Breaking News English

Listening (1:52 - 220.7 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

North Korea may soon test its first nuclear missiles. American spy satellites show photos of tunnels that look very similar to an underground test site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that North Korea may have six nuclear weapons. IAEA boss Mohamed ElBaradei said North Korea has the plutonium and the technology to make five or six weapons. North Korea itself declared in February that it has nuclear weapons. American intelligence reports that Pyongyang already has one or two crude nuclear bombs.

The international community wants to get the North Koreans back to the negotiating table. The widespread feeling is that Pyongyang should return to six-party talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan “without further delay”. The talks would aim to persuade North Korea to change its stance and create a non-nuclear Korean peninsula. North Korea says it will not continue any dialogue until America ends its “hostile” manner towards Kim Jong Il. However, it may be that North Korea has no desire to talk. It may be more interested in becoming a nuclear power.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics you are interested in, which do not look interesting and which look really boring:

North Korea / nuclear missiles /spy satellites / plutonium / negotiating tables / diplomats / Kim Jong Il / Kyoto / nuclear powers / South Korea

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. NORTH KOREA: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with North Korea. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. NUCLEAR POWERS: Should countries have nuclear weapons? Which countries should have nuclear weapons? Should countries that have nuclear weapons tell other countries not to have nuclear weapons?

Look at this list of countries that have nuclear weapons. Talk about whether these countries need nuclear weapons. How many do they need?

4. 1-MINUTE NUCLEAR OPINIONS: Look at the opinions below. Choose one opinion for your partner. Read the opinion to your partner. Your partner has to talk about this opinion for one minute (or longer). You must then talk about what your partner said for one minute. After you have both talked for one minute each, have a conversation about what you said.

1. North Korea should stop its nuclear test plans today.
2. The United States should attack North Korea.
3. North Korea can have nuclear weapons if it wants.
4. China should pressure North Korea more.
5. The world should trust North Korea. It is a peaceful country.
6. George W. Bush should be friendlier towards Kim Jong Il .
7. All countries should destroy their nuclear weapons.
8. The money spent on nuclear weapons would end world hunger.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘nuclear’ and ‘weapon’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

1. North Korea is on the verge of testing its first nuclear missiles.  T / F
2. Spy satellite photos show tunnels that look like underground test sites.  T / F
3. The International Atomic Energy Agency doubts N. Korea has weapons.  T / F
4. North Korea has always denied it is has nuclear weapons.  T / F
5. Diplomats have been trying to bring N. Korea back to the negotiating table.  T / F
6. Six-party talks on N. Korea’s nuclear status should happen immediately.  T / F
7. America uses very kind language when talking about Kim Jong Il.  T / F
8. North Korea is more interested in becoming a nuclear power than talking.  T / F

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

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

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. WHOOPS: There are eight mistaken words in the article. Find and circle them. Tell each other how confident you are of each mistake. These sentences might be useful:

• I’m 100 per cent sure this one is wrong.
• I’m very sure this word is wrong.
• I’m pretty sure something is wrong with this word.
• This word doesn’t look right to me.
• I think this one’s wrong.

Guess / Agree which words should replace the ones you thought were wrong.

N. Korea nuclear weapon tests likely

North Korea may soon test its first nuclear missiles. North Korean spy satellites show paintings of tunnels that look very similar to an underground test site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that North Korea may have six chemical weapons. IAEA boss Mohamed ElBaradei said North Korea has the steel and the technology to make five or six weapons. North Korea itself declared in February that it has nuclear weapons. American intelligence reports that Pyongyang already has one or two crude nuclear bombs.

The international community wants to get the North Koreans back to the negotiating desk. The widespread feeling is that Pyongyang should return to six-party talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan “with further delay”. The talks would aim to persuade South Korea to change its stance and create a non-nuclear Korean peninsula. North Korea says it will not continue any dialogue until America ends its “friendly” manner towards Kim Jong Il. However, it may be that North Korea has no desire to talk. It may be more interested in becoming a nuclear power.

