On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America. He is the first African-American to be president of one of the most powerful countries in the world. Read about Barack Obama’s life before he became President – his early years in Hawaii and Indonesia, his Kenyan and his American roots, and his decision to run for President. Level 2 (Pre-intermediate-Intermediate): For students with 2-3 years of English – CEF Stage A2. 1000 headwords (story: up to 7,000 words) Scholastic ELT Secondary Readers are a series of contemporary film and TV adaptations, original teenage fiction, classic literature and biographies. Specifically targeted at teenagers learning English, they are published at five levels following a carefully graded syllabus.