My
1,000 Ideas e-Book |
Breaking News EnglishHOME | HELP MY SITE | 000s MORE FREE LESSONS |
My
1,000 Ideas e-Book |
Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two yearsDate: Feb 25, 2006Level: Easier (Try the harder lesson.) Downloads: Word Doc | PDF Doc | Listening Audio: (1:33 - 183.2 KB - 16kbps)
THE ARTICLEIraq is experiencing its most dangerous period since the fall of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew is in place in Baghdad and three surrounding areas. The government is trying to stop a possible civil war. Tensions are running very high following days of violence between Sunni and Shi’ite groups. Both sides have attacked the other’s mosques in the past few days. This has brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many calling for revenge. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and said the latest situation is “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”. The event which started the latest unrest was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two holy men who were related to the Prophet Muhammad. A popular Shi’ite cleric, Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the destruction. Within hours of the blast, waves of revenge attacks began across Iraq. Angry Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the violence has left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most respected Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has asked his followers not to attack Sunni mosques. WARM-UPS1. IRAQ FEELINGS: In pairs / groups, talk about your feelings when you read or watch news of Iraq. Do you follow events there as often as you did one or two years ago? What news items most attract your attention? 2. 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. 3. WORD ASSOCIATION: In pairs / groups, talk about how the following words might be associated with Iraq:
4. HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, discuss the following “headlines”. How possible is it they might come true?
Change partners and share what you talked about. 5. SENTENCE STARTERS: With your partner(s), agree on happy endings for the following sentence starters:
6. CIVIL WAR: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with civil war. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 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. Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two years
LISTENINGListen and fill in the spaces. Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two yearsIraq is experiencing its most dangerous ________ since the fall of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew is in place in Baghdad and three ___________ areas. The government is trying to stop a possible civil war. Tensions are _________ very high following days of violence between Sunni and Shi’ite groups. Both sides have attacked the other’s mosques in the past few days. This has brought tens of thousands of _________ onto the streets, many calling for revenge. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and said the latest _________ is “the most serious challenge to the county's _________”. The event which started the latest _________ was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the _________ of two holy men who were _________ to the Prophet Muhammad. A popular Shi’ite cleric, Moqtada Al-Sadr, _________ Sunni Muslims for the destruction. Within hours of the blast, waves of revenge attacks began across Iraq. Angry Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the _________ has left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most ___________ Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has asked his followers not to attack Sunni mosques. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘civil’ and ‘war’.
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 “IRAQ” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Iraq.
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.
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 information about the latest events in Iraq. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things? 3. PLACE OF WORSHIP: Make a poster about an important place of worship in your religion or culture. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone find out similar things? 4. IRAQ: Write an essay about Iraq. Decide whether you want to focus on the people, culture, political situation or future. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone write about similar things? ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two yearsIraq is experiencing its most dangerous period since the fall of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew is in place in Baghdad and three surrounding areas. The government is trying to stop a possible civil war. Tensions are running very high following days of violence between Sunni and Shi’ite groups. Both sides have attacked the other’s mosques in the past few days. This has brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many calling for revenge. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and said the latest situation is “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”. The event which started the latest unrest was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two holy men who were related to the Prophet Muhammad. A popular Shi’ite cleric, Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the destruction. Within hours of the blast, waves of revenge attacks began across Iraq. Angry Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the violence has left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most respected Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has asked his followers not to attack Sunni mosques.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2004-2019 by Sean Banville | Links | About | Privacy Policy
|