Malala Yousafzai American English Teacher

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GENERAL ENGLISH · HISTORICAL FIGURES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
MALALA
YOUSAFZAI
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1 Warm up
Look at the bar chart and answer the questions.
1. Assuming that 50% of the population is female, which countries have fewer female students than
expected?
2. Why do you think some girls are missing from school?
3. How can we make sure that girls attend school?
4. Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani woman who works to make sure girls around the world can receive
an education. What do you know about her life and work?
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2 Vocabulary
Read the sentences and match each word in bold to the correct meaning below.
1. Global action is needed to fight climate change, and social media is an influential tool in explaining
what people can do to help.
a. having the power to change the way people think or what they believe:
b. worldwide, international:
2. The government’s campaign to help businesses has been very successful. The president gave a
speech about her plans for the next stage of the plan.
a. a set of actions that will achieve a specific result:
b. a formal occasion when someone gives a talk to a large audience:
3. Thousands of refugees have left the city. Social activists are saying that we must offer them a safe
place to live.
a. people who work to make positive changes to society:
b. people who have had to leave their homes because of war or other disasters:
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4. Dialogue
Anna: We’re in the area to promote our new products. Would you like a free sample?
John: Yes, please. I don’t want to miss out on any special offers.
a. not have or use the opportunity to do something which would be a benefit to you:
b. encourage people to use, do or support something:
5. He’s celebrating his victory - did you know he got the prize for best actor? Only three people
received a nomination for that prize.
a. winning a game, competition, or war:
b. a formal suggestion that someone should win or receive something:
6. We founded this clinic twenty years ago. It has a focus on women’s health.
a. began a project and make it successful:
b. the main or most important point about something:
Answer the questions below.
1. Which items have four syllables?
2. Does the letter G have the same pronunciation in the words global and refugee?
3. Which item has a silent letter?
4. Which item is a phrasal verb?
How do you think these words will be used in the story of Malala Yousafzai’s early life?

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3 Listening 1
You are going to listen to information about the life of Malala Yousafzai (born in 1997). Before you
listen, read the sentences and try to predict if they are true or false. Then listen and check your ideas.
1. Malala’s father was a teacher.
2. In 2007, Malala and her family had to leave her home in Pakistan because of floods.
3. Malala was shot by a gunman at her school.
4. She gave a speech at the White House in 2013.
5. In 2014, she became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
6. Malala studied medicine at Oxford University.
4 Language in context
Read these sentences from the recording and explain the meaning of the words in bold.
1. Her father ... named his daughter after a female hero who led the Afghan people to victory in an
1880 battle against the British.
2. ...in 2008, Malala gave her first public speech, called "How dare the Taliban take away my basic
right to an education?"
3. The Taliban’s violent actions led to a new international focus on and action for girls’ educational
rights, and Malala’s work was right at the heart of these efforts.
5 Listening 2
Read the questions. Can you remember the answers? Listen again to check.
1. What was Malala’s first school?
2. How did Malala react to the Taliban’s violent campaign against girls’ education?
3. Where did Malala and her family live after the shooting?
4. Why did she choose the title, "I am Malala" for her book?
5. What does the Malala Fund do?
6. How has Malala helped refugees?
7. What job did she do after she graduated?

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6 Language point
The biography of a living person uses a range of different tenses and verb forms. Match each verb in
bold with the correct name and description.
1. During the next few years, she made two a. present perfect - to talk about past events
documentaries with a US filmmaker about or life experiences with no specific time
the local situation and met with United reference
Nations workers.
2. Malala attended the girls’ school that her b. present simple - to talk about states or
father had founded ... facts which are currently true
3. The Malala Fund, set up in 2013, works in c. past perfect - used with past simple to
countries with low levels of female school make the order of events clear
attendance ...
4. Malala has also opened a girls’ school in d. past simple - for finished past events
Lebanon for refugees from the Syrian Civil
War.
5. In 2022, Malala was working as a TV e. past continuous - to talk about an action in
producer. progress at a specific time in the past
Choose the best form of the verbs to complete the sentences. Be ready to identify the form and say
how it is used.
1. More than 132 million girls miss / missed out on education every year worldwide.
2. Malala shared / has shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indian activist Kailish Satyarthi,
another campaigner for young people’s rights.
3. Malala attended / had attended Lady Margaret Hall, the same college at Oxford University that
Pakistan’s first female prime minister Benazhir Bhutto attended / had attended in the 1970s.
4. Speaking while still at university, Malala says that she had enjoyed / has enjoyed typical student
experiences like staying up all night to finish an essay.
5. Malala had lived / was living in student housing during her time at Oxford.
Think of personal examples using the prompts. Talk about:
1. something you were doing five years ago

2. something you did because of another thing that had happened earlier
3. an unusual experience that you’ve had in your life

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7 Talking point
Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.
1. What would you ask Malala if you could meet her?

