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Date: Dec 15, 2005 Level: Easier (Try the harder lesson.) Downloads: Word Doc | PDF Doc | Listening Audio: (1:38 - 192.8 KB - 16kbps)
THE ARTICLECuba’s government has refused to allow a group of women to travel to Europe to receive a top human rights prize. The “Ladies in White” are winners of this year’s Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. The European Union, which gives the annual award, has repeatedly asked Cuba’s government to give the women travel visas. Their requests have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, the EU may send its own representatives to Cuba to present the award. The prizewinners have been protesting since 2003 for the release of their husbands and sons from prison. The men are guilty only of criticizing Fidel Castro. EU politicians are angry over the refusal to issue visas to the women. Germany’s Hans-Gert Poettering said: “I call on the Cuban authorities to let them depart. If they do not, we will…again harshly criticize [one of] the last Communist dictatorships on the planet.” A spokeswoman from the group, Miriam Leiva, said her government, “does with our lives whatever it wishes.” She added: “It controls whether we can travel abroad. It won’t allow any opinion other than its own. We are very peaceful people and we have just been striving for our rights.” Havana has remained tight-lipped about the prize and travel ban. WARM-UPS1. CUBA SEARCH: Talk to as many other students as you can to find out what they know about Cuba. After you have talked to lots of students, sit down with your partner(s) and share your information. Tell each other what you thought was interesting. Would you like to travel to or live in Cuba? 2. PROTEST: What do you think is the best way of protesting against a government? In pairs / groups, talk about the following methods of protesting. Would they be successful in your country? What would your government do? Which would you take part in?
3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently. 4. FREEDOMS: Do you live in a free country? Do you think there should be greater freedom in your country? Write down five things you are free to do in your country that you think are important. Talk about these with your partner(s). Talk also about what life would be like without these things. 5. PROTEST OPINIONS: Discuss these opinions with your partner(s).
6. FREEDOM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with freedom. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 7. COMPARISONS: Make comparisons between these countries. They are often in the news because of human rights issues:
BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text. Cuba grounds human rights prizewinners
LISTENINGListen and fill in the spaces. Cuba grounds human rights prizewinnersCuba’s government has ________ to allow a group of women to travel to Europe to receive a ____ human rights prize. The “Ladies in White” are winners of this year’s Sakharov prize for freedom of _______. The European Union, which gives the annual award, has repeatedly asked Cuba’s government to give the women travel visas. Their requests have ________ on deaf ears. Instead, the EU may send its own representatives to Cuba to present the ________. The prizewinners have been protesting since 2003 for the ________ of their husbands and sons from prison. The men are ________ only of criticizing Fidel Castro. EU politicians are angry over the ________ to issue visas to the women. Germany’s Hans-Gert Poettering said: “I _____ ___ the Cuban authorities to let them depart. If they do not, we will…again _________ criticize [one of] the last Communist dictatorships on the planet.” A spokeswoman from the group, Miriam Leiva, said her government, “does with our lives whatever it _________.” She added: “It controls whether we can travel abroad. It won’t allow any _________ other than its own. We are very peaceful people and we have just been _________ for our rights.” Havana has remained tight-_________ about the prize and travel ban. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘ladies’ and ‘white’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. STUDENT “HUMAN RIGHTS” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about our freedoms and human rights. Include questions about countries that take away people’s human rights.
6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.
SPEAKINGLUCKY? In pairs / groups, talk about the human rights listed below (one of them is not an official right!). Discuss what life would be like without these rights. Put your main points in the middle column. Discuss what your life is like having these rights. Put your thoughts in the right hand column.
HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the Ladies in White. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things? 3. STUDENT RIGHTS: Make a list of student rights (students of English or other languages and subjects). Think of eight basic rights that all students must have. Give an explanation supporting each point. Show your lists to your classmates in the next lesson. Whose points are best? 4. LETTER: Write a letter to Fidel Castro asking him why his government refuses to allow the Ladies in White to travel. Give him advice on the benefits to Cuba of letting the women go to Europe. Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things? ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Cuba grounds human rights prizewinnersCuba’s government has refused to allow a group of women to travel to Europe to receive a top human rights prize. The “Ladies in White” are winners of this year’s Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. The European Union, which gives the annual award, has repeatedly asked Cuba’s government to give the women travel visas. Their requests have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, the EU may send its own representatives to Cuba to present the award. The prizewinners have been protesting since 2003 for the release of their husbands and sons from prison. The men are guilty only of criticizing Fidel Castro. EU politicians are angry over the refusal to issue visas to the women. Germany’s Hans-Gert Poettering said: “I call on the Cuban authorities to let them depart. If they do not, we will…again harshly criticize [one of] the last Communist dictatorships on the planet.” A spokeswoman from the group, Miriam Leiva, said her government, “does with our lives whatever it wishes.” She added: “It controls whether we can travel abroad. It won’t allow any opinion other than its own. We are very peaceful people and we have just been striving for our rights.” Havana has remained tight-lipped about the prize and travel ban.
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