Famous People Lessons: English Lesson on Nelson Mandela

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THE READING / TAPESCRIPT

Nelson Mandela is one of the most respected people in the world. For countless reasons he is a huge hero. He is a person all us can learn many lessons from. He has seen almost everything in his nine decades, from being tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retired in 1999 but continues to travel the world helping people.

Nelson was born in 1918 into a South Africa that was divided along black and white racial lines. He says he had a wonderful childhood. He first learnt of the terrible apartheid system when he studied to become a lawyer. This led to his involvement in the African National Congress (ANC), which he later became the leader of.

The South African government did its best to keep Mandela from spreading his message of equality for blacks and racial unity. It put him in prison for 27 years. He became famous around the world as an icon of the struggle for freedom in South Africa. Rock stars, actors, politicians and ordinary people campaigned to free him and end apartheid.

Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and the world rejoiced. His never-ending hope, energy and enthusiasm won him the hearts of millions. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, he was elected to be his country’s first ever black president. Today, he is still hard at work offering advice about global problems.

240 words

Sources: http://www.wikipedia.org/ and assorted biographies.

SYNONYM MATCH

Match the words from the article on the left with their synonyms on the right. Are your answers the same as other students’?

Paragraphs 1 and 2
1.	respected	a.	numerous
2	countless	b.	awful
3.	tortured	c.	split
4.	divided	d.	admired
5.	terrible	e.	association
6.	involvement	f.	abused
Paragraphs 3 and 4
7.	message	g.	freed
8.	unity	h.	symbol
9.	icon	i.	idea
10.	released	j.	passion
11	enthusiasm	k	volunteering
12	offering	l	oneness

PHRASE MATCH

Match the following phrases from the article:

1.	one of the most respected	a.	in his nine decades
2	a person all us can	b.	at work offering advice
3.	He has seen almost everything	c.	system
4.	divided along black and white	d.	learn many lessons from
5.	the terrible apartheid	e.	of the struggle for freedom
6.	spreading his	f.	people in the world
7.	an icon	g.	of millions
8.	ordinary people	h.	message of equality
9.	… won him the hearts	i.	racial lines
10.	he is still hard	j.	campaigned to free him

LISTENING GAP FILL

Nelson Mandela ___________________ most respected people in the world. For countless reasons he is a huge hero. He is a person _________________ many lessons from. He has seen almost everything in his nine decades, from being tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retired in 1999 but ___________________ the world helping people.

Nelson was born in 1918 into a South Africa that ___________________ black and white racial lines. He says he had a wonderful childhood. He first ___________________ apartheid system when he studied to become a lawyer. This led to his involvement in the African National Congress (ANC), ___________________ the leader of.

The South African government ______________________ Mandela from spreading his message of equality for ___________________. It put him in prison for 27 years. He became famous around the world ________________ struggle for freedom in South Africa. Rock stars, actors, politicians and ordinary people campaigned _________________ apartheid.

Mandela was released from prison in 1990 ___________________. His never-ending hope, energy and enthusiasm ___________________ millions. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, he was elected to be his country’s first ever black president. Today, he is still hard at work ___________________ global problems.

CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD

Delete the wrong word in each of the pairs of italics:

Nelson Mandela is one / ones of the most respected people in the world. For countless reasons he is a hug / huge hero. He is a person all us can learn many lessons from. He has seen almost everything in his nine / ninety decades, from being tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retried / retired in 1999 but continues to travel the world helping people.

Nelson was born in 1918 into / onto a South Africa that was divided along black and white racism / racial lines. He says he had a wonderful childhood. He first learnt of the terrible apartheid system when he studies / studied to become a lawyer. This led to his involvement in the African National Congress (ANC), which he later became the leader of / for.

The South African government made / did its best to keep Mandela from spreading his message of equality for blacks and racial unity / unify. It put him in prison for 27 years. He became famous around the world as an icon / iron of the struggle for freedom in South Africa. Rock stars, actors, politicians and ordinary people campaigned to free / freed him and end apartheid.

Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and the world rejoiced / rejoined. His never-ending hope, energy and enthusiasm won him the heart / hearts of millions. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, he was elected to be his country’s first even / ever black president. Today, he is still hard at work offering advice / advise about global problems.

SPELLING

These jumbled words (underlined) are from the text. Spell them correctly.

