Breaking News English

Date: Mar 6, 2007
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WARM-UPS

1. I’M A SQUATTER: You are a squatter. Walk around the classroom and talk to your fellow “squatters” about your life. Why did you become a squatter? What do you worry about? What are your ambitions?

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

youth centres / riots / demolition / hearts and minds / squatters / sympathy / tolerance / ruin / total wrecks / anti-terror police / missiles / armoured vehicles

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

3. SQUATS: Where is the best place to live as a squat? With your partner(s), talk about these places. Think of three good things and three bad things about each:

an old theatre a disused railway station an abandoned lighthouse a derelict castle

a former prison an ocean liner that has run aground a disused museum an abandoned church

4. PREDICTION: Use these words and phrases from the article to make your own story. Change partners and stories.

• at the heart of nights of street riots
• divided Danish hearts and minds
• plastered in graffiti
• “a symbol of my city’s tolerance”
• slipped into ruin
• the building “was a total wreck
• missiles raining down on outnumbered police
• quell the violence and maintain order

5. OPINIONS: What do you think these people might think of the riots. Agree on their opinions with your partner. Change partners and share your opinions.

a squatter a police officer a very old person

a child someone who lives near the squat you

6. DENMARK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Denmark. 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.	Riots took place inside a youth centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.	T / F
b.	The riots have unified Danish hearts and minds.	T / F
c.	The squat provided a place to live for several dozen youngsters.	T / F
d.	A citizen said the squat was a symbol of his city’s tolerance.	T / F
e.	Developers have plans to turn the squat into a theater.	T / F
f.	A Christian group bought the building that housed the squat.	T / F
g.	It was obvious riots would have broken out following the evictions.	T / F
h.	Denmark had to borrow armoured vehicles from Sweden.	T / F

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

a.	heart	covered
b.	tore down	predicted
c.	intensity	put an end to
d.	plastered	strength
e.	condoned	demolished
f.	ruin	expand on
g.	elaborate	broke out
h.	foreseen	centre
i.	erupted	approved of
j.	quell	decay

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

a.	at the heart of	character to the area
b.	the building that has divided Danish	elaborate on what these plans were
c.	Such is the intensity	into ruin
d.	anarchists	hearts and minds
e.	the building added	raining down on outnumbered police
f.	it slipped	of feeling
g.	declined to	the violence and maintain order
h.	She could not have	nights of street riots
i.	missiles	foreseen the violence
j.	quell	and left wing groups

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Danish authorities demolish youth squat
 

The Copenhagen youth centre that has been at the ________ of nights of street riots has been demolished. Demolition crews tore down the building that has ________ Danish hearts and minds. Such is the ________ of feeling in Copenhagen, demolition crews had to wear face masks to ________ their identities as they set about bringing down what had been home to hundreds of young squatters. The squat, plastered in graffiti, had served for years as a ________ point for peace activists, anarchists and left wing groups. The squatters ________ it as free public housing and many Copenhagen residents condoned the building being used as such. Many citizens have expressed ________ for the squatters and believe the building added character to the area. Bus driver Magnus Johansen said it was “a symbol of my city’s ________”.		conceal considered divided tolerance heart focal sympathy intensity
The building used to be a theater before it ________ into ruin and was taken over by different ________ of the city’s youth. However, it was sold to a Christian group in 2001 and they had other plans for the site. A group spokesperson, Ruth Evensen, declined to ________ on these plans were but said the building “was a total ________”, hence the demolition. She could not have foreseen the violence that resulted from anti-terror police ________ the squatters, triggering the worst rioting Denmark has seen in years. Clashes ________ between youths and riot police, making parts of the city resemble a battle zone, with cars on fire and missiles ________ down on outnumbered police. Danish authorities called in reinforcements and borrowed armoured vehicles from neighbouring Sweden to quell the violence and ________ order.		erupted elements maintain evicting slipped wreck raining elaborate

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Danish authorities demolish youth squat

The Copenhagen youth centre that has been at ___________________ of street riots has been demolished. Demolition ___________________ the building that has divided Danish hearts and minds. Such is the intensity of feeling in Copenhagen, demolition crews had to wear face masks to ___________________ as they set about bringing down what had been home to hundreds of young squatters. The squat, ___________________, had served for years as a focal point for peace activists, anarchists and left wing groups. The squatters considered it as free public housing and many Copenhagen ___________________ being used as such. Many citizens have expressed sympathy for the squatters and believe the building added ___________________. Bus driver Magnus Johansen said it was “a symbol of my city’s tolerance”.

The building used to be a theater before ___________________ and was taken over by different elements of the city’s youth. However, it was sold to a Christian group in 2001 and they had other plans for the site. A group spokesperson, Ruth Evensen, ___________________ these plans were but said the building “was a total wreck”, ___________________. She could not have foreseen the violence that resulted from anti-terror police evicting the squatters, ___________________ Denmark has seen in years. Clashes erupted between youths and riot police, making parts of the city resemble a battle zone, with cars on fire and ___________________ outnumbered police. Danish authorities called in reinforcements and borrowed armoured vehicles from neighbouring Sweden to ___________________ and maintain order.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 “SQUATTERS” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about squatters, anarchists, peace activists, etc.

