Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Forgotten Australians

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to half a million citizens on November the 16th. The 500,000 people are the so-called “Forgotten Australians”. These are children who found themselves in Australian orphanages between 1930 and 1970. Included in them were 7,000 child migrants from Britain. Institutions changed the children’s names and told them their parents were dead. This erased their personal history and created a loss of identity. There are thousands of stories of how the children suffered abuse, sexual assault, poor health care and poor education. Children were told they were bad and worthless. They grew up without any kind of love, which makes it difficult for them to form relationships today.

Mr. Rudd said his country "looked back in shame" that so many children were assaulted, abused and neglected. He apologized for their decades of pain. Rudd added that the “Forgotten Australians” were now the “Remembered Australians”. Frank Golding, who spent ten years growing up in care homes, applauded Mr. Rudd. He said the apology was a “powerful thing” for those who grew up frightened and alone. Australia’s Human Rights Commission agreed that the Prime Minister’s words were healing. Spokeswoman Cathy Branson said: “Saying sorry on behalf of the nation will assist many individuals and their families to look to the future, and to put behind them this dark chapter in Australia's history.”

WARM-UPS

1. APOLOGIES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about apologies. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

Australians / apologizing / forgotten / orphanages / identity / abuse / being worthless / shame / pain / powerful things / being alone / healing words / the future / history

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

3. MY APOLOGIES: When was the last time you apologized to the people in this table? Tell you partner what you wrote. Change partners and share what you heard.

Apology to…	When?	About what?	How was it accepted?
my best friend
a partner
a parent
a stranger
a shop assistant
a teacher

4. SORRY: Students A strongly believe saying sorry always makes things better; Students B strongly believe sorry is just a word that really rarely helps. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. PERSONAL HISTORY: Which of these things are most important to you about your personal history? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners and share your ratings again.

photos
childhood friends
music
books

collections from hobbies
cuddly toys
diaries
awards, certificates & prizes

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Australia’s prime minister apologized to people who forget things.	T / F
b.	Half a million children migrated from Britain between 1930-1970.	T / F
c.	Thousands of children had a really hard time growing up.	T / F
d.	The ‘Forgotten Australians’ find it easier to form relationships today.	T / F
e.	The Australian PM said Australia was ashamed of its past actions.	T / F
f.	The ‘Forgotten Australians’ now have a new name.	T / F
g.	An Australian human rights spokesperson said the apology didn’t help.	T / F
h.	The spokesperson said the issue was a dark novel in Australia’s history.	T / F

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

1.	apologized	a.	removed
2	citizens	b.	shady
3.	erased	c.	cruelty
4.	abuse	d.	soothing
5.	form	e.	said sorry
6.	shame	f.	congratulated
7.	applauded	g.	help
8.	healing	h.	make
9.	assist	i.	residents
10.	dark	j.	disgrace

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	Rudd apologized to half	a.	history
2	This erased their personal	b.	“powerful thing”
3.	created a loss	c.	relationships
4.	They grew up without	d.	in Australia's history
5.	difficult for them to form	e.	the future
6.	his country looked	f.	any kind of love
7.	the apology was a	g.	behalf of the nation
8.	Saying sorry on	h.	a million citizens
9.	look to	i.	of identity
10.	put behind them this dark chapter	j.	back in shame

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to ____________ a million citizens on November the 16th. The 500,000 people are the so-____________ “Forgotten Australians”. These are children who ____________ themselves in Australian orphanages between 1930 and 1970. Included in them were 7,000 ____________ migrants from Britain. Institutions changed the children’s names and told them their parents were dead. This erased their personal ____________ and created a ____________ of identity. There are thousands of stories of how the children suffered abuse, sexual assault, poor health care and poor education. Children were told they were bad and ____________. They grew up without any kind of love, which makes it difficult for them to ____________ relationships today.

worthless
history
found
form
half
child
called
loss

Mr. Rudd said his country "looked back in ____________ " that so many children were assaulted, ____________ and neglected. He apologized for their ____________ of pain. Rudd added that the “Forgotten Australians” were now the “Remembered Australians”. Frank Golding, who spent ten years growing up in care homes, applauded Mr. Rudd. He said the apology was a “powerful ____________” for those who grew up frightened and ____________. Australia’s Human Rights Commission agreed that the Prime Minister’s words were ____________. Spokeswoman Cathy Branson said: “Saying sorry on ____________ of the nation will assist many individuals and their families to look to the future, and to put behind them this ____________ chapter in Australia's history.”

alone
decades
dark
thing
shame
healing
abused
behalf

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized _________________ citizens on November the 16th. The 500,000 people _________________ “Forgotten Australians”. These are children who found themselves in Australian orphanages between 1930 and 1970. _________________ were 7,000 child migrants from Britain. Institutions changed the children’s names and told them their parents were dead. This _________________ history and _________________ identity. There are thousands of stories of how the children suffered abuse, sexual assault, poor health care and poor education. Children were told they were _________________. They grew up without any kind of love, which makes it difficult _________________ relationships today.

Mr. Rudd said his country "looked _________________" that so many children were assaulted, abused and neglected. He _________________ _________________. Rudd added that the “Forgotten Australians” were now the “Remembered Australians”. Frank Golding, _________________ growing up in care homes, applauded Mr. Rudd. He said the apology was a “powerful thing” _________________ up frightened and alone. Australia’s Human Rights Commission agreed that the Prime Minister’s words were healing. Spokeswoman Cathy Branson said: “Saying _________________ the nation will assist many individuals and their families to look to the future, and to put behind them _________________ Australia's history.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

half

million

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 how they were used in the text:

half
called
7,000
loss
care
form

looked
added
spent
grew
behalf
dark

STUDENT APOLOGIES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about apologies 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.

FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Australia’?
c)	What do you think of the news in this article?
d)	What three adjectives would you use to describe this news and why?
e)	Why do you think this happened?
f)	Why do you think it took so long for an Australian leader to apologize?
g)	How would you feel if your personal history was erased?
h)	Why do you think children were told they were bad and worthless?
i)	What kind of environment did you grow up in?
j)	Should the victims of this story receive compensation? How much?

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

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What shameful things has your country done?
c)	When was the last time you apologized to someone? Why?
d)	How you think the apology will help the Forgotten Australians?
e)	How can the world stop this kind of thing happening?
f)	What parts of your society need healing?
g)	How do you feel after someone apologizes to you?
h)	Has there been a dark chapter in your life?
i)	What is the darkest chapter in your country’s history?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Kevin Rudd?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized (1) ____ half a million citizens on November the 16th. The 500,000 people are the (2) ____ -called “Forgotten Australians”. These are children who found themselves in Australian orphanages between 1930 and 1970. Included in them were 7,000 child (3) ____ from Britain. Institutions changed the children’s names and told them their parents were (4) ____. This erased their personal history and created a (5) ____ of identity. There are thousands of stories of how the children suffered abuse, sexual assault, poor health care and poor education. Children were told they were bad and worthless. They grew up without any kind of love, which makes it difficult for them to (6) ____ relationships today.

Mr. Rudd said his country "looked (7) ____ in shame" that so many children were assaulted, abused and neglected. He apologized for their decades of pain. Rudd added that the “Forgotten Australians” were (8) ____ the “Remembered Australians”. Frank Golding, who spent ten years growing up in (9) ____ homes, applauded Mr. Rudd. He said the apology was a “powerful thing” for those who grew up frightened and alone. Australia’s Human Rights Commission agreed (10) ____ the Prime Minister’s words were healing. Spokeswoman Cathy Branson said: “Saying sorry on (11) ____ of the nation will assist many individuals and their families to look to the future, and to put behind them this dark (12) ____ in Australia's history.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	at	(b)	on	(c)	of	(d)	to
2.	(a)	so	(b)	as	(c)	see	(d)	saw
3.	(a)	migration	(b)	migrants	(c)	emigrate	(d)	immigration
4.	(a)	died	(b)	death	(c)	dead	(d)	dies
5.	(a)	lost	(b)	losing	(c)	loss	(d)	loser
6.	(a)	firm	(b)	form	(c)	farm	(d)	from
7.	(a)	passed	(b)	before	(c)	previous	(d)	back
8.	(a)	now	(b)	known	(c)	knowing	(d)	knew
9.	(a)	careless	(b)	care	(c)	cared	(d)	careful
10.	(a)	who	(b)	this	(c)	these	(d)	that
11.	(a)	half	(b)	halves	(c)	behalf	(d)	halved
12.	(a)	chapter	(b)	sentence	(c)	contents	(d)	novel

WRITING

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

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 out more about this story. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. DARK HISTORY: Make a poster about the darker history of your country. What do people think about it now? Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. FORGOTTEN: Write a magazine article about the Forgotten Australians. Include imaginary interviews with an orphan and the person whose idea it was to put children in care homes.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Kevin Rudd. Ask him three questions about the Forgotten Australians. Give him three suggestions on how Australia could say sorry with actions. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	apologized	a.	said sorry
2	citizens	b.	residents
3.	erased	c.	removed
4.	abuse	d.	cruelty
5.	form	e.	make
6.	shame	f.	disgrace
7.	applauded	g.	congratulated
8.	healing	h.	soothing
9.	assist	i.	help
10.	dark	j.	shady

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	Rudd apologized to half	a.	a million citizens
2	This erased their personal	b.	history
3.	created a loss	c.	of identity
4.	They grew up without	d.	any kind of love
5.	difficult for them to form	e.	relationships
6.	his country looked	f.	back in shame
7.	the apology was a	g.	“powerful thing”
8.	Saying sorry on	h.	behalf of the nation
9.	look to	i.	the future
10.	put behind them this dark chapter	j.	in Australia's history

GAP FILL:

Apology for the ‘Forgotten Australians’

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to half a million citizens on November the 16th. The 500,000 people are the so-called “Forgotten Australians”. These are children who found themselves in Australian orphanages between 1930 and 1970. Included in them were 7,000 child migrants from Britain. Institutions changed the children’s names and told them their parents were dead. This erased their personal history and created a loss of identity. There are thousands of stories of how the children suffered abuse, sexual assault, poor health care and poor education. Children were told they were bad and worthless. They grew up without any kind of love, which makes it difficult for them to form relationships today.

Mr. Rudd said his country "looked back in shame" that so many children were assaulted, abused and neglected. He apologized for their decades of pain. Rudd added that the “Forgotten Australians” were now the “Remembered Australians”. Frank Golding, who spent ten years growing up in care homes, applauded Mr. Rudd. He said the apology was a “powerful thing” for those who grew up frightened and alone. Australia’s Human Rights Commission agreed that the Prime Minister’s words were healing. Spokeswoman Cathy Branson said: “Saying sorry on behalf of the nation will assist many individuals and their families to look to the future, and to put behind them this dark chapter in Australia's history.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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Breaking News English

November 18, 2009

Apology for the ‘Forgotten Australians’

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT APOLOGIES SURVEY

FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Apology for the ‘Forgotten Australians’

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You