Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

International rock superstar Bono, from the group U2, has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. He joins a list of 166 other candidates for the prestigious award, and competition for the honours looks set to be fierce. To get the prize he must beat ex US secretary of state Colin Powell, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, former Czech president Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The winner is secretly chosen by the members of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, and announced in the middle of October. It is given to the person or institution deemed to have contributed most to world peace in the preceding year. It infamously ‘forgot’ to give an award to the biggest peacemaker, Mahatma Ghandi, but did honor Yasser Arafat. It has never been won by a rock singer. Bono, who works tirelessly for debt relief and humanitarian concerns in Africa, is constantly seen rubbing shoulders with the world’s rich and powerful. His friends include Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Bono / U2 / Nobel Peace Prize / world peace / Ghandi / Yasser Arafat / Bill Clinton / Nelson Mandela …

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 energize the class.

2. BONO / U2 BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Bono and U2. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. THE WINNER: Decide in pairs who should get this year’s award from the list of contenders in the article.

4. RUBBING SHOULDERS: Pretend you are rich, famous and powerful. You have many famous friends. Write down the names of three people with whom you would like to regularly rub shoulders. Walk around the class telling other students who your famous friends are, how you met, what they are like etc.

5. WORLD PEACE: In groups decide on the most important areas of the world for which peace must be found. Discuss the likelihood of peace being achieved in these areas this year. (E.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Congo, Sudan’s Darfur region, Colombia, Spain’s Basque region, Israel and Palestine …)

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. The rock singer Bono, from the band U2, has won this year’s Nobel Peace prize. T / F
2. One hundred and sixty-six other people also won the prize this year.  T / F
3. Bono has little competition to win this year’s Nobel Peace prize.  T / F
4. The winner is chosen by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.  T / F
5. The prize is given to the person or institution deemed to have contributed most to world peace. T / F
6. The most famous recipient of the award is Indian peace icon Mahatma Ghandi.  T / F
7. Bono would be the third rock singer to get the award.  T / F
8. Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela often massage Bono’s shoulders.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	superstar	distinguished
(b)	nominated	non-stop
(c)	candidates	tough
(d)	prestigious	organization
(e)	fierce	contenders
(f)	former	icon
(g)	institution	hobnobbing
(h)	preceding	ex
(i)	tirelessly	previous
(j)	rubbing shoulders	put forward

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	rock	award
(b)	He joins a list	tirelessly
(c)	prestigious	chosen by the members of the Nobel Institute
(d)	competition for the honours looks	of October
(e)	ex US	shoulders with the world’s rich and powerful
(f)	The winner is secretly	superstar
(g)	announced in the middle	set to be fierce
(h)	the person or institution deemed	secretary of state
(i)	works	of 166 other candidates
(j)	constantly seen rubbing	to have contributed most to world peace

5. DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) nominated (v)
(i) when an adjective of a verb is changed to form a noun
(ii) for someone’s name to be put forward / suggested to win a prize or election

(b) candidates (n)
(i) the people in a competition or election who want to / may / are trying to win
(ii) people who speak very openly and honestly

(c) prestigious (adj)
(i) trying very hard to win something very important
(ii) having an amazingly high reputation or image

(d) honours (n)
(i) an award, prize, special position etc that shows how great someone is
(ii) practicing something over and over again until it is perfect

(e) fierce (adj)
(i) talk a lot
(ii) very very strong and competitive

(f) former (adj)
(i) support for a political cause
(ii) having had a title or position in the past, but not now

(g) deemed (v)
(i) to be thought of or believed to be
(ii) smiled a big smile from ear to ear

(h) tirelessly (adv)
(i) when cars in poorer parts of the world have very bad wheels.
(ii) doing something non-stop, without taking a rest

(i) debt relief (n)
(i) the wonderful feeling you have when you’ve finally got your credit card balance down to zero
(ii) when rich countries help poor countries by reducing or forgetting the amount of money they have to pay back

(j) rub shoulders with (v)
(i) massage somebody to make him or her work tirelessly
(ii) talk, meet, mix and socialize with people

  

