Breaking News English

        

1. WAR CRIMINALS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about war criminals. 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.

arrest / fugitive / rebels / non-profit groups / justice / child soldiers / Twitter / celebrate / raise support / major celebrities / followers / attracting criticism / complex

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. CAMPAIGN: How could these campaigns be successful? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Campaign to…	Campaign name	Campaign tactics
end a war
reduce litter
end hunger
raise literacy
save the panda
promote equality

4. JOSEPH KONY: Students A strongly believe the campaign will work and he will be caught; Students B strongly believe it won’t work.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
5. RAISE SUPPORT: What’s the best way to raise support for the “Kony 2012” campaign? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

use YouTube write to the U.S. President boycotts raise money

boycotts protests outside Ugandan embassies posters other _______________

6. VIRAL: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘viral’. 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.	YouTube created a video to arrest a suspected war criminal.	T / F
b.	A video of Joseph Kony has been viewed more than 15 million times.	T / F
c.	Joseph Kony has been found guilty of 30,000 murders.	T / F
d.	The Kony 2012 campaign beat news of the new iPad for hits on Twitter.	T / F
e.	The campaign aims to make Joseph Kony famous.	T / F
f.	ZZZZZ asked 6,000,000 fans to tweet about Joseph Kony.	T / F
g.	The article said Canada’s government criticized the Kony campaign.	T / F
h.	A political scientist suggested the campaign won’t solve this issue.	T / F

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

1.	aimed	a.	taking advantage of
2.	campaign	b.	complicated
3.	accused of	c.	in addition to
4.	exploiting	d.	backing
5.	along with	e.	condemnation
6.	support	f.	fans
7.	followers	g.	directed
8.	criticism	h.	straightened out
9.	complex	i.	strategy
10.	solved	j.	charged with

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

1.	bringing about the	a.	to justice
2.	gone	b.	criticism
3.	bring Kony	c.	topics on Twitter
4.	issued a warrant	d.	of major celebrities
5.	one of the top trending	e.	his followers
6.	picked up the support	f.	a complex issue
7.	6,000,000 of	g.	arrest of the fugitive
8.	the video has attracted	h.	complex
9.	it oversimplifies	i.	viral on the Internet
10.	These problems are highly	j.	for his arrest

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

A video aimed at bringing about the (1) ____________ of the fugitive head of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army                      (2) ____________, Joseph Kony, has gone viral on the Internet. The 30-minute film, called “Kony 2012”, has had over 15 million views on YouTube and Vimeo and over 150,000                        (3) ____________. The video is part of a campaign created by the Invisible Children non-(4) ____________ group to bring Kony to justice. The Ugandan warlord is (5) ____________ of being responsible for more than 30,000 deaths, forcing children to be sex slaves and of (6) ____________ child soldiers. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his                  (7) ____________. The campaign was one of the top trending   (8) ____________ on Twitter on Wednesday, along with news of the new iPad.		profit arrest comments topics arrest accused rebels exploiting
The video says: “KONY 2012 is a film and campaign…that (9) ____________ to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to (10) ____________ support for his arrest.” It has picked up the support of (11) ____________ celebrities. Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote on Twitter: "Dear Joseph Kony…We will stop you.” He asked all 6,000,000 of his followers to (12) ____________ his tweet to others. However, the video has attracted (13) ____________ from those who say it oversimplifies a complex issue. Canadian (14) ____________ scientist Grant Oyston has started a blog called "Visible Children" in which he writes: “These problems are (15) ____________ complex…and…aren't of the (16) ____________ that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture.”		forward highly raise criticism nature aims major political

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A video aimed at bringing about the arrest of ____________________ of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels, Joseph Kony, ____________________ Internet. The 30-minute film, called “Kony 2012”, has had over 15 million views on YouTube and Vimeo and over 150,000 comments. The video is part of a ____________________ the Invisible Children non-profit group to bring Kony to justice. The Ugandan warlord is ____________________ responsible for more than 30,000 deaths, forcing children to be sex slaves and of exploiting child soldiers. In 2005, the International Criminal Court ____________________ his arrest. The campaign was one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Wednesday, ____________________ the new iPad.
The video says: “KONY 2012 is a film and campaign…____________________ Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest.” It has ____________________ of major celebrities. Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote on Twitter: "Dear Joseph Kony…We will stop you.” He asked all 6,000,000 of his followers to forward his tweet to others. However, the video ____________________ from those who ____________________ a complex issue. Canadian political scientist Grant Oyston has started a blog called "Visible Children" in which he writes: “These problems ____________________ …and…aren't of the nature ____________________ postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture.”

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

Internet

campaign

• 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:

about viral part more warrant news

famous major stop issue blog nature

WAR CRIMINALS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about war criminals 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.

WAR CRIMINALS 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 term ‘war criminal’?
c)	Have you heard of or seen the “Kony 2012” video?
d)	What do you know about the Lord's Resistance Army?
e)	What do you think of the Invisible Children campaign?
f)	How can world governments have let so many Ugandans die?
g)	Do you think the campaign will work?
h)	Why do you think Kony is still on the run six years after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest?
i)	What punishment should Kony receive if he is found guilty?
j)	What do you think of the International Criminal Court?

