Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has publicly lambasted couples who live “in sin” before getting married. He condemned cohabitation as being "disgraceful" and influenced by immoral Western nations. The Jakarta Post reported him as saying: “We do not need to imitate the lifestyles of foreign nations, which are incompatible with the soul and characteristics of our nation.” He added: "Living together out of wedlock is still viewed as a disgraceful deed that goes against the norms of religions and laws." He was speaking on July 4, Indonesia’s National Family Day, to promote morality and better family planning practices.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country. Nearly 90 per cent of the population of 215 million are Muslim. Many influential Islamic parties applauded his calls for preventative measures to stem Indonesia’s rising numbers and avoid a surge in population. Almost twenty per cent of Indonesians live below the poverty line on less than a dollar a day. Mr. Yudhoyono urged people to have only the number of children they could afford. He stated: "Without birth control, our efforts to boost economic development will be useless.…Our next generation will live in a worse condition and it will be the fault of our generation.”

WARM-UPS

1. I LIVE ALONE: In pairs / groups, tell each other who you live with. Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of your living situation. Would you like to change? What would you like to change?

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Indonesia / living in sin / sex before marriage / the soul of one’s nation / morality / National Family Day / family planning / living below the poverty line / a dollar a day

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

3. INDONESIA: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Indonesia. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

4. COHABITATION: In pairs / groups, talk about how far you agree with these opinions about living in sin.

1. Living together before marriage is no longer a sin.
2. Marriage is becoming less and less important.
3. Sex before marriage is a cardinal sin.
4. France has just abolished the term “illegitimate” for children, so it’s OK for children to be born out of wedlock.
5. Living together beforehand reduces the likelihood of divorce.
6. Not living together first is a giant risk.
7. Living together is part of the fun of relationships.
8. You should only live with the person you know you’re going to marry.
9. It’s OK to live together before marriage as long as there’s no sex.

5. BIRTH CONTROL: In pairs / groups, talk about which of these birth control methods you think are OK.

Condoms The contraceptive pill The morning after pill The rhythm method

Abstinence Abortion Vasectomy A “one family, one child” policy

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Indonesia’s president tried cohabitation but hated it.	T / F
b.	Indonesia’s president said cohabitating couples are disgraceful.	T / F
c.	Indonesia’s president admires all Western values.	T / F
d.	Indonesia’s president wants to encourage better family planning.	T / F
e.	Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country.	T / F
f.	Islamic parties want to see a rise in Indonesia’s population.	T / F
g.	Almost twenty per cent of Indonesians live below the poverty line.	T / F
h.	Indonesia’s president thinks birth control prevents economic growth.	T / F

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

a.	lambasted	growth
b.	cohabitation	models
c.	wedlock	principles
d.	norms	beef up
e.	morality	living together
f.	applauded	restrain
g.	stem	castigated
h.	surge	commended
i.	boost	wrongdoing
j.	fault	marriage

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

a.	publicly	of wedlock
b.	live	Indonesia’s rising numbers
c.	living together out	planning
d.	goes against	of our generation
e.	family	populous country
f.	fourth most	the poverty line
g.	preventative	the norms
h.	stem	lambasted
i.	live below	measures
j.	it will be the fault	in sin

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Indonesia president slams cohabitation

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has publicly ________ couples who live “in sin” before getting married. He ________ cohabitation as being "disgraceful" and influenced by ________ Western nations. The Jakarta Post reported him as saying: “We do not need to ________ the lifestyles of foreign nations, which are incompatible with the ________ and characteristics of our nation.” He added: "Living together out of ________ is still viewed as a disgraceful deed that goes against the ________ of religions and laws." He was speaking on July 4, Indonesia’s National Family Day, to ________ morality and better family planning practices.		imitate norms condemned soul lambasted promote wedlock immoral
Indonesia is the world’s fourth most ________ country. Nearly 90 per cent of the population of 215 million are Muslim. Many ________ Islamic parties applauded his calls for preventative measures to ________ Indonesia’s rising numbers and avoid a ________ in population. Almost twenty per cent of Indonesians live below the ________ line on less than a dollar a day. Mr. Yudhoyono urged people to have only the number of children they could ________. He stated: "Without birth control, our efforts to boost economic development will be ________.…Our next generation will live in a worse condition and it will be the ________ of our generation.”		stem poverty influential fault afford surge useless populous

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘birth’ and ‘control’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

