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Saturday December 4

Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

After many months of peace and quiet, Spain has once again become the target of terrorist attack. ETA, the separatist Basque group, which wants freedom from Spain, has claimed responsibility for five explosions in that rocked Madrid, yesterday evening. The home-made bombs were all small, being packed into drinks cans, and were placed in gas stations on the outskirts of the city. Luckily only six people have been reported injured. ETA issued a bomb warning before the devices detonated, so the gas stations were evacuated.

ETA, in its 36-year campaign for independence for the Basque region of north-west Spain, has been blamed for more than 850 deaths in scores of bomb blasts and assassinations. The group had been keeping a low profile since the al-Quaida bombing of the Atocha train station last year in Madrid, which killed over 200 innocent people. It proves that no matter what governments do to stop terrorists, they still have the organization and political will to fight back. Last month it vowed to continue attacking Spanish security forces. Eta seems to be alive and kicking.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Spain, ETA, the War on Terror, Basque, people fighting for autonomy, terrorism …

2. FREEDOM FIGHT: Write in a column on the board some of the world’s terrorist / separatist groups. Ask students to call out the names of the countries in which they operate. Students tell each other what they know about these groups, and whether they believe their cause is legitimate.
Examples are
Aum Supreme Truth (Aum Shinrikyo) – Japan
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – Palestine
ETA (Basque Fatherland and Liberty) – Spain
FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) - Colombia
Fatah – Palestine / Israel
Hamas – Palestine / Israel
Hizbollah (Party of God) – Palestine / Israel / Lebanon
Islamic Jihad - Palestine / Israel
PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) – Kurdistan (South-Eastern Turkey / Northern Iraq)
AlQuaida – Worldwide
Real IRA (Irish Republican Army) – Northern Ireland / UK
Tamil Tigers (LTTE – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) – Sri Lanka

3. 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) These groups are not terrorists, they are freedom fighters. vs. All groups that target civilians are terrorists;
(b) Governments will never beat these groups and win the war on terror. vs. The war on terror will be won.
(c) The Baque country should receive independence. The majority of Basque people want it. vs. The Basque is a region of Spain.
(d) The Spanish government should talk with ETA. Vs. Governments should never talk with terrorists.
(e) The world is a safer place. vs. No way.
(f) All of the places fighting for independence should be given it. vs You can’t just redraw world maps.
(g - ) Teacher’s own mini-debate ideas

4. TERROR: Students talk about their experiences of it (probably largely through news media) and whether they believe the War on Terror, is being won.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. THE WORD ‘TERROR’: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the word ‘terror’

2. TRUE/FALSE: Students predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
a.  Spain has suffered many terrorist attacks in recent months.  T / F
b.  Spain’s most active terrorist organization is called ETA.  T / F
c.  Five bombs exploded in Madrid yesterday evening.  T / F
d.  No one was killed.  T / F
e.  The bombs went off without warning.  T / F
f.  ETA is a very young organization.  T / F
g.  ETA has killed more than 850 people.  T / F
h.  ETA said it would stop attacking Spanish police and soldiers.  T / F
i.  Eta seems to be alive and kicking.  T / F

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

(a)

peace and

attack

(b)

once

will

(c)

terrorist

again

(d)

claim

made

(e)

home

quiet

(f)

bomb

profile

(g)

keep a low

kicking

(h)

political

blasts

(i)

alive and

responsibility

4. SYNONYMS: In pairs students match the following words taken from the text. They may need a dictionary:

(a)

peace and quiet

independence-seeking

(b)

target

cleared of people

(c)

separatist

edges

(d)

rocked

calm

(e)

outskirts

autonomy

(f)

evacuated

object

(g)

independence

shocked

(h)

scores

determination

(i)

assassinations

promised

(j)

will

slayings

(k)

vowed

dozens and dozens

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Terror in Spain

After many months of peace and __________, Spain has once again become the target of terrorist attack. ETA, the separatist Basque group, which wants freedom from Spain, has __________ responsibility for five explosions in that rocked Madrid, yesterday evening. The home-made bombs were all small, being __________ into drinks cans, and were placed in gas stations on the outskirts of the city. Luckily only six people have been reported injured. ETA __________ a bomb warning before the devices detonated, so the gas stations were __________.
 

 

claimed
issued
quiet
evacuated
packed

ETA, in its 36-year campaign for independence for the Basque region of north-west Spain, has been __________ for more than 850 deaths in scores of bomb blasts and assassinations. The group had been keeping a low __________ since the al-Quaida bombing of the Atocha train station last year in Madrid, which killed over 200 __________ people. It __________ that no matter what governments do to stop terrorists, they still have the organization and political will to fight back. Last month it vowed to continue attacking Spanish security forces. Eta seems to be alive and __________.

 

blamed
proves
profile
kicking
innocent

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

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

4. I’M SHOCKED/HORRIFIED THAT…:  Students underline anything in the article that they would use to finish the sentence starter ‘I’m shocked/horrofied that …’

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 questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class.

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. VERBATIM:  Students create and share their own questions using these words from the article. The questions do not have to be related to ETA or the article. Collect questions to highlight their diversity:
peace and quiet
target
freedom
home-made
injured
blamed
campaign
al-Quaida
fight back
alive and kicking

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 Basque region of Spain. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. RESEARCH: Search the Internet and write your own article on an area of the Basque (people, culture, music, history….

4. LETTER: Students write a letter to Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, about your feelings regarding Basque separatism.

ANSWERS

TRUE/FALSE:
a.  Spain has suffered many terrorist attacks in recent months. F
b.  Spain’s most active terrorist organization is called ETA.  T
c.  Five bombs exploded in Madrid yesterday evening.  T
d.  No one was killed.  T
e.  The bombs went off without warning.  F
f.  ETA is a very young organization.  F
g.  ETA has killed more than 850 people.  T
h.  ETA said it would stop attacking Spanish police and soldiers.  F
i.  Eta seems to be alive and kicking.  T

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

peace and

quiet

(b)

once

again

(c)

terrorist

attacks

(d)

claim

responsibility

(e)

home

made

(f)

bomb

blasts

(g)

keep a low

profile

(h)

political

will

(i)

alive and

kicking

SYNONYMS:

(a)

peace and quiet

calm

(b)

target

object

(c)

separatist

independence-seeking

(d)

rocked

shocked

(e)

outskirts

edges

(f)

evacuated

cleared of people

(g)

independence

autonomy

(h)

scores

dozens and dozens

(i)

assassinations

slayings

(j)

will

determination

(k)

vowed

promised

 

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