My 1,000
Ideas
e-Book

Breaking News English

HOME  |  HELP MY SITE  |  000s MORE FREE LESSONS
 		  
 

Date: April 7, 2005
Level: Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

A 33-year-old American man has been sentenced to forty years in prison for trying to organize the murder of a US federal judge. Matthew Hale was convicted because he asked an undercover FBI agent to murder judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Hale was angry after Lefkow ordered him to stop using the World Church of the Creator name for his white supremacy group as she said it was trademarked by another church. Prosecutors said his crime amounted to an act of terrorism. He was described in court as “extremely dangerous” and his crime “extremely egregious”. Hale, who has a law degree, defended himself in the case and protested his innocence, saying he had committed no crime.

Hale has a long history as a white supremacist. He founded the American White Supremacist Party, which was dissolved, and tried to open a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), but failed. He then joined the Church of the Creator. In 1999 he hailed the shooting of eleven people by a Creator member. All victims were Black, Jewish or Asian and two died. Hale says his church “is a racial religion whose prime goal is the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race”. He considers non-white people – he includes Jews here - to be inferior because “they have smaller, less developed brains”. He deems multiculturalism to be “a heinous crime against nature” and the white race to be “nature’s finest achievement”.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: forty years in prison / FBI / church / white people / black people / Asian people / multiculturalism / nature’s finest achievement.

To encourage more conversation, try telling your students they only have a short time on each chat topic before changing topics / partners.

2. NAZI BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “Nazi”. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY SKIN: In pairs / groups, examine skin color - their own, your feelings about other colors, prejudices towards other colors of skin in your society, racial stereotyping, whether you would marry someone from another race, thoughts on your children marrying someone from another race, reasons why skin colour causes hatred etc.

4. RACIAL COMMANDMENTS: Matthew Hale’s group has sixteen commandments (http://www.creator.org/16command.html) it asks its members to follow. Below is half of them. The words in square brackets originally read “(the) White Race” or “White”. In pairs / groups, talk about what you think of them. Which is the most dangerous?

  1. It is the avowed duty and holy responsibility of each generation to assure and secure for all time the existence of [one’s own race] upon the face of this planet.
  2. It is our sacred goal to populate the lands of this earth with [people of our own color] exclusively.
  3. Inferior [other-colored] races are our deadly enemies.
  4. You shall keep your race pure. Pollution of [your own race] is a heinous crime against nature.
  5. Decide in early youth that during your lifetime you will make at least one major lasting contribution to [your race].
  6. Have social contacts only with members of your own racial family.
  7. Your first loyalty belongs to [your own race].
  8. Destroy and banish all Jewish thought and influence from society.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

  1. Someone is going to spend forty years in prison.  T / F
  2. The person in the headline hates white people.  T / F
  3. The person in the headline is the head of a church.  T / F
  4. The person in the headline had very expensive lawyers defending him.  T / F
  5. The person only recently joined a white supremacy group.  T / F
  6. In 1999 the person shot eleven people.  T / F
  7. The person in the headline is a strong supporter of multiculturalism.  T / F
  8. The person thinks the white race is nature’s finest achievement.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)

sentenced

heinous

(b)

organize

started

(c)

amounted to

arrange

(d)

supremacy

top

(e)

egregious

disbanded

(f)

founded

punished

(g)

dissolved

egregious

(h)

hailed

domination

(i)

prime

applauded

(j)

heinous

equaled

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)

sentenced

amounted to an act of terrorism

(b)

a US federal

brains

(c)

undercover

judge

(d)

his crime

degree

(e)

protested

goal

(f)

law

FBI agent

(g)

white

crime

(h)

prime

his innocence

(i)

less developed

to forty years

(j)

a heinous

supremacist

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

White supremacist sentenced to 40 years

A 33-year-old American man has been __________ to forty years in prison for trying to organize the murder of a US federal judge. Matthew Hale was __________ because he asked an undercover FBI agent to murder judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Hale was angry after Lefkow ordered him to stop using the World Church of the Creator name for his white supremacy group as she said it was __________ by another church. Prosecutors said his crime amounted to an act of terrorism. He was described in court as “extremely dangerous” and his __________ “extremely egregious”. Hale, who has a law degree, defended himself in the case and protested his __________, saying he had committed no crime.

