Breaking News English

WARM-UPS

1. RACIAL TENSION: Walk around the class and talk to other students about racial tension. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

murder / racial tensions / white people / song lyrics / apartheid / calm / World Cup / controversial / politics / racial segregation / prison sentences / violence / revenge

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. TENSIONS: What do we do about them? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and talk about what you wrote. Change again and share what you heard.

Tension	Those where you live	Solutions
Racial
Political
Ethnic
Religious
Community
Workplace

4. RACIAL TENSION: Students A strongly believe racial tension will one day be a thing of the past; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. CONTROVERSIAL: Who is controversial? Write the names of controversial people below. Rate them and share your ratings with your partner: 10 = extremely controversial; 1 = slightly controversial. Change partners and share your ratings again.

politics ________________ sport ________________ religion ________________ books ________________

music ________________ business ________________ school/work ________________ other ________________

6. VIOLENCE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘violence’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A very conservative political figure was murdered in S. Africa.	T / F
b.	The murdered man was shot and killed on his farm.	T / F
c.	People believe the killing is linked to the words of a song.	T / F
d.	S. Africa’s president is worried about an upcoming rugby tournament.	T / F
e.	Terre’Blanche wanted black and white people to live together.	T / F
f.	He started an organization that never had fewer than 70,000 members.	T / F
g.	Terre’Blanche spent time in jail for trying to kill someone.	T / F
h.	Terre’Blanche’s supporters said they wanted to get their own back.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	heightened	a.	forecast
2	employees	b.	words
3.	state	c.	workers
4.	lyrics	d.	payback
5.	ahead of	e.	divisive
6.	controversial	f.	peak
7.	segregation	g.	increased
8.	height	h.	before
9.	predicted	i.	separation
10.	revenge	j.	country

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	heightened racial tensions	a.	settled in South Africa
2	head of the white	b.	of crimes
3.	the killing is linked	c.	supremacist group
4.	the white Europeans who	d.	to come
5.	President Jacob Zuma has	e.	figure
6.	Terre'Blanche was a controversial	f.	in the country
7.	as many as 70,000 members	g.	revenge
8.	six years in prison for a number	h.	called for calm
9.	the days and weeks	i.	to an anti-apartheid era song
10.	hungry for	j.	at its height

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

The murder on Saturday of South Africa’s ____________-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche has ____________-racial tensions in the country. Mr Terre'Blanche was hacked to ____________-on his farm by two of his employees. Terre'Blanche was head of the white supremacist group the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which believed in a ____________-white state in South Africa. Officials from the group believe the killing is ____________-to an anti-apartheid era song that has the lyrics “Shoot the farmer, kill the Boer”. The Boer are the white Europeans who ____________-in South Africa in the 1800s. The African National Congress party’s ____________-leader, Julius Malema, recently revived the song. President Jacob Zuma has called for calm. He does not want violence ____________-of the soccer World Cup Finals in June.		separate youth heightened ahead far settled death linked
Eugene Terre'Blanche was a controversial ____________-in South Africa’s politics for many ____________-. He believed in the supremacy of the white race and racial segregation. He spent his political ____________-trying to create a state for whites only, starting the Afrikaner Resistance Movement in 1973 to try to ____________-this aim. This organization had as many as 70,000 members at its height. In 2001, Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison for a ____________-of crimes including attempted murder. He ____________-three years of this term. One of his followers, Mauritz Oberholzer, predicted there would be ____________-in the days and weeks to come: "There is going to be a lot of blood flowing. They took out our leader. We are all hungry for ____________-," he warned.		decades served career revenge figure number violence achieve

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The murder on Saturday of South Africa’s ____________________ Eugene Terre'Blanche ____________________ tensions in the country. Mr Terre'Blanche was hacked to death on his farm by two of his employees. Terre'Blanche was head of the white supremacist group the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which believed ____________________ state in South Africa. Officials from the group believe the killing is linked to an anti-apartheid era song ____________________ “Shoot the farmer, kill the Boer”. The Boer are the white Europeans who settled in South Africa in the 1800s. The African National Congress party’s youth leader, Julius Malema, _______________________. President Jacob Zuma ____________________. He does not want violence ahead of the soccer World Cup Finals in June.

Eugene Terre'Blanche was ____________________ in South Africa’s politics for many decades. He believed in the supremacy of the white race and racial segregation. He spent his political career ____________________ state for whites only, starting the Afrikaner Resistance Movement in 1973 to try ____________________. This organization had as many as 70,000 members at its height. In 2001, Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison ____________________ including attempted murder. He served three years of this term. One of his followers, Mauritz Oberholzer, predicted there would be violence in the days ____________________: "There is going to be a lot of blood flowing. They took out our leader. We are all ____________________," he warned.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘racial’ and ‘tension’.

racial

tension

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

far death head linked lyrics calm

decades state height six weeks hungry

STUDENT RACIAL TENSION SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about racial tension in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

