Lesson Plan: Is 2017 a Mirror Image of Orwell’s 1984?
While Reading Activities: Word Inference
- dystopia |disˈtōpēə| noun-an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Compare with utopia.
- falsehood |ˈfôlsˌho͝od| noun-the state of being untrue: the truth or falsehood of the many legends that surround her.
- Propaganda |ˌpräpəˈɡandə| noun-chiefly derogatory information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view: he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda.
- demagogue |ˈdeməˌɡäɡ| noun-a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.
- prescient |ˈpreSH(ē)ənt| adjective-having or showing knowledge of events before they take place: a prescient warning.
- environmental |inˌvīrənˈmen(t)l| adjective-relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition: acid rain may have caused major environmental damage.
- update |ˌəpˈdātˈəpˌdāt| verb make (something) more modern or up to date: security measures are continually updated and improved | (as adj. updated) : an updated list of subscribers.
- gullible |ˈɡələb(ə)l| adjective easily persuaded to believe something; credulous: an attempt to persuade a gullible public to spend their money.
- deceive |dəˈsēv| verb (of a person) cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage: I didn’t intend to deceive people into thinking it was French champagne.
- despairing |dəˈsperiNG|adjective-showing the loss of all hope: he gave a despairing little shrug.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
Reading Comprehension: Fill-ins
“Orwell had been thinking about the novel that would become 1984 as early as 1944, when he wrote a letter about Stalin and Hitler, and the horrors of emotional nationalism and a tendency to disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible führer.”
Grammar: Word -Recognition
Of course, all of these developments are being constantly updated, with regular flurries of news and denials and counter-denials — a confusing state of affairs that itself would not have surprised Orwell, since he knew the value of such confusion to those in power.
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