Person of the Year

Introduction 

At the end of every year, TIME magazine announces Person of the Year. This is when they choose the person or persons who has been the most important for the world during the past year. It is not always a good thing. Richard Stengel from TIME writes: "Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is a recognition of the power of individuals to shape our world" (from Person of the Year issue, 2010). The official definition of the title is:

TIME's Person of the Year is bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.

This year's Person of the Year was Mark Zuckerberg, the founder  and CEO of Facebook. During the last decade the people have been: Ben Bernanke (2009), Barack Obama (2008), Vladimir Putin (2007), You! (2006), Bono, Melinda and Bill Gates (2005), George W. Bush (2004), The American Soldier (2003), The Wistleblowers (2002), and Rudolph Giuliani (2001)

If you want to see them all, visit TIMEs complete list.

This is my cover! I used a doctored picture of myself:)

Speaking task

Your task is to choose your own personal Person of the Year for 2010. Follow this modified definition of Person of the Year when you choose: "the person or persons who most affected your life, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year." The most likely scenario is that the person or persons are not famous, but someone close to you. This is what you do:

Preparation

• Choose your Person of the Year
• Make a TIME cover (by clicking the link) with a picture of the person/persons (you need a Facebook-account for this). Contact your teacher if you do not have a Facebook-account.
• Download and save the image to your harddrive.
• Prepare what to say when presenting your Person of the Year to the class.

In class

• Show your TIME cover to the class.
• Explain who the person is, and describe him/ her/ them
• Explain why this is the person who affected your life, for good or ill, the most and embodied what was important about the year.
• You have five minutes at the most at your disposal.