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

5. STUDENT COHABITATION SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about living in sin, living together and morality.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

publicly condemned imitate incompatible deed practices

populous applauded avoid line boost generation

 DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What was your initial reaction to this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the story?
3. Do you often follow news on Indonesia?
4. What do you think about President Yudhoyono’s comments?
5. What do you think about cohabitation?
6. Is cohabitation common in your country?
7. Do you think living apart until marriage would avoid a surge in population?
8. What do you think is the best way to stem population growth?
9. Do you think President Yudhoyono is wrong to attack Western culture?
10. Do you think President Yudhoyono is right to promote morality?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. Have you lived or would you live “in sin”?
4. Do you think living with someone before marriage is disgraceful?
5. Is sex before marriage a sin for both a man and a woman?
6. Do you think the likelihood of divorce would be reduced if couples lived together first?
7. Do you agree with the “one family, one child” policy adopted by China?
8. What would you think if your daughter moved in with a boyfriend?
9. Does / Should your country have a National Family Day?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

COHABITING:

In pairs / groups, write one question about cohabitation using each of the words in the list below.

1. Sin
2. Parents’ feelings
3. Religion
4. Fun
5. Normal
6. Old-fashioned
7. Economical
8. Disadvantages
9. Neighbours
10. Western morals
11. (Your own question)

Change partners and ask each other your questions.

After you have finished, return to your original partner(s) and share and compare the answers to your questions.

What is the general consensus of opinion towards cohabitation?

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Indonesia president slams cohabitation

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has publicly __________ couples who ____ “__ ___” before getting married. He condemned cohabitation as being "disgraceful" and influenced __ _________ Western nations. The Jakarta Post reported him as saying: “We do not ____ __ _______ the lifestyles of foreign nations, which are ____________ with the soul and characteristics of our nation.” He added: "Living together ___ __ _______ is still viewed as a disgraceful deed that ____ _______ the norms of religions and laws." He was speaking on July 4, Indonesia’s National Family Day, to promote ________ ___ better family planning practices.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth ____ _________ country. Nearly 90 per cent of the population of 215 million are Muslim. Many influential Islamic parties _________ his _____ ____ preventative measures to stem Indonesia’s rising numbers and avoid __ _____ __ population. Almost twenty per cent of Indonesians live below the poverty ____ __ _____ than a dollar a day. Mr. Yudhoyono ______ people to have only the number of children they ___ _____. He stated: "Without birth control, ___ _______ ___ boost economic development will be useless.…Our next generation will live __ __ _____ condition and it will be the _____ ___ our generation.”

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 more information on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. MY THOUGHTS: Write an essay explaining your thoughts on cohabitation and sin. Read your essays to your classmates in your next lesson. Did everyone write about similar things?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Tell him what you think of his attack on Western values and of calling cohabitation a “disgraceful deed”. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. T

f. F

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	lambasted	castigated
b.	cohabitation	living together
c.	wedlock	marriage
d.	norms	models
e.	morality	principles
f.	applauded	commended
g.	stem	restrain
h.	surge	growth
i.	boost	beef up
j.	fault	wrongdoing

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	publicly	lambasted
b.	live	in sin
c.	living together out	of wedlock
d.	goes against	the norms
e.	family	planning
f.	fourth most	populous country
g.	preventative	measures
h.	stem	Indonesia’s rising numbers
i.	live below	the poverty line
j.	it will be the fault	of our generation

GAP FILL:

Indonesia president slams cohabitation

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has publicly lambasted couples who live “in sin” before getting married. He condemned cohabitation as being "disgraceful" and influenced by immoral Western nations. The Jakarta Post reported him as saying: “We do not need to imitate the lifestyles of foreign nations, which are incompatible with the soul and characteristics of our nation.” He added: "Living together out of wedlock is still viewed as a disgraceful deed that goes against the norms of religions and laws." He was speaking on July 4, Indonesia’s National Family Day, to promote morality and better family planning practices.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country. Nearly 90 per cent of the population of 215 million are Muslim. Many influential Islamic parties applauded his calls for preventative measures to stem Indonesia’s rising numbers and avoid a surge in population. Almost twenty per cent of Indonesians live below the poverty line on less than a dollar a day. Mr. Yudhoyono urged people to have only the number of children they could afford. He stated: "Without birth control, our efforts to boost economic development will be useless.…Our next generation will live in a worse condition and it will be the fault of our generation.” 

TOP