2. What do you think Malala will do in the future? How influential do you think she will be?
3. Malala’s father named her after a strong female historical figure. Can you think of any similar
heroes that people might name their daughters after?
4. Malala Day takes place every year on Malala’s birthday, July 12. The aim is to remind world leaders
of the importance of making sure that all girls receive an education. What do you think people
could do on this day?
5. Which of these Malala quotes do you like best and why?
Glossary:
wage a struggle - fight against
illiteracy - not being able to read
poverty - not having enough money to live

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8 Optional extension
Read the infographic about the benefits of educating girls and choose the best heading for each box
from the list below. One item is extra.
Discuss the questions below.
1. Which information is the most surprising to you?

2. Which do you think is the most important or convincing reason for making sure all girls attend
school?
3. Can you think of any other additional benefits to educating girls?

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TEACHER MATERIALS · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
MALALA YOUSAFZAI
Transcripts
3. Listening 1
Narrator: Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 in the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan. Her father was
a social activist and educator, and he named his daughter after a female hero who led the
Afghan people to victory in an 1880 battle against the British.
Narrator: Malala attended the girls’ school that her father had founded, but when the Swat Valley
came under the control of the Taliban in 2007, the family, including her two younger
brothers, had to leave. The Taliban are a political and religious group who follow a strict
form of Islam. They do not believe that girls should attend school or that women should
play an active part in society. Upon the family’s return in 2008, Malala gave her first
public speech, called “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to an education?” As
the Taliban continued with their violent campaign of closing and destroying girls’ schools,
Malala started to blog for the BBC under a different name. During the next few years,
she made two documentaries with a US filmmaker about the local situation and met with
United Nations workers. Her activism attracted global attention, including a nomination
from South African archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children’s Peace Prize.
Narrator: On the ninth of October 2012, Malala was traveling home from school when a Taliban
gunman got onto her bus and asked, “Who is Malala?” She was shot in the head and had
to be transferred to the UK for medical care. She and her family stayed in that country
with relatives, and she continued her studies there after she got better. She did not visit
Pakistan again until 2018.
Narrator: The Taliban’s violent actions led to a new international focus on and action for girls’
educational rights, and Malala’s work was right at the heart of these efforts. In 2013,
on her sixteenth birthday, she gave a speech at the United Nations in New York. She was
also named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of the year and published her
life story, titled “I am Malala” - a response to the gunman’s question on the bus.
Narrator: During this period, Malala worked hard to promote girls’ education around the world. In
many countries, girls miss out on secondary education due to local conditions such as war,
early marriage, having to work to support their family, and cost. The Malala Fund, set up in
2013, works in countries with low levels of female school attendance to train local workers
to find ways to get more girls into school. It was for this work that she received the Nobel
Peace prize in 2014 - the youngest ever winner. Malala has also opened a girls’ school in
Lebanon for refugees from the Syrian Civil War.
Narrator: Malala went to Oxford University and studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics,
graduating in 2020. The following year, she married Asser Malik, who was working for
the Pakistani Cricket Board. In 2022, Malala was working as a TV producer.
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Key
1. Warm up
5 mins.
Students begin to consider the question of girls who don’t receive an education. Call attention to the bar chart
- you may wish to point out that the data is pre-pandemic and be aware that situations may have changed for
the worse since then in some countries, most notably Afghanistan. Work through this activity and the follow-up
questions with the whole class, but don’t confirm or deny any of their ideas. It’s fine if the class have limited
knowledge – they will discover more about Malala during the lesson.
Source of information for graph https://ourworldindata.org/primary-and-secondary-education
1. Afghanistan, China, and Nigeria. Note that at the time of writing, girls’ schools in Afghanistan remain closed.
2. Students’ own answers.
2. Vocabulary
10 mins.
In this double-matching exercise, students define some items they need to know in order to understand the
listening. Demonstrate the first pair, and then students can continue alone. Check answers and pronunciation
- stressed syllables are underlined. Students may confuse the verb form founded (to found) with the past simple/
past participle form of to find (find/found/found), so elicit or explain the difference.
Sentence 1
a. influential b. global
Sentence 2
a. campaign b. speech
Sentence 3
a. social activists b. refugees

Sentence 4
a. miss out on b. promote

Sentence 5
a. victory b. nomination
Sentence 6
a. founded b. focus
Go over the follow-up questions for students to notice some important points and then pose the final question
for students to discuss briefly in pairs. This will help to prepare them for the listening. You could elicit some short
responses around the class to conclude this stage.
1. Influential and nomination. 2. No, there is a hard /g/ in global and a /dZ/ in refugee.
3. campai(g)n 4. miss out on
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3. Listening 1
10 mins.
First, go over the sentences and ask students to work in pairs to predict the answers before they listen – this
stage will probably be very brief. Then students can listen to the recording and check their ideas. Before you
check answers with the whole class, students can check answers in pairs.
Note: although it is more usual to use surnames in biographies, in this recording, Malala Yousafzai is referred to
by her first name, as this is how she is best known internationally, and this seems more appropriate for a young
person.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Malala-Yousafzai https://www.biography.com/activist/malala-yousafzai
https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2021/06/03/what-am-i-going-do-next-malala-yousafzai-appears-
cover-british-vogue
https://malala.org/girls-education?sc=header
1. T Her father was an educator.