• 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:

heart tore masks plastered condoned symbol

slipped declined foreseen triggering zone quell

DISCUSSION

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

1. What did you think when you read the headline?
2. What do you think of the Danish authorities’ actions?
3. Have street riots ever taken place in your town?
4. What would make you riot in the streets?
5. Do you think squatters are dangerous?
6. Do you think squatters should go to prison?
7. Do you agree with the bus driver who was proud of the squat being a symbol of Copenhagen’s tolerance?
8. Are there many squatters in your town?
9. Why do you think some young people like to live in squats?
10. Do you think “squatting” is a name city officials give to people who are really homeless?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think it would be like living in a squat with lots of young people?
3. Do you think the Christian group should have been Christian and left the squatters alone and in peace?
4. Why do you think so many people joined the riots to fight the police?
5. Do you think rioters are always bad people?
6. What would you say to your children if they became squatters and were arrested for rioting?
7. Do you think the authorities should have demolished the squat?
8. What do you think it’s like to be a police officer in the riots?
9. What question would you like to ask the squatters?
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?

LANGUAGE

CORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

Danish authorities demolish youth squat

The Copenhagen youth centre that has been at the (1) ____ of nights of street riots has been demolished. Demolition crews (2) ____ down the building that has divided Danish hearts and minds. (3) ____ is the intensity of feeling in Copenhagen, demolition crews had to wear face masks to conceal their identities as they set about bringing down what had been home to hundreds of young squatters. The squat, (4) ____ in graffiti, had served for years as a focal point for peace activists, anarchists and left wing groups. The squatters considered it as free public housing and many Copenhagen residents condoned the building being used as (5) ____. Many citizens have expressed sympathy for the squatters and believe the building added
(6) ____ to the area. Bus driver Magnus Johansen said it was “a symbol of my city’s tolerance”.

The building used to be a theater before it (7) ____ into ruin and was taken over by different elements of the city’s (8) ____. However, it was sold to a Christian group in 2001 and they had other plans for the site. A group spokesperson, Ruth Evensen, declined to elaborate on these plans were but said the building “was a total wreck”, (9) ____ the demolition. She could not have foreseen the violence that resulted from anti-terror police evicting the squatters, (10) ____ the worst rioting Denmark has seen in years. Clashes erupted between youths and riot police, making parts of the city resemble a battle zone, with cars on fire and missiles (11) ____ down on outnumbered police. Danish authorities called in reinforcements and borrowed armoured vehicles from neighbouring Sweden to (12) ____ the violence and maintain order.

1.	(a)	heartless	(b)	hearty	(c)	heart	(d)	heartfelt
2.	(a)	tore	(b)	tear	(c)	torn	(d)	turn
3.	(a)	Many	(b)	So	(c)	Much	(d)	Such
4.	(a)	plasterer	(b)	plastered	(c)	plastering	(d)	plaster
5.	(a)	such	(b)	many	(c)	so	(d)	many
6.	(a)	characteristic	(b)	charters	(c)	character	(d)	characters
7.	(a)	slept	(b)	slipped	(c)	slopped	(d)	slapped
8.	(a)	youngster	(b)	youth	(c)	tots	(d)	youthful
9.	(a)	furthermore	(b)	moreover	(c)	regardless	(d)	hence
10.	(a)	triggers	(b)	trigger	(c)	triggering	(d)	triggered
11.	(a)	raining	(b)	straining	(c)	draining	(d)	training
12.	(a)	queue	(b)	queer	(c)	quell	(d)	quail

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 about the Danish riots. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MY CITY’S SYMBOLS POSTER: Make a poster about the symbols of your city. Show your poster to your class in the next lesson. Vote on the best one

4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about squatters and their lives. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Which article was best and why?

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the head of the authorities in Copenhagen. Tell him/her what you think of his/her decision to tear down the squat. Give him/her three pieces of advice. Ask him/her three questions. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	heart	centre
b.	tore down	demolished
c.	intensity	strength
d.	plastered	covered
e.	condoned	approved of
f.	ruin	decay
g.	elaborate	expand on
h.	foreseen	predicted
i.	erupted	broke out
j.	quell	put an end to

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	at the heart of	nights of street riots
b.	the building that has divided Danish	hearts and minds
c.	Such is the intensity	of feeling
d.	anarchists	and left wing groups
e.	the building added	character to the area
f.	it slipped	into ruin
g.	declined to	elaborate on what these plans were
h.	She could not have	foreseen the violence
i.	missiles	raining down on outnumbered police
j.	quell	the violence and maintain order

GAP FILL:

Danish authorities demolish youth squat

The Copenhagen youth centre that has been at the heart of nights of street riots has been demolished. Demolition crews tore down the building that has divided Danish hearts and minds. Such is the intensity of feeling in Copenhagen, demolition crews had to wear face masks to conceal their identities as they set about bringing down what had been home to hundreds of young squatters. The squat, plastered in graffiti, had served for years as a focal point for peace activists, anarchists and left wing groups. The squatters considered it as free public housing and many Copenhagen residents condoned the building being used as such. Many citizens have expressed sympathy for the squatters and believe the building added character to the area. Bus driver Magnus Johansen said it was “a symbol of my city’s tolerance”.

The building used to be a theater before it slipped into ruin and was taken over by different elements of the city’s youth. However, it was sold to a Christian group in 2001 and they had other plans for the site. A group spokesperson, Ruth Evensen, declined to elaborate on these plans were but said the building “was a total wreck”, hence the demolition. She could not have foreseen the violence that resulted from anti-terror police evicting the squatters, triggering the worst rioting Denmark has seen in years. Clashes erupted between youths and riot police, making parts of the city resemble a battle zone, with cars on fire and missiles raining down on outnumbered police. Danish authorities called in reinforcements and borrowed armoured vehicles from neighbouring Sweden to quell the violence and maintain order.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - c

2 - a

3 - d

4 -b

5 - a

6 -c

7 - b

8 -b

9 -d

10 - c

11 -a

12 - c

 

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