 

 

innocence
crime
convicted
sentenced
trademarked

Hale has a long history as a white supremacist. He __________ the American White Supremacist Party, which was __________, and tried to open a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), but failed. He then joined the Church of the Creator. In 1999 he __________ the shooting of eleven people by a Creator member. All victims were Black, Jewish or Asian and two died. Hale says his church “is a __________ religion whose prime goal is the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race”. He considers non-white people – he includes Jews here - to be inferior because “they have smaller, less developed brains”. He deems multiculturalism to be “a __________ crime against nature” and the white race to be “nature’s finest achievement”.

 

racial
founded
heinous
hailed
dissolved

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: In pairs/groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Each student surveys class members independently and reports back to their original partner/ group to compare their findings.

5. ‘FEDERAL’ / ‘JUDGE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:

  1. What was interesting in this article?
  2. Were you surprised by anything in this article?
  3. Were you angered by anything in this article?
  4. What do you think of Mr. Hale’s Creator group?
  5. Do you think one race is more intelligent / better than another?
  6. Why do people believe they are better than others because of their skin color?
  7. What kind of racism exists in your country?
  8. Is forty years too excessive in this case?
  9. Was his crime more serious than a rapist, who often receives five years?
  10. Do the police treat certain groups of people with suspicion in your country?
  11. What stereotypes exist in your country of different races?
  12. What stereotypes are there of your race?
  13. Have you ever experienced racism / racial abuse / racial attacks?
  14. What would you say to a white (or non-white) supremacist if you met one?
  15. How important is multiculturalism in your country / the world?
  16. Why do you think Mr. Hale describes Jewish people as being “non-white”?
  17. Why are Jewish people subjected so much racial and religious hatred?
  18. Would the world be a better place if we were all the same color?
  19. Are you happy with the color of your skin?
  20. How should bigotry and hatred be dealt with in society?
  21. What is nature’s finest achievement?
  22. Did you like this discussion?
  23. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. 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 information on famous Jews. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MULTICULTURALISM: Make a poster about the benefits of multicultural societies.

4. ANOTHER RACE: Choose a race different to your own. Create a short speech about the history, suffering and achievements of that race. Give your speech in your next class.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

  1. Someone is going to spend forty years in prison.  T / F
  2. The person in the headline hates white people.  T / F
  3. The person in the headline is the head of a church.  T / F
  4. The person in the headline had very expensive lawyers defending him.  T / F
  5. The person only recently joined a white supremacy group.  T / F
  6. In 1999 the person shot eleven people.  T / F
  7. The person in the headline is a strong supporter of multiculturalism.  T / F
  8. The person thinks the white race is nature’s finest achievement.  T / F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)

sentenced

punished

(b)

organize

arrange

(c)

amounted to

equaled

(d)

supremacy

domination

(e)

egregious

heinous

(f)

founded

started

(g)

dissolved

disbanded

(h)

hailed

applauded

(i)

prime

top

(j)

heinous

egregious

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

sentenced

to forty years

(b)

a US federal

judge

(c)

undercover

FBI agent

(d)

his crime

amounted to an act of terrorism

(e)

protested

his innocence

(f)

law

degree

(g)

white

supremacist

(h)

prime

goal

(i)

less developed

brains

(j)

a heinous

crime

GAP FILL:

White supremacist sentenced to 40 years

A 33-year-old American man has been sentenced to forty years in prison for trying to organize the murder of a US federal judge. Matthew Hale was convicted because he asked an undercover FBI agent to murder judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Hale was angry after Lefkow ordered him to stop using the World Church of the Creator name for his white supremacy group as she said it was trademarked by another church. Prosecutors said his crime amounted to an act of terrorism. He was described in court as “extremely dangerous” and his crime “extremely egregious”. Hale, who has a law degree, defended himself in the case and protested his innocence, saying he had committed no crime.

Hale has a long history as a white supremacist. He founded the American White Supremacist Party, which was dissolved, and tried to open a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), but failed. He then joined the Church of the Creator. In 1999 he hailed the shooting of eleven people by a Creator member. All victims were Black, Jewish or Asian and two died. Hale says his church “is a racial religion whose prime goal is the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race”. He considers non-white people – he includes Jews here - to be inferior because “they have smaller, less developed brains”. He deems multiculturalism to be “a heinous crime against nature” and the white race to be “nature’s finest achievement”.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

 

Copyright © 2004-2019 by Sean Banville | Links | About | Privacy Policy

 
 
SHARE THIS LESSON: E-Mail RSS