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200 dead despite Eid cease-fire in Syria (28th October, 2012)

The four-day cease-fire between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime and the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) was in tatters yesterday just two days into the holy Eid al-Adha holiday. The United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arranged the cease-fire last week to allow all Syrians to celebrate Eid. Mr Brahimi also hoped a four-day cessation of hostilities would provide a window for talks to extend the truce. However, fighting broke out on both sides early on Friday, including in the capital Damascus. Both sides are blaming the other for breaking the cease-fire. The FSA told reporters that Syrian forces have been pounding Damascus and Aleppo. A jet-fighter strike killed eight people in an attack on the capital.

Reports are that over 32,000 people have been killed in the fighting since the civil war began in March 2011. Recent events have seen the conflict spill over Syria's borders. Turkey launched rockets into Syria for days after a Syrian shell killed five Turks in a border village. Tensions have heightened in neighbouring Lebanon, where a large part of the population supports the Syrian leadership. The BBC reported that Lebanon risks being "torn apart" by the conflict. Al Qaeda has called on Muslims everywhere to support Syrians in their fight against what it described as al-Assad's "murderous, cancerous regime." Russia and China are refusing to back the United States, France and others in calling for greater international intervention.

WARM-UPS

1. SYRIA: Walk around the class and talk to other students about Syria. Change partners often. Share your findings with your first partner.

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

 

cease-fire / regime / in tatters / celebrate / Eid / hostilities / Damascus / jet fighter / civil war / spill over / rockets / tensions / Al-Qaeda / cancerous / intervention

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

3. REGIONAL SPILLOVER: How does the Syria conflict affect these countries? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

 

Current relations with Syria

Effects of conflict spilling over

Lebanon

 

 

Jordan

 

 

Turkey

 

 

Iran

 

 

Saudi Arabia

 

 

Israel

 

 

4. ASSAD: Students A strongly believe Syrian president Bashar al-Assad will not last another six months; Students B strongly believe he will.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. PEACE: Where will it come first? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most likely to see peace at the top. Change partners often.

  • Syria
  • Palestine
  • Afghanistan
  • North / South Korea
  • Colombia
  • Somalia
  • Iraq
  • Mexican Drug War

6. CONFLICT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'conflict'. 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.

Fighting stopped in Syria for just 4 days before the cease-fire fell apart.

T / F

b.

A UN special envoy had arranged the cease-fire several months ago.

T / F

c.

Lakhdar Brahimi hoped the truce would provide a window for talks.

T / F

d.

A Syrian fighter plane crashed into a Damascus house, killing eight.

T / F

e.

Syria's civil war spilled over its borders in March 2011.

T / F

f.

Turkey engaged in military retaliation after Syria killed Turkish citizens.

T / F

g.

Al-Qaeda is backing the Syrian people against Bashar al-Assad.

T / F

h.

Russia and China both oppose foreign intervention in Syria.

T / F

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

1.

cease-fire

a.

accounts

2.

in tatters

b.

halting

3.

envoy

c.

truce

4.

cessation

d.

strained relations

5.

pounding

e.

pour

6.

reports

f.

diplomatic representative

7.

spill

g.

bloodthirsty

8.

tensions

h.

ruined

9.

murderous

i.

involvement

10.

intervention

j.

bombarding

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

1.

The four-day

a.

breaking the cease-fire

2.

The United Nations special

b.

apart by the conflict

3.

a four-day cessation

c.

an attack on the capital

4.

Both sides are blaming the other for

d.

over Syria's borders

5.

A jet-fighter strike killed 8 people in

e.

international intervention

6.

events have seen the conflict spill

f.

envoy Lakhdar Brahimi

7.

Tensions have heightened

g.

cancerous regime

8.

Lebanon risks being torn

h.

in neighbouring Lebanon

9.

murderous,

i.

cease-fire

10.

calling for greater

j.

of hostilities

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

The four-day cease-fire between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime and the (1) ____________ Free Syrian Army (FSA) was in tatters yesterday just two days into the                  (2) ____________ Eid al-Adha holiday. The United Nations special (3) ____________ Lakhdar Brahimi arranged the cease-fire last week to allow all Syrians to celebrate Eid. Mr Brahimi also hoped a four-day (4) ____________ of hostilities would provide a window for talks to extend the (5) ____________. However, fighting broke out on both sides early on Friday, including in the capital Damascus. Both sides are (6) ____________ the other for breaking the cease-fire. The FSA told reporters that Syrian forces have been (7) ____________ Damascus and Aleppo. A jet-fighter (8) ____________ killed eight people in an attack on the capital.

 

 

 

cessation
truce
holy
pounding
rebel
strike
envoy
blaming

Reports are that over 32,000 people have been killed in the fighting since the (9) ____________ war began in March 2011. Recent events have seen the conflict (10) ____________ over Syria's borders. Turkey launched rockets into Syria for days after a Syrian (11) ____________ killed five Turks in a border village. Tensions have (12) ____________ in neighbouring Lebanon, where a large part of the population supports the Syrian leadership. The BBC reported that Lebanon risks being           "(13) ____________ apart" by the conflict. Al-Qaeda has called on Muslims everywhere to support Syrians in their fight against what it (14) ____________ as al-Assad's "murderous,                    (15) ____________ regime." Russia and China are refusing to back the United States, France and others in calling for greater international (16) ____________.

 

 

heightened
cancerous
civil
torn
intervention
spill
described
shell

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

(1) _____________________ between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime and the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) (2) _____________________ just two days into the holy Eid al-Adha holiday. The United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arranged the cease-fire last week to allow all Syrians to celebrate Eid. Mr Brahimi also hoped a four-day (3) _________________ would provide a window for talks (4) _____________________. However, fighting broke out on both sides early on Friday, including in the capital Damascus. Both sides (5) _____________________ for breaking the cease-fire. The FSA told reporters that Syrian forces have been pounding Damascus and Aleppo. A (6) _____________________ eight people in an attack on the capital.

Reports are that over 32,000 people have been (7) ____________________ since the civil war began in March 2011. Recent events have seen the         (8) _____________________ Syria's borders. Turkey launched rockets into Syria for days after a Syrian shell killed five Turks in a border village. Tensions have (9) _____________________ Lebanon, where a large part of the population supports the Syrian leadership. The BBC reported that Lebanon risks (10) _____________________ the conflict. Al-Qaeda has called on Muslims everywhere to support Syrians in their fight against what it described as al-Assad's "(11) _____________________." Russia and China are refusing to back the United States, France and others in calling for greater (12) _____________________.


 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'cease' and 'fire'.

cease

fire

 

 

 

  • 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:

  • rebel
  • holy
  • allow
  • extend
  • both
  • eight
  • civil
  • spill
  • border
  • risks
  • described
  • greater

SYRIA SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Syria 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.


 
 

SYRIA 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 country 'Syria'?

c)

Do you think anyone believed the cease-fire would hold?

d)

What are the potential advantages of a cease-fire?

e)

Why do cease-fires