Before I die …
Summary
Topic: Immortality
Vocabulary: Phrasal verbs with off; phrases with life Reading: From here to eternity
Speaking: Discussing life and its milestones
Communication worksheet 7A: The Friendship Agency
Lead-in 1
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Write the word IMMORTALITY on the board and elicit or explain the meaning (not dying, living forever).•
Ask students to work in pairs and discuss the following questions:Would you like to be immortal? Why / why not? Do you believe in life after death?
Do you think you would live your life differently if you could start again?
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Ask a few students to share their ideas with the rest of the class.2
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Tell students that you have invented a magic potion that can give them eternal life. However, if they take the potion, they will never be able to die, even if they want to.•
Ask students to work in pairs or groups and to think of at least five reasons why they might want to take the potion and five reasons why they might not want to take it.•
Write students’ ideas on the board. Then hold a class vote to find out how many students would decide to take the potion.Exercise 1 page 82
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Start off the discussion by giving an example of five things you would like to achieve before you die, e.g. I’d like towrite a best-selling novel, learn to fly a helicopter, see the Northern Lights, …
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Ask students to brainstorm ideas and write them on the board. Encourage them to think of a range of things, e.g. skills they could learn, people they could meet, sporting achievements.•
Focus attention on the second part of the discussion. Ask students to work in pairs and think how theirambitions might be different if they knew they would live for ever. Ask a few students to share their ideas with the rest of the class.
Culture notes: Dmitri Itskov
Dmitri Itskov is a Russian entrepreneur. In 2011, he set
up an organization called ‘2045 Initiative’. The aim of this organization is to create a community of the world’s leading scientists specializing in life extension. These scientists will work together on technologies which could enable the transfer of someone’s personality to a non- biological carrier. Itskov has outlined four phases of his plan: Phase 1 (2015–2020): building functional android avatars (robots) which are controlled by human brains and which can work in dangerous or inhospitable environments Phase 2 (2020–2025): creating a fully working avatar into which a human brain is transplanted at the end of the human body’s life
Phase 3 (2030–2035): creating a fully working avatar with an artificial brain, into which a human’s personality is transplanted at the end of his/her life
Phase 4 (2040–2045): creating a hologram-like avatar that will replace bodies completely
2045 Initiative also organizes Global Future 2045, an annual congress at which there are scientific discussions about the latest research into life extension technology and also about the possible effects of this technology on society, politics and the economy around the world. Exercise 2 page 82
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Ask students to read the sentences and think about what kind of information they need to find in the article.•
Students compare their answers with a partner.•
Check answers as a class. Ask students to quote the parts of the text that support their answers.1 F 2 F 3 T 4 F 5 T 6 F 7 F 8 F
Exercise 3 page 82
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Go through the strategy with the class. Explain that it is important to be able to evaluate an opinion piece and to understand whether it is balanced or not. Elicit some possible reasons why an author might not write a balanced article, e.g. the author is being paid by a person or organization whose interests are represented in the article; the author has a particular political or religious belief; the author has some personal involvement in an issue.•
You could put students in two groups and ask one group to look for the pros of living forever and one group to look for the cons. Then get students to pair up with someone from another group and compare their lists.•
Check answers as a class.(Possible answers)
Pros:
People could explore endless possibilities. They could witness how the human race evolves. They could dedicate themselves to doing good.
Cons:
Overpopulation would put pressure on our planet’s resources.
Crime rates would rise.
People could get depressed because they would spend thousands of years in the same job.
There would be fewer career opportunities for younger generations.
Society would be more resistant to progress.
Only the rich could afford it, so society would become very unequal.
The novelty of life would wear off and we would get very bored.
We would no longer value the time that we have.
