World's heaviest man

1. Ask the students how much the heaviest person in the world might weigh, if it could be a man or woman, or which country he/she might be from. You could even discuss how overweight people are treated in your country (or think of any other lead-in that won't offend any of your students)
2. Get the students, as a class, in groups or individually, to read this story (if you like, you can read it to them, too).
3. Go through unknown vocabulary
4. This article lends itself to practicing conditionals. You could give sentence cues below and ask students to complete them:
5. As a follow-up, you can get students to look on the Internet for more information on this man, since this article is from 2008. Has he been able to reach his goals? Another possible follow-up could be to read/discuss/write about obesity or any other health issue, or even about prejudice.

Sentence Cues:

1. If Manuel hadn't tried to lose weight, ______________________

2. If he loses more weight, _______________________________

3. If Manuel decides to have a wedding cake, __________________

4.If Manuel's girlfriend hadn't encouraged him, _________________

5. If his girlfriend ever breaks up with him, ____________________

6. If Manuel is able to walk again, ___________________________

Source: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0810/081003-weight_loss.html

World’s heaviest man plans to marry

Love conquers all. This is certainly so for the former heaviest man in the world. Mexican Manuel Uribe used to be the world’s most overweight person. He was in the Guinness Book of Records in 2006 after breaking the human weight record. Special weighing scales showed he weighed 560kg. He was so enormous he could not leave his room. He spent his whole life living on his bed, eating huge meals and watching TV. He decided enough was enough and that he wanted to change his life. He also wanted to marry his longtime girlfriend Claudia Solis. Uribe went on a crash diet and lost almost half his body weight. He lost a whopping 250kg and has slimmed down to a lighter 310kg. He still has a long way to go before he can once again lead a normal life.
The secret to 43-year-old Uribe’s success is his love for his fiancée Claudia. The two plan to marry on October 26 in his hometown of Monterrey. Manuel said he owed a lot to the love of his life. He said she encouraged and supported him non-stop to lose weight. After they got engaged two years ago, Uribe promised Claudia he would get into better shape for their wedding day. He went on a diet called the Zone Diet, a special combination of carbohydrates and proteins. His diet was created and supervised by a team of weight loss and obesity specialists. He is still too big to walk on his own and said his dream is to be able to walk again. Manuel told reporters that he will have a big wedding, but the reception would have a “low-calorie banquet”. He added this meant no wedding cake for him.