to stalk actress Jennifer Lopez. The wife of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has targeted / hijacked Ms Lopez because of the singer-actor’s love of fur / fir. Ms Lopez often attends movie premieres and awards shows wearing expensive / expenses fur coats. She says she wants to be “educated” as to why she should not wear them. She has angered animal rights activities / activists for many years. They accuse her of making fur fashionable. She has made it an attractive item for the young and wealthy / worthless to want to buy.

Ms McCartney’s latest stalking attempt ended painfully when she found / lost her prosthetic leg in a fight / flight with security guards at the New York offices of Ms Lopez’s fashion company. Ms McCartney wanted to deliver / produce a DVD to Ms Lopez, which contained a documentary of how animals were brutally killed or stripped / skinned alive for their fur. Ms McCartney had to replace her artificial / artistic leg in a stairwell, as the guards refused her entry to a restroom. She promised to continue her crusade / cruise against Ms Lopez, and to “show up / down” at her home or “get a hold of her at her premieres”.

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