A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70.

But at 102, I know the

secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced

1
  Warmer

a. Discuss the questions.

1. At what age would you consider someone a senior citizen? Why?

2. How do you imagine the last decades of your life?

3. Have any pearls of advice been passed onto you from an older generation?

4. Do you think most older people have discovered the secrets of a well-lived life?

2
  Key words

a. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

blindside bout clutch constructive consultation

critical general practitioner gross immense practise
reclaim rejoice treasure turning point

1. A is a doctor who deals with general medical problems and treats

families in a particular area.

2. If you someone, you give them an unpleasant surprise by doing

something that they were not expecting.

3. If something is , it is extremely large.

4. A is a short period when you are ill or you feel unhappy.

5. To is to try to take hold of someone or something because you are

afraid or in pain or to stop yourself from falling.

6. If something is , it is extreme and unreasonable.

7. To is to feel very happy about something or to celebrate

something happily.

8. To is to keep or look after something very carefully because it is

very valuable or important to you.

9. If something is , it is very important.

10. A is a time when an important change takes place in a situation,

especially one that makes it better.
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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced
11. If something is , it is intended to be useful or helpful.

12. To is to get something back that someone has taken from you.

13. A is a meeting with an expert or a professional person to get advice

or discuss a problem, especially an appointment with a doctor.

14. To is to work in a particular profession, especially in the medical or

legal fields.

b. Complete the sentences with words from the previous activity. You might have to change the
form of the word.

1. Locals want to parks as spaces to be enjoyed by

multiple generations.

2. She completed her degree but has never law.

3. Parents try to every moment of their children's

childhood because they grow up really fast.

4. He waited three months for a with Dr Singh, a renowned

dermatologist.

5. Laura could be described as a melancholic child, overcome by regular

of sadness.

6. She comes from a family of doctors. All her siblings are specialists, but she decided to pursue a
career as a .

7. Please provide only feedback and refrain from any harsh criticism.

8. Getting enough sleep is for well-being, especially

during adolescence.

9. We were all by the cancer diagnosis; she had just run a marathon
and seemed to be in good health.

10. Winning his irst match was a for Raul; it really helped him
gain con idence.

11. We all when we got the news that the search and rescue team had
found the missing children.
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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced
12. We went to a restaurant that sold hamburgers. I couldn't
even finish one!

