Breaking News English

Date: Nov 5, 2007
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WARM-UPS

1. CHARITIES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about charities. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you 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.

judges / capital cities / kidnapping / foster parents / rescues / orphans / street protests / embarrassment / being inhumane / silent marches / good news

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. ORPHANS: What is the best thing to do with orphans whose parents have been lost in wars? Rate these ideas in order from 1 (terrible solution) to 8 (fantastic solution). Change partners and explain your rating.

_____   place them with foster parents      _____   let them fend for themselves      _____   search for extended family members

_____   help them find work     _____   do nothing     _____   put them in orphanages

4. ORPHAN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘orphan’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think it’s better to put African orphans with foster parents in Europe. Students B think it’s better to put African orphans with foster parents in their own country. Debate this with your partners. Change partners often.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Aid workers in Chad are suspected of kidnapping 103 children.	T / F
b.	The head of a charity wanted to fly the children to Europe.	T / F
c.	The Red Cross believes the children are orphans from Darfur.	T / F
d.	The Chadian president wants to detain the workers indefinitely.	T / F
e.	France says it does not really care about this incident.	T / F
f.	Chad is a former colonial ruler of France.	T / F
g.	France’s foreign minister wants to protect the charity’s secrecy.	T / F
h.	French people sent hundreds of lowers to the capital of Chad.	T / F

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

1.	questioned	a.	protest
2	suspects	b.	put
3.	head	c.	ignited
4.	placed	d.	chief
5.	released	e.	ex
6.	sparked	f.	accused
7.	former	g.	look into
8.	inhumane	h.	set free
9.	investigate	i.	interrogated
10.	march	j.	cruel

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

1.	aid workers being charged with	a.	placed with foster parents
2	accused of trying to illegally	b.	embarrassment in France
3.	fly the children to Europe to be	c.	not even be orphans
4.	rescuing them	d.	anger in Chad
5.	the children are from Chad and may	e.	take the children
6.	The case has sparked	f.	identity on the ground
7.	The incident has also caused	g.	kidnapping 103 children
8.	We must try them in	h.	from the fighting in Sudan
9.	find out how this group could hide its	i.	of support
10.	a silent march in Marseille in a show	j.	court here in Chad

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Chad ‘kidnap’ suspects questioned
 

A judge in Chad's capital N'djamena has __________ 11 of the 21 aid workers being __________ with kidnapping 103 children from the country. The Spanish, French and Chadian __________ from the Zoe's Ark charity are accused of trying to illegally take the children out of Chad. Eric Breteau, the head of the __________, was one of the first to be questioned. He said that his organization __________ to fly the children to Europe to be placed with foster parents. The charity said the children were orphans from Darfur and it was __________ them from the fighting in Sudan. However, UN agencies and the Red Cross have said that most of the children are from Chad and may not __________ be orphans. Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, said he hoped the workers, journalists and Spanish flight __________ members from the group could be released soon.		even charity crew planned questioned charged suspects rescuing
The case has __________ anger in Chad, where there have been daily street __________ against the alleged kidnappers. The incident has also caused embarrassment in France, Chad's former __________ ruler. Firmin Sanda, a N'djamena resident said: "An act like this is inhumane. We cannot accept this. We must __________ them in court here in Chad." Meanwhile, France’s prime minister Francois Fillon has asked Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, to __________ the case. “It is important to find out how this group could hide its identity on the __________," he said. In France, some 100 people carrying flowers took part in a silent __________ in Marseille in a show of support for the Europeans. The Spanish government was hopeful of receiving "some good news" about the possible __________ of the charity’s airline staff.		release colonial protests ground try march sparked investigate

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Chad ‘kidnap’ suspects questioned

A judge in Chad's capital N'djamena has questioned _______________ aid workers being _______________ kidnapping 103 children from the country. The Spanish, French and Chadian suspects from the Zoe's Ark charity are accused _______________ illegally take the children out of Chad. Eric Breteau, the head of the charity, was _______________ to be questioned. He said that his organization planned to fly the children to Europe to be placed with _______________. The charity said the children were orphans from Darfur and it was _______________ the fighting in Sudan. However, UN agencies and the Red Cross have said that most of the children are from Chad and _______________ orphans. Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, said he hoped the workers, journalists and Spanish flight crew members from the group could _______________.

The case has _______________ Chad, where there have been daily street protests against the alleged kidnappers. The incident _______________ embarrassment in France, Chad's former colonial ruler. Firmin Sanda, a N'djamena resident said: "An act like _______________. We cannot accept this. We must _______________ court here in Chad." Meanwhile, France’s prime minister Francois Fillon has asked Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, to investigate the case. “It is important to find out how this group could _______________ on the ground," he said. In France, some 100 people carrying flowers took part in a silent march in Marseille _______________ support for the Europeans. The Spanish government was hopeful of receiving "some good news" about the possible release of the charity’s airline staff.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

spark

anger

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

charged illegally planned fighting even soon

sparked embarrassment inhumane investigate flowers news

STUDENT ORPHANS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about orphans in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What do you know about the alleged kidnapping of 103 children?
c)	How do you think the charity could try to get so many children out of the country without telling the Chadian authorities?
d)	Do you think it’s acceptable for a charity run by Europeans to move so many children to Europe and put them in foster care?
e)	Is it better for the children to stay in Africa?
f)	What should happen to the charity bosses if the children are neither orphans nor from Darfur, as they say they are?
g)	Why do you think Chad’s president is so hopeful the charity workers could be released soon?
h)	Do you think Western charity workers always know what they’re doing in Africa?
i)	Would you like to work for a charity in Africa?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you think Chadians think of this case?
c)	Do you think former colonial powers still believe they have control in the countries they once ruled?
d)	What do you think of the comments of the Chadian who said the incident was inhumane?
e)	What do you think the outcome of this story will be?
f)	Do you think the aid workers should be tried in Chad?
g)	Why do you think French people marched to support the aid workers?
h)	What questions would you like to ask Eric Breteau?
i)	Did you like this discussion?

