Iraq is experiencing its bloodiest time since the demise of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew has been imposed in Baghdad and three adjacent provinces in an attempt to curb the outbreak of a possible civil war. Tensions are running explosively high and fears are that recent sectarian violence may tip the country over the brink. Recent tit-for-tat demolitions of mosques by both Sunni and Shi’ite factions have brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many vowing for revenge against attacks on their populations and places of worship. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and warned insurgents against trying to whip up hatred that could easily spill over into all out civil war. He called it “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”.

The spark which ignited the latest unrest, spiraling many parts of Iraq into a state of near anarchy, was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two imams who were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the outrage and called for revenge. Within hours of the blast, which almost reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s most hallowed shrines to rubble, waves of reprisal attacks began across Iraq. Angered Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the ensuing violence left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has tried to quell his followers’ fury by imploring them not to attack Sunni mosques.

WARM-UPS

1. IRAQ FEELINGS: In pairs / groups, talk about your feelings when you read or watch news of Iraq. Do you keep up with events there as often as you did one or two years ago? What news items are most likely to grab your attention?

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

Demises / Saddam Hussein / curfews / civil war / tit-for-tat / protestors / hatred / revenge / sparks / anarchy / the blame game / shrines / rubble / quelling anger

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

3. WORD ASSOCIATION: In pairs / groups, talk about how the following words might be associated with Iraq:

Roses / resorts / software / tiger economy / tolerance / awards / cosmopolitan / tourism / innovation / leadership / photography / headquarters / pizza / microchips

4. HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, discuss the following “headlines”. How possible do you think it is they will come true?

1. Civil war breaks out in Iraq.
2. Iraq now strongest economy in Middle East.
3. Iraq to host Olympic Games.
4. US and coalition forces flee from Iraq.
5. Iraq conflict spreads to neighboring countries.
6. Sunnis and Shi’ites agree to share power.
7. Iraqi leaders awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

Change partners and share what you talked about.

5. SENTENCE STARTERS: With your partner(s), agree on positive and optimistic endings for the following sentence starters:

1. Iraq is __________________________________________________________.
2. Iraq will _________________________________________________________.
3. Iraq shows _______________________________________________________.
4. Iraq awarded _____________________________________________________.
5. Iraq becomes _____________________________________________________.
6. Iraq signs ________________________________________________________.
7. Iraq tops ________________________________________________________.

6. CIVIL WAR: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with civil war. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Iraq is undergoing its bloodiest time since the fall of Saddam Hussein.	T / F
b.	A nationwide curfew has been imposed in Iraq.	T / F
c.	Sunni and Shi’ites have been demolishing each other’s mosques.	T / F
d.	Iraq’s Foreign Minister called for insurgents to be whipped.	T / F
e.	A spark set off a fire that destroyed an important mosque.	T / F
f.	The mosque contained the remains of Iraq War veterans.	T / F
g.	Over 60 mosques have been destroyed in the latest violence.	T / F
h.	A revered Shi’ite cleric has implored followers to refrain from violence.	T / F

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

a.	demise	sacred
b.	curb	retaliatory
c.	brink	lawlessness
d.	tit-for-tat	descending
e.	all out	beseeching
f.	spiraling	bridle
g.	anarchy	respected
h.	hallowed	downfall
i.	revered	total
j.	imploring	edge

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

a.	its bloodiest time since the	demolitions of mosques
b.	A curfew has been	spill over into all out civil war
c.	recent sectarian violence may tip	most hallowed shrines to rubble
d.	Recent tit-for-tat	the country over the brink
e.	whip up hatred that could easily	of reprisal attacks
f.	spiraling many parts of Iraq	demise of Saddam Hussein
g.	reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s	left over 100 people dead
h.	waves	his followers’ fury
i.	the ensuing violence	into a state of near anarchy
j.	tried to quell	imposed in Baghdad

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two years

Iraq is experiencing its bloodiest time since the ________ of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew has been ________ in Baghdad and three adjacent provinces in an attempt to ________ the outbreak of a possible civil war. Tensions are running explosively high and fears are that recent sectarian violence may ________ the country over the brink. Recent ________ demolitions of mosques by both Sunni and Shi’ite factions have brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many ________ for revenge against attacks on their populations and places of worship. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and warned insurgents against trying to ________ up hatred that could easily ________ over into all out civil war. He called it “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”.		tip spill demise vowing curb whip imposed tit-for-tat
The spark which ignited the latest unrest, ________ many parts of Iraq into a state of near ________, was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two imams who were ________ of the Prophet Muhammad. The influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the ________ and called for revenge. Within hours of the blast, which almost reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s most ________ shrines to rubble, waves of reprisal attacks began across Iraq. Angered Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the ________ violence left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most ________ Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has tried to quell his followers’ fury by ________ them not to attack Sunni mosques.		outrage imploring anarchy hallowed revered descendants spiraling ensuing

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two years

Iraq is experiencing its __________ time since the demise of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew has been imposed in Baghdad and three __________ provinces in an attempt to curb the outbreak of a possible civil war. Tensions are running explosively high and fears are that recent __________ violence may tip the country over the brink. Recent __________ demolitions of mosques by both Sunni and Shi’ite factions have brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many __________ for revenge against attacks on their populations and places of worship. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and warned insurgents against trying to __________ hatred that could easily spill over into all out civil war. He called it “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”.