13. She her bag to her chest when the mugger tried to grab it.

14. It is shocking that he still has supporters after his sexist comments and
misconduct.

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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced
Dr Gladys McGarey thought 6 But it was a slow process. “It wasn’t until I was
she would never recover when 93 that I really accepted it,” she says. And,
clutching the air with her hand: “You get to the
her husband and work partner stage where you can kind of hang on.”
walked out after 46 years. Then
7 One turning point came when McGarey was
she found her voice, happiness, driving back from her and Helene’s clinic. She
and her own direction. had just received an invitation to Bill’s wedding.
Paula Cocozza “I was so angry, I was screaming. I pulled over
to the side of the road and thought to myself:
05 June, 2023 ‘Are you going to keep on like this? I mean, this
is really gross.’”
1 “It’s hard to put a size on things that happen
in your life,” Gladys McGarey says. At 102, it’s 8 McGarey is a Presbyterian; her parents were
understandable she would feel that way. Shortly medical missionaries, and she was raised in
before she was 70, her husband, Bill, to whom India till she was 15. In the car, a verse from
she had been married for 46 years, handed her the Bible came to her. “This is the day that the
divorce papers. He had been carrying them in Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it.’”
his briefcase for six months and said he would
9 So she bought a licence plate for her car that
appreciate a prompt signature.
read “BE GLAD” to remind her that there was a
2 McGarey and Bill had not only been married for lot in her marriage “that I really treasured”.
decades but were also close colleagues. They
10 Looking back, McGarey can now see that her
were both doctors who had trained as general
divorce was a critical and constructive turning
practitioners and were among the co-founders
point: “Prior to that, I really didn’t trust my own
of the American Holistic Medical Association
voice.” Being dyslexic meant that, at school,
in 1978. For the duration of their marriage,
she always felt slow. “I really didn’t think I
they had shared a clinic in Phoenix, Arizona,
had a voice,” she says, yet, “I knew I had a
and had six children together. So, when the
voice. After the divorce, it was no longer Bill
marriage ended – Bill had started a relationship
and Gladys; it was Gladys McGarey, MD. I
with another colleague – McGarey lost not only
reclaimed what I had, not just as Bill’s partner.”
her life partner but her business partner, too.
11 “I don’t regret one minute that I spent as Bill’s
3 “It blindsided me. I was broken,” she says.
wife,” she says. But, when he died in 2008, “My
Her daughter Helene had recently joined
life has taken on these amazing dimensions
the practice, and mother and daughter
that are completely not associated with him,”
went their own way, opening a new clinic in
she says. “What I chose is working for me.”
nearby Scottsdale.
12 McGarey never remarried. “People would ask
4 While McGarey still had “something to get up
if I was dating, and I would say, ‘Why would
for each morning”, the pain of the separation
I want to take care of another old man? No,
was immense – “the hardest thing” she has
thank you.’”
ever faced. Harder, she says, than the two
bouts of cancer she went through in her 13 She retired at 86 but continues to offer
30s and 90s. telephone consultations; she has an
appointment after we finish speaking. She no
5 “It’s not a matter of getting over stuff; it’s a
longer has a licence to practise, but, as she
matter of living through it,” she says now,
puts it: “Nobody told me I had to stop talking.”
speaking on a Zoom call from the house that
Indeed, at 100, she delivered a TEDx – on
she built, at Helene’s invitation, behind her
holistic medicine and her central belief that she
daughter’s home. “If you can live through the
has “a colleague within each patient who does
issues that you have faced, they become one
the healing, as I do the other part of it, which
of your teachers.”
is what I know and understand in the field of
medicine.” She has just published a book,
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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced
The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s
Six Secrets to Health And Happiness At Every
Age, offering guidance for a well-lived life.
Her hair, which she has not cut since her 40s,
is neatly plaited into a white crown, ready as
ever for work.
© Guardian News and Media 2023
First published in The Guardian, 05/06/2023

Glossary

missionary: someone who has been sent to a

place by a religious organisation to teach the
people there about a particular religion

dyslexic: affected by a medical condition

affecting the brain that makes it difficult for
someone to read and spell words correctly

holistic: based on the idea that you should take

care of your whole body and mind rather than
just treating a part of the body that is ill

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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced

3
  Comprehension check

a. Are these statements True (T) or False (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.

1. After being married for almost five decades, Gladys McGarey filed for divorce.

2. Until their separation, McGarey and Bill were romantic partners and ran a medical clinic together.

3. Post-divorce, their daughter Helene took over the practice where both her parents had worked.

4. McGarey’s separation was even more rattling than dealing with cancer.

5. McGarey now shares a house with her daughter, where they both practise.

6. It took her more than twenty years to fully come to terms with the separation.

7. McGarey did not have a religious upbringing.

8. The divorce marked the beginning of her discovering her voice and life again.

9. McGarey claimed that her age is an obstacle to her getting married again.

10. She believes that each person has an innate ability to heal themselves.

4
  Key language

a. Find adjectives in the article to form collocations with the nouns below. The paragraph
numbers have been given to help you.

1. signature / reply (paragraph 1)

2. colleague / relationship (paragraph 2)

3. pain / relief (paragraph 4)

4. missionary / association (paragraph 8)

5. turning point / decision (paragraph 10)

6. dimension / experience (paragraph 11)

7. medicine / treatment (paragraph 13)

8. belief / tenet (paragraph 13)

b. Find synonyms, antonyms or other adjectives that can also be used with the nouns.
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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced

5
  Discussion

a. Look at some of the things that McGarey said. Do you agree with each statement? Say
why (not).

• “It’s hard to put a size on things that happen in your life.”

• “It’s not a matter of getting over stuff; it’s a matter of living through it.”

• “If you can live through the issues that you have faced, they become one of your teachers.”

• “BE GLAD”

• “I have a colleague within each patient who does the healing, as I do the other part of it, which is
what I know and understand in the field of medicine.”

b. What advice do you think McGarey gives in her book?