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. WHOOPS: In pairs / groups, check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT NORTH KOREA SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down questions about North Korea. Ask other classmates your questions and report back to your original partner/ group to compare your findings.

5. ‘NUCLEAR’ / ‘WEAPON’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. Did this article worry you?
2. What went though your mind as you read the article?
3. What do you know about North Korea?
4. Would you like to visit North Korea?
5. What do you think North Korea’s plans are?
6. Do you think North Korea is a dangerous country?
7. Do you think it’s OK for countries with nuclear weapons to tell other countries not to build them?
8. Will the world change if North Korea has nuclear weapons?
9. Which country will be next to join the world’s nuclear club?
10. Do you think people will be stupid enough to use nuclear weapons again?
11. Do you think North Korea would use nuclear missiles against its neighbours?
12. What do you know about North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il?
13. Should the United States attack North Korea and remove its nuclear weapons?
14. Do you think George W. Bush should be nicer to Kim Jong Il?
15. Do you think China should pressure North Korea to stop building nuclear missiles?
16. When do you think the North and South Korea will become one country again?
17. Did you like this discussion?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. ROLE PLAY: Role play these world leaders in a six-party discussion about the future of North Korea’s nuclear programme. Team up with classmates who have the same role as yours to develop your role and discuss tour “strategy” before the role play begins. After the role play, discuss whether you really believed what you were saying.

THE ROLES:

Student A: George W. Bush – U.S. President

Student B: Kim Jong Il – North Korean leader

Student C: Junichiro Koizumi – Japanese Prime Minister

Student D: Vladimir Putin – Russian President

Student E: Hu Jintao – Chinese President

Student F: Roh Moo-Hyun – South Korean President

8. THE NUCLEAR CLUB: You are head of the new “World Nuclear Club” You have the power to allow countries to have nuclear weapons and to take away any weapons a country already has. The countries below want to join the club. In pairs / groups, write notes about why each country may or may not join.

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 North Korea. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. NUCLEAR CLUB: Make an information poster on the countries that have, are suspected of having, or who are trying to build nuclear weapons.

4. LETTER TO KIM JONG IL: Write a letter to North Korea’s leader explaining why it is a mistake to continue building his nuclear weapons programme. Bring your letter to your next class. Gather other ideas from the letters of your classmates. With all of your new ideas, make a “super letter” with many reasons. Send the letter to your nearest North Korean embassy or consulate.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. North Korea is on the verge of testing its first nuclear missiles.  T
2. Spy satellite photos show tunnels that look like underground test sites.  T
3. The International Atomic Energy Agency doubts N. Korea has weapons.  F
4. North Korea has always denied it is has nuclear weapons.  F
5. Diplomats have been trying to bring N. Korea back to the negotiating table.  T
6. Six-party talks on N. Korea’s nuclear status should happen immediately.  T
7. America uses very kind language when talking about Kim Jong Il.  F
8. North Korea is more interested in becoming a nuclear power than talking.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

WHOOPS:

N. Korea nuclear weapon tests likely

North Korea may soon test its first nuclear missiles. American spy satellites show photos of tunnels that look very similar to an underground test site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that North Korea may have six nuclear weapons. IAEA boss Mohamed ElBaradei said North Korea has the plutonium and the technology to make five or six weapons. North Korea itself declared in February that it has nuclear weapons. American intelligence reports that Pyongyang already has one or two crude nuclear bombs.

The international community wants to get the North Koreans back to the negotiating table. The widespread feeling is that Pyongyang should return to six-party talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan “without further delay”. The talks would aim to persuade North Korea to change its stance and create a non-nuclear Korean peninsula. North Korea says it will not continue any dialogue until America ends its “hostile” manner towards Kim Jong Il. However, it may be that North Korea has no desire to talk. It may be more interested in becoming a nuclear power.