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a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you think of the idea of making Joseph Kony famous?
c)	What more can major celebrities do to aid the campaign?
d)	What effect would it have if all Sean Combs’ six million Twitter followers re-tweeted his initial tweet?
e)	Who is the biggest war criminal ever?
f)	What does a person have to do to go beyond being a murderer to become a war criminal?
g)	Do you think it’s possible for war criminals to stay on the run forever?
h)	What three adjectives would you use to describe this article?
i)	How useful is Facebook or YouTube in a campaign like this?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Joseph Kony?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

A video aimed (1) ____ bringing about the arrest of the fugitive head of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels, Joseph Kony, has (2) ____ viral on the Internet. The 30-minute film, called “Kony 2012”, has had over 15 million views on YouTube and Vimeo and over 150,000 comments. The video is part of a campaign created by the Invisible Children non-profit group to bring Kony to (3) ____. The Ugandan warlord is accused (4) ____ being responsible for more than 30,000 deaths, forcing children to be sex slaves and of exploiting (5) ____ soldiers. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. The campaign was one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Wednesday, (6) ____ with news of the new iPad.
The video says: “KONY 2012 is a film and campaign…that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to (7) ____ support for his arrest.” It has picked up the support of major celebrities. Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote on Twitter: "Dear Joseph Kony…We will stop you.” He asked all 6,000,000 of his followers to (8) ____ his tweet to others. However, the video has (9) ____ criticism from those who say it oversimplifies a complex issue. Canadian political scientist Grant Oyston has started a blog called "Visible Children" (10) ____ which he writes: “These problems are (11) ____ complex…and…aren't of the nature that can be solved (12) ____ postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture.”
Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	to	(d)	of
2.	(a)	been	(b)	went	(c)	gone	(d)	done
3.	(a)	just	(b)	just about	(c)	justify	(d)	justice
4.	(a)	to	(b)	of	(c)	so	(d)	as
5.	(a)	childish	(b)	children	(c)	childlike	(d)	child
6.	(a)	alongside	(b)	longing	(c)	along	(d)	longs
7.	(a)	up	(b)	raise	(c)	rise	(d)	get up
8.	(a)	forward	(b)	reverse	(c)	advance	(d)	ahead
9.	(a)	attracted	(b)	attraction	(c)	attracting	(d)	attracts
10.	(a)	as	(b)	for	(c)	in	(d)	such
11.	(a)	higher	(b)	highs	(c)	heighten	(d)	highly
12.	(a)	on	(b)	by	(c)	at	(d)	as

 
 

WRITING

Write about war criminals 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 out more about Joseph Kony. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. WAR CRIMINALS: Make a poster about war criminals. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. CAMPAIGN: Write a magazine article about the Invisible Children campaign. Include imaginary interviews with people who are behind it and those it is trying to protect.
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 the head of Invisible Children. Ask him/her three questions about the campaign. Give him/her three ideas on how to make it more successful. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

F

d.

F

e.

T

f.

T

g.

F

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	aimed	a.	directed
2.	campaign	b.	strategy
3.	accused of	c.	charged with
4.	exploiting	d.	taking advantage of
5.	along with	e.	in addition to
6.	support	f.	backing
7.	followers	g.	fans
8.	criticism	h.	condemnation
9.	complex	i.	complicated
10.	solved	j.	straightened out

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	bringing about the	a.	arrest of the fugitive
2.	gone	b.	viral on the Internet
3.	bring Kony	c.	to justice
4.	issued a warrant	d.	for his arrest
5.	one of the top trending	e.	topics on Twitter
6.	picked up the support	f.	of major celebrities
7.	6,000,000 of	g.	his followers
8.	the video has attracted	h.	criticism
9.	it oversimplifies	i.	a complex issue
10.	These problems are highly	j.	complex

GAP FILL:

Internet campaign to arrest Joseph Kony

A video aimed at bringing about the (1) arrest of the fugitive head of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (2) rebels, Joseph Kony, has gone viral on the Internet. The 30-minute film, called “Kony 2012”, has had over 15 million views on YouTube and Vimeo and over 150,000 (3) comments. The video is part of a campaign created by the Invisible Children non-(4) profit group to bring Kony to justice. The Ugandan warlord is (5) accused of being responsible for more than 30,000 deaths, forcing children to be sex slaves and of (6) exploiting child soldiers. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his (7) arrest. The campaign was one of the top trending (8) topics on Twitter on Wednesday, along with news of the new iPad.
The video says: “KONY 2012 is a film and campaign…that (9) aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to (10) raise support for his arrest.” It has picked up the support of (11) major celebrities. Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote on Twitter: "Dear Joseph Kony…We will stop you.” He asked all 6,000,000 of his followers to (12) forward his tweet to others. However, the video has attracted (13) criticism from those who say it oversimplifies a complex issue. Canadian (14) political scientist Grant Oyston has started a blog called "Visible Children" in which he writes: “These problems are (15) highly complex…and…aren't of the (16) nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture.”
LANGUAGE WORK

1 - a

2 - c

3 - d

4 - b

5 - d

6 - c

7 - b

8 - a

9 -a

10 - c

11 - d

12 - b

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