The 7 Steps December
1. CONTEXT
Mindmap
anything you
know about thetopic, including
vocabulary. Do
some research
online to help.

Female Political Leaders
Listening Questions 1
1. When did Kamala Harris make history and in what way?
.

2. QUESTIONS

2. In what city was she born and where are her parents from?
.
3. How many female vice-presidential nominees had there been before
Harris and in what years were they nominated?

Read the listening
questions tocheck yourunderstanding.
Look up any new
vocabulary.

.
4. What was Harris’ political history from 2010-2019?
.
5. What happened to Harris in December 2019?
.
Listening Questions 2

3. LISTEN

1. When was Jacinda Ardern born and in what year did she become New
Zealand’s prime minister?

Listen and answer
the questions
using full
sentences. Circle
the number oftimes and % you
understood.

.
2. How many female prime ministers has New Zealand had as of 2021?
.
3. What event did Ardern celebrate in 2018 and what did she do after it?
.
4. What 2 other major events has Ardern had to deal with?
.
5. When did Ardern start her political career and what party was it with?

1Listening 1
2 3 4

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1Listening 2
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Discussion Questions
1. Who are some prominent women in Japanese society? Who is awoman you admire?
2. Why is diversity important in politics and business?

4. CHECK ANSWERS

TRANSCRIPT 1When she was sworn in on January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris made history by becoming thefirst female Vice President of the United States. Harris was born on October 20, 1964 inOakland, California to immigrant parents. Her mother was originally from India and her father isfrom Jamaica. Harris has been married to Douglas Emhoff, the second gentleman, since 2014
and the couple are a blended family.

Read through thetranscript andunderline theanswers. Checkthem against yourown answers.

Prior to Harris, there had been only two other female vice-presidential nominees for a major
party, Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin. Ferraro was Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984
while Palin was John McCain’s choice for vice president in 2008.

5. CHECK VOCABULARY
Read thetranscript andcircle any new
vocabulary youfind. Look themup and add themto your list.

Kamala Harris was one of the candidates for president in the Democratic field in the 2020
election cycle, but she ended her campaign in December 2019. In August 2020, Joe Biden
picked Harris as his running mate.

MATCH THE SYNONYMS BY DRAWING LINES BELOW:

6. READ ALOUD

Read thetranscript aloudat least 5 times,
focusing on
intonation andpronunciation.

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7. SHADOWING

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TRANSCRIPT 2Another prominent female politician is Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand.
Ardern, who was born in 1980, has been New Zealand’s prime minister since 2017 and waselected to a second term in 2020. In New Zealand, general elections occur every 3 years.
Ardern is New Zealand’s third female prime minister.
Ardern has gotten a significant amount of international publicity in recent years. In 2018 shegave birth while in office and returned to her duties after a 6-week maternity leave. The firstelected leader to give birth while in office was Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990, but unlike
Ardern she did not take any time off. Ardern also made headlines for her handling of the mass
shootings in Christchurch in 2019 that took the lives of 51 people, as well as New Zealand’s
response to COVID-19.

Say the transcript
aloud at the sametime as the audio
without reading
it. Circle how
many times
below.

11

Harris graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1989. In 2010
she was elected California’s attorney general, and six years later she won a seat in the UnitedStates Senate.

55Ardern was born in Hamilton, a city approximately 100 kilometers south of Auckland. According
to her profile on her party’s website, she graduated from the University of Waikato with a degree
in International Relations and Professional Communication, and joined the New Zealand Labour
Party when she was 18.