Sunday November 14, 2004
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Has the Iraqi ‘resistance capital’ moved to Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul, 220 miles north of Baghdad? With 15,000 American troops still several days away from victory and fully defeating rebels in the southern city of Fallujah, it seems US forces will be needed in yet more street-to-street fighting as Mosul has fallen into the gunmens’ hands. Fresh violence has also erupted in Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and the capital Baghdad.

Hundreds of machine gun and rocket-launcher-carrying Iraqi fighters now control Mosul’s streets, opening a new front to stretch American soldiers. Iraqi police officers were sent fleeing from their stations as the militants seized control. A US marine said many of these combatants had evacuated from Fallujah in the days before the America offensive started last Monday.

The militia action in Mosul indicates resistance to the US-led occupation seems to be growing, despite America’s half-destruction of Fallujah. A top Iraqi cleric stated Iraqi fighters “control Mosul … and all the cities to the west of Fallujah shake in the attacks of the resistance." A taped message from al-Qaida-linked leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said victory for the insurgents is imminent.

 

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Fallujah, Iraq, war, America, terrorists….

2. 1-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in rows and are assigned arguments A or B. Introduce the ‘arguments’ and change pairings regularly: Iraqi fighters are (A) terrorists (B) freedom fighters; America should leave Iraq (A) now B (when there are no more terrorists); America (A) will (B) not win the war in Iraq; My country’s troops (A) should (B) not be in Iraq; I (A) would (B) not go to Iraq to fight the war on terror…

3. NEWS: Students share experiences of where and how they get news of Iraq.

4. YOU & BUSH: Students A play themselves, Students B play George W. Bush. They meet on a train, just the two of them. Role-play the conversation. Change George Bush for Saddam Hussein, Al-Zaqawi, Tony Blair, your Prime Minister/President…

 

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. SYNONYMS: Write the following words on the board: troops, rebels, forces, gunman, fighter, soldier, militant, marine, combatant, militia, insurgent. Students find similarities and differences between the words. They have to agree on if the words are positive (P), negative (N), it depends (D). There will often be no clear answer.

2. GEOGRAPHY BRAINSTORM: Put up / draw a simple map of Iraq. Label the main cities. Brainstorm what is happening / has happened in each of the cities. Ask which countries border Iraq, and are these countries helping the War on Terror.

3. PRE-TELL THE ARTICLE:  Students try to piece together the contents of the article from the following snippets of information:
resistance moved to Mosul … days away from victory … more street to street fighting … stretch American soldiers … militants seize control … resistance growing … destruction of Fallujah … victory is imminent.

4. IRAQI, AMERICAN, EITHER: Students determine whether the following lexical items taken from the article are preceded by the word ‘Iraqi’ (write an ‘I’ next to the word), ‘A’ ‘American’ (write an ‘A’), or either (‘E’):
troops, rebels, forces, gunman, fighter, soldier, militant, marine, combatant, militia, insurgent, occupation.

5. WORD MATCH: Students match the ending to the following phrases taken from the text:

	days away from	fighting
	street-to-street	erupted
	fallen into gunmens’	control
	violence has also	victory
	militants seized	hands
	resistance is	imminent
	victory is	growing

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Mosul – the next Fallujah?

Has the Iraqi ‘__________ capital’ moved to Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul, 220 miles north of Baghdad? With 15,000 American troops still __________ days away from victory and fully defeating rebels in the southern city of Fallujah, it seems US forces will be needed in yet more street-to-street fighting as Mosul has fallen into the gunmens’ __________. Fresh violence has also __________ in Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and the capital Baghdad.		hands resistance erupted several
Hundreds of machine gun and rocket-launcher-carrying Iraqi fighters now control Mosul’s streets, opening a new __________ to stretch American soldiers. Iraqi police officers were sent __________ from their stations as the militants seized control. A US marine said many of these combatants had __________ from Fallujah in the days before the America __________ started last Monday.		front evacuated fleeing offensive
The militia __________ in Mosul indicates resistance to the US-led occupation seems to be __________, despite America’s half-destruction of Fallujah. A __________ Iraqi cleric stated Iraqi fighters “control Mosul … and all the cities to the west of Fallujah shake in the attacks of the resistance." A taped message from al-Qaida-linked leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said victory for the insurgents is __________.		action imminent top growing

2. PRE-TELL:  Students check their speculation / pre-telling against the article.

3. WORD MATCH:  Students check their answers to the word match exercise.

4. IRAQI, AMERICAN, EITHER:  Students compare their answers to this exercise with what is written in the article.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. IRAQI, AMERICAN, EITHER: Students talk about whether it is possible to reverse the word pairings used in the article (i.e. can we use ‘Iraqi’ + ‘forces’ or ‘US’ + ‘militia’ etc?).

3. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class.

4. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

5. 5-MINUTE DEBATES:  Students use the ‘arguments from the warm-up section above to take part in extended debates, hopefully based on the article. Could brainstorm ideas in pairs / teams before taking part in each debate. Post-debate, regroup in pairs / teams and assess the debate.

6. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

7. EYE-WITNESS: Students adopt the following roles and brainstorm ideas regarding what daily conditions in Fallujah / Mosul must be like for each person. Use prompts on board (bombing, food, electricity, friends, guns, sleep, noise, etc etc etc). They recount this as their own experience to a different partner / group:
12-year-old child   /   mother of baby   /   Iraqi fighter   /   US Marine   /   an embedded journalist   /   a tourist/backpacker who has got lost   /   a cat

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Homo floresiensis. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. PREDICT: Write a short article describing how you thinks event will turn before the end of the year.

4. MESSAGE FROM ALLAWI: You are the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. Write a message to your people and to those fighting the American troops.

ANSWERS

GAP FILL:

Mosul – the next Fallujah?

Has the Iraqi ‘resistance capital’ moved to Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul, 220 miles north of Baghdad? With 15,000 American troops still several days away from victory and fully defeating rebels in the southern city of Fallujah, it seems US forces will be needed in yet more street-to-street fighting as Mosul has fallen into the gunmens’ hands. Fresh violence has also erupted in Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and the capital Baghdad.

Hundreds of machine gun and rocket-launcher-carrying Iraqi fighters now control Mosul’s streets, opening a new front to stretch American soldiers. Iraqi police officers were sent fleeing from their stations as the militants seized control. A US marine said many of these combatants had evacuated from Fallujah in the days before the America offensive started last Monday.

The militia action in Mosul indicates resistance to the US-led occupation seems to be growing, despite America’s half-destruction of Fallujah. A top Iraqi cleric stated Iraqi fighters “control Mosul … and all the cities to the west of Fallujah shake in the attacks of the resistance." A taped message from al-Qaida-linked leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said victory for the insurgents is imminent.

WORD MATCH:

	days away from	victory
	street-to-street	fighting
	fallen into gunmens’	hands
	violence has also	erupted
	militants seized	control
	resistance is	growing
	victory is	imminent