Anti-McDonald’s McDavids beat Goliath (Wed 16 Feb) WARM UPS CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about McDonald’s / McLibel 2 / David and Goliath / Ellen Brokovitch / healthy hamburgers / Ronald McDonald / We’re lovin’ it…Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class. McDONALD’S BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with McDonald’s. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them. DAVID AND GOLIATH BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words or examples you associate with David and Goliath. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them. WHAT’S WRONG WITH McDONALD’S?; Talk about these opinions from the famous ‘What’s wrong with McDonald’s leaflet with your partner: a. McDonald’s try to cultivate an image of being a 'caring' and 'green' company. b. Children are lured in (dragging their parents behind them) with the promise of toys and other gimmicks. c. McDonald's promote their food as 'nutritious', but the reality is that it is junk food. d. Meat is the cause of the majority of food poisoning incidents. e. Workers in the fast food industry are paid low wages. McDonald's do not pay overtime rates even when employees work very long hours. f. Forests throughout the world - vital for all life - are being destroyed at an appalling rate. g. Every year McDonald's use thousands of tons of unnecessary packaging, most of which ends up littering our streets. h. The menus of the burger chains are based on the torture and murder of millions of animals. i. Staff turnover at McDonald's is high, making it virtually impossible for workers to unionize and fight for a better deal, which suits McDonald's who have always been opposed to Unions. j. Methane emitted by cattle reared for the beef industry is a major contributor to the 'global warming' crisis. k. McDonald's only interest is money, making profits from whoever and whatever they can. THE LEAFLET: Talk about the “What’s wrong with McDonald’s?” campaign leaflet (http://www.mcspotlight.org/campaigns/current/mckids.html) Breaking News English Daily (www.breakingnewsenglish.com) 2005 PRE READING EXERCISES WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries, or a search engine, to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘court’ and ‘case’. TRUE / FALSE: Predict from the headline whether these statements are true or false: a. Two British conservationists won a court case against McDonald’s. T / F b. The two conservationists’ nickname is the McLibel 2. T / F c. The McLibel 2 distributed leaflets in London entitled “What’s wrong with McDonald’s. T / F d. McDonald’s sued the pair for libel, spending $10 million on lawyers. T / F e. The McLibel 2 were imprisoned for seven years. T / F f. It was a huge public relations disaster for McDonald’s. T / F g. McDonald’s served unhealthy food, exploited children, were cruel to animals, and paid low wages. T / F h. It is now more difficult to publicly criticize powerful organizations. T / F SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) conservationists campaigned distributed sued legal aid damages damn notorious proceedings scrutiny prosecuted infamous financial assistance circulated condemn examination compensation crusaded activists action PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases based on the article (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) a true case of immoral They distributed The hamburger chain sued The pair never paid exploit culpably in breach of The two conservationists had detrimental the pair for libel launched legal proceedings responsible for animal cruelty children operating practices David and Goliath effect leaflets in the streets of London the right to a fair trial a penny Breaking News English Daily (www.breakingnewsenglish.com) 2005 DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!): (a) David and Goliath (n) (i) a hamburger restaurant chain (ii) a story about a small person defeating a giant (b) libel laws (n) (i) laws that prevent one person / company saying damaging lies against another (ii) laws that require restaurants to sell healthy food (c) immoral (adj) (i) something that everyone knows is bad and unethical (ii) the ability to live or be remembered forever (d) sued (v) (i) a way of frying old burgers quickly to kill all bacteria (ii) took someone to court to win damages, c