june 2007 uppersecondary teachers

around English

teacher’s notes & key

Lead-in activities

What you do here will depend on how mature your class is, and whether or not they have any knowledge
of politics. For classes with little knowledge, matching anagrams of politicians’ names to countries would
be an option. For more aware classes you could discuss how the UK system differs from those of most other
democracies (the Queen as Head of State, a non-proportional (two- or three-party system) system,
no constitution other than normal laws etc.), and whether they know anything about Blair.

Pre-reading

Encourage speculation. The goal is for the students to predict and then read for specific information, so give
them time to predict. You could get different groups to put their ideas (T/F) on the board and do it as
a competition.
Key:
F, F, T, F, T, F

Connections in the text

This is very challenging and requires the students to read very carefully, paying attention to cohesive devices
suck as pronouns, subject agreement, linking devices etc. If you think it might be too difficult, or if they
seem to be struggling, tell them the order, or even make it a matching by telling them the four parts.
Key:
‘Other policies...’

after ‘open to discussion’ (the last sentence of the third paragraph)

‘It is, of course...’

after ‘How will Blair be remembered’ (the title of the fourth paragraph)

‘On the other...’ after ‘catholic and protestant communities’ (the middle of the fourth paragraph)
‘Time will tell...’ after ‘carefully watched’ (the last sentence)

Vocabulary 1

Key:

successor

predecessor

community

election

focus on

represent

modernise

announce

policy

efficiency

Vocabulary 2

Complete the sentences using one of the words above. You may need to change the form of the word.

1. elections

2. successor

3. predecessor

4. community

5. announce

6. policies

7. represents

8. modernise

9. efficient

10. focus on

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

around English

teacher’s notes & key

Word-building

This will be challenging and you should check carefully during feedback that the students understand the
meaning of some of the potentially more confusing words (economical, economise, politicise, governor,
speculative) and their positive or negative connotations. Be sure to check the stress patterns - this is a good
opportunity to raise the learners’ awareness of shifting stress within word families.

noun

person

adjective

verb

election

- - -

elected

elect

economy

economist

economical

economise

politics

politician

political

politicise

efficiency

- - -

efficient

- - -

moderniser

- - -

modernise

government

governor

- - -

govern

success

- - -

successful

succeed

speculation

moderniser

speculative

speculate

Discussion

The questions are designed to produce a discussion about politics rather than a political discussion, but if
your class is interested it may well go the other way. Additional topics to extend the discussion might in-
clude the role of money in politics, the level of apathy at election time and the role of referenda.

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

PHOTOCOPIABLE

Bye Bye Mr. Blair: the end of a political era

A long-expected exit

It was hardly a surprise in the end when
on 10 May Tony Blair finally an-
nounced his intention to step down
as Prime Minister. There had been
endless speculation in the media about
the exact date, but it was well known
that he was planning to leave 10 Down-
ing Street sooner rather than later.

The route to the top

Tony Blair is a Scot, born in Edinburgh,
the capital of Scotland, but his political
career is very much an English one. His
first attempt to win election was not
very successful, however: he scored
only 10% of the vote and lost his depo-
sit (the money candidates have to pay
to take part in elections). Success came
in 1983, when he was elected to Parlia-
ment, representing the constituency
of Sedgefield in the north-east of Eng-
land. In 1994 Blair was elected leader
of the Labour Party and he spent the
next years, as he described it, modernis-
ing the party and making its policies
more centrist. In 1997 he defeated the
ruling Conservative Party and became

the first Labour Prime Minister for 18
years.

Blair as Prime Minister

From the beginning Blair’s government
focused on improving public services
like education and health. The idea was
to do this with money and reforms:
spending was increased steadily and
market-like mechanisms were intro-
duced to try to increase efficiency.
Standards have improved, though how
far this is the result of the reforms is
open to discussion. Other policies
of Blair’s governments include intro-
ducing a minimum wage, devolving
power to Scotland and Wales and intro-
ducing university tuition fees.

How will Blair be
remembered?

is, of course, impossible to say with

any certainty. However, some impor-
tant points are clear, on both the positive
and the negative sides. He will proba-
bly be most warmly remembered as the
man who helped to bring peace
to Northern Ireland. His predecessors
may have started the process, but it is

Blair’s patience and energy which
is credited with bringing about the cur-
rent peaceful and stable situation where
power is shared by both the catholic and
protestant communities. On the other
hand, Blair’s involvement of the UK
in the invasion of Iraq will cast a sha-
dow over his achievements. Indeed, his
popularity has already fallen very low
as a result.
Whatever one’s opinion of the Blair
governments’ policies, however, Blair
will be remembered as a winner more
than anything else. He has won three
general elections in a row, has been
Prime Minister for a decade and has
been the dominant politician of his gen-
eration.

What next?

The next Prime Minister will be

the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Secre-
tary of State for Finance) Gordon
Brown. Certainly less charismatic than
Blair but highly intelligent and deter-
mined, his attempts to step into Blair’s
shoes will be carefully watched. Time
will tell if he can step out of Blair’s
shadow.

Key dates in Tony Blair’s
political career

1983

Blair is elected to Parliament for the first time

1994

Blair is elected Leader of the Labour Party

1997

Blair wins the general election and becomes the youngest Prime Minister since 1812

2001

Blair wins a second term as Prime Minister

2005

Blair wins a third term as Prime Minister

2007

Blair announces his decision to step down as Prime Minister

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

After a decade as Prime Minister, To-
ny Blair is stepping down. How will
the UK remember him?

TONY
BLAIR

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