Time magazine has named Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and rock star Bono as its “Persons of the Year” for 2005. All three won the illustrious accolade for their tireless commitment to public health and poverty relief and for their personal sacrifices and involvement in humanitarian issues, despite having their own glittering and mega-successful careers. They collectively attempted to eradicate disease and poverty in Africa and alleviate the effects of the devastating calamities that too frequently plague the continent. Editor-at-large Nancy Gibbs said Time wanted to honor the three “for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic, and then daring the rest of us to follow”.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's wealthiest charity. It has a whopping $29 billion endowment, about 60 percent of which goes towards public health needs. Irish rocker Bono helped persuade world leaders at July’s G8 summit to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and erase the debt of the 18 poorest African countries. He also helped arrange the “Live 8” musical and charity extravaganzas with fellow campaigner and philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof. Bono told Time about Bill Gates’ business acumen and his ability to save and change lives. He said: “When an Irish rock star starts talking about it, people go, yeah yeah…But when Bill Gates says you can fix malaria in 10 years, they know he’s done a few spreadsheets.”

WARM-UPS

1. MY 2005: Imagine you are Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2005. Quickly write down five reasons why you won this award (they don’t all have to be true!). Walk around the classroom and talk to the other “Persons of the Year” about your award and year. When you have finished, sit with your partner(s) and discuss which person you spoke to was the best candidate for the award.

2. OTHER NOMINEES: Look at the people below. Do you think they might also have won the award for Person of the Year? Talk about them and their achievements this year. With your partner(s), choose the three you would put at the top and the bottom of your list of most outstanding people.

Kofi Annan Roger Federer J.K. Rawlings Angelina Jolie Pope Benedict XVI

George W. Bush Mohammed El Baradei Hugo Chavez Ariel Sharon Michelle Wee

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

Time / magazines / awards / Bill Gates / Bono / poverty / glittering careers / calamities / mercy / charities / debt / philanthropists / business acumen / malaria

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

4. 2005 AWARDS: In pairs / groups, make your choices for Person of the Year / Do-Gooder of the Year / Villain of the Year / Buffoon of the Year / Star of the Year / Nice Person of the Year / Biggest Mistake of the Year / Sports Person of the Year / [Your category] Person of the Year. Change partners and explain your choices and reasons.

5. PAST WINNERS: Look at some past winners of the Time magazine Person of the Year award. What do you think?

• 2004 – George W. Bush
• 1999 – Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com founder)
• 1989 – Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1982 – The computer
• 1975 – American women
• 1966 – Young people
• 1963 – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• 1940 – Winston Churchill
• 1938 – Adolf Hitler
• 1930 – Mohandas Gandhi

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Bill Gates’ wife Belinda is one of three Time Persons of the Year.	T / F
b.	The Persons of the Year all have glittering careers.	T / F
c.	They eradicated disease and halted devastating calamities in Africa.	T / F
d.	They were honored for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice.	T / F
e.	The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's wealthiest charity.	T / F
f.	Bono helped persuade world leaders to double aid to Africa.	T / F
g.	‘Live 8’ organizer Sir Bob Geldof was Time’s philanthropist of the year.	T / F
h.	Bill Gates can fix malaria in 10 years via a few Microsoft spreadsheets.	T / F

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

a.	illustrious	benefactor
b.	tireless	disasters
c.	eradicate	humungous
d.	calamities	unflagging
e.	shrewd	spectacles
f.	whopping	clever
g.	endowment	celebrated
h.	extravaganzas	savvy
i.	philanthropist	eliminate
j.	acumen	fund

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

a.	All three won the illustrious	goes towards public health needs
b.	They collectively attempted to	to $50 billion a year by 2010
c.	devastating calamities that too	acumen
d.	for rewiring politics	eradicate disease and poverty in Africa
e.	daring the rest of us	talking about it, people go, yeah yeah
f.	It has a whopping	and re-engineering justice
g.	about 60 percent of which	accolade
h.	double aid to Africa	frequently plague the continent
i.	Bill Gates’ business	to follow
j.	When an Irish rock star starts	$29 billion endowment

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WORD ORDER: Put the underlined words back into the correct order:

Bill Gates & Bono - Time's Persons of 2005

Time magazine has named Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and rock star Bono as its “Persons of the Year” for 2005. accolade won all the illustrious three for their tireless commitment to public health and poverty relief and for their personal sacrifices and involvement in humanitarian issues, glittering their own despite having and mega-successful careers. They collectively attempted to eradicate disease and poverty in Africa and alleviate the effects of the devastating calamities plague too that frequently the continent. Editor-at-large Nancy Gibbs said Time wanted to honor the three “for doing good about shrewd being, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic, and then rest to follow the daring of us”.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's wealthiest charity. It has a whopping $29 billion endowment, 60 of which goes about percent towards public health needs. Irish rocker Bono leaders helped world persuade at July’s G8 summit to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and the debt of the erase 18 poorest African countries. He also helped arrange the “Live 8” musical and charity extravaganzas with fellow campaigner and philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof. Bono told Time about Bill Gates’ ability acumen and his business to save and change lives. He said: “When an Irish rock star starts talking yeah people it go about yeah…But when Bill Gates says you can fix malaria in 10 years, they know he’s done a few spreadsheets.”

