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Sunday January 23, 2005 THE ARTICLEGood news from Iraq. The Dubai-based al-Arabiya News Channel has announced the release of the eight Chinese hostages being held in Iraq. The captives were released by a group who call themselves the Islamic Resistance Movement, as a “goodwill gesture” towards China, especially after China promised to discourage its citizens from going to Iraq. Al-Arabiya’s correspondent reports, “The liberation of the eight hostages came after China agreed to no longer send its citizens to Iraq”. No ransom was paid by the Chinese government and all eight men were reported to be in good health and looking forward to their return home. The hostages were abducted earlier this month as they were driving to Jordan to go home for the Chinese New Year. They were construction workers and had been working for a Chinese company involved in Iraq’s reconstruction. Only four days ago their kidnappers had threatened to kill them. Sheikh Harith Al Dhari, head of the Islamic Scholars Association in Iraq, an organization that mediated in the hostage release, told China’s Xinhua news agency that he “appreciated the stand taken by the Chinese people who are friends and supporters of the Iraqi people.” Lesson & plan in Word.doc Example Class Handout in .pdf POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about Iraq / hostage taking / good news / China / Chinese New Year / working or travelling in Iraq / Islamic Resistance Movement … 2. HOSTAGE BRAINSTORM: Ask students to tell you any words they associate with being taken hostage / kidnapped / abducted. Put these words / thoughts on the board and leave as a springboard for student conversation / chat. 3. MY COUNTRY: Students talk about the position of their own countries towards Iraq. 4. GOOD NEWS: Students talk about 3 items of good news they have received or heard about in the past week. Repeat activity for bad news. 5. HAVE YOU HEARD?: In pairs students make up their own ‘good news story’ about national or international events. Once they have decided on their fictitious good news, they circulate around the class saying, ‘Hey, have you heard the good news? XYZ has just …” PRE-READING IDEAS1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘good’, and ‘news’. 2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false: 3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:
4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES1. GAP-FILL: Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps. Chinese hostages freed in Iraq
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 IDEAS1. 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. ‘GOOD’/ ‘NEWS’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1. 6. DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions: HOMEWORK1. 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 recent events in Iraq. Share your findings with your class next lesson. 3. HOSTAGE SURVIVAL POSTER: Create a poster explaining how to survive in a hostage situation. 4. LETTER HOME: You have been taken hostage by the Islamic Resistance Movement in Iraq. Write a letter to friends / family explaining what life is like as a hostage. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE: DEFINITIONS: (a) announced (v) (b) hostages (n) (c) captives (n) (d) goodwill (n) (e) liberation (n) (f) ransom (n) (g) abducted (v) (h) construction (n) (i) reconstruction (n) (j) mediated (v) SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Chinese hostages freed in IraqGood news from Iraq. The Dubai-based al-Arabiya News Channel has announced the release of the eight Chinese hostages being held in Iraq. The captives were released by a group who call themselves the Islamic Resistance Movement, as a “goodwill gesture” towards China, especially after China promised to discourage its citizens from going to Iraq. Al-Arabiya’s correspondent reports, “The liberation of the eight hostages came after China agreed to no longer send its citizens to Iraq”. No ransom was paid by the Chinese government and all eight men were reported to be in good health and looking forward to their return home. The hostages were abducted earlier this month as they were driving to Jordan to go home for the Chinese New Year. They were construction workers and had been working for a Chinese company involved in Iraq’s reconstruction. Only four days ago their kidnappers had threatened to kill them. Sheikh Harith Al Dhari, head of the Islamic Scholars Association in Iraq, an organization that mediated in the hostage release, told China’s Xinhua news agency that he “appreciated the stand taken by the Chinese people who are friends and supporters of the Iraqi people.” Help Support This Web Site
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