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Date: Mar 9, 2007
THE ARTICLEChina’s radical new property lawsThe Chinese government is set to introduce a highly controversial law designed to protect private property. The news is welcomed by China’s increasingly affluent middle class, but has sent ripples of disapproval among the majority of the country’s rural and urban poor. The proposed law shows how far China has moved away from its strictly communist agenda of the twentieth century. Beijing lawmakers sounded more like American attorneys on Thursday as they stated that legal safeguards were necessary to protect personal wealth. Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the national legislature stressed the importance of the new measures: “As the economy reforms and opens up, people's living standards have improved. They urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property, accumulated through their own enterprise and hard work.” There are many influential opponents of the bill who say it betrays China’s socialist principles. Professor Gong Xiantian from the Beijing University called it unconstitutional, on the grounds that it contravened the Chinese constitution, which stipulates: "Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable". He attacked the bill for being heavily biased in favour of a small minority of wealthy people. He said lawmakers had become victims of globalization and predicted the capitalist nature of the new laws would lead the country down a dangerous path. Greedy local officials have already seized thousands of houses and farmland from the poor, hoping to cash in on the new property boom. This has left an increasing number of dispossessed and discontented poor who might one day come back to haunt the property developers. WARM-UPS1. GOOGLE CHINA: Brainstorm different themes about China. Each group of students takes a theme. Alone, each student walks around the classroom and gathers information about their theme from other students (who are Google search engines). Students sit according to their theme and share their information. Students then break out and tell students in other groups what they found out. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently. 3. PRIVATE PROPERTY: With your partner(s), discuss the merits of buying the following kinds of property. Which three would you consider buying? Which three would you never consider buying?
4. MINI CHINA ROLE PLAYS: Walk around the classroom. When your teacher claps his/her hands, become one of the roles written on the board and greet a partner. Talk about the future of China, your country.
5. TWO-MINUTE DEBATES: Have these fun debates with your partners. Students A agree with the first argument; students B, the second. Change partners and topics every two minutes.
6. PROPERTY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with property. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENINGListen and fill in the spaces. The Chinese government _____________________ a highly controversial law designed to protect private property. The news is welcomed by China’s _____________________ middle class, but has sent _____________________ among the majority of the country’s rural and urban poor. The proposed law shows how far China has moved away from its _____________________ of the twentieth century. Beijing lawmakers sounded more like American attorneys on Thursday as they stated that legal safeguards were necessary to protect personal wealth. Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the _____________________ stressed the importance of the new measures: “As the economy reforms and opens up, people's living standards have improved. They urgently _____________________ of their own lawful property, accumulated through their own enterprise and hard work.” There are many _____________________ the bill who say it betrays China’s socialist principles. Professor Gong Xiantian from the Beijing University called it unconstitutional, _____________________ it contravened the Chinese constitution, which stipulates: "Socialist public property _____________________". He attacked the bill for being ________________________________ a small minority of wealthy people. He said lawmakers had become victims of globalization and predicted the capitalist nature of the new laws would lead the country down a dangerous path. Greedy local officials have already seized thousands of houses and farmland from the poor, _____________________ the new property boom. This has left an increasing number of dispossessed and discontented poor who might one day _____________________ the property developers. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘private’ and ‘property’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
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 “PRIVATE PROPERTY” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about home ownership.
6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.
SPEAKINGROLE PLAY: A discussion between different people affected by the new property laws. Team up with classmates who have the same role as you. Develop your roles and discuss ideas and “strategies” before the role play begins. Introduce yourself to the other role players. Discuss your roles after the role play ends.
LANGUAGECORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article. The Chinese government is (1) ____ to introduce a highly controversial law designed to protect private property. The news is (2) ____ by China’s increasingly affluent middle class, but has sent ripples of disapproval among the majority of the country’s rural and urban (3) ____. The proposed law shows how far China has moved away from its strictly communist agenda of the twentieth century. Beijing lawmakers sounded more like American attorneys on Thursday as they stated that legal (4) ____ were necessary to protect personal wealth. Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the national legislature stressed the importance of the new (5) ____: “As the economy reforms and opens up, people's living standards have improved. They urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property, accumulated through their own (6) ____ and hard work.” There are many influential opponents of the bill who say it (7) ____ China’s socialist principles. Professor Gong Xiantian from the Beijing University called it unconstitutional, on the (8) ____ that it contravened the Chinese constitution, which stipulates: "Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable". He attacked the bill for being heavily (9) ____ in favour of a small minority of wealthy people. He said lawmakers had become victims of globalization and predicted the capitalist nature of the new laws would lead the country down a dangerous path. (10) ____ local officials have already seized thousands of houses and farmland from the poor, hoping to cash in (11) ____ the new property boom. This has (12) ____ an increasing number of dispossessed and discontented poor who might one day come back to haunt the property developers.
HOMEWORK1. 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 new property laws in China and the discussions that surround them. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. CHINA POSTER: Make a poster showing different aspects of the changes taking place in China. Show your poster to your class in the next lesson. Vote on the best one(s). 4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about the impact of globalization on the average Chinese person. Is it good or bad? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Which article was best and why? 5. LETTER: You are a poor Chinese farmer. Write a letter to the authorities. Tell them what you think of the new property laws that protect rich people. Give them three warnings of what might happen to China in the future. Ask them three questions. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: China’s radical new property lawsThe Chinese government is set to introduce a highly controversial law designed to protect private property. The news is welcomed by China’s increasingly affluent middle class, but has sent ripples of disapproval among the majority of the country’s rural and urban poor. The proposed law shows how far China has moved away from its strictly communist agenda of the twentieth century. Beijing lawmakers sounded more like American attorneys on Thursday as they stated that legal safeguards were necessary to protect personal wealth. Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the national legislature stressed the importance of the new measures: “As the economy reforms and opens up, people's living standards have improved. They urgently require effective protection of their own lawful property, accumulated through their own enterprise and hard work.” There are many influential opponents of the bill who say it betrays China’s socialist principles. Professor Gong Xiantian from the Beijing University called it unconstitutional, on the grounds that it contravened the Chinese constitution, which stipulates: "Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable". He attacked the bill for being heavily biased in favour of a small minority of wealthy people. He said lawmakers had become victims of globalization and predicted the capitalist nature of the new laws would lead the country down a dangerous path. Greedy local officials have already seized thousands of houses and farmland from the poor, hoping to cash in on the new property boom. This has left an increasing number of dispossessed and discontented poor who might one day come back to haunt the property developers. LANGUAGE WORK
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