ESL Business Teacher Resource Articles: Relationships s3

Bucket List

Pre-talk:

● What are 3 things you would like to do before you pass away?

● Why are these important to you?

● Have you started working towards achieving these?

Picture Talk: ● Do you agree with this list?

● Which would you like to include to your list to do?

● Which ones would you like not to do?

● Have you done any of these?

Headline: Owner takes terminally ill dog on bucket-list adventure to make happy memories (Source: Today by Chris Serico)

Headline Questions ● Would you do this for your pet?

● What would do for you dying pet instead?

Article:

Thomas Neil Rodriguez, a DJ from New York City who was told 16-year-old Poh might only have "days" to live, set out to make sure his canine friend spent the rest of his time enjoying landmark destinations across the country, and began chronicling the happy moments on Instagram.

"I've gotten a lot of messages like, 'This reminds me of my dog,' and, 'One day, I hope I get to do this with my dog,' and, 'I lost my dog recently, and I wish I could have done this with my dog,'" Rodriguez, 40, told TODAY.com.

Back in December 1999, Rodriguez — who goes by the stage name DJ Neil Armstrong — adopted Poh from the North Shore Animal League shelter in Port Washington, New York, where he instantly fell for the 8-week-old pup with a mischievous side. "He chose [me], at the end of the day," he said of Poh, believed to be half pit bull and half Labrador retriever. "Very loving, very loyal."

Poh had been healthy for most of his life, but his owner got terrible news just weeks into 2015, when he'd returned from a tour of Asia to learn his dog had kidney failure.

"[About a month later, a vet] found a softball-sized tumor on his liver and multiple tumors around his kidneys. Essentially, at that point, that's when he got kind of a time limit on his life," Rodriguez said. "I asked, 'What are we saying here? Do I have a year with him?' And the doctor's reply was, 'Well, he may have days [to live].'"

With the help and support of Rodriguez's fiancée, Yuko Ogino, he decided to take Poh on the road for Rodriguez's tour and document Poh's travels through an Instagram account,"I just didn't want to leave his side, so, I brought him with me," said Rodriguez, who added that the couple travels with an intravenous drip and other medications for Poh. "What started as a single stop in Phoenix, Arizona, turned into a 35-city, seven-week tour of the United States." Dated May 5, part of the caption for the first post of Poh's Instagram account reads, "My parents found out that I have a couple of very large tumors growing in my abdomen which are inoperable. So my dad @djneilarmstrong decided to give me a bucket list trip across the good old US of A [traveling] from #nyc all the way to the west coast, from sea to shining sea."

Thankfully, Poh has lived beyond the most extreme prognosis of mere days, taking in the country's best sights, sounds and smells for almost three months. Along the way, Poh has basked in the lights of Times Square, cruised the Vegas strip, stoically posed with D.C. monuments, gotten his kicks on Route 66, and gawked at Seattle's Space Needle.

Discussion:

 What do you think of this person?  Do you agree with his actions?  Do you think many people have a bucket list?  Does a bucket list just have to be about travelling?  How do you come up with your bucket list? o How often do you review/fine comb your bucket list?  Why would a bucket list be important?  Where do/would you store your bucket list?  Would you like to complete your bucket list alone or with some being?  Why do we call it a bucket list?  Should pets be treated like humans?  Did you have a pet? o What was its name? o What kind of pet was it? o Would you like to have a pet like that again? o Have you ever travelled with your pet?  Do you think ritzy 5 start pet hotels are ok?