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Thailand Jails US Man for Insulting King (9th December, 2011)A Thai court has given a U.S. citizen a 30-month prison sentence for insulting the country’s monarch. Former car salesman Lerpong Wichaikhammat, aka Joe Gordon, received the jail term for translating parts of a book on Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and then posting the translations on Facebook. He did all this at his home in Colorado five years ago, but was arrested in Bangkok earlier this year. Mr Gordon was born in Thailand but has spent the past 30 years living in the USA. He returned to the land of his birth to get medical help for his high blood pressure. Thailand has very strict laws for anyone who insults the monarchy. Last month, a 61-year-old Thai man was sentenced to 20 years for text messages that insulted the king. The book Mr Gordon partially translated into Thai is an unauthorized and critical biography of Thailand's monarch called “The King Never Smiles”. It was written by freelance journalist Paul Handley and has been banned in Thailand since its release in 2006. Gordon protested his innocence after the verdict was read out in court. He said: “I am an American citizen, and what happened was in America. This is just the system in Thailand - they put people in prison even if they don't have proof.” An American Embassy official expressed her anger over the court’s ruling, calling it severe, “because he has been sentenced for his right to freedom of expression”. The Thai government said it would continue to clamp down on those who insult the monarchy. WARM-UPS1. INSULTS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about insults. 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.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. BIGGEST INSULT: What would the biggest insult be to these people? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.
4. WRONG: Students A strongly believe it is wrong to insult people and should never happen; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. ANGRY: What insult would make you angriest? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the worst at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.
6. PRISON: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘prison’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.
3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING Listen and fill in the gapsA Thai _______________________ citizen a 30-month prison sentence for insulting the country’s monarch. Former car salesman Lerpong Wichaikhammat, aka Joe Gordon, received the jail _______________________ of a book on Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and then posting the translations on Facebook. He did all this at his home in Colorado five years ago, _______________________ Bangkok earlier this year. Mr Gordon was born in Thailand but has spent the past 30 years living in the USA. He returned to _______________________ to get medical help for his high blood pressure. Thailand has very strict laws for _______________________ monarchy. Last month, a 61-year-old Thai man was _______________________ for text messages that insulted the king. The book Mr Gordon _______________________ Thai is an unauthorized and critical biography of Thailand's monarch called “The King Never Smiles”. It was _________________________ Paul Handley and has been banned in Thailand since its release in 2006. Gordon _______________________ after the verdict was read out in court. He said: “I am an American citizen, and what happened was in America. This is just the system in Thailand - they put people in prison even if they _______________________.” An American Embassy official _______________________ over the court’s ruling, calling it severe, “because he has been sentenced for his right to freedom of expression”. The Thai government said it would _______________________ on those who insult the monarchy.
AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘prison’ and ‘sentence’.
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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT INSULTS SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about insults 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.
INSULTS DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGE MULTIPLE CHOICEA Thai court has given a U.S. citizen a 30-month prison sentence (1) ____ insulting the country’s monarch. Former car salesman Lerpong Wichaikhammat, (2) ____ Joe Gordon, received the jail (3) ____ for translating parts of a book on Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and then posting the translations on Facebook. He did all this at his home in Colorado five years ago, but was arrested in Bangkok (4) ____ this year. Mr Gordon was born in Thailand but has spent the past 30 years living in the USA. He returned to the land of his birth to get medical help for his (5) ____ blood pressure. Thailand has very (6) ____ laws for anyone who insults the monarchy. Last month, a 61-year-old Thai man was sentenced to 20 years for text messages that insulted the king. The book Mr Gordon partially translated into Thai is an unauthorized and (7) ____ biography of Thailand's monarch called “The King Never Smiles”. It was written by (8) ____ journalist Paul Handley and has been banned in Thailand since its release in 2006. Gordon protested his (9) ____ after the verdict was read out in court. He said: “I am an American citizen, and what happened was in America. This is just the system in Thailand - they put people in prison even if they don't have (10) ____.” An American Embassy official expressed her anger over the court’s ruling, calling it (11) ____, “because he has been sentenced for his right to freedom of expression”. The Thai government said it would continue to clamp (12) ____ on those who insult the monarchy. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITINGWrite about insults for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ 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 out more about Thailand’s king. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. INSULTS: Make a poster about insults. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Write a magazine article about freedom of speech. Include imaginary interviews with Joe Gordon and the Thai judge who sentenced him. 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 the Thai judge. Ask him/her three questions about the prison sentence. Give him/her three of your opinions on it. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.
ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Thailand jails US man for insulting kingA Thai court has given a U.S. (1) citizen a 30-month prison sentence for insulting the country’s monarch. Former car salesman Lerpong Wichaikhammat, aka Joe Gordon, received the jail (2) term for translating parts of a book on Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and then (3) posting the translations on Facebook. He did all this at his home in Colorado five years ago, but was (4) arrested in Bangkok earlier this year. Mr Gordon was born in Thailand but has spent the past 30 years living in the USA. He returned to the land of his (5) birth to get medical help for his high blood (6) pressure. Thailand has very strict laws for anyone who insults the (7) monarchy. Last month, a 61-year-old Thai man was sentenced to 20 years for text messages that (8) insulted the king. The book Mr Gordon (9) partially translated into Thai is an unauthorized and (10) critical biography of Thailand's monarch called “The King Never Smiles”. It was written by freelance journalist Paul Handley and has been (11) banned in Thailand since its release in 2006. Gordon protested his innocence after the (12) verdict was read out in court. He said: “I am an American citizen, and what happened was in America. This is just the (13) system in Thailand - they put people in prison even if they don't have (14) proof.” An American Embassy official expressed her anger over the court’s ruling, calling it (15) severe, “because he has been sentenced for his right to freedom of expression”. The Thai government said it would continue to clamp (16) down on those who insult the monarchy. LANGUAGE WORK
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