Saturday January 1, 2005
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has resigned following the results of the country’s re-run election last Sunday. In a nationally televised address Yanukovych said “I have made the decision and am formally submitting my resignation”. He is not leaving without a fight, however, as he is still contesting the results of the re-run election and will take his case to Ukraine’s Supreme Court, “I am still fighting, but I don't have much hope. … I will act as an independent politician, as the rightful winner of the legitimate Nov. 21 election.”  That election provoked widespread unrest and brought hundreds of thousands of Yuschchenko supporters flooding into the streets of Kiev in protest at corruption in the election and vote-rigging. The Supreme Court, backed by international observers, have said the new poll was conducted fairly and Mr. Yushchenko won by 8%, or two million votes. This now opens the way for Mr. Yuschenko, to take his democratically elected post, although he cannot be officially declared the winner until Mr. Yanukovych concedes defeat.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about the Ukraine / Mr. Yuschchenko / Mr. Yanukovych / ex-Soviet republics / elections / your country’s leader / democracy …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. UKRAINE BRAINSTORM: Brainstorm any words students associate with the Ukraine and write them on the board. In pairs students have to put them into categories (of their own choosing), swap partners and then explain their categories. Ask each other questions about the words.

3. MY COUNTRY’S ELECTIONS: Talk about the elections and democracy in your country, and how important having the vote is.

4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
- This election process has been a soap opera. vs. No soap opera. It was a battle for democratic values.
- The ex-Soviet states are European. vs They will always have a Soviet flavour.
- Ukraine will now look towards European integration. vs Russia will be angry.
- Ukraine is still full of corruption. vs. But so are European Union members.
- Ukraine was better off under communism. vs. How can you say such a ridiculous thing.
- Georgia’s ‘Rose Revolution’ and now Mr. Yushchenko’s success shows the effect of people power. vs. Yes, but that doesn’t happen where it should – in Myanmar or Zimbabwe for example.
- 2005 marks a fresh page for Ukraine. vs. Nothing much will have changed a year from now.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘resign’, and ‘result’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Ukraine's Prime Minister has resigned.  T / F
(b)  There was a re-run last Sunday of an election which initially took place in November.  T / F
(c)  The Prime Minister has accepted defeat graciously.  T / F
(d)  People generally accepted the results of the initial November 21^st election.&n bsp; T / F
(e)  People protested in the streets about bread and oil prices.  T / F
(f)  The Supreme Court said the new poll wasn’t conducted fairly, but the result stands. T / F
(g)  Mr. Yushchenko won by a whopping 38% of the vote.  T / F
(h)  Mr. Yushchenko cannot be officially declared the winner until Mr. Yanukovych concedes defeat.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	resigned	argument
(b)	televised	protest
(c)	address	extensive
(d)	case	broadcast
(e)	rightful	quit
(f)	widespread	election
(g)	unrest	announced
(h)	poll	speech
(i)	declared	admits
(j)	concedes	true

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	The PM has resigned following	his case to Ukraine’s Supreme Court
(b)	nationally televised	post
(c)	I am formally submitting	into the streets
(d)	He is not leaving	address
(e)	He will take	the way for …
(f)	widespread	the election results
(g)	flooding	without a fight
(h)	This now opens	the winner
(i)	democratically elected	my resignation
(j)	officially declared	unrest

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Yanukovych resigns as Ukraine PM

Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has __________ following the results of the country’s re-run election last Sunday. In a nationally televised __________ Yanukovych said “I have made the decision and am formally submitting my resignation”. He is not leaving without a __________, however, as he is still contesting the results of the re-run election and will take his __________ to Ukraine’s Supreme Court, “I am still fighting, but I don't have much hope. … I will act as an independent politician, as the rightful winner of the __________ Nov. 21 election.”  That election provoked widespread unrest and brought hundreds of thousands of Yuschchenko supporters __________ into the streets of Kiev in protest at corruption in the election and vote-rigging. The Supreme Court, backed by international observers, have said the new poll was __________ fairly and Mr. Yushchenko won by 8%, or two million votes. This now opens the way for Mr. Yuschenko, to take his democratically elected post, although he cannot be officially __________ the winner until Mr. Yanukovych concedes defeat.

fight legitimate resigned declared conducted address case flooding

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonym exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

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. ‘RESIGN’/ ‘RESULT’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

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

3. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

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

5. STUDENT-GENERATED UKRAINE 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. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

6. UKRAINE DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  What do / did you think of Ukraine’s election saga?
(b)  What will happen now?
(c)  Is Ukraine better off now, or when it was under communism?
(d)  When can the ex-Soviet countries become European Union members?
(e)  Will Russia one day become a European Union member?
(f)  What do you know about Ukraine?
(g)  Was / Is communism a good idea?
(h)  Does democracy work in your country?
(i)  What kind of democracy does your country have?
(j)  Will Mr. Yanukovych make a comeback?
(k)  Teacher’s additional questions

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. UKRAINE INFO: Create a poster on Ukraine.

4. LETTER TO VIKTOR: Write a letter to Mr. Yanukovych telling him what he should do from now.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Ukraine's Prime Minister has resigned.  T
(b)  There was a re-run last Sunday of an election which initially took place in November.  T
(c)  The Prime Minister has accepted defeat graciously.  F
(d)  People generally accepted the results of the initial November 21^st election. T
(e)  People protested in the streets about bread and oil prices.  F
(f)  The Supreme Court said the new poll wasn’t conducted fairly, but the result stands. F
(g)  Mr. Yushchenko won by a whopping 38% of the vote.  F
(h)  Mr. Yushchenko cannot be officially declared the winner until Mr. Yanukovych concedes defeat.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	resigned	quit
(b)	televised	broadcast
(c)	address	speech
(d)	case	argument
(e)	rightful	true
(f)	widespread	extensive
(g)	unrest	protest
(h)	poll	election
(i)	declared	announced
(j)	concedes	admits

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	The PM has resigned following	the election results
(b)	nationally televised	address
(c)	I am formally submitting	my resignation
(d)	He is not leaving	without a fight
(e)	He will take	his case to Ukraine’s Supreme Court
(f)	widespread	unrest
(g)	flooding	into the streets
(h)	This now opens	the way for …
(i)	democratically elected	post
(j)	officially declared	the winner

GAP FILL:

Yanukovych resigns as Ukraine PM

Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has resigned following the results of the country’s re-run election last Sunday. In a nationally televised address Yanukovych said, “I have made the decision and am formally submitting my resignation”. He is not leaving without a fight, however, as he is still contesting the results of the re-run election and will take his case to Ukraine’s Supreme Court, “I am still fighting, but I don't have much hope. … I will act as an independent politician, as the rightful winner of the legitimate Nov. 21 election.”  That election provoked widespread unrest and brought hundreds of thousands of Yuschchenko supporters flooding into the streets of Kiev in protest at corruption in the election and vote-rigging. The Supreme Court, backed by international observers, have said the new poll was conducted fairly and Mr. Yushchenko won by 8%, or two million votes. This now opens the way for Mr. Yuschenko, to take his democratically elected post, although he cannot be officially declared t he winner until Mr. Yanukovych concedes defeat.