Monday November 29
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

In an unexpected and brief announcement on state-owned Jordan Television yesterday, King Abdullah stripped his half-brother, Hamza, of his title as Crown Prince. The sudden decision surprised Jordanians as there are no apparent political motives for the move. Prince Hamza, 24, plays very little political role in Jordan, although he was heir to the Jordanian Hashemite Throne. Analysts expect Abdullah may name his 10-year-old eldest son, Prince Hussein, as the new heir to the throne. Jordan is an inherited monarchy in which power passes from father to son.

King Abdullah explained the title of Crown Prince restricted Prince Hamzah’s “freedom of movement”, which had prevented the King from assigning the Prince “certain responsibilities … to take up other posts … which was not possible as crown prince”. It is not yet clear what the Prince’s new civil duties will be. King Abdullah described Hamzah, a captain in the Jordanian Army, as a “sincere soldier of this nation”, who had bravely served in the former Yugoslavia as part of an international peacekeeping force.

Jordan’s monarchy is as interesting as any other around the world. King Abdullah is former King Hussein's the eldest son from his eleven children. His mother is Hussein’s second wife, Princess Muna, an English woman born as Antoinette Gardiner. Prince Hamza is Hussein’s son from his fourth marriage, to Queen Noor, born in New York as Lisa Halaby. As Crown Prince, Hamza represented Jordan internationally, while domestically he had posts in several key national institutions. He is a helicopter pilot, parachutes, scuba dives, fences and practices tae-kwon-do, and he is married to a Jordanian princess.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Jordan, Kings, queens, princes and princesses, unusual family relationships, the value of monarchies …

2. MY FAMILY: Students tell each other about the characters of members of their families, especially interesting relatives.

3. TO MARRY A PRINCE(SS): Tell all of your students they recently married a prince or princess. Ask them to think of the country in which they are now a new member of the royal family. They mill around and introduce themselves as Prince X, Princess Y and talk about their royal life.

4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
All monarchies should be abolished. vs. Monarchies should stay.
Kings and Queens should work to get money. vs Monarchs are important and should get money from taxes.
Kings and Queens should ride bicycles in the town, like they do in Scandanavian countries. vs No. Way too dangerous.
Queens should sell half of their jewellery and give the money to help feed starving children. vs. No way, it’s the country’s jewellery, part of national heritage.
Kings and Queens should do more for world charity. vs. No. They are already busy enough.

Teacher-originated ideas for mini-debates based on your students level / culture.

5. MY ROYAL FAMILY: Students who come from, or who have lived in, monarchies explain how they feel about them.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. FAMILY RELATIONS: Students match the following ‘family vocabulary’:

a.	sibling	a new relation because one parent remarried and the new partner already had children
b.	half-brother/sister	very very good and loyal friend, feels the same as a real brother
c.	step-bother/sister	your elder sibling
d.	brother/sister-in-law	related by one shared parent
e.	blood brother	a brother or sister
f.	Big Brother	your younger sibling (colloquial)
g.	big brother/sister	your younger sibling
h.	little brother/sister	the brother and/or sister of the person you marry
i.	kid brother/sister	the idea of the government controlling every part of our lives. (from a book called ‘1984’, written by George Orwell).

In pairs students draw an imaginary family tree incorporating examples of all of the words above.

2. ROYAL TITLES: Students match the monarchial title with the countries/country:

a.	Emir	UK, Belgium, Cambodia, Denmark, Holland, Morocco, Nepal, Spain, Swaziland, Thailand, et al
b.	Emperor / Empress	Oman, Malaysia, parts of Indonesia
c.	King / Queen	Qatar, Kuwait
d.	Sultan	Liechtenstein, Monaco
e.	Prince	Japan
f.	Grand Duke	Bhutan
g.	Druk Gyalpo	Samoa
h.	Chief	Luxembourg

3. TRUE/FALSE: Students predict whether they believe the following statements about the article headline are true or false:
(a)  The change in the monarchy was expected.  T / F
(b)  The Prince who was changed played a major role in Jordanian affairs.  T / F
(c)  A 10-year old boy may become the new heir to the Throne.  T / F
(d)  Jordan is an inherited monarchy in which power passes from father to son.  T / F
(e)  It is not yet clear what the Prince’s new civil duties will be.  T / F
(f)  Prince Hamza is a captain in the Jordanian Navy.  T / F
(g)  King Abdullah has ten brothers and sisters. T / F
(h)  King Abdullah’s mother was British.  T / F
(i)  Prince Hamza’a mother was American. T / F
(j)  Prince Hamza’s wife is Egyptian.  T / F

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	brief	throne
(b)	political	movement
(c)	heir to the	Yugoslavia
(d)	power	duties
(e)	freedom of	announcement
(f)	civil	institutions
(g)	former	motives
(h)	key national	tae-kwon-do
(i)	practice	passes from father to son

 .

