Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. He was on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was arrested in June 2001 after a gunfight in Belgrade. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first broke the news of his death. The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations….The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer, [who] confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

First reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from natural causes and not suicide. However, the court immediately said there would be a full inquiry into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from many health problems that repeatedly stopped his trial. Mr. Milosevic represented himself at the trial. He tried on many occasions to call ex-US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak in his defence. He played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.

WARM-UPS

1. SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Walk around the class finding as much information as you can on Slobodan Milosevic. After you have finished, sit with your partner(s) and share your information. What things surprised you most?

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

Yugoslavia / prison cells / trials / war crimes / gunfights / radio stations / guards / natural causes / health problems / Bill Clinton / Bosnia / Kosovo / ethnic cleansing

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

3. HEADLINE PREDICTION: With your partner(s), use all of the words in the “Chat” activity above to predict what the news article will be about. Once you have your story, change partners and compare your different versions. Who was closest to the real story?

4. ETHNIC CLEANSING: A search on Google for “ethnic cleansing” produced the following “examples”. In pairs / groups, discuss what you know of and think about these and their inclusion on this list.

Bosnia Rwanda Cambodia Iraq

Kosovo Palestine East Timor Tibet

5. WAR CRIMES OPINIONS: Do you agree with the following opinions about war crimes? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. International courts of justice will never stop people committing war crimes.
2. War crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing will always happen.
3. My country has no history of ethnic cleansing.
4. The former colonial powers are the biggest ethnic cleansers.
5. People in the Balkans will now live in peace, side by side.
6. All children should be taught special lessons on the horror of ethnic cleansing.
7. Suspected war criminals should be tried in super-fast trials.
8. It is impossible for the leader of a democracy to commit ethnic cleansing.

6. PRISON: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “prison”. 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.	Slobodan Milosevic was a former ruler of Czechoslovakia.	T / F
b.	Mr. Milosevic quietly surrendered to UN officials in June 2001.	T / F
c.	CNN was the first to report the news of Mr. Milosevic’s death.	T / F
d.	It is likely that Mr. Milosevic died in his sleep.	T / F
e.	It does not appear that Mr. Milosevic took his own life.	T / F
f.	Mr. Milosevic’s had been very fit and in the best of health.	T / F
g.	Bill Clinton and Tony Blair spoke at Mr. Milosevic’s trial.	T / F
h.	Mr. Milosevic had little to do with the Balkan wars of the 1990’s.	T / F

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

a.	former	told
b.	arrested	investigation
c.	lifeless	in charge
d.	alerted	captured
e.	in command	genocide
f.	first	prisoner
g.	inquiry	ex
h.	detainee	initial
i.	occasions	dead
j.	ethnic cleansing	times

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

a.	the former	on his bed
b.	He was on trial	the news of his death
c.	He was arrested in June 2001	suffered from many health problems
d.	Radio station B92 first broke	for crimes against humanity
e.	Milosevic was found lifeless	would be a full inquiry
f.	Mr. Milosevic died from natural	many from ethnic cleansing
g.	the court immediately said there	leader of Yugoslavia
h.	The 65-year-old detainee had	role in the wars
i.	He played a central	after a gunfight in Belgrade
j.	200,000 people died –	causes and not suicide

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Slobodan Milosevic, the ________ leader of Yugoslavia, died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. He was on trial for ________ against humanity and war crimes. He was ________ in June 2001 after a gunfight in Belgrade. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first ________ the news of his death. The Hague later ________ that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found ________ on his bed in his cell at the United Nations….The guard immediately ________ the detention unit officer in ________ and the medical officer, [who] confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”		confirmed crimes alerted broke former lifeless command arrested
First reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from ________ causes and not suicide. However, the court immediately said there would be a ________ inquiry into the death. The 65-year-old ________ had suffered from many health problems that ________ stopped his trial. Mr. Milosevic represented himself at the trial. He tried on many ________ to call ex-US President Bill Clinton and ________ British Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak in his ________. He played a central ________ in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.		defence detainee serving natural occasions role full repeatedly

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Slobodan Milosevic, the ________ leader of Yugoslavia, died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. He was on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was arrested in June 2001 after a ________ in Belgrade. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first ________ the news of his death. The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found ________ on his bed in his cell at the United Nations….The guard immediately ________ the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer, [who] ________ that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

First reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from ________ causes and not suicide. However, the court immediately said there would be a full ________ into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had ________ from many health problems that repeatedly stopped his trial. Mr. Milosevic represented himself at the trial. He tried on many ________ to call ex-US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak in his ________. He played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ________ cleansing.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 “SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Slobodan Milosevic and the Balkan Wars.

• 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:

former June 2001 broke confirmed lifeless alerted

natural full repeatedly occasions serving central

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you know about Slobodan Milosevic?
3. What did you think when you saw him on TV in court?
4. What do you know about the Balkan Wars of the 1990’s?
5. Do you think Slobodan Milosevic would have been found guilty?
6. Why was Mr. Milosevic’s trial so important?
7. Which other leaders or ex-leaders do you think should be put on trial for crimes against humanity?
8. Do you think Mr. Milosevic’s death will change life in the former Yugoslavia?
9. What will happen to Mr. Milosevic’s trial now he has died?
10. How do you think history will remember Mr. Milosevic?

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. What do you know about Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo?
4. Do you think the Balkans will remain peaceful?
5. Do you think the international community does enough to bring war criminals to justice or stop ethnic cleansing?
6. In which areas of the world is ethnic cleansing taking place today?
7. Why do you think Mr. Milosevic wanted Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to speak in his defence??
8. What questions would you like to have asked Mr. Milosevic?
9. How do you think he would have answered?
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 Slobodan Milosevic. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. BALKAN WARS: Make a poster about the Balkan Wars of the 1990’s. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Which poster(s) did you learn most from?

4. ETHNIC CLEANSING Write an essay about an instance of ethnic cleansing? What happened to the people who ordered the killing? Has the country recovered? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. F

d. T

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	former	ex
b.	arrested	captured
c.	lifeless	dead
d.	alerted	told
e.	in command	in charge
f.	first	initial
g.	inquiry	investigation
h.	detainee	prisoner
i.	occasions	times
j.	ethnic cleansing	genocide

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	the former	leader of Yugoslavia
b.	He was on trial	for crimes against humanity
c.	He was arrested in June 2001	after a gunfight in Belgrade
d.	Radio station B92 first broke	the news of his death
e.	Milosevic was found lifeless	on his bed
f.	Mr. Milosevic died from natural	causes and not suicide
g.	the court immediately said there	would be a full inquiry
h.	The 65-year-old detainee had	suffered from many health problems
i.	He played a central	role in the wars
j.	200,000 people died –	many from ethnic cleansing

GAP FILL:

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. He was on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was arrested in June 2001 after a gunfight in Belgrade. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first broke the news of his death. The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations….The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer, [who] confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

First reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from natural causes and not suicide. However, the court immediately said there would be a full inquiry into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from many health problems that repeatedly stopped his trial. Mr. Milosevic represented himself at the trial. He tried on many occasions to call ex-US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak in his defence. He played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.

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