6 In your own words

  

a. Imagine you are 102. What life advice would you give your current self? Write a letter from your
future self. You can choose to write about the topics below or your own ideas.

love/relationships work/success/money health/fitness money

well-being spirituality/beliefs friends/family/home

hobbies problems finding your voice/direction

b. Share your letter with your classmates.

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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
7. rejoice (not commonly used or used to
Article summary: Dr Gladys McGarey emphasise; sounds a bit dramatic)
thought she would never recover when her 8. treasure (common synonym could be to
husband and work partner walked out after 46 appreciate or to cherish)
years. Then she found her voice, happiness, 9. critical
and direction. She even wrote a book about a 10. turning point
well-lived life.
11. constructive (standard collocation: constructive
criticism/feedback)
Time: 90 minutes
12. reclaim
13. consultation
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
14. practise (verb; the noun is practice meaning
Language focus: Collocations the business of a doctor, lawyer or other
professional person)
Materials needed: One copy of the b. Students can complete the activity individually or in
worksheet per student
pairs. Ask them to compare answers in new pairs
before checking.

1. Warmer Key:
1. reclaim 8. critical
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the topic 2. practised 9. blindsided
and get students engaged. Note any emergent 3. treasure 10. turning point
language on the board for students to use later in 4. consultation 11. rejoiced
the lesson. 5. bouts 12. immense
6. general practitioner 13. clutched
2. Key words 7. constructive 14. gross

a. Students can complete the activity individually or in 3. Comprehension check

pairs. If pressed for time, divide the class into two
groups and ask each group to complete half of the a. Ask students to work individually to answer the
items (1–7; 8–14) and then compare their answers questions and then compare their answers in pairs
in different pairs before regrouping and sharing or small groups. Remind students that they need to
their answers with someone who completed the decide if each statement is supported by information
other items. in the text; in other words, if the text provides
supporting evidence for each part of the statement.
Key:
1. general practitioner (also commonly known Key:
as a GP) 1. False. Her husband asked her for a divorce.
2. blindside 2. True
3. immense 3. False. She left the practice and started a new
4. bout (common collocation: a bout of flu/ clinic with her mother.
depression) 4. True
5. clutch (idiomatic expression: ‘clutch at straws’ 5. False. She built her own house on her
meaning to try to find anything at all that will daughter’s property.
help you or give you hope in a difficult situation 6. True
when it is likely that you will find nothing) 7. False. Her parents were medical missionaries.
6. gross (can also mean disgusting or immoral) 8. True
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 A new start after 60: I was devastated by divorce at 70. But at 102, I know the
secrets of a well-lived life
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
9. False. She doesn’t want to take care of an 6. In your own words
old man.
10. True a. Ask students first to plan and brainstorm their letters
individually. Set a time limit and a word count to
4. Key language complete a first draft. Encourage them to structure
their letter with a short introduction and use some
a. Ask students to work in pairs and guess the missing cohesive devices to link their pieces of advice. Put
adjectives. Have them check their answers in the students in pairs and ask them to peer edit each
text before eliciting answers from the whole class. other’s letters.

Key: b. Low-tech version: put students into groups and ask

1. prompt them to read their letters to each other. Have them
2. close respond to each other with their favourite piece of
3. immense
advice from each letter.
4. medical
Higher-tech version: get students to share their
5. critical
6. amazing letters (or voice recordings of their letters) on an
7. holistic online shared wall or bulletin board. Ask them to
8. central comment on at least three letters.

b. Ask students to work in small groups and build on

the collocations by adding more adjectives. Possible
answers are shown below.

1. delayed reply
2. dependable colleague, untrustworthy colleague,
professional relationship
3. slight pain/relief, some pain/relief
4. humanitarian association
5. challenging decision
6. incredible experience, terrible experience
7. allopathic medicine/treatment, homoeopathic
medicine/treatment
8. main belief/tenet

5. Discussion

a. Allow students time to note their ideas and

encourage them to explain their answers. Ask them
to discuss the phrases in small groups. Elicit ideas
from the whole class.

b. Ask students to remain in small groups and come

up with a list of advice they predict her to share in
the book.
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