1 No. The author presents many more arguments against living forever than in favour of it.
2 Students’ own answers
3 Students’ own answers
Extra activity: Further discussion
In groups, students discuss the following questions:
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How old will you be in 2045? How do you imagine the world will have changed? Do you think it will have changed for the better or for the worse?•
The writer of the article believes that the older generation is more resistant to change than the younger generation. Do you agree? Why / why not?•
Imagine that Dmitri Itskov decides to select ten people to become the first ‘immortals’. How should he choose who will live forever? What qualities should he look for?Additional vocabulary
The following words are from the article From here to eternity:
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transplant (v) /trænsˈplɑːnt/ to take an organ, skin, etc. from one person, animal, part of the body, etc. and put it into or onto another•
potential (n) /pəˈtenʃl/ qualities that exist and can be developed•
fundamentally (adv) /ˌfʌndəˈmentəli/ used when you are introducing a topic and stating something important about it•
strained (adj) /streɪnd/ showing the effects of worry or pressure•
divide (n) /dɪˈvaɪd/ a difference between two groups of people that separates them from each other•
longevity (n) /lɒnˈdʒevəti/ long life; the fact of lasting a long timeExercise 4 page 82
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Give students a few minutes to find the phrasal verbs in the article and read them in context. With a weakerclass, ask students to check the meanings in a dictionary.
With a stronger class, ask students to try to work out the meanings from the context alone.
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Check answers as a class.a wear off b set off c shrug off d put off e fend off f cross off
Extra activity: Fast finishers
Ask fast finishers to discuss the following questions in pairs:
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What kinds of things do you sometimes put off doing?•
Are you good at shrugging off criticism or do you let itaffect you?
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Do you ever feel cut off from other groups of people or from society? Do you agree that very old people experience this feeling more often?Exercise 5 page 84
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Do the first item with students, helping them to find the matching half. Ask them to look at the linking words in sentence halves a–h (and, but, as, because) and think about whether they add or contrast information or give reasons. This will help them to match the sentence halves.•
Check that students have correctly matched the sentence halves. They then do the second part of the exercise.•
Check answers as a class.1 h 2 a 3 c 4 b 5 f 6 e 7 d 8 g a ease off b make off c laugh off, brush off d call off e fight off f cut off, rub off
Exercise 6 page 84
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Give students a minute to find the phrases in the article and read them in context. They then do the exercise.•
Check answers as a class.•
Ask students the following questions:Which phrase originally described a product in a supermarket? (shelf life)
Which word originally described a stone by the side of the road that showed the distance to the next town? (milestone) Which word usually refers to renting a property? (lease) Which adjective is associated with magic? (charmed)
Remind students that thinking about the origins of a phrase can help them to understand it and to remember its meaning.
1 the milestones in life 2 a matter of life and death 3 shelf life 4 the prime of life 5 breathe life into 6 every walk of life 7 a new lease of life
8 living charmed lives
Exercise 7 page 84
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Ask students to brainstorm ideas for the first question and write notes on the board, e.g. learning to walk and talk, your first day at school, losing your first tooth, learning to ride a bike, falling in love.•
For the second question, write different age ranges on the board: 11–17, 18–25, 26–35, 36–50, 51–65, 66–80. Elicit positive and negative aspects for each age range. Encourage students to think not just about the physical prime of life, but about other things as well and how they affect a person’s well-being, e.g. wealth, confidence, friendship, family, work.•
Students can then discuss the last two questions in pairs or groups. Circulate and monitor, helping with vocabulary if necessary.Vocabulary bank: Phrases with time page 140 1 1 c 2 h 3 e 4 d 5 j 6 f
7 g 8 a 9 i 10 l 11 k 12 b
2 1 all the time
2 in the nick of time
3 in next to no time
4 behind the times
5 At one time
6 ahead of time
7 in the course of time
8 for the time being
9 at the same time
10 before my time
11 at the best of times
12 from time to time (she occasionally works nights) / all the time (she only works nights) / for the time being (she works nights at the moment, but this will change)
3 Students’ own answers
Learning outcome
Ask students: What have you learned today? What can you
do now? and elicit answers: I can understand an article about immortality. I can use phrasal verbs with off and phrases with time. I can discuss the prospect of immortality and the important times in my own and other people’s lives.