LANGUAGE

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

Chad ‘kidnap’ suspects questioned

A judge in Chad's capital N'djamena has (1) ____ 11 of the 21 aid workers being charged with kidnapping 103 children from the country. The Spanish, French and Chadian (2) ____ from the Zoe's Ark charity are accused of trying to illegally take the children out of Chad. Eric Breteau, the head of the charity, was one of the (3) ____ to be questioned. He said that his organization planned to fly the children to Europe to be (4) ____ with foster parents. The charity said the children were orphans from Darfur and it was rescuing them (5) ____ the fighting in Sudan. However, UN agencies and the Red Cross have said that most of the children are from Chad and may not even be orphans. Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, said he hoped the workers, journalists and Spanish (6) ____ crew members from the group could be released soon.

The case has (7) ____ anger in Chad, where there have been daily street protests against the alleged kidnappers. The incident has also caused embarrassment in France, Chad's (8) ____ colonial ruler. Firmin Sanda, a N'djamena resident said: "An act like this is inhumane. We cannot accept this. We must (9) ____ them in court here in Chad." Meanwhile, France’s prime minister Francois Fillon has asked Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, to investigate the case. “It is important to find out how this group could hide its identity on the (10) ____," he said. In France, some 100 people carrying flowers took (11) ____ in a silent march in Marseille in a show of support for the Europeans. The Spanish government was hopeful
(12) ____ receiving "some good news" about the possible release of the charity’s airline staff.

1.	(a)	asked	(b)	questioned	(c)	ordered	(d)	spoke
2.	(a)	suspicious	(b)	suspicions	(c)	suspects	(d)	suspense
3.	(a)	first	(b)	firstly	(c)	first aid	(d)	firsts
4.	(a)	place	(b)	placid	(c)	placing	(d)	placed
5.	(a)	for	(b)	over	(c)	from	(d)	in
6.	(a)	flight	(b)	fright	(c)	flying	(d)	fly
7.	(a)	sparkled	(b)	spark	(c)	sparks	(d)	sparked
8.	(a)	farmer	(b)	former	(c)	firmer	(d)	foremost
9.	(a)	taste	(b)	attempt	(c)	sample	(d)	try
10.	(a)	earth	(b)	carpet	(c)	ground	(d)	floor
11.	(a)	party	(b)	part	(c)	parting	(d)	apart
12.	(a)	of	(b)	up	(c)	over	(d)	with

WRITING: 

Write about orphans for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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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 children at the centre of this case. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CHAD: Make a poster about Chad. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all include similar things?

4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about being an orphan. Include imaginary interviews with orphans and foster parents.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Eric Bateau. Ask him three questions about the children. Give him three pieces of advice on what he should do next. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. F

f. F

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	questioned	a.	interrogated
2	suspects	b.	accused
3.	head	c.	chief
4.	placed	d.	put
5.	released	e.	set free
6.	sparked	f.	ignited
7.	former	g.	ex
8.	inhumane	h.	cruel
9.	investigate	i.	look into
10.	march	j.	protest

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	aid workers being charged with	a.	kidnapping 103 children
2	accused of trying to illegally	b.	take the children
3.	fly the children to Europe to be	c.	placed with foster parents
4.	rescuing them	d.	from the fighting in Sudan
5.	the children are from Chad and may	e.	not even be orphans
6.	The case has sparked	f.	anger in Chad
7.	The incident has also caused	g.	embarrassment in France
8.	We must try them in	h.	court here in Chad
9.	find out how this group could hide its	i.	identity on the ground
10.	a silent march in Marseille in a show	j.	of support

GAP FILL:

Chad ‘kidnap’ suspects questioned

A judge in Chad's capital N'djamena has questioned 11 of the 21 aid workers being charged with kidnapping 103 children from the country. The Spanish, French and Chadian suspects from the Zoe's Ark charity are accused of trying to illegally take the children out of Chad. Eric Breteau, the head of the charity, was one of the first to be questioned. He said that his organization planned to fly the children to Europe to be placed with foster parents. The charity said the children were orphans from Darfur and it was rescuing them from the fighting in Sudan. However, UN agencies and the Red Cross have said that most of the children are from Chad and may not even be orphans. Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, said he hoped the workers, journalists and Spanish flight crew members from the group could be released soon.

The case has sparked anger in Chad, where there have been daily street protests against the alleged kidnappers. The incident has also caused embarrassment in France, Chad's former colonial ruler. Firmin Sanda, a N'djamena resident said: "An act like this is inhumane. We cannot accept this. We must try them in court here in Chad." Meanwhile, France’s prime minister Francois Fillon has asked Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, to investigate the case. “It is important to find out how this group could hide its identity on the ground," he said. In France, some 100 people carrying flowers took part in a silent march in Marseille in a show of support for the Europeans. The Spanish government was hopeful of receiving "some good news" about the possible release of the charity’s airline staff.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - b

2 - c

3 - a

4 - d

5 - c

6 - a

7 - d

8 -b

9 - d

10 - c

11 - b

12 - a

 

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