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My 1,000
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Monday January 3, 2005
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

VOA: More than 50,000 people have marched through Ethiopia's capital, protesting government plans to solve its border dispute with Eritrea. Opposition activists and lawmakers called for the rally in Addis Ababa today, accusing the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of bowing to Eritrea's demands. A former government official, Gebru Asrat, criticized Mr. Meles for drafting a plan that would give land to Eritrea.

In November, Ethiopia's government said it had accepted "in principle" an independent commission's ruling that Ethiopia hand over disputed land to Eritrea. Ethiopia also called for new talks with Eritrea in an effort to end the dispute, which sparked a two-year war. Eritrea's government has rejected the meetings, saying Ethiopia must fully comply with the commission's ruling.

Professor Kinfe Abraham heads the Ethiopian International Institute of Peace and Development in Addis Ababa. He told VOA reporter William Eagle that the protests are an opportunity for opposition groups to try to make Prime Minister Meles weak ahead of upcoming elections. He says the opposition claims that head of state’s plan to negotiate territory with Eritrea has not been put to voters. Professor Kinfe disagrees – saying that the parliament approved of Mr. Meles’ plans.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Ethiopia / Eritrea / borders / border disputes / land / …
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. ETHIOPIA/ERITREA BRAINSTORM: Brainstorm any words students associate with Ethiopia / Eritrea 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 BORDERS: Talk about how the borders were formed / have changed in your country. In multi-cultural classes let different nationalities pair up and teach each other a little history of their countries.

4. BORDER DISPUTES: Students sit in pairs and discuss what they know of other world border disputes and discuss possible solutions:
- Bosnia / Serbia
- Albania / Kosovo / Serbia
- China / Taiwan
- India / Pakistan over Kashmir
- Brazil / Uruguay over claims to islands in Rio Cuareim
- Myanmar / Thailand
- Cameroon / Nigeria
- China / Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
- Cyprus - Turkish and Greek
- Falkland Islands - British or Argentinian?
- Iraq / Kuwait
- Israel / Syria over the Golan Heights
- Italy / Switzerland over the enclave of Camoione D'Italia
- Japan / Korea over the island of Tok-do / Takeshima
- Japan / Russia over the Northern Territories
- Mexico / USA
- North Korea / South Korea
- UK / Spain - over Gibraltar


 
 

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

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)  More than 50,000 people have through Ethiopia's capital.  T / F
(b)  Ethiopians are not happy with government plans to solve a border dispute with Egypt.  T / F
(c)  Opposition activists accused the government of being weak. T / F
(d)  Ethiopia and Eritrea have been at war for 18 years.  T / F
(e)  Eritrea's government has accepted meetings with Ethiopia  T / F
(f)  The protests are an opportunity to try to make the government weak ahead of elections.  T / F
(g)  The plan to negotiate territory with Eritrea has been put to voters  T / F
(h)  The Ethiopian parliament disapproved of Mr. Meles’ peace plans.  T / F

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

(a)

marched

weakening

(b)

solve

opponents

(c)

bowing

leads

(d)

drafting

judgement

(e)

dispute

rallied

(f)

ruling

okayed

(g)

heads

formulating

(h)

opposition

answer

(i)

upcoming

approaching

(j)

approved

altercation

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

(a)

marched through

dispute

(b)

border

a plan

(c)

accuse the government of

for new talks

(d)

draft

elections

(e)

independent

Ethiopia's capital

(f)

called

bowing to demands

(g)

must fully

of state

(h)

upcoming

voters

(i)

head comply with

(j)

put to commission
 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Ethiopians Demonstrate Against Eritrea Peace Plans

VOA: More than 50,000 people have __________ through Ethiopia's capital, __________ government plans to solve its border dispute with Eritrea. Opposition activists and lawmakers called for the __________ in Addis Ababa today, accusing the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of bowing to Eritrea's demands. A former government official, Gebru Asrat, __________ Mr. Meles for drafting a plan that would give land to Eritrea.
 