Paragraph 1
1.	one of the most presetdec people
2.	countless rnsaoes
3.	in his nine aesdcde
4.	He retdire in 1999
Paragraph 2
5.	a South Africa that was eddvdii
6.	He says he had a lwdueornf childhood
7.	He first learnt of the rbitelre apartheid system
8.	he studied to become a reawly
Paragraph 3
9.	keep Mandela from spreading his gsaesme of equality
10.	It put him in iorsnp for 27 years
11.	He became fmsoau around the world
12.	politicians and oydrinra people
Paragraph 4
13.	the world jriedeco
14.	His never-ending hope, neergy and enthusiasm
15.	He ecvdiere the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993
16.	hard at work offering advcei about global problems

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	along black and white racial lines. He says he had a wonderful childhood. He first learnt of the terrible apartheid
( )	elected to be his country’s first ever black president. Today, he is still hard at work
( )	system when he studied to become a lawyer. This led to his involvement in the African National Congress (ANC),
( )	offering advice about global problems.
( )	reasons he is a huge hero. He is a person all us can learn many lessons from. He has seen almost everything in his nine decades, from being
( )	The South African government did its best to keep Mandela from spreading his message of equality for
( )	Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and the world rejoiced. His never-ending hope, energy and enthusiasm won him the
( )	the struggle for freedom in South Africa. Rock stars, actors, politicians and ordinary people campaigned to free
( )	him and end apartheid.
( 1 )	Nelson Mandela is one of the most respected people in the world. For countless
( )	hearts of millions. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, he was
( )	Nelson was born in 1918 into a South Africa that was divided
( )	blacks and racial unity. It put him in prison for 27 years. He became famous around the world as an icon of
( )	tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retired in 1999 but continues to travel the world helping people.
( )	which he later became the leader of.

SCRAMBLED SENTENCES

With your partner, put the words back into the correct order.

1.	countless For hero huge a is he reasons
2.	nine almost decades everything He in has his seen
3.	divided black white lines along and racial
4.	childhood says had wonderful He he a
5.	He system apartheid terrible the of learnt first
6.	blacks his of for spreading message equality
7.	the for an of struggle freedom icon
8.	prison 1990 was from in Mandela released
9.	country’s first ever black president he was elected to be his
10.	advice work hard offering at

NELSON MANDELA DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	What do you know about Nelson Mandela?
2.	Would you like to meet Nelson Mandela?
3.	What would you like to know about Nelson Mandela and why?
4.	___________________________________________________
5.	___________________________________________________
6.	___________________________________________________
7.	___________________________________________________
8.	___________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	What did you learn from this text about Nelson Mandela?
2.	What questions would you like to ask Nelson Mandela?
3.	What would his answers be to those questions?
4.	___________________________________________________
5.	___________________________________________________
6.	___________________________________________________
7.	___________________________________________________
8.	___________________________________________________

THE NELSON MANDELA SURVEY

Write five questions about Nelson Mandela in the table. Do this in pairs/groups. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

Without your partner, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Return to your original partner(s) and share and talk about what you found out. Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

WRITING

Write about Nelson Mandela for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

______________________________________________________________________________

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 about Nelson Mandela. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. NELSON MANDELA POSTER: Make a poster showing the different stages of the life of Nelson Mandela. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about Nelson Mandela. Include an imaginary interview with him. Write about what he does every day and what he thinks about.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Nelson Mandela. Ask him three questions about his life. Give him three suggestions on what he should do in his future. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your “Nelson Mandela expert” partner(s) will try and answer your questions.

ANSWERS

SYNONYM MATCH:

Paragraphs 1 and 2
1.	respected	a.	admired
2	countless	b.	numerous
3.	tortured	c.	abused
4.	divided	d.	split
5.	terrible	e.	awful
6.	involvement	f.	association
Paragraphs 3 and 4
7.	message	g.	idea
8.	unity	h.	oneness
9.	icon	i.	symbol
10.	released	j.	freed
11	enthusiasm	k	passion
12	offering	l	volunteering

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	one of the most respected	a.	people in the world
2	a person all us can	b.	learn many lessons from
3.	He has seen almost everything	c.	in his nine decades
4.	divided along black and white	d.	racial lines
5.	the terrible apartheid	e.	system
6.	spreading his	f.	message of equality
7.	an icon	g.	of the struggle for freedom
8.	ordinary people	h.	campaigned to free him
9.	… won him the hearts	i.	of millions
10.	he is still hard	j.	at work offering advice

ALL OTHER EXERCISES:

Look at the text in "THE READING / TAPESCRIPT" section at the top of this page.

Famous People Lessons.com English Lesson Plan on Nelson Mandela