Who wants to be a billionaire?
BNE: Forbes magazine has released its nineteenth annual list of the world’s richest
people. It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates tops the list for the eleventh straight year.
His wealth, at $46.5 billion ($46,500,000,000), was slightly down on last year’s $46.4
billion, although he probably isn’t losing sleep over this. Second richest was American
investor Warren Buffet ($44bn), and third was India’s Lakshmi Mittal ($25bn). Other
unbelievably rich people in the top 100 include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman
Abramovich (#21), Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (#25), E-Bay founder Pierre
Omidyar (#35) and Benetton boss Luciano Benetton (#35).
Forbes said the number of billionaires increased to a record 691 this year (341 from the
USA) compared with last year's 587. Of these, 68 are women, including disgraced
American businesswoman Martha Stewart. The billionaires are from 45 different
countries, including first-timers, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland. The youngest
is Germany’s Prince Albert von Turn und Taxis, who is just 21. Next are Google’s cofounders Larry Page, 32, and Sergey Brin, 31. Forbes says it takes more than “brilliance
and elbow grease” to become a billionaire, and that certain personality types are more
likely to make it to their list. They have an interactive quiz on their website to test if you
have a billionaire personality (www.forbes.com).
WARM UPS
1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about money / Bill Gates / being a billionaire / E-Bay /
Silvio Berlusconi / Martha Stewart / 21-year-old billionaire / billionaire personality / …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2)
on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to
increase conversation.
2. BILLIONAIRE BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different
words you associate with the word ‘billionaire’. Share your words with your partner /
group and talk about them.
3. BEING A BILLIONAIRE: Talk in groups about being a billionaire. Write down five
questions you would ask a real billionaire. Role play being incredibly rich. Walk around
the class talking to other billionaires about your life and ask your questions (Are you a
self-made billionaire? What do you do every day? Are you wonderfully happy? etc.).
4. 2-MINUTE MONEY DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the
following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students
B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
Money is the root of all evil. vs. I love money.
Money can’t make you happy. vs. Honestly, really, truly, it can.
Rich people are stingy. vs. Many rich people are very generous.
Rich people forget about their old friends. vs. That’s not true.
Capitalism is wonderful for giving us all a dream. vs. For most people in the world it is a
nightmare.
Rich people are great role models. vs. You mean Silvio Berlusconi and Martha Stewart?
Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. vs. But this won’t make
you a billionaire.
Bill Gates should give $44bn to charity. He can survive on $1bn. vs. He’s worked hard
for his money.
It’s great the wealth is spreading to other countries. vs. There are no African billionaires
in the top 50.
We can all be billionaires. vs. How?
PRE-READING IDEAS
1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates,
other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘annual’ and ‘list’.
2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or
false:
Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the world’s richest people. T / F
Bill Gates tops the list for the twentieth straight year. T / F
Bill Gates is poorer than last year. T / F
Americans were ranked in the top three on the billionaire list. T / F
Thirty per cent of the billionaires are women. T / F
The youngest billionaire is just two years old. T / F
To become a billionaire you just need brilliance and elbow grease. T / F
Certain personality types are more likely to become billionaires. T / F
3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
(a) released
worrying
(b) tops
shamed
(c) wealth
conceivably
(d) losing sleep over
genius
(e) unbelievably
fortune
(f) disgraced
hard work
(g) first-timers
heads
(h) brilliance
astonishingly
(i) elbow grease
newcomers
(j) likely
issued
4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more
than one combination is possible):
(a) It comes as
year
(b) Bill Gates tops
with last year's 587
(c) for the eleventh straight
it to their list
(d) slightly down on
the list
(e) he probably isn’t losing
co-founders
(f) compared
more than “brilliance and elbow grease”
(g) disgraced American
sleep over this
(h) Google’s
last year’s $46.4 billion
(i) it takes
businesswoman Martha Stewart
(j) more likely to make
no surprise
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES
GAP-FILL: Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.
Who wants to be a billionaire?
BNE: Forbes magazine has released its nineteenth __________ list of the world’s richest
people. It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates tops the list for the eleventh __________
year. His wealth, at $46.5 billion ($46,500,000,000), was slightly down on last year’s
$46.4 billion, although he probably isn’t losing __________ over this. Second richest was
American investor Warren Buffet ($44bn), and third was India’s Lakshmi Mittal ($25bn).
Other __________ rich people in the top 100 include Chelsea Football Club owner
Roman Abramovich (#21), Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (#25), E-Bay founder
Pierre Omidyar (#35) and Benetton boss Luciano Benetton (#35).