RACIAL TENSION DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘tension’?
c)	What do you think about what you read in this article?
d)	What do you know about the recent history of South Africa?
e)	How can a country deal with racial tensions?
f)	What do you think of far-right and far-left groups?
g)	What do you think of the idea of single-colour countries?
h)	Do you think the song revived by Julius Malema should be banned?
i)	Have you ever suffered because of your race?
j)	Do you think the soccer World Cup Finals in June will be affected by any events that might follow this killing?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Who’s the most controversial figure in your country and why?
c)	Is being controversial good or bad?
d)	Why do people believe one race is better, more superior than another?
e)	What do you think of South Africa’s recent leaders?
f)	Who has the most to lose if violence breaks out across South Africa?
g)	Do you think South Africa could descend into the chaos seen in Zimbabwe in recent years?
h)	Do you think there’ll be more or less racial tension 50 years from now?
i)	Have you ever taken revenge?
j)	What questions would you like to ask President Jacob Zuma?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The murder on Saturday of South Africa’s (1) ____-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche has heightened racial tensions in the country. Mr Terre'Blanche was hacked (2) ____ death on his farm by two of his employees. Terre'Blanche was head of the white supremacist group the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which believed in a separate white (3) ____ in South Africa. Officials from the group believe the killing is linked to an (4) ____-apartheid era song that has the lyrics “Shoot the farmer, kill the Boer”. The Boer are the white Europeans who settled in South Africa in the 1800s. The African National Congress party’s youth leader, Julius Malema, recently (5) ____ the song. President Jacob Zuma has called for calm. He does not want violence (6) ____ of the soccer World Cup Finals in June.

Eugene Terre'Blanche was a controversial (7) ____ in South Africa’s politics for many decades. He (8) ____ in the supremacy of the white race and racial segregation. He spent his political career trying to create a state for whites          (9) ____, starting the Afrikaner Resistance Movement in 1973 to try to achieve this aim. This organization had as many as 70,000 members at its (10) ____. In 2001, Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison for a number of crimes including attempted murder. He served three years of this (11) ____. One of his followers, Mauritz Oberholzer, predicted there would be violence in the days and weeks to come: "There is going to be a lot of blood flowing. They took out our leader. We are all (12) ____ for revenge," he warned.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	for	(b)	fir	(c)	fur	(d)	far
2.	(a)	to	(b)	of	(c)	by	(d)	on
3.	(a)	statue	(b)	state	(c)	states	(d)	stated
4.	(a)	untie	(b)	auntie	(c)	anti	(d)	antic
5.	(a)	revival	(b)	reviving	(c)	revived	(d)	revives
6.	(a)	forward	(b)	ahead	(c)	lead	(d)	front
7.	(a)	figures	(b)	figured	(c)	figuring	(d)	figure
8.	(a)	believed	(b)	beliefs	(c)	believe	(d)	believes
9.	(a)	just	(b)	only	(c)	all	(d)	entire
10.	(a)	tall	(b)	high	(c)	up	(d)	height
11.	(a)	semester	(b)	year	(c)	term	(d)	class
12.	(a)	hungry	(b)	peckish	(c)	appetite	(d)	famine

WRITING

Write about racial tension for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

1. 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 out more about the situation in South Africa. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. RACIAL TENSION: Make a poster about racial tensions in your country. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. EQUALITY: Write a magazine article about a perfectly racially equal society. Include imaginary interviews with people from different races.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Jacob Zuma. Ask him three questions about racial tensions in his country. Give him three ideas on how he can make things better. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

T

b.

F

c.

T

d.

F

e.

F

f.

F

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	heightened	a.	increased
2	employees	b.	workers
3.	state	c.	country
4.	lyrics	d.	words
5.	ahead of	e.	before
6.	controversial	f.	divisive
7.	segregation	g.	separation
8.	height	h.	peak
9.	predicted	i.	forecast
10.	revenge	j.	payback

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	heightened racial tensions	a.	in the country
2	head of the white	b.	supremacist group
3.	the killing is linked	c.	to an anti-apartheid era song
4.	the white Europeans who	d.	settled in South Africa
5.	President Jacob Zuma has	e.	called for calm
6.	Terre'Blanche was a controversial	f.	figure
7.	as many as 70,000 members	g.	revenge
8.	six years in prison for a number	h.	of crimes
9.	the days and weeks	i.	to come
10.	hungry for	j.	at its height

GAP FILL:

Murder heightens racial tensions in S. Africa

The murder on Saturday of South Africa’s far-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche has heightened racial tensions in the country. Mr Terre'Blanche was hacked to death on his farm by two of his employees. Terre'Blanche was head of the white supremacist group the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which believed in a separate white state in South Africa. Officials from the group believe the killing is linked to an anti-apartheid era song that has the lyrics “Shoot the farmer, kill the Boer”. The Boer are the white Europeans who settled in South Africa in the 1800s. The African National Congress party’s youth leader, Julius Malema, recently revived the song. President Jacob Zuma has called for calm. He does not want violence ahead of the soccer World Cup Finals in June.

Eugene Terre'Blanche was a controversial figure in South Africa’s politics for many decades. He believed in the supremacy of the white race and racial segregation. He spent his political career trying to create a state for whites only, starting the Afrikaner Resistance Movement in 1973 to try to achieve this aim. This organization had as many as 70,000 members at its height. In 2001, Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison for a number of crimes including attempted murder. He served three years of this term. One of his followers, Mauritz Oberholzer, predicted there would be violence in the days and weeks to come: "There is going to be a lot of blood flowing. They took out our leader. We are all hungry for revenge," he warned.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

 

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