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

U2’s Bono up for Nobel Prize

International rock superstar Bono, from the group U2, has been __________ for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. He __________ a list of 166 other candidates for the prestigious award, and competition for the honours looks __________ to be fierce. To get the prize he must beat ex US secretary of state Colin Powell, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, __________ Czech president Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The winner is secretly __________ by the members of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, and announced in the middle of October. It is given to the person or institution deemed to have __________ most to world peace in the preceding year. It infamously ‘forgot’ to give an award to the biggest __________, Mahatma Ghandi, but did honor Yasser Arafat. It has never been won by a rock singer. Bono, who works tirelessly for debt relief and humanitarian concerns in Africa, is constantly seen __________ shoulders with the world’s rich and powerful. His friends include Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela.

former chosen nominated peacemaker joins contributed rubbing set

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. ‘PEACE’/ ‘PRIZE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of Bono being nominated for a peace prize?
2. What do you think of Ghandi never winning the Nobel Peace prize?
3. What do you think of Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace prize?
4. Do you like U2?
5. Is the Nobel Peace prize a good thing?
6. Is it OK for rock singers to win such a prestigious award?
7. Who more deserves to win the award, Bono or Colin Powell?
8. Don’t you think US President George W. Bush should be on the list?
9. Who in your country does a lot for peace? What do they do?
10. Should the Nobel Peace prize go to a person or institution?
11. Should the winner be secretly be chosen by the members of the Nobel Institute, or should there be a world vote?
12. Which famous people would you like to rub shoulders with?
13. Which would you rather win, the Nobel Peace prize, an Oscar best actor, a Grammy for best singer, a World Cup winner’s medal (any sport), Time magazine person of the year, or the New York marathon?
14. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Homo floresiensis. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER TO BONO: Write a letter to Bono asking him to continue his tireless efforts for Africa.

4. THE WINNER: Nominate your own candidate for the prize. Outline what the person has done and why (s)he deserves it.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. The rock singer Bono, from the band U2, has won this year’s Nobel Peace prize. F
2. One hundred and sixty-six other people also won the prize this year.  F
3. Bono has little competition to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.  F
4. The winner is chosen by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.  F
5. The prize is given to the person or institution deemed to have contributed most to world peace. T
6. The most famous recipient of the award is Indian peace icon Mahatma Ghandi.  F
7. Bono would be the third rock singer to get the award.  F
8. Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela often massage Bono’s shoulders.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	superstar	icon
(b)	nominated	put forward
(c)	candidates	contenders
(d)	prestigious	distinguished
(e)	fierce	tough
(f)	former	ex
(g)	institution	organization
(h)	preceding	previous
(i)	tirelessly	non-stop
(j)	rubbing shoulders	hobnobbing

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	rock	superstar
(b)	He joins a list	of 166 other candidates
(c)	prestigious	award
(d)	competition for the honours looks	set to be fierce
(e)	ex US	secretary of state
(f)	The winner is secretly	chosen by the members of the Nobel Institute
(g)	announced in the middle	of October
(h)	the person or institution deemed	to have contributed most to world peace
(i)	works	tirelessly
(j)	constantly seen rubbing	shoulders with the world’s rich and powerful

 
DEFINITIONS:

(a) nominated (v)
(ii) for someone’s name to be put forward / suggested to win a prize or election

(b) candidates (n)
(i) the people in a competition or election who want to / may / are trying to win

(c) prestigious (adj)
(ii) having an amazingly high reputation or image

(d) honours (n)
(i) an award, prize, special position etc that shows how great someone is

(e) fierce (adj)
(ii) very very strong and competitive

(f) former (adj)
(ii) having had a title or position in the past, but not now

(g) deemed (v)
(i) to be thought of or believed to be

(h) tirelessly (adv)
(ii) doing something non-stop, without taking a rest

(i) debt relief (n)
(ii) when rich countries help poor countries by reducing or forgetting the amount of money they have to pay back

(j) rub shoulders with (v)
(ii) talk, meet, mix and socialize with people

GAP FILL:

U2’s Bono up for Nobel Prize

International rock superstar Bono, from the group U2, has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. He joins a list of 166 other candidates for the prestigious award, and competition for the honours looks set to be fierce. To get the prize he must beat ex US secretary of state Colin Powell, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, former Czech president Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The winner is secretly chosen by the members of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, and announced in the middle of October. It is given to the person or institution deemed to have contributed most to world peace in the preceding year. It infamously ‘forgot’ to give an award to the biggest peacemaker, Mahatma Ghandi, but did honor Yasser Arafat. It has never been won by a rock singer. Bono, who works tirelessly for debt relief and humanitarian concerns in Africa, is constantly seen rubbing shoulders with the world’s rich and powerful. His friends include Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela.