Political Nightmares

Many thanks to Kevin Roche, a colleague of mine, who has kindly allowed me to include his extremely original conversation lesson on the site. This lesson is for advanced level classes and puts students in the position of having to defend or atack poorly phrased statements made by various politicians. Students take either the role of a politician defending what he has said, or a journalist trying to catch the politician out. This is the US version of this lesson, click here for Kevin's original version focusing on British Politics.

Aim: Discussion, expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing

Activity: Political Nightmares - Interviewing and discussion

Level: Advanced

Outline:

• Split students into two groups - a group of journalists and a group of politicians.
• Give each student a copy of one of the interview notes. Each students should be assigned one role as wither a Journalist or a Politician (i.e., Environment Minister, Foreign Minister, etc.)
• Ask students if they have any questions on the explanatory notes.
• Give students ten minutes to prepare for the interview.
• Have students break up into pairs and conduct the interview.
• Circulate around the classroom helping students and taking notes on common language problems.
• Begin the activity follow-up by going over some of the more common mistakes made by students.
• Finish the activity as a class by asking each pair to argue one of the points in front of the rest of the class. Ask other students to comment on the arguments presented.

Political Nightmares

Director of EPA

1. You own three cars, one of which is a Ferrari.
2. You were seen dropping lifter in a park.
3. When asked what you thought about 'Green Peace' you were quoted as saving 'I believe that plants have as much right as humans to receive absolution.'
4. You own shares in 'McDonalds' who are responsible for cutting down large sections of the rain forest.
5. Earlier in your career you worked for a large oil company and helped cover-up an oil spill in Alaska.

Secretary of State

1. On a visit to Latin America you were quoted as saying, 'I wish I had studied Latin at school then I might be able to understand you guys.'
2. You thought East Timor was in Scotland.
3. On a visit to Germany you thought that the German Foreign Minister was a waiter and asked him to get you a cup of cofee.
4. When asked your opinion on China you were Quoted as saying, 'I think it will provide a fantastic market for future US economic growth'.
5. In a recent interview with the French Foreign Minister you offended him and he called you 'xenophoic' to which you replied, 'Sorry, I don't speak French.'

Vice President

1. One day after you gave a speech on the importance of parents to teach their children morals your son was convicted for selling drugs.
2. When you were younger you were a supporter of pro-choice.
3. When asked Your opinion on the wrongful execution of an inmate in Texas you said, 'Yes, that was a shame but we can't get it right all the time'.
4. On a recent visit to California you were quoted as saving 'California is a beautiful state. It's a pity about the people.'
5. In a debate on the future of race relations in the US you said, 'We need to forget about the past and move forward.'

Secretary of Education

1. You talk about the importance and good standard of state schools but both your children attend private schools.
2. On a visit to a school in a depressed area in Alabama you were quoted as saying 'I've never met so many ill-mannered children, they should be placed in a juvenille detention center.'
3. When asked about increasing class sizes in schools you replied '25, 35 - what's the difference?'
4. You were quoted as saving 'Mixed Schools are a bad idea because the girls distract the boys.'
5. When a Stanford professor allowed his students to use British spelling you said, 'This man should be sacked for a lack of patriotism, he obviously has no love of language.'

Secretary of Health and Human Services

1. You talk about the need for people to stop smoking due to healthcare costs but smoke yourself.
2. When asked about the ever increasing waiting list for medicare patients needing operations, you were quoted as saying, 'Well, it's not my fault that people keep getting sick!'
3. In a debate on care for the disabled you said, 'The thing with disabled people is that they can't do the same things as you or I.'
4. When asked what the government planned to do to reduce the amount of hours worked by nurses and doctors in the public health sector you were quoted as saying, 'They should be grateful that they've got a job.'
5. You believe that there should be a move towards even more private health care with a reduction in the public sector - including medicare.

Politicians

You are about to be interviewed by a journalist who has a reputation for embarrassing politicians and exposing their faults. I f this interview goes badly you could be in danger of losing your job. Luckily someone who works for you managed to steal a copy of the journalists notes. You have ten minutes to think about the questions that the journalist is likely to ask you and to think of suitable answers that will hopefully save your job.

Journalists

You are about to interview a top politician and are keen to expose he/she as being inadequate for the job they do. The government has been under increasing pressure recently and cannot afford any more mistakes. You have worked very hard gathering information that these politicians would like to forget. This is a your big chance to enhance your reputation and further your career.

British Version of this Lesson

Political Nightmare Printing Page

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