“Bedecked in a multicolored collar that reflected the diversity of the 201 new citizens before her, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over a naturalization ceremony on Tuesday at the New-York Historical Society, treating her rapt audience to a history lesson, one crackling with life and liberty.” L. Robbins, The New York Times
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the Supreme Court, center. Credit Chang W. Lee:The New York Times
“Justice Ginsburg told them that her own father arrived in this country at 13 with no fortune and no ability to speak English, and yet, she would soon be administering the oath of citizenship to them as a member of the highest court in the land.
Across the packed rows of seats at the historical society’s Upper West Side theater sat people from 59 countries, with first names like Islam, Hussein, Kazi, Angie and Sunday, and with professions as diverse as pastors and pediatric cancer doctors. Two men from Guinea sat in the third row and learned they were both named Mamadou Alpha Diallo, both taxi drivers. ‘We are a nation made strong by people like you,’ Justice Ginsburg said.
Justice Ginsburg and new citizens. NYT
It seemed only appropriate that the Brooklyn-born jurist known by her fans as the Notorious R.B.G. (a play on the rapper Notorious B.I.G.) delivered her remarks at the oldest museum in the city. Justice Ginsburg, 85, is believed to be the first Supreme Court justice to take part in a naturalization ceremony in New York in recent years, even though the court does not keep detailed records of officiating appearances.
President Barack Obama embraces Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the President’s State Of The Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015
‘Because I’ve seen her on the news and the wonderful things she has done for people and now getting to see her live, I had tears coming down my eyes,’ said Sunday Aito, 50, originally from Nigeria.
Despite the contentious climate surrounding immigration — and who gets admission to the country — Justice Ginsburg made no mention of the Trump administration in her remarks. The Supreme Court will hear arguments this year about the legality of [Trump’s] travel ban; in a December Supreme Court decision that allowed the third version to continue during the legal challenges, both Justices Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented…Justice Ginsburg acknowledged that the United States was at its outset an imperfect union, and is still beset by poverty, low voting numbers and by the ‘struggle to achieve greater understanding of each other across racial, religious and socio-economic lines.’
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
She urged its newest citizens to vote and to foster unity. ‘We have made huge progress, but the work of perfection is scarcely done,’ she said.”
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post
NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.
Time: Approximately 2 hours.
Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.
Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.
I. Pre-Reading Activities
KWL Chart
The K-W-L chart is used to activate students’ background knowledge of a
topic in order to enhance their comprehension skills.
Directions: Have students use the KWL chart to list the information they already know about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Later in the Post- Reading segment of the lesson, students can fill in what they’ve learned about the topic.
Advanced K-W-L chart.Intervention for Reading
II. While Reading Activities
Word Inference
Directions: Students are to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. They may use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.
- She would soon be administering the oath of citizenship.
- It seemed only appropriate that the Brooklyn-born jurist presided over the ceremony.
- Despite the contentious climate surrounding immigration the president was not mentioned.
- After officiating at the ceremony, she spoke with participants.
- To preside over a naturalization ceremony at the historical society was Justice Ginsburg’s idea.
- Many green card holders are studying for the naturalization test.
- Justice Ginsburg proved inspirational to men and women.
- She is a champion of women’s rights and equality.
- Ambati is a pediatric cancer specialist at a Cancer Center.
- Yusif Abubakari, 42, born in Ghana, was struck by Justice Ginsburg’s humbleness.
Reading Comprehension
Fill-ins
Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.
As a ___of women’s rights and___, Justice Ginsburg proved ___to men and women in the audience. Pranitha Mantrala, 35, a ___originally from___, said the message was clear: “I think we can achieve anything.” She became a ___along with her___, Srikanth Ambati, 38, who is a___cancer specialist at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “It meant a lot for me, especially her ___coming from such a___, and her going into such a high profession,” Dr. Mantrala said. “It’s adorable.”
WORD LIST: citizen, pediatric, husband, equality, India, inspirational, background, champion, physician, parents,
Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage
Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical error. Students are to identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.
I
- Justice Ginsburg will mark her 25th year in the bench in August.
- To preside over a naturalization ceremony at the historical society was Justice Ginsburg’s idea.
- She said that she had read a New York Times article about the program.
II
- The Citizenship Project offers free classes to green card holders.
- Justice Ginsburg was careful to present this nation as one that are heavily into self-improvement.
- Justice Ginsburg acknowledged that the United States was at its outset an imperfect union.
III
- She urged it’s newest citizens to vote and to foster unity.
- As a champion of women’s rights and equality, Justice Ginsburg proved inspirational to men and women in the audience.
- “May God bless her and give her more life and prosperity.”
III. Post Reading Activities
WH-How Questions
Directions: Have students use the WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article.
Who or What is the article about?
Where does the action/event take place?
When does the action/event take place?
Why did the action/event occur?
How did the action/event occur?
KWL Chart
Directions: Have students fill in the last column of the KWL chart if they used one in the pre-reading segment of this lesson.
Discussion for Comprehension /Writing
Directions: Place students in groups and have them discuss the following questions about the United States government. Students may explore information on the web. Afterwards, have the groups share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.
The U.S. government has three branches—the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The government was set up this way so no one person would have too much power. With three branches, each branch balances out the others.
- Name and describe the powers for each branch of government.
- Under which branch of government does Justice Ruth Ginsburg preside?
- How many supreme court justices are there?
- The article states, “Despite the contentious climate surrounding immigration — and who gets admission to the country — Justice Ginsburg made no mention of the Trump administration in her remarks. The Supreme Court will hear arguments this year about the legality of President Trump’s travel ban.” From this comment who has the authority to admit (or deny) immigrants into the U.S.?
3-2-1-Writing
Directions: Allow students 5 minutes to write down three new ideas they’ve learned about the topic from the reading, two things they did not understand in the reading, and one thing they would like to know that the article did not mention. Review the responses as a class.