Friday December 3

Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

The race for Palestinian president in the January 9 election was spiced up late last night as jailed Intifada leader, Marwan Barghouti, made a last-minute u-turn and announced himself as a candidate. He threw his hat into the ring 3 hours before the deadline, after telling the world’s press for many days he would not run. Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences (139 years) for terrorist activities in an Israeli prison, is by far the most popular Palestinian politician following the death of Yasser Arafat last month and is now favourite to win. Stand-in president Mahmoud Abbas was the frontrunner before Barghouti’s decision.

Barguhuti’s announcement has really set the cat amongst the pigeons, splitting opinion in Palestine. The majority of Palestinians back the jailed leader, while Abbas, although popular internationally, lacks popular support. Many criticized Barghouti's decision as being divisive at a time when great unity is required for the future of Palestine. Egyptian president Husni Mubarak said Barghouti’s decision was irresponsible, “We urge the Palestinians to have one voice and there is no need for  differences at a time when we want to avoid differences.” Israeli leader Ariel Sharon said Barghouti would not be released from prison to run in the election.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Palestine, Intifada, Israel, Middle-East, prison, Palestinian election, Ariel Sharon, Mahmoud Abbas.…
To make things more fun, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. MY ELECTION: Students mill around the class and tell one another about the elections held in their countries – the candidates, the system, the fairness, voter apathy ... Students from the same country could talk about local elections.

3. PALESTINE BRAINSTORM: Teacher writes on the board any names, dates, information students know about Palestine. Take into class maps showing how Palestinian / Israeli borders have changed throughout history.

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:
(a) A prisoner should not be allowed to run for president. vs. A prisoner has democratic rights.
(b) Anyone jailed for terrorism should noy be allowed to stand in an election. vs Even a terrorist has democratic rights.
(c) Barghouti should withdraw his decision. vs Barghouti is doing what’s best for Palestine.
(d) Israel should release Barghouti so he can campaign. vs. No way, he’s a convicted terrorist.
(e) Barghouti is not a terrorist, but a freedom fighter. Of course Israel thinks he is a terrorist Vs. People who organize suicide bombings are terrorists, not freedom fighters.
(f) Barghouti is the best replacement for Arafat. vs. Barghouti is a bad replacement for Arafat.
(g) The Intifada should stop now and peace talks begin. vs. Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land should stop now and peace talks begin.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘election’ and ‘candidate’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  There is an election for Palestinian President to be held in January.  T / F
(b)  A key issue in the election is spices.  T / F
(c)  An election candidate made a u-turn in his car.  T / F
(d)  Barghouti is in prison serving a sentence of 139 years in Israel.  T / F
(e)  Barghouti is by far the most popular Palestinian politician following the death of Yasser Arafat. T / F
(f)  Cats and pigeons are unhappy about Barghouti’s decision to run.  T / F
(g)  Many people think Barghouti’s decision will split Palestinians in two. T / F
(h)  Egyptian president Husni Mubarak said Barghouti’s decision was irresponsible.  T / F
(i)  Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, will release Barghouti from prison so he can campaign in the election race.  T / F

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

(a)	the race for	into the ring
(b)	spiced	sentence
(c)	throw one’s hat	amongst the pigeons
(d)	serve a life	voice
(e)	favorite	president
(f)	set the cat	up
(g)	split	to win
(h)	one	election
(i)	run in the	opinion

4. IDIOMS: Students try to guess the contents of the article from the following idiomatic language, and try to guess the meaning of the idioms:
- the race for president
- the race was spiced up
- Barghouti made a last-minute u-turn
- Barghouti threw his hat into the ring
- Barghouti has set the cat amongst the pigeons
- Barghouti’s decision has split opinion in Palestine
- Abbas lacks support on the ground
- Barghouti's decision has upset the apple cart
- The Palestinian people should have one voice.
- Barghouti is going to run in the election

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Prisoner runs for Palestinian Presidency

The race for Palestinian president in the January 9 election was spiced up late last night as jailed Intifada leader, Marwan Barghouti, made a last-minute u-turn and announced himself as a candidate. He threw his hat into the ring 3 hours before the deadline, after telling the world’s press for many days he did not want to be president. Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences (139 years) for terrorist activities in an Israeli prison, is by far the most popular Palestinian politician, following the death of Yasser Arafat last month, and is now favourite to win. Stand-in president Mahmoud Abbas was the frontrunner before Barghouti’s decision.		u-turn sentences election frontrunner deadline
Barguhuti’s announcement has really set the cat amongst the pigeons, splitting opinion in Palestine. The majority of Palestinians back the jailed leader, while Abbas, although popular internationally, lacks support on the ground. Many have criticized Barghouti's decision for upsetting the apple cart. It is seen as being divisive at a time when great unity is required for the future of Palestine. Egyptian president Husni Mubarak said Barghouti’s decision was irresponsible, “We urge the Palestinians to have one voice and there is no need for differences at a time when we want to avoid differences.” Israeli leader Ariel Sharon said Barghouti would not be released from prison to run in the election.		unity urge avoid opinion ground

 

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

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

4. 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. 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.

5. 10-MINUTE DEBATES: In pairs / groups, students brainstorm ideas based on one of the ‘2-minute debates’ from above. Do the following to increase student involvement in language, ideas, opinion-giving, concept-familiarization, comfort and confidence with speaking…Take part in the debate, repeat the debate with same partner(s), repeat the debate with changed partners, talk about your role in the debate, talk about whether you agree with what you said in the debate, repeat all of the previous but with students now taking the opposite sides of their previous debates (change sides)

6. ARTICLE VOCAB QUESTIONS: Students ask each other the following questions based on vocabulary from the article. To make things a little more authentic, give student A half the questions and student B the other half - that way students’ eyes are not reading the questions as they are spoken – they have to listen:
(a)  Does your life need to be spiced up?
(b)  Do you ever make any last-minute decisions or do things at the last minute? Do you have friends or family who always leave things until the last minute?
(c)  In your life have you ever thrown your hat into the ring?
(d)  Do you have a hat?
(e)  Do you always meet deadlines? Have you ever failed to meet a deadline?
(f)  Why does someone have to serve five life sentences? Isn’t one enough?
(g)  Have you ever done or said anything that set the cat among the pigeons? Would you like to do something?
(h)  have you ever upset the apple cart?
(i)  What irresponsible things have you done in your life.
(j)  Should Barghouti be released from prison to run in the election.

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 Marwan Barghouti. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER TO ARIEL: You are Marwan Barghouti. Write a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asking to be released from prison to campaign in the election.

4. RESEARCH: Choose one of the people, events from the article and create an information poster.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  There is an election for Palestinian President to be held in January.  T
(b)  A key issue in the election is spices.  F
(c)  An election candidate made a u-turn in his car.  F
(d)  Barghouti is in prison serving a sentence of 139 years in Israel.  T
(e)  Barghouti is by far the most popular Palestinian politician following the death of Yasser Arafat. T
(f)  Cats and pigeons are unhappy about Barghouti’s decision to run.  F
(g)  Many people think Barghouti’s decision will split Palestinians in two. T
(h)  Egyptian president Husni Mubarak said Barghouti’s decision was irresponsible.  T
(i)  Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, will release Barghouti from prison so he can campaign in the election race.  F

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	the race for	president
(b)	spiced	up
(c)	throw one’s hat	into the ring
(d)	serve a life	sentence
(e)	favorite	to win
(f)	set the cat	amongst the pigeons
(g)	split	opinion
(h)	one	voice
(i)	run in the	election