 

rally
protesting
marched
citicized

In November, Ethiopia's government said it had accepted "in __________" an independent commission's ruling that Ethiopia hand over __________ land to Eritrea. Ethiopia also called for new talks with Eritrea in an effort to end the dispute, which __________ a two-year war. Eritrea's government has rejected the meetings, saying Ethiopia must __________ comply with the commission's ruling.
 
disputed
principle
fully
sparked
Professor Kinfe Abraham __________ the Ethiopian International Institute of Peace and Development in Addis Ababa. He told VOA reporter William Eagle that the __________ are an opportunity for opposition groups to try to make Prime Minister Meles weak ahead of __________ elections. He says the opposition claims that head of state’s plan to __________ territory with Eritrea has not been put to voters. Professor Kinfe disagrees – saying that the parliament approved of Mr. Meles’ plans. heads
upcoming
negotiate
protests

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. ‘MARCH’/ ‘PROTEST’: 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 ETHIOPIA / ERITREA 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. ETHIOPIA / ERITREA DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  What do / did you think of each country's position / actions?
(b)  Will Ethiopia and Eritrea find a peaceful solution soon?
(c)  Will a similar solution happen in other border disputes (see Warmers #4 above)?
(d)  Will Ethiopia one day relive its past as the ceadle of civilization?
(e)  What do you know of the link between Ethiopia and the religion Rastafarianism?
(f)  Shouldn’t the UN get more involved and quickly solve this solvable conflict?
(g)  Have you ever protested / marched / been on a rally?
(h)  Do you ever bow to other peoples' demands?
(i)  Has your country ever had a civil war or revolution?
(j)  Should the peace deal be put to voters in a referendum?
(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 Ethiopia. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. ETHIOPIA / ERITREA: Create a poster on Ethiopia and Eritrea.

4. LETTER TO KOFI: Write a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan asking him to help in finding a fast and permanent solution to the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  More than 50,000 people have through Ethiopia's capital.  T
(b)  Ethiopians are not happy with government plans to solve a border dispute with Egypt.  T
(c)  Opposition activists accused the government of being weak. T
(d)  Ethiopia and Eritrea have been at war for 18 years.  F
(e)  Eritrea's government has accepted meetings with Ethiopia  F
(f)  The protests are an opportunity to try to make the government weak ahead of elections.  T
(g)  The plan to negotiate territory with Eritrea has been put to voters  F
(h)  The Ethiopian parliament disapproved of Mr. Meles’ peace plans.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)

marched

rallied

(b)

solve

answer

(c)

bowing

weakening

(d)

drafting

formulating

(e)

dispute

altercation

(f)

ruling

judgement

(g)

heads

leads

(h)

opposition

opponents

(i)

upcoming

approaching

(j)

approved

okayed

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

marched through

Ethiopia's capital

(b)

border

dispute

(c)

accuse the government of

bowing to demands

(d)

draft

a plan

(e)

independent

commission

(f)

called

for new talks

(g)

must fully

comply with

(h)

upcoming

elections

(i)

head of state

(j)

put to voters

GAP FILL:

Ethiopians Demonstrate Against Eritrea Peace Plans

VOA: More than 50,000 people have marched through Ethiopia's capital, protesting government plans to solve its border dispute with Eritrea. Opposition activists and lawmakers called for the rally in Addis Ababa today, accusing the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of bowing to Eritrea's demands. A former government official, Gebru Asrat, criticized Mr. Meles for drafting a plan that would give land to Eritrea.

In November, Ethiopia's government said it had accepted "in principle" an independent commission's ruling that Ethiopia hand over disputed land to Eritrea. Ethiopia also called for new talks with Eritrea in an effort to end the dispute, which sparked a two-year war. Eritrea's government has rejected the meetings, saying Ethiopia must fully comply with the commission's ruling.

Professor Kinfe Abraham heads the Ethiopian International Institute of Peace and Development in Addis Ababa. He told VOA reporter William Eagle that the protests are an opportunity for opposition groups to try to make Prime Minister Meles weak ahead of upcoming elections. He says the opposition claims that head of state’s plan to negotiate territory with Eritrea has not been put to voters. Professor Kinfe disagrees – saying that the parliament approved of Mr. Meles’ plans.

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