Class reading

As in any business, we experienced enormous challenges. For years, we paid our employees Christmas bonuses with promissory notes because cash was so short. But with my mother's words deeply embedded in my soul, I never doubted we would prevail. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world, with one of the most recognizable names in the business.

(It’s a part of the text)

First I would ask my students to read the text and focus on the general understanding, then we would  discuss/summarize it (focus on the general historical/social context, on the success story).

The vocabulary work can start with students identifying the unknown words, followed by a close reading of the exact context they appear in. The three vocabulary items I have chosen are: promissory notes, embed and prevail and I would help my students understand them by asking the following questions. As all three words appear in the same paragraph, the questions should be carefully chosen so as not to contain/refer to the unknown words not yet discussed but at the same time they can lead naturally to the next word/concept to be discovered by the students.

Promissory notes

1. Was the business successful at first?
2. What are the challenges of starting a business?
3. Did the narrator have enough money when they started the business?
4. Did he want to reward his employees?
5. What part of speech is ‘promissory’? How is it formed?
6. What is a promise? When will it become reality?
7. What other notes can you think of in relation to ‘money’?
8. Would you work for a ‘promise’? How long for? In what situation?

Embed

1. Was the author’s mother important to him? Did he admire her?
2. Did he listen to what his mother had to say?
3. How important were her words?
4. What does the word deeply suggest?
5. What part of speech is embed and what word does it contain?
6. Can you remember any words your parents embedded in your soul?
7. Have you ever heard/seen/used this word in another context?
8. What can we embed in a video or email?
9. How is ‘embed’ different from ‘attach’?

Prevail

1. Did the narrator feel discouraged by lack of money? Why?
2. Would you feel discouraged if things didn’t go well at the beginning of an enterprise?
3. What would you hope for?
4. What word could you use instead of ‘prevail’?
5. How did they ‘prevail’?
6. Have you ever experienced any problems/obstacle when trying to achieve something? What helped you prevail?