Sunday January 16, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

One of the quietest air routes in the world will soon get a little busy as 24 charter flights will operate between Taiwan and China later this month. This ‘mini-link’ will be the first time in more than half a century that passengers can fly directly from Taiwan to mainland China. Taipei banned flights across the Taiwan Strait in 1949 for security reasons – they feared being attacked by their giant neighbour. The normal route since then is to go via Hong Kong or Macau. However, there are limitations on these flights, which are for the Chinese New Year period only, and are just for Taiwanese businessmen and their families to return to Taiwan for the festive period. The twelve Chinese and Taiwanese carriers must enter Hong Kong airspace to avoid a political dispute about whether they would be called international or domestic flights.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc     Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Taiwan / China / Taipei-Beijing relations / Chinese New Year / charter flights / future relations / …
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. TAIWAN BRAINSTORM: Write on the board anything students know about Taiwan. Use this as a springboard for students to discuss in pairs or groups.

3. FLY ME TO THE MOON: Teacher takes a quick class poll of where in the world any students are banned from flying to because of their nationality. Students write down three places they would love to fly to and one place they really wouldn’t, and share their reasons with their partners.

4. (CHINESE) NEW YEAR: Students talk in pairs / groups about the Chinese New Year, the Chinese zodiac, the Chinese year of the chicken (2005), New Year in their own countries, and New Year 2004/05.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  The air space between China and Taipei is one of the busiest in the region.  T / F
(b)  Charter flights will operate between Taiwan and China later this month.  T / F
(c)  These will be the first direct flights between China and Taiwan in eight years.  T / F
(d)  Taipei banned flights across the Taiwan Strait in 1949.  T / F
(e)  Flights between China and Taiwan always go via Hong Kong or Macau.  T / F
(f)  The flights are for the Chinese New Year period only.  T / F
(g)  The flights are just for Taiwanese diplomats and their families.  T / F
(h)  The flights must enter Hong Kong airspace to avoid a political dispute about whether they would be called international or domestic flights..  T / F

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

(a)	air routes	prohibited
(b)	busy	restrictions
(c)	link	flight paths
(d)	fly	connection
(e)	banned	jet
(f)	via	national
(g)	limitations	disagreement
(h)	festive	hectic
(i)	dispute	through
(j)	domestic	holiday

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

(a)	one of	a century
(b)	charter	via Hong Kong
(c)	more than half	period
(d)	fly	the quietest air routes
(e)	banned for	flights
(f)	go	security reasons
(g)	festive	dispute
(h)	enter Hong Kong	directly
(i)	avoid a political	flights
(j)	domestic	airspace

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

China-Taiwan air ‘mini-link’

One of the __________ air routes in the world will soon get a little busy as 24 charter flights will __________ between Taiwan and China later this month. This ‘mini-link’ will be the first time in more than half a __________ that passengers can fly directly from Taiwan to mainland China. Taipei banned flights across the Taiwan Strait in 1949 for security reasons – they feared being attacked by their __________ neighbour. The normal route since then is to go __________ Hong Kong or Macau. However, there are limitations on these flights, which are for the Chinese New Year period only, and are just for Taiwanese businessmen and their families to __________ to Taiwan for the festive period. The twelve Chinese and Taiwanese carriers must __________ Hong Kong airspace to avoid a political dispute about whether they would be called international or __________ flights.

via century domestic quietest enter return giant operate

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms 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. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

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

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

4. 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.

5. ‘AIR’/ ‘ROUTE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  What do you think of this ‘mini-link’?
(b)  Do you think China and Taiwan can resolve their problems?
(c)  Should Taiwan be allowed a seat in the United Nations (it is not currently represented)?
(d)  Should countries have diplomatic relations (i.e. embassies) with Taiwan?
(e)  Is Taiwan a separate country or part of China?
(f)  Shouldn’t the ‘mini-links’ also be for non-Taiwanese?
(g)  Are flights between Taiwan and china domestic or international? Is there an alternative name that can be used to make things easier
(h)  What do you think about China?
(i)  What do you think about Taiwan?
(j)  What will be the future of Taiwan?
(k)  Teacher’s / Students’ 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 China-Taiwan relations. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. TAIWAN POSTER: Create an information poster on Taiwan.

4. LETTER TO HU: Write a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao explaining your thoughts on the question of Taiwanese independence.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  The air space between China and Taipei is one of the busiest in the region.  F
(b)  Charter flights will operate between Taiwan and China later this month.  T
(c)  These will be the first direct flights between China and Taiwan in eight years.  F
(d)  Taipei banned flights across the Taiwan Strait in 1949.  T
(e)  Flights between China and Taiwan always go via Hong Kong or Macau.  T
(f)  The flights are for the Chinese New Year period only.  T
(g)  The flights are just for Taiwanese diplomats and their families.  F
(h)  The flights must enter Hong Kong airspace to avoid a political dispute about whether they would be called international or domestic flights..  T

DEFINITIONS:

(a)	route (n)	(a) a road, course, or way for travel from one place to another
(b)	charter flight (n)	(a) an aircraft flight that has been arranged for a specific trip
(c)	mini (adj)	(b) something that is smaller than other things of its type or class
(d)	passenger (n)	(b) a person who travels in a car, train, taxi, plane, ship …without operating it
(e)	banned (v)	(a) something stopped, or not allowed to happen, by a higher power (parents, teachers, government)
(f)	security (n)	(a) freedom from risk or danger; safety
(g)	via (prep)	(b) have to go this way
(h)	limitation (n)	(a) something you cannot do
(i)	dispute (n)	(b) an argument on which both sides cannot agree
(j)	domestic (adj)	(a) relating to a country's internal affairs

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	air routes	flight paths
(b)	busy	hectic
(c)	link	connection
(d)	fly	jet
(e)	banned	prohibited
(f)	via	through
(g)	limitations	restrictions
(h)	festive	holiday
(i)	dispute	disagreement
(j)	domestic	national

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	one of	the quietest air routes
(b)	charter	flights
(c)	more than half	a century
(d)	fly	directly / via Hong Kong
(e)	banned for	security reasons
(f)	go	via Hong Kong / directly
(g)	festive	period
(h)	enter Hong Kong	airspace
(i)	avoid a political	dispute
(j)	domestic	flights

GAP FILL:

China-Taiwan air ‘mini-link’