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Date: Jan 13, 2008
THE ARTICLEDivided-at-birth twins marry each otherA twin brother and sister who were separated at birth and later married each other without knowing they were siblings have had their marriage ended. The British courts decided the marriage was invalid because of their strong blood relationship. This tragic and unfortunate case happened because the pair were adopted by different sets of parents and their birth certificates did not identify their biological parents. Britain’s Lord Alton immediately used the story to push for a law that allows children conceived via donor insemination to be told about the method of their conception. It is not thought, however, that the British brother and sister were conceived through a donor. Their identities and details of their relationship and marriage, including how long they were married, have been kept secret.
Lord Alton is pressing for a change in the law to make more information about parents available on birth certificates. He says people also have a right to know how they were conceived: "The state is colluding in a deception. We are opening the door to more cases like this one. One of the most fundamental things of all is to know who you are. The issue here is about human rights. A birth certificate that omits any mention of your true origin falsifies your history in a very significant way," he said. He lamented the situation of the brother and sister whose marriage ended in such sadness, saying: "[They] met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation." WARM-UPS1. TWINS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about twins (or triplets, quadruplets, etc.) 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.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. TWINS: Talk with your partner(s) about how similar or dissimilar you think twins might be. Use the items below in your conversations. Change partners and share your ideas with others.
4. BIRTH CERTIFICATE: Talk with your partner(s) about which of the information below should be on a birth certificate. Change partners and share your ideas with others.
5. BIRTH: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘birth’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 6. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Student A strongly believes adopted children should be allowed to know everything about their conception, birth and parentage; Student B strongly believes otherwise. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations. 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.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.A twin brother and sister who were ____________________ and later married each other without knowing ____________________ have had their marriage ended. The British courts decided the marriage was invalid because of their strong blood relationship. This ____________________ case happened because the pair were adopted by different sets of parents and their birth certificates ____________________ biological parents. Britain’s Lord Alton immediately used the story to push for a law that allows children ____________________ insemination to be told about the method of their conception. It is not thought, however, that the British brother and sister were conceived ____________________. Their identities and details of their relationship and marriage, including how long they were married, have been kept secret. Lord Alton is ____________________ in the law to make more information about parents available on birth certificates. He says people also have a right to know ____________________: "The state is ____________________. We are opening the door to more cases like this one. One of the most fundamental things of all is to know who you are. The issue here is about human rights. A birth certificate ____________________ of your true origin ____________________ in a very significant way," he said. He lamented the situation of the brother and sister whose marriage ended in such sadness, saying: "[They] met later in life and felt ____________________, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered ____________________ their separation." AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘brother’ and ‘sister’.
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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
STUDENT ADOPTED CHILDREN SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about adopted children 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.
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
-------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGECORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article. A (1) ____ brother and sister who were separated at birth and later married each other without knowing they were siblings have had their marriage ended. The British courts decided the marriage was (2) ____ because of their strong blood relationship. This (3) ____ and unfortunate case happened because the pair were (4) ____ by different sets of parents and their birth certificates did not identify their biological parents. Britain’s Lord Alton immediately used the story to (5) ____ for a law that allows children conceived via donor insemination to be told about the method of their conception. It is not thought, however, that the British brother and sister were conceived through a donor. Their identities and details of their relationship and marriage, including how long they were married, have been kept (6) ____. Lord Alton is (7) ____ for a change in the law to make more information about parents available (8) ____ birth certificates. He says people also have a right to know how they were conceived: "The state is colluding (9) ____ a deception. We are opening the door to more cases like this one. One of the most fundamental things of all is to know who you are. The issue here is about human rights. A birth certificate that (10) ____ any mention of your true origin (11) ____ your history in a very significant way," he said. He lamented the situation of the brother and sister whose marriage ended in such sadness, saying: "[They] met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered (12) ____ and all the issues of their separation."
WRITING:Write about twins for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 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 different adoption methods around the world. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. BIRTH CERTIFICATE: Make your own example “21st Century birth certificate”. State what information should be on it and why. Show your certificate to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. TWINS: Write a magazine article about the lives of twins. Include (imaginary) interviews with twins. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions. 5. LETTER: Write a letter to the British government. Ask them three questions about their policy on information regarding adoption. Give them three suggestions on what they should do to avoid future cases of siblings mistakenly marrying. 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: Divided-at-birth twins marry each otherA twin brother and sister who were separated at birth and later married each other without knowing they were siblings have had their marriage ended. The British courts decided the marriage was invalid because of their strong blood relationship. This tragic and unfortunate case happened because the pair were adopted by different sets of parents and their birth certificates did not identify their biological parents. Britain’s Lord Alton immediately used the story to push for a law that allows children conceived via donor insemination to be told about the method of their conception. It is not thought, however, that the British brother and sister were conceived through a donor. Their identities and details of their relationship and marriage, including how long they were married, have been kept secret. Lord Alton is pressing for a change in the law to make more information about parents available on birth certificates. He says people also have a right to know how they were conceived: "The state is colluding in a deception. We are opening the door to more cases like this one. One of the most fundamental things of all is to know who you are. The issue here is about human rights. A birth certificate that omits any mention of your true origin falsifies your history in a very significant way," he said. He lamented the situation of the brother and sister whose marriage ended in such sadness, saying: "[They] met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation." LANGUAGE WORK
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