Left-wing, right-wing

Exercise 1: Discuss
In class, discuss the following questions.

Do you have a voting system in your country?

If so, how often do you vote?

What exactly is done with your votes? (How are they counted? How is it decided who
has won?)

Exercise 2: Share what you know

Look at the expressions below. Tick the ones you don't know. Then ask your partner if he/she
can help you understand them. If he/she cant, ask other students in your class! If there are
words nobody knows, don't worry you'll have a chance to guess the meaning later.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

general election
constituency
Member of Parliament (MP)
seat
to represent
by-election, or bye-election
right-wing
left-wing
first past the post system
proportional representation (PR)

Exercise 3: Guess from the text

The words/expressions you have been studying appear in the text below. Read the text and
consider whether you now have the same, or a different, understanding of the
words/expressions... If you're still not sure what a word/phrase means, ask another student.
In the U.K. there is a general election every five years. This means that each adult has the chance
to elect a politician from one particular party. The area (of, perhaps, 50,000) from which the votes
are counted is called a constituency. The elected politician then becomes a Member of
Parliament (MP) s/he has a seat in the House of Commons.
Each MP represents the people from his/her constituency in Parliament. Sometimes an MP later
resigns, retires, or dies, and the election which then occurs is called a by-election (this occurs only
in one constituency, not all over the country).
The Conservative Party sits on the right-hand side of the House of Commons (its MPs are rightwing). Meanwhile, the Labour Party sits on the left-hand side (its MPs are left-wing). Of course,
the policies of the parties are different the Conservative Party is for a free market, whereas the
Labour Party is more for providing opportunities for poorer people.
The U.K. has a simple majority system, also known as first past the post. This means that if a
politician doesn't win in his/her constituency, all the votes for him/her are lost. Meanwhile, in
proportional representation (PR), all the votes cast are counted up and reflected in the number of
seats a party has in Parliament. In other words, if a Socialist party has 30% of the votes in the
country, it will get 30% of the seats in Parliament.
2008 www.teachitworld.com

9507

Page 1 of 4

Left-wing, right-wing
Exercise 4: Check the meaning
Answer the following questions in class.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Does a general election take place over the whole country, or just a part of it? What exactly
do people vote for?
Whose interests does an MP promote?
When are there by-elections? Why?
How might a right-wing party criticise a left-wing party? And how might a left-wing party
criticise a right-wing party?
In a simple majority system, is the number of votes cast reflected in the number of seats
gained? What about in a PR system?

Exercise 5: Build new words

Some of the words from this unit appear in the chart below. Where you see an asterisk, fill in the
necessary word. Where there are several words in one section, help is given in brackets. If you
can't do all of them, use a dictionary.
noun

verb

adjective

politics
*
(= person)
*
(= plan of action)

election
*
(= people who vote)

representative

majority
*
(= rank in the army)

parliament
*
(= expert/MP)

constituency
*
(= principles/statute)
*
(= person)

adverb
*

You can also use the dictionary to underline the stressed syllable with the words of more than
one syllable, as in the example, politics. What do you notice about the pronunciation of words in
the same row?
Now write sentences using the words that you didnt know, to illustrate what they mean.
2008 www.teachitworld.com

9507

Page 2 of 4

Left-wing, right-wing
Exercise 6: Find new collocations
Collocations are words that typically go together. Choose a collocation for each of the words
below. Tick one of the three words in brackets.
1.

(general; widespread; global) ELECTION

2.

ELECT A (presidency; president; presiding)

3.

(proportional; respective; relative) REPRESENTATION

4.

A (selling; vending; sales) REPRESENTATIVE

5.

REPRESENTATIVE (sample; number; test)

6.

(light; simple; perfect) MAJORITY

7.

MAJOR (problem; query; question)

8.

(homes; flats; houses) OF PARLIAMENT

9.

PARLIAMENTARY (procedure; habit; course)

10.

(parochial; provincial; local) CONSITUENCY

11.

CONSTITUTE A (problem; trouble; hardship)

12.

CONSTITUENT (pieces; parts; fragments)

2008 www.teachitworld.com

9507

Page 3 of 4

Left-wing, right-wing
Teachers notes and key
Aims

activating known politics vocabulary in a class discussion on voting systems

guessing the meaning of economics vocabulary from context

using a learner dictionary to check pronunciation

expanding lexis through word-building and collocation work

Topics: politics
Timings: exercise 1. 12 mins; exercise 2. 15 mins; exercise 3. - 7 mins; exercise 4. 8 mins;
exercise 5. 7 mins; exercise 6. 6 mins Total time: 55 mins

Key
Exercise 4: Check the meaning
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

over the whole country/People vote for a politician.

the people in his/her constituency
when an MP resigns, retires, or dies/because each constituency needs an MP!
A right-wing party might say that a left-wing party does not encourage businesses to grow
(with the result that everyone becomes poorer)/A left-wing party might say that a right-wing
party helps the rich but not the poor
no (not necessarily!)/yes

Exercise 5: Build new words

politician/policy/politicise*/political/politically
electorate/elect/elected
representative/represent/representative
major/major/major
parliamentarian/parliamentary
constitution/constituent/constitute/constituent
Words in the same row (with the same root) do not always stress the same syllable.
*The North American spelling, politicize, is also possible here.
Exercise 6: Find new collocations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

general ELECTION
ELECT A president
proportional REPRESENTATION
A sales REPRESENTATIVE
REPRESENTATIVE sample
simple MAJORITY
MAJOR problem
houses OF PARLIAMENT
PARLIAMENTARY procedure
local CONSITUENCY
CONSTITUTE A problem
CONSTITUENT parts

2008 www.teachitworld.com

9507

Page 4 of 4