The magicians trying to change the world

Level 2 l Upper intermediate

1 Warmer
a. Complete the diagram with ten things that you associate with magic.

MAGIC

b. Compare your answers in small groups.

2 Key words
Match the key words with the definitions. Then find them in the article to read them in context. The section
numbers are given to help you.

exploited razzmatazz ornate props deception spot status

1. a lot of lively and noisy activity that is intended to be impressive and exciting _______________________
(intro)

2. used a situation so that you get benefit from it _______________________ (intro)

3. notice something _______________________ (intro)

4. the act of tricking someone _______________________ (intro)

5. decorated with complicated patterns or shapes _______________________ (section 1)

6. objects used on stage or during a performance _______________________ (section 1)

7. the legal position of a person, country etc _______________________ (section 1)

dexterity consultation master coordination graduate funding poised

8. money that a charity needs, usually from donations or grants, to keep going _______________________
(section 1)

9. behaving in a controlled and calm way, even in difficult situations _______________________ (section 2)

10. someone who has a degree from a university _______________________ (section 2)

11. great skill in using your hands or your mind _______________________ (section 2)

12. the ability to control the movements of different parts of your body so that they work well together
_______________________ (section 2)

13. learn something thoroughly so that you know it or can do it very well _______________________ (section 2)

14. a meeting with an expert or a professional person to get advice or discuss a problem, especially a meeting with
a doctor _______________________ (section 3)
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NEWS LESSONS / The magicians trying to change the world / Upper intermediate
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The magicians trying to change the world
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
The magicians trying to change the with cerebral palsy. The turning point in her life
world – one card trick at a time came when she went to a summer camp for
young people with hemiplegia, a condition that
Claire Armitstead
means one side of the body can’t move. The
9 September, 2019 camps are run by Breathe Arts Health Research,
With its razzmatazz, secrecy and trickery, being a a charity set up more than a decade ago by a
magician is not something most associate with a group of magicians who believed the dexterity
social conscience. Good magicians have always used in magic tricks could be used to help
understood and exploited the psychological blind young people.
spots of their audience. In 1876, a magician They discovered that some children could make
known as Professor Hoffmann wrote a book life-changing progress in coordination – and
for boys, Modern Magic, which explained how confidence – in just a fortnight. Its co-founder,
classic tricks were performed. “He believed David Owen, demonstrates a trick – the mystery
young people should learn to perform magic of the jumping coins – in which money appears
because it would be useful in their professional to jump from one place to another. Repeating it
lives,” one present-day magician, Will Houstoun, in slow motion, he shows how it involves a series
tells me. “Magic teaches you to stand in front of a of ten hand movements. “It’s a professional-level
room and talk, problem-solve and spot deception.” piece of magic that some children master and
Today, the practical applications of magic are others don’t, but for all of them, magic builds
being used by a new generation to conjure up a skills that most of us take for granted,” he says.
better world. Cat was one of their successes. She left the ten-
1 The ‘magic humanitarian’ day course capable of building an independent
life and is now a mentor, encouraging younger
Jamie Balfour-Paul
children at the camps. She doesn’t do magic
Balfour-Paul, whose stage name is Jamie tricks herself but uses the props to exercise her
Jibberish, is a former charity worker who hands. She says the performance skills she
performs magic to children in refugee camps learned helped her to overcome her physical
in the Middle East and Africa. He travels with difficulties and the resulting psychological ones.
little except an ornate wooden box he bought She gets tears in her eyes as she talks about the
years ago in Egypt. “I try to put everything into camp’s positive effect on her life. “Now I am who I
that box, and I choose props that are familiar am, and I can never thank them enough.”
– newspapers, bottles, ropes,” he says. “But in
3 The medical magician and the surgeon
Lebanon, where I am based, if you don’t have a
rabbit, you can just go home.” At one point, he Will Houstoun and Roger Kneebone
had three rabbits hopping around his Beirut flat “As a student, I saw medicine as a science. As a
because they kept growing too big to fit into a hat. surgeon, I saw it as a skill. As a GP, I saw it much
He has set up a charity called Magic for Smiles. more as a performance, and as a patient, I see it
“Being in a community where your parents don’t as all three,” says Professor Roger Kneebone.
have any status and there’s no room to play is Kneebone runs a master’s course in surgical
very stressful. Entertainment brings happiness education at Imperial College, London, and the
to the children, but magic also helps with man with him is Will Houstoun, one of the UK’s
concentration, creativity and interaction. Funding leading close-up magicians. In 2014, they started
is a problem, and it’s quite a lonely life; just me working together to investigate the similarities
and my rabbits driving around. But it’s worth it to between magic and surgery.
see the children’s faces light up.”
“First, I was looking at dexterity, as both magic
2 The student magician and surgery involve sleight of hand,” says
Cat Lee Kneebone, “but most of a surgeon’s time isn’t
spent in the operating theatre.”
“At 19, I couldn’t cook or pour a drink and I’d
never eaten with a knife and fork,” says Cat Lee. There is a separation between a magic trick and
She is now a poised 22-year-old law graduate the techniques used to make it work. “If you want
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NEWS LESSONS / The magicians trying to change the world / Upper intermediate
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The magicians trying to change the world
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
someone to look at an object, look at it. If you as important in medicine as it is in a magic show,
want them to look at you, look at them,” they explain. For the patient, it’s the difference
Houstoun says. between feeling heard and safe, or just being
another statistic, Kneebone says.
A medical consultation is a complicated process
in which a surgeon has to listen to a patient while, © Guardian News and Media 2019
at the same time, making judgements and taking First published in The Guardian, 09/09/19
clinical notes. The ability to create a connection is