2. F They left because the Taliban had taken over the area.
3. F She was shot on the bus on the way home from school.
4. F at the United Nations
5. T
6. F She studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
4. Language in context
5 mins.
This is a quick practice in deducing meaning from context, an important skill for students at this level. Go over
the sentences with the whole class and elicit the correct answers. Encourage students to notice the whole phrase
and drill pronunciation.
1. gave her the same name as a female hero to remember and honor her and what she did
2. this phrase expresses anger about something that someone has done - note the verb form that follows does
not take a final -s for 3rd person singular
3. one of the most important parts of something
5. Listening 2
10 mins.
Go over the questions with the whole class. Students should work in pairs before listening to recall/predict the
answers and then listen again to confirm/find the answers. They can check answers again in pairs before you go
over the answers with the whole class.
If any students need extra support for this exercise, you could make the transcript available to them while they
listen or after they listen. Students often enjoy listening and reading anyway – if you haven’t repeated the listening
more than twice so far, they may want to do this now.
1. The one started by her father, in the Swat Valley, in Pakistan.

2. She refused to stay silent - she wrote a blog for the BBC, made two films, and met with people from the United
Nations.
3. In the UK, with relatives.
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4. It was a response to the gunman’s question on the bus.

5. It trains local workers in different countries to find ways to get more girls into school.
6. She has opened a girls’ school in Lebanon for refugees from the Syrian Civil War.
7. She was working as a TV producer.
6. Language point
10 mins.
This is a quick look at how a range of narrative and other tenses are used in the context of the biography of a
living person. Go over the introduction with the class and work through the short matching activity. You may wish
to elicit/remind students that past simple is the basic form used in biographies, with other forms being used as
appropriate. Then students complete a quick gap-fill exercise to see more examples related to the biography. In
the final activity, they can think of personal examples using the prompts. Monitor and support as necessary and
correct any grammatical mistakes.
Part 1
1. → d. 2. → c. 3. → b. 4. → a. 5. → e.
Part 2
1. miss 2. shared
3. attended / had attended 4. has enjoyed
5. was living
7. Talking point
10 mins.
Students can work in pairs or small groups to discuss these questions. If your classroom set-up allows, students
could move around the room, forming small groups to discuss one question at a time, changing groups for each
new question. They can use the glossary provided to help them understand the quotes. Conduct a quick round-up
of answers either after each question or at the end, encouraging students to give reasons and examples for their
answers.
Sources for quotes: https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/9-inspiring-malala-quotes/
8. Optional extension
10 mins.
This activity is intended as a filler or cooler if you have time in your lesson. Students examine an infographic and
complete a matching exercise to demonstrate basic understanding. They then discuss the questions in pairs or
small groups. You could find additional information on the Internet or invite them to do this on their phones.
Answers: A income, B child deaths, C food security, D safe births, E family size, F economy, extra = climate change.
Sources:
https://www.globalpartnership.org/news/infographic/12-years-break-down-barriers-girls-education
https://gec.ngo/educating-girls-changing-our-world/ https://datavizblog.com/2017/01/05/infographic-breaking-
down-the-barriers-to-girls-education/
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GENERAL ENGLISH · HISTORICAL FIGURES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

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a. a set of actions that will achieve a speciﬁc result:

b. a formal occasion when someone gives a talk to a large audience:

a. people who work to make positive changes to society:

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/7

b. encourage people to use, do or support something:

a. winning a game, competition, or war:

b. a formal suggestion that someone should win or receive something:

a. began a project and make it successful:

b. the main or most important point about something:

Answer the questions below.

1. Which items have four syllables?

3. Which item has a silent letter?

4. Which item is a phrasal verb?

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1. Malala’s father was a teacher.

3. Malala was shot by a gunman at her school.

4. She gave a speech at the White House in 2013.

6. Malala studied medicine at Oxford University.

1. What was Malala’s ﬁrst school?

5. What does the Malala Fund do?

6. How has Malala helped refugees?

7. What job did she do after she graduated?

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Think of personal examples using the prompts. Talk about:

1. something you were doing ﬁve years ago

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Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. What would you ask Malala if you could meet her?

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Discuss the questions below.

1. Which information is the most surprising to you?

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a. social activists b. refugees

a. miss out on b. promote

1. T Her father was an educator.

1. The one started by her father, in the Swat Valley, in Pakistan.

4. It was a response to the gunman’s question on the bus.

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