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Jordanian Monarchy Change

In an unexpected and ________ announcement on state-owned Jordan Television yesterday, King Abdullah ________ his half-brother, Hamza, of his title as Crown Prince. The sudden decision surprised Jordanians as there are no apparent political motives for the ________. Prince Hamza, 24, plays very little political role in Jordan, although he was ________ to the Jordanian Hashemite Throne. Analysts expect Abdullah may name his 10-year-old eldest son, Prince Hussein, as the new heir to the throne. Jordan is an inherited monarchy in which ________ passes from father to son.		move heir brief power stripped
King Abdullah explained the title of Crown Prince ________ Prince Hamzah’s “freedom of movement”, which had prevented the King from assigning the Prince “certain responsibilities … to take up other ________ … which was not possible as crown prince”. It is not yet clear what the Prince’s new ________ duties will be. King Abdullah described Hamzah, a captain in the Jordanian Army, as a “________ soldier of this nation”, who had bravely served in the former Yugoslavia as part of an international peacekeeping ________.		posts sincere force restricted civil
Jordan’s monarchy is as interesting as any other around the ________. King Abdullah is ________ King Hussein's eldest son of his eleven children. His mother is Hussein’s second wife, Princess Muna, an English woman born as Antoinette Gardiner. Prince Hamza is Hussein’s son from his fourth ________, to Queen Noor, born in New York as Lisa Halaby. As Crown Prince, Hamza represented Jordan internationally, while domestically he had posts in several ________ national institutions. He is a helicopter pilot, parachutes, scuba dives, fences and ________ tae-kwon-do, and he is married to a Jordanian princess.		key world former practices marriage

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the word match exercise.

4. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

5. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. 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. WOW:  Students tell each other about the things they circled. Introduce the following language
I thought / think it’s amazing / unreal / incredible / awesome … that …
I can’t believe   …
Wow, Prince Hamza …
It’s [totally] [utterly] [completely] [totally, utterly and completely] amazing that …
I’m [shocked] [amazed] [not surprised] that …
[Opportunity to focus on emotional reactions / opinions]

5. 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.

6. KING & PRINCE QUESTION: In pairs / groups, students write down questions based on the following vocabulary from the article. Teacher monitors and corrects. Students ask each other questions:
- King
- stripped
- heir to the throne
- power
- captain in the army
- monarchy
- fourth marriage
- helicopter pilot
- English woman
- tae-kwon-do

7. REASONS WHY (NOT): Students write down 4 reasons why they would want to be Prince of Jordan, and four reasons why they wouldn’t. Share and discuss reasons.

HOMEWORK

1. 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 the Jordanian royal family. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER OF COMPLAINT: You are ex-crown prince Hamza. Write a letter to your half brother King Abdullah explaining why you should be reinstated as Crown Prince.

4. RESEARCH: Choose one of the world’s monarchies and create a poster outlining its operations.

ANSWERS

TRUE/FALSE:
(a)  The change in the monarchy was expected.  F
(b)  The Prince who was changed played a major role in Jordanian affairs.  F
(c)  A 10-year old boy may become the new heir to the Throne.  T
(d)  Jordan is an inherited monarchy in which power passes from father to son.  T
(e)  It is not yet clear what the Prince’s new civil duties will be.  T
(f)  Prince Hamza is a captain in the Jordanian Navy.  F
(g)  King Abdullah has ten brothers and sisters. T
(h)  King Abdullah’s mother was British.  T
(i)  Prince Hamza’a mother was American. T
(j)  Prince Hamza’s wife is Egyptian.  F

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	brief	announcement
(b)	political	motives
(c)	heir to the	throne
(d)	power	passes from father to son
(e)	freedom of	movement
(f)	civil	duties
(g)	former	Yugoslavia
(h)	key national	institutions
(i)	practice	tae-kwon-do

 

GAP FILL

In an unexpected and brief announcement on state-owned Jordan Television yesterday, King Abdullah stripped his half-brother, Hamza, of his title as Crown Prince. The sudden decision surprised Jordanians as there are no apparent political motives for the move. Prince Hamza, 24, plays very little political role in Jordan, although he was heir to the Jordanian Hashemite Throne. Analysts expect Abdullah may name his 10-year-old eldest son, Prince Hussein, as the new heir to the throne. Jordan is an inherited monarchy in which power passes from father to son.

King Abdullah explained the title of Crown Prince restricted Prince Hamzah’s “freedom of movement”, which had prevented the King from assigning the Prince “certain responsibilities … to take up other posts … which was not possible as crown prince”. It is not yet clear what the Prince’s new civil duties will be. King Abdullah described Hamzah, a captain in the Jordanian Army, as a “sincere soldier of this nation”, who had bravely served in the former Yugoslavia as part of an international peacekeeping force.

Jordan’s monarchy is as interesting as any other around the world. King Abdullah is former King Hussein's eldest son of his eleven children. His mother is Hussein’s second wife, Princess Muna, an English woman born as Antoinette Gardiner. Prince Hamza is Hussein’s son from his fourth marriage, to Queen Noor, born in New York as Lisa Halaby. As Crown Prince, Hamza represented Jordan internationally, while domestically he had posts in several key national institutions. He is a helicopter pilot, parachutes, scuba dives, fences and practices tae-kwon-do, and he is married to a Jordanian princess.