3 Comprehension check
Complete the table using information from the article.

name works with … works in … profession / now works as How is magic

studied to be / … important to
used to their work
work as … or life?
Jamie
Balfour-Paul

Cat Lee

Roger
Kneebone
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NEWS LESSONS / The magicians trying to change the world / Upper intermediate
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 The magicians trying to change the world
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
4 Useful phrases
Underline these phrases in the article. Then match them with their meanings.
1. psychological blind spot a. when people look really happy
2. conjure up b. clever and quick use of your hands, especially when performing a
magic trick
3. faces light up c. a time when an important change takes place in a situation,
especially one that makes it better
4. turning point d. an area that your mind does not understand well
5. take for granted e. fail to appreciate something, especially as a result of overfamiliarity
6. sleight of hand f. create or achieve something difficult or unexpected, as if by magic

Now ask and answer these questions in pairs.

1. What do many people take for granted?

2. What was a big turning point in your life or career?
3. On what occasions would you hope to see children’s faces light up?
4. What would you love to be able to conjure up?

5 Discussion
• Have you ever been to a magic show?
• Do you know any magic tricks?
• Do you know anyone who can perform magic tricks? Give more details.

6 Webquest
a. Find out more about the two organizations in the article, Magic for Smiles and Breathe Arts
Health Research.

• Watch any videos you come across on their websites.

• Which of the two charities would you prefer to donate money to? Give reasons for your answer.

b. Find a video that shows how to do simple magic tricks. Choose one trick and learn it so that you can
perform it in your next lesson or during a future class party or celebration.
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NEWS LESSONS / The magicians trying to change the world / Upper intermediate
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The magicians trying to change the world
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
KEY

2 Key words 4 Useful phrases

1. razzmatazz 1. d
2. exploited 2. f
3. spot 3. a
4. deception 4. c
5. ornate 5. e
6. props 6. b
7. status
8. funding
9. poised
10. graduate
11. dexterity
12. coordination
13. master
14. consultation

3 Comprehension check

name works with … works in … profession / now works How is magic

studied to be as … important to
/ used to work their work
as … or life?
Jamie Balfour- children in the Middle charity worker a magician / brings
Paul refugee camps East and Africa entertainer happiness to
called Jamie the children;
Jibberish helps them to
concentrate,
be creative
and interact
with others
Cat Lee children with camps run studied law a mentor at the taught her how
hemiplegia by the charity camps to overcome
Breathe her physical
Arts Health (and resulting
Research psychological)
difficulties
Roger Will Houstoun Imperial medical doctor a lecturer on investigates
Kneebone (a close-up College, and surgeon a master’s the parallels
magician) London course in between
surgical surgery and
education (and magic
perhaps also
still a surgeon)
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NEWS LESSONS / The magicians trying to change the world / Upper intermediate
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