The spark which __________ the latest unrest, spiraling many parts of Iraq into a state of near anarchy, was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two imams who were __________ of the Prophet Muhammad. The influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the outrage and called for revenge. Within hours of the __________, which almost reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s most hallowed shrines to rubble, waves of __________ attacks began across Iraq. Angered Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the __________ violence left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has tried to __________ his followers’ fury by imploring them not to attack Sunni mosques.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 activity. 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 “IRAQ” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Iraq.

• 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:

demise curb tip revenge whip challenge

spark state blamed waves violence fury

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. Do you follow news of Iraq regularly?
3. Are you surprised by the recent events in Iraq?
4. What do you think the consequences would be of civil war in Iraq?
5. What do you think U.S. and coalition forces would do if civil war broke out?
6. When do you see peace returning to Iraq?
7. Do you think the conflict in Iraq has the potential to spread to a wider regional strife?
8. What do you think is necessary to bring all the sides together and live peacefully?
9. Do you think coalition forces withdrawing from Iraq would help matters or make things worse?
10. Has your country ever experienced civil war?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Where do you think Iraq will be ten years from now?
4. What do you think would be happening in Iraq if the US-led coalition had never invaded and toppled Saddam Hussein?
5. Do you think there is a need for greater intervention from U.S. or other international forces to keep the peace?
6. What do you think would be the consequences of all out civil war in Iraq?
7. How would you feel if someone destroyed one of your most important cultural or religious assets?
8. Do you think anyone in Iraq has the power or influence to bring calm to Iraq?
9. Are you optimistic or pessimistic regarding Iraq’s future?
10. Did you like this discussion?

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

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

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 about the latest events in Iraq. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. PLACE OF WORSHIP: Make a poster about an important place of worship in your religion or culture. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone find out similar things?

4. IRAQ: Write an essay about Iraq. Decide whether you want to focus on the people, culture, political situation or future.  Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. T

d. F

e. F

f. F

g. T

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	demise	downfall
b.	curb	bridle
c.	brink	edge
d.	tit-for-tat	retaliatory
e.	all out	total
f.	spiraling	descending
g.	anarchy	lawlessness
h.	hallowed	sacred
i.	revered	respected
j.	imploring	beseeching

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	its bloodiest time since the	demise of Saddam Hussein
b.	A curfew has been	imposed in Baghdad
c.	recent sectarian violence may tip	the country over the brink
d.	Recent tit-for-tat	demolitions of mosques
e.	whip up hatred that could easily	spill over into all out civil war
f.	spiraling many parts of Iraq	into a state of near anarchy
g.	reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s	most hallowed shrines to rubble
h.	waves	of reprisal attacks
i.	the ensuing violence	left over 100 people dead
j.	tried to quell	his followers’ fury

GAP FILL:

Iraq undergoes biggest unrest in two years

Iraq is experiencing its bloodiest time since the demise of Saddam Hussein two years ago. A curfew has been imposed in Baghdad and three adjacent provinces in an attempt to curb the outbreak of a possible civil war. Tensions are running explosively high and fears are that recent sectarian violence may tip the country over the brink. Recent tit-for-tat demolitions of mosques by both Sunni and Shi’ite factions have brought tens of thousands of protestors onto the streets, many vowing for revenge against attacks on their populations and places of worship. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has called for calm and warned insurgents against trying to whip up hatred that could easily spill over into all out civil war. He called it “the most serious challenge to the county's stability”.

The spark which ignited the latest unrest, spiraling many parts of Iraq into a state of near anarchy, was the destruction of the Golden Mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The mosque contains the remains of two imams who were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, blamed Sunni Muslims for the outrage and called for revenge. Within hours of the blast, which almost reduced one of Shi’ite Islam’s most hallowed shrines to rubble, waves of reprisal attacks began across Iraq. Angered Shi’ites attacked at least 60 Sunni mosques and the ensuing violence left over 100 people dead. Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has tried to quell his followers’ fury by imploring them not to attack Sunni mosques.

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