Monica Lewinsky gave her first public speech about being embroiled in the 1990s Clinton scandal and its devastating consequences. She was largely silent for over a decade as the story saturated American culture and reverberated around the world. At the time in 1998, the internet and social media did not exist, but the 24-hour news cycle rushed to cover the story, branding Lewinsky and exposing her to global humiliation. She was not prepared for the excruciating public shaming and its lasting effects. Lewinsky uses her experience to bring attention to the power of public shaming in today's digital world and calls for more empathy to prevent future harm through cyberbullying.

1. Monica Lewinsky
integrated skills at C1
author: Anita Lewicka
a public speech

2. Vocabulary – verb phrases:
1. to give a talk
2. to be hit on by sb
3. to be (to feel) flattered
4. to regret sth deeply
5. to be swept up into sth
6. to be swept up in media maelstrom
7. to access information
8. to reverberate around the world
9. to rush to judgement
10. to be branded

3. Vocabulary – verb phrases:
11. to authenticate sth
12. to prattle on about the floatsam and jetsam
13. to be aired on tv
14. to be webcammed
15. to ignite
16. to jump from the bridge to one’s death
17. to be beside oneself about sth
18. to relive a time when…
19. to be (to become) a turning point to sb
20. to mushroom

4. Vocabulary – verb phrases:
21. to stab sb with words
22. to put sb in a public stockade
23. to jack up the price
24. to sow the seeds of shame into one’s cultural soil
25. to prey on sth
26. to be sold at a profit
27. to saturate one’s culture with public shaming
28. I’d like to end on a personal note.
29. to stick one’s head above the parapet
30. to react instantaneously

5. Vocabulary – fixed phrases,
collocations:
1. devastating consequences
2. a show of hands
3. unlike sb
4. not a day goes by that…
5. the story broke
6. the rush to judgement
7. trolling on the Internet
8. a life of opprobrium
9. surreptitiously taped phone
10.sexual harassment

6. Vocabulary – fixed phrases,
collocations:
11. the floatsam and jetsam of..
12. churlish
13. excruciating humiliation
14. unbearable life (pain)
15. dire consequences

7. Vocabulary - practice
1. to be aired ______ tv
2. to be ________ oneself _______ sth
3. the floatsam and ________ of
4. ________ consequences
5. to prattle _______ _________ sth
6. to __________ information
7. to regret sth __________
8. to _________ to judgement
9. I’d like to end ______ a personal _______ .
10. to sell _______ a profit

9. Monica Lewinsky – in your words

10. Reading comprehension:
1. Why was ML silent for a decade until she
decided to speak publicly?
2. Why does she keep referring to 1998?
3. What was unique from the media
perspective in 1998? What kind of media
were popular back then? What has changed
ever since?
4. What happened just overnight in her life?

11. Reading comprehension:
5. What was she called? How did she take it in?
6. What’s cyberbullying? Was it different then
from what it has become nowadays?
7. What’s behind her shameful story?
8. When was the social media launched? Why is
it important for the story?
9. What’s the story of Tyler Clementi of 2010?

12. Reading comprehension:
10. What effect did the public humiliation have
on ML’s mother?
11. What’s the impact of the Internet on human
life, according to ML?
12. What did cyberbullying result in? Think
about the UK, the NL?
13. How do people sow the seeds of shame in
their cultural soil?

13. Reading comprehension:
14. How has the incident over Snapchat affected
some celebrities’ lives?
15. How to change the public culture of
shaming? What’s the importance of empathy
here?
16. Shame can’t survive empathy (B.Brown).
How do the words resonate with ML’s story?

14. ?
• What questions are there in your head after
reading / listening to the speech?
• Why make such a speech ?

17. Cyberbullying vs Bullying

18. THANK YOU!
integrated skills at C1
author: Anita Lewicka