Forbes said the number of billionaires increased to a record 691 this year (341 from the
USA) __________ with last year's 587. Of these, 68 are women, including __________
American businesswoman Martha Stewart. The billionaires are from 45 different
countries, including first-timers, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland. The youngest
is Germany’s Prince Albert von Turn und Taxis, who is just 21. Next are Google’s cofounders Larry Page, 32, and Sergey Brin, 31. Forbes says it takes more than
“__________ and elbow grease” to become a billionaire, and that certain personality
types are more likely to make it to their list. They have an interactive quiz on their
website to test if you have a billionaire __________ (www.forbes.com).
sleep annual compared personality straight disgraced brilliance unbelievably
2. TRUE/FALSE: Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.
3. SYNONYMS: Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.
4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.
5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class
about the article.
6. VOCABULARY: Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool
unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.
POST READING IDEAS
1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.
2. QUESTIONS: Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their
partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.
3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.
4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on
the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers.
Report to other groups / the whole class.
5. ‘ANNUAL’/ ‘LIST’: Students make questions based on their findings from prereading activity #1.
6. DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions:
What was interesting in this article?
Do you want to be a billionaire?
How many billions is enough?
Do you like Bill Gates?
How do you feel about Martha Stewart, going to prison, and still being a billionaire?
What would you do on the first day of being a billionaire?
Who would you give money to?
Would you be very happy forever?
Can you see any problems in being so rich?
Would you have any new friends?
Would you keep all of your old friends?
What do you think would be your biggest lifestyle change?
Would you keep a close check on your spending?
How rich do you want to be?
Would you be an extravagant or careful spender?
Would you still look after the pennies?
Do you respect billionaires?
Are billionaires generous people?
Do you like looking at “top-100”, or “top-10” lists?
Do you lose sleep over money?
What does it take to be a billionaire?
Do you have what it takes to be a billionaire?
How much cash would you keep in your wallet when you go out?
Would you work?
How would you help people?
What would you invest in?
Teacher / Student additional questions.
HOMEWORK
1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary
or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations /
collocations of each word.
2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information on billionaires. Share your
findings with your class next lesson.
3. BILLIONAIRE ME: Write your journal / diary entry for your first day of becoming a
billionaire.
4. SHOPPING LIST: Make a shopping list of how much money you will give to five
different charities. Write the reasons for choosing the charities beneath the amounts.
ANSWERS
TRUE / FALSE:
Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the world’s richest people. T
Bill Gates tops the list for the twentieth straight year. F
Bill Gates is poorer than last year. T
Americans were ranked in the top three on the billionaire list. F
Thirty per cent of the billionaires are women. F
The youngest billionaire is just two years old. F
To become a billionaire you just need brilliance and elbow grease. F
Certain personality types are more likely to become billionaires. T
SYNONYM MATCH:
(a) released
issued
(b) tops
heads
(c) wealth
fortune
(d) losing sleep over
worrying
(e) unbelievably
astonishingly
(f) disgraced
shamed
(g) first-timers
newcomers
(h) brilliance
genius
(i) elbow grease
hard work
(j)
likely
conceivably
PHRASE MATCH:
(a) It comes as
(b) Bill Gates tops
(c) for the eleventh straight
(d) slightly down on
(e) he probably isn’t losing
(f) compared
(g) disgraced American
(h) Google’s
(i) it takes
(j) more likely to make
no surprise
the list
year
last year’s $46.4 billion
sleep over this
with last year's 587
businesswoman Martha Stewart
co-founders
more than “brilliance and elbow grease”
it to their list
GAP FILL:
Who wants to be a billionaire?
BNE: Forbes magazine has released its nineteenth annual list of the world’s richest
people. It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates tops the list for the eleventh straight year.
His wealth, at $46.5 billion ($46,500,000,000), was slightly down on last year’s $46.4
billion, although he probably isn’t losing sleep over this. Second richest was American
investor Warren Buffet ($44bn), and third was India’s Lakshmi Mittal ($25bn). Other
unbelievably rich people in the top 100 include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman
Abramovich (#21), Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (#25), E-Bay founder Pierre
Omidyar (#35) and Benetton boss Luciano Benetton (#35).
Forbes said the number of billionaires increased to a record 691 this year (341 from the
USA) compared with last year's 587. Of these, 68 are women, including disgraced
American businesswoman Martha Stewart. The billionaires are from 45 different
countries, including first-timers, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland. The youngest
is Germany’s Prince Albert von Turn und Taxis, who is just 21. Next are Google’s cofounders Larry Page, 32, and Sergey Brin, 31. Forbes says it takes more than “brilliance
and elbow grease” to become a billionaire, and that certain personality types are more
likely to make it to their list. They have an interactive quiz on their website to test if you
have a billionaire personality (www.forbes.com).