News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Teachers notes
Level: intermediate (B1/B2).

Aims:

to discuss influential people

to read an authentic news story
to look for opinions in a text
to identify and practise the use of suffixes (including FCE exam practice)
to write a text or give a presention on a person who is inspirational.

Preparation

You will need a copy of the Talking points page from The Week magazine, downloadable
from www.teachitworld.com.

Before giving out the worksheet

Ask the class to think of the people who they believe have had the biggest influence on
modern life. You could either do this as a whole class or in small groups.

Put the students ideas on the board and discuss what influence those people have had.

Warmer: people who have changed the world

Compare the list of people on the worksheet with the list you have made on the board and
see if any are the same. Ask students to discuss what they know about the people in groups
and then feedback in class.

Suggested answers:

1. Albert Einstein: changed our understanding of physics with his theory of relativity
2. Thomas Edison: invented many things, including the light bulb, and first worked out
how to generate and distribute electricity widely
3. Henry Ford: first mass-produced the motor car and made it available to the masses
4. Bill Gates: founded Microsoft and helped globalise technology
5. Nelson Mandela: former South African president who helped end apartheid in that
country and advance civil rights
6. Rupert Murdoch: chairman of News Corporation which owns many media companies
and has helped globalise access to the media.

As all these people are men, you might want to discuss why this is and ask students if they
can think of any women who have had this level of influence.

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Reading: opinions

Suggested answers:

For Against

He gave us technology which was fun Following your dream doesnt always
and showed us it could be used at make you successful.
home as well as at work.
His gadgets dont allow us to do
He gave technology a human face anything we couldnt do already.
and made it part of everyday life.
Apples success influenced the
fortunes of whole markets.

Language work: suffixes

Answers:
1. innovate innovator
2. life + change life-changer
3. mourn mourner
4. hysteria hysterical
5. react* overreaction
6. end** endlessly
7. easy easily
8. power powerful
9. flex flexible
10. persuade persuasion
11. distort distortion
12. ultimate ultimately

*The prefix over has also been added to react.

**Two suffixes have been added to end: -less and ly.

Nouns for people Other nouns

innovator overreaction
life-changer distortion
mourner persuasion
Adjectives Adverbs
hysterical endlessly
powerful easily
flexible ultimately

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

The students should note that:

The adverbs all end in -ly. This is a common adverb ending but not all -ly words are
adverbs (e.g. friendly) and not all adverbs end in -ly (e.g. well, very, forwards,
sideways).
The nouns which describe people end in -er or -or. Again, this is a common ending
but not always the case (e.g. violinist, politician).
The other nouns all come from verbs and end in -ion. Similarly, this is a common
suffix but not a rule (e.g. happiness, gratitude, childhood, friendship).

Language work: practice

This exercise is a simplified version of the word formation tasks in the FCE exam.

Answers:

1. Rupert Murdoch is the most influential person in the media.

2. I cant believe he has been appointed director of the company.
3. Bill Gates worked tirelessly to make Microsoft such an important company.
4. In my opinion, Nelson Mandela gives people inspiration to fight for their rights.
5. Whether or not Steve Jobs is as important as Einstein is debatable.
6. One of the most important factors for a sports team is having a good manager.
7. I bought my Mac computer rather reluctantly, but now I love it!
8. If you want to be a successful business person, the most important thing is to work
hard.

Follow-up: writing/speaking

You could set this task for homework, or even set both and ask students to do the
presentation in groups in class and the writing at home.

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Worksheet
Warmer: people who have changed the world

Look at the list of influential people below. In your groups, discuss:

who they are

what they did

how big you think their influence on the modern world has been.

1. Albert Einstein

2. Thomas Edison

3. Henry Ford

4. Bill Gates

5. Nelson Mandela

6. Rupert Murdoch

You are going to read an article entitled Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?. Discuss
with your group:

1. Do you know who Steve Jobs was?

2. Do you own any of his products?

3. What is your opinion of Steve Jobs?

4. Do you think he was as important as Einstein? Why / why not?

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Reading: opinions

In the article there are two sides: the arguments for Steve Jobs being very
important/influential in the world, and the argument against.

Read the article and see if you can list the reasons in the table below.

For Against

Which side do you agree with more and why?

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Language work: suffixes

A suffix is an ending added to a base word to make a new form of the word. There are
many different suffixes in English.

Look at the list of base words below. They appear in the text, but with suffixes. Write the
forms from the text next to the base words and underline the suffixes. The first one has
been done for you as an example.

Note: the spelling of the base word sometimes changes when a suffix is added.

1. innovate innovator

2. life + change .....................................................

3. mourn .....................................................

4. hysteria .....................................................

5. react .....................................................

6. end .....................................................

7. easy .....................................................

8. power .....................................................

9. flex .....................................................

10. persuade .....................................................

11. distort .....................................................

12. ultimate .....................................................

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

There are four classes or types of words which have been made with the suffixes above.
See if you can put the words into the correct boxes below.

Nouns to describe people Other nouns

innovator

Adjectives Adverbs

Do you notice any similarities between the words within each category?

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News-based lesson: 15th October 2011

Steve Jobs: as important as Einstein?

Language work: practice

Complete the sentences below by adding a suffix to the word in capitals at the end of the
sentence. Remember to think about what class of word you need (adjective, noun, etc.)
and to be careful of spelling.

1. Rupert Murdoch is the most .................................. person in the media.

INFLUENCE
2. I cant believe he has been appointed .............................. of the company.
DIRECT
3. Bill Gates worked ............................ to make Microsoft such an important
company. TIRELESS
4. In my opinion, Nelson Mandela gives people .............................. to fight for
their rights. INSPIRE
5. Whether or not Steve Jobs is as important as Einstein is ............................ .
DEBATE
6. One of the most important factors for a sports team is having a good
................................... . MANAGE
7. I bought my Mac computer rather .................................... , but now I love it!
RELUCTANT
8. If you want to be a ............................... business person the most important
thing is to work hard. SUCCESS

Follow-up: writing/speaking

Think of a person (business person, sports person, inventor, etc.) who inspires you and
choose from one of the following tasks:

1. Write approximately 250 words on who they are and why they are an inspiration to
you.

2. Prepare a two-to-three-minute presentation on who they are and why they are an
inspiration to you.

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