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Bill Gates & Bono - Time's Persons of 2005

Time magazine has ______ Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and rock star Bono as its “Persons of the Year” for 2005. All three won the ________ accolade for their tireless commitment to public health and poverty relief and for their personal ________ and involvement in humanitarian issues, despite having their own glittering and mega-successful careers. They ________ attempted to eradicate disease and poverty in Africa and ________ the effects of the devastating calamities that too frequently ________ the continent. Editor-at-large Nancy Gibbs said Time wanted to honor the three “for being ________ about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making ________ smarter and hope strategic, and then daring the rest of us to follow”.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's wealthiest charity. It has a ________ $29 billion endowment, about 60 percent of which goes towards public health needs. Irish rocker Bono helped ________ world leaders at July’s G8 summit to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and ________ the debt of the 18 poorest African countries. He also helped arrange the “Live 8” musical and charity extravaganzas with ________ campaigner and philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof. Bono told Time about Bill Gates’ business ________ and his ability to save and change lives. He said: “When an Irish rock star starts talking about it, people go, yeah yeah…But when Bill Gates says you can ________ malaria in 10 years, they know he’s done __ ____ spreadsheets.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. WORD ORDER: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers.

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

5. STUDENT “PERSON(S) OF THE YEAR” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about who you think should be person(s) of the year in various areas / fields.

• 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:

named tireless glittering alleviate honor daring

foundation persuade erase fellow acumen spreadsheets

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of the idea of a “person of the year”?
3. Do you agree that Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Bono should be ‘Persons of the Year’?
4. Why has Time magazine called them “Persons” and not “People”?
5. Do you think Melinda Gates should be there?
6. Who would you have voted as Person of the Year?
7. Who would you have voted to be last on such a list?
8. Do you think it’s fair that the “Person of the Year” is usually rich and famous?
9. What do you think of the three winners?
10. What do you think of the expression “being shrewd about doing good”?

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. Do you think fellow Live 8 organizer and humanitarian Sir Bob Geldof might be upset at not being on the list with his pal Bono?
4. Do you think Bono and Geldof made a difference at the G8 summit?
5. Do you think Bill Gates could / should do more for charity?
6. What do you think of Bill Gates’ claim that he can fix malaria in 10 years?
7. Do you think rock stars know what they’re talking about when they get involved in world politics?
8. Do you have any business acumen?
9. What do you think of the terms “rewiring politics and re-engineering justice”?
10. Did you like this discussion?

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

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

PEOPLE OF 2005: In pairs / groups, agree on three nominations for each of the following categories for “People of 2005”. Note down brief reasons why.

	NOMINEES	BRIEF REASONS WHY
Woman of the Year	1. 2. 3.
Man of the Year	1. 2. 3.
Sports Person of the Year	1. 2. 3.
Idiot of the Year	1. 2. 3.
Most Dangerous Person of the Year	1. 2. 3.
Entertainer of the Year	1. 2. 3.

• Change partners. Compare your nominees. Argue and agree on which three of your six choices you will keep as nominees.
• Find a new partner. Agree on one person from each of your six choices of nominees.
• Return to your original partner(s) and talk about the “winners” in each category.

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 Time magazine’s awards. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. STUDENT OF THE YEAR: A famous magazine has offered a $138,206,548 prize for the English Student of the Year award. Write a short essay on why you think you should get this award. Show what you wrote to your classmates in your next lesson. Who do you think should be Student of the Year?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to the editor of Time. Tell him/her who you think should have got the prize for Person of the Year and why. Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did anyone choose the same people?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	illustrious	celebrated
b.	tireless	unflagging
c.	eradicate	eliminate
d.	calamities	disasters
e.	shrewd	clever
f.	whopping	humungous
g.	endowment	fund
h.	extravaganzas	spectacles
i.	philanthropist	benefactor
j.	acumen	savvy

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	All three won the illustrious	accolade
b.	They collectively attempted to	eradicate disease and poverty in Africa
c.	devastating calamities that too	frequently plague the continent
d.	for rewiring politics	and re-engineering justice
e.	daring the rest of us	to follow
f.	It has a whopping	$29 billion endowment
g.	about 60 percent of which	goes towards public health needs
h.	double aid to Africa	to $50 billion a year by 2010
i.	Bill Gates’ business	acumen
j.	When an Irish rock star starts	talking about it, people go, yeah yeah

WORD ORDER:

Bill Gates & Bono - Time's Persons of 2005

Time magazine has named Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and rock star Bono as its “Persons of the Year” for 2005. All three won the illustrious accolade for their tireless commitment to public health and poverty relief and for their personal sacrifices and involvement in humanitarian issues, despite having their own glittering and mega-successful careers. They collectively attempted to eradicate disease and poverty in Africa and alleviate the effects of the devastating calamities that too frequently plague the continent. Editor-at-large Nancy Gibbs said Time wanted to honor the three “for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic, and then daring the rest of us to follow”.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's wealthiest charity. It has a whopping $29 billion endowment, about 60 percent of which goes towards public health needs. Irish rocker Bono helped persuade world leaders at July’s G8 summit to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and erase the debt of the 18 poorest African countries. He also helped arrange the “Live 8” musical and charity extravaganzas with fellow campaigner and philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof. Bono told Time about Bill Gates’ business acumen and his ability to save and change lives. He said: “When an Irish rock star starts talking about it, people go, yeah yeah…But when Bill Gates says you can fix malaria in 10 years, they know he’s done a few spreadsheets.”

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