Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
At first it might seem odd that it is illegal to kill yourself in most countries. How could you punish a dead person? But it makes a little more sense when you realize that it’s illegal to help someone end his or her life too. It’s even against the law for people who are very sick and will never get better to have a doctor help them die.
But some laws are very unpopular so people, and even courts, ignore them. Listen to Mason tell Marni about how a French court didn’t punish a doctor and nurse who helped a patient die.
3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Mason: There was an interesting article in the paper the other day about a euthanasia case in France.
Marni: Okay, stop you right there. You’re talking about…
Mason: I’m talking about…not in Asia, even though France is in Europe…
Marni: Not youth in Asia…
Mason: Like, physician-assisted suicide sort of thing.
Marni: Well, okay. Yes. Well you can see where, you know, it’s a linguistic challenge.
Mason: It’s a weird word for us, like where Asia, youth could be. But anyway, this court acquitted a physician and nurse that were on charges, pretty serious charges, for ending a life that basically this person wanted ended and her family wanted ended.
Marni: So, what do you think about euthanasia as a topic? It’s a very controversial issue.
Mason: Technically it is because the laws still say it’s illegal. But one of the things this article was talking about, that this case kind of illustrates because they got off pretty scot-free, because they really didn’t do anything wrong…
Marni: Because it was this woman’s will to die.
Mason: Um-hm. It’s kind of like the court of public opinion, right, was really what this court was, and the public said, in France, that really this is no big deal and…
Marni: And they supported this woman’s decision.
Mason: Yeah, it’s like, it’s our lives, society’s at a place where it’s your right to choose when and how you go.
Marni: Well and if you’re terminally ill I think it’s perfectly acceptable to say, “I’m going to choose how I’m going to die.”
Quizzes
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Discussion
Mason read about a French euthanasia case in the newspaper. For a moment, Marni misunderstands and thinks he is talking about youth in Asia because the words sound similar. The French doctor and nurse helped a sick woman who wanted to die end her life and were brought to trail.
Marni asks Mason what he thinks about euthanasia and she says that it’s controversial. Mason says that he thinks the only reason it is an issue is because it is illegal. He says that since the French doctor and nurse weren’t punished by the court, it shows that people don’t believe that euthanasia is wrong anymore. Marni agrees that people who are sick and in pain and going to die soon ought to have the right to end their lives earlier.
What do you think about euthanasia? Would you want to go on living even if you were in pain that would never get better?
Interesting fact: Dr. Jack Kevorkian was just released from a US prison on June 1 after serving eight years for helping a patient die.
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