Wednesday January 12, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Four British citizens, held for almost three years by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, will soon be returned to Britain. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw confirmed that Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga will be released in the next few weeks, with no definite date being set. The four were picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 and arrested as ‘enemy combatants’ on the ‘battlefield’ by the US Army. The Pentagon issued a statement that they were not prisoners of war, which means they could get a fair trial. All of the families are delighted their sons are returning to England.

The British government has spent months of negotiating their release with the United States. Many in Britain have been unhappy with the lack of human rights afforded the Britain’s, who have effectively been in a legal no-mans land for three years. One politician stated, “their civil rights were systematically and deliberately abused.” However, they will not be automatically free when they return to Britain. Mr Straw said they may be subject to further investigation, “Once they are back in the United Kingdom, the police will consider whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act 2000 for questioning into possible terrorist activity.”

Lesson and Plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Afghanistan / Guantanamo Bay / justice / illegal detention / detainees rights / the difference between a PoW (prisoner of war) and an ‘enemy combatant’…
To make things more dynamic, 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. GUANTANAMO BRAINSTORM: Write on the board anything students know about Guantanamo Bay and the US detention camp. Use this as a springboard for students to discuss in pairs or groups.

3. IF IT WERE ME: Students talk about how they would feel if they had been wrongly arrested and put in Guantanamo Bay for three years without trial and with their human rights left outside the camp.

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:
- The Pentagon and US government should be sued for abuse of human rights. vs. No one can prove there was any abuse.
- The four men were illegally detained. vs. What were they doing on the battlefield in Afghanistan?
- The Geneva Convention says all prisoners of war should be given a fair trial. vs. But these aren’t PoWs, they are ‘enemy combatants’.
- America is famous for being just. Here they failed badly. vs I’m sure they were treated well.
- The men should be allowed to go free in Britain now, not be rearrested by the British police. vs But they still may be an international threat.
- They should expose any torture or abuse that happened. vs. No use. The fuss will die down and be forgotten. Look at Abu Ghraib.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  The four British citizens were being held by Cuba.  T / F
(b)  They will be released next weekend.  T / F
(c)  The four were picked up by the US Army in Afghanistan in 2001.  T / F
(d)  They were taken as prisoners of war.  T / F
(e)  The British government has spent months of negotiating their release with the United States.  T / F
(f)  They have effectively been in a legal no-mans land for three years. T / F
(g)  Their civil rights were at all times respected by the US authorities.  T / F
(h)  They will probably be rearrested back in Britain.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonymsfrom the article:

(a)	citizens	in limbo / Twilight Zone
(b)	held	exact
(c)	released	questioning
(d)	definite	detain
(e)	delighted	nationals
(f)	negotiating	set free
(g)	no-mans land	imprisoned
(h)	deliberately	ecstatic
(i)	investigation	intentionally
(j)	arrest	wheeling and dealing

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

(a)	detention	combatants
(b)	in the next	rights
(c)	no definite date	few weeks
(d)	enemy	land
(e)	The Pentagon issued	their release
(f)	spent months of negotiating	camp
(g)	lack of human	investigation
(h)	no-mans	being set
(i)	subject to further	activity
(j)	terrorist	a statement

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Guantanamo Britons to be released

Four British __________ , held for almost three years by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, will soon be returned to Britain. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw __________ that Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Beg g, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga will be released in the next few weeks, with no __________ date being set. The four were picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 and arrested as ‘__________ combatants’ on the ‘battlefield’ by the US Army. The Pentagon issued a statement that they were not prisoners of war, which means they could get a __________ trial. All of the families are delighted their sons are returning to England.		fair confirmed enemy citizens definite
The British government has spent months of __________ their release with the United States. Many in Britain have been unhappy with the lack of human rights __________ the Britain’s, who have effectively been in a legal no-mans __________ for three years. One politician stated, “their civil rights were systematically and deliberately abused.” However, they will not be __________ free when they return to Britain. Mr Straw said they may be subject to further investigation, “Once they are back in the United Kingdom, the police will consider whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act 2000 for questioning into __________ terrorist activity.”		land negotiating automatically possible afforded

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

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

6. 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. ‘CAMP’/ ‘RELEASE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  What do you think of Guantanamo Bay?
(b)  What do you think of the release of the four Britons?
(c)  Have they had enough after three years, or should they be rearrested in Britain?
(d)  Do you think abuse has gone on in Guantanamo?
(e)  Is Guantanamo justice?
(f)  What do you think of the US claim that those detained in Guantanamo are not prisoners of war?
(g)  If you were a family member of one of those detained, what would you be doing now?
(h)  If an American citizen was being held by the Iraqi government as an ‘enemy combatant’ what would the US government be doing?
(i)  Is America a model of justice?
(j)  Other teacher’s questions?

7. FREEDOM NOW:  In pairs / groups, students create plans to help in the release of those detainees in Guantanamo who are innocent. Present plans to rest of class / other groups. Find faults / suggest improvements in the plans to refine them. Vote on the best ones. Discuss the merits of each.

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 Guantanamo Bay. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. GUANTANAMO POSTER: Create an information poster on Guantanamo Bay.

4. LETTER TO GEORGE: Write a letter to US President George W. Bush explaining your thoughts on the Guantanamo Bay.

 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  The four British citizens were being held by Cuba.  F
(b)  They will be released next weekend.  F
(c)  The four were picked up by the US Army in Afghanistan in 2001.  T
(d)  They were taken as prisoners of war.  F
(e)  The British government has spent months of negotiating their release with the United States.  T
(f)  They have effectively been in a legal no-mans land for three years. T
(g)  Their civil rights were at all times respected by the US authorities.  F
(h)  They will probably be rearrested back in Britain.  T

DEFINITIONS:

(a)	citizens (n)	(a) a person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation
(b)	detention (adj)	(b) being kept somewhere by other people / government while you wait to be tried in a court
(c)	definite (adj)	(a) exact, clearly stated
(d)	enemy (adj)	(b) one who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes the interests of another person, or country
(e)	combatant (n)	(a) a person (usually a soldier but sometimes a boxer, judoist, wrestler…) who fights other people
(f)	negotiating (n)	(b) talking with other people to reach an agreement everyone likes
(g)	no-mans land	(b) an area of uncertainty, no on knows exactly what the status is
(h)	deliberately (adv)	(b) something done with full consciousness of the nature and effects of the action
(i)	abused (adj)	(a) to hurt or injure by maltreatment
(j)	arrest (v)	(a) when the police takes you and holds you under the authority of law

 

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	citizens	nationals
(b)	held	imprisoned
(c)	released	set free
(d)	definite	exact
(e)	delighted	ecstatic
(f)	negotiating	wheeling and dealing
(g)	no-mans land	in limbo / Twilight Zone
(h)	deliberately	intentionally
(i)	investigation	questioning
(j)	arrest	detain

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	detention	camp
(b)	in the next	few weeks
(c)	no definite date	being set
(d)	enemy	combatants
(e)	The Pentagon issued	a statement
(f)	spent months of negotiating	their release
(g)	lack of human	rights
(h)	no-mans	land
(i)	subject to further	investigation
(j)	terrorist	activity

GAP FILL:

Guantanamo Britons to be released

Four British citizens, held for almost three years by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, will soon be returned to Britain. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw confirmed that Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga will be released in the next few weeks, with no definite date being set. The four were picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 and arrested as ‘enemy combatants’ on the ‘battlefield’ by the US Army. The Pentagon issued a statement that they were not prisoners of war, which means they could get a fair trial. All of the families are delighted their sons are returning to England.

The British government has spent months of negotiating their release with the United States. Many in Britain have been unhappy with the lack of human rights afforded the Britain’s, who have effectively been in a legal no-mans land for three years. One politician stated, “their civil rights were systematically and deliberately abused.” However, they will not be automatically free when they return to Britain. Mr Straw said they may be subject to further investigation, “Once they are back in the United Kingdom, the police will consider whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act 2000 for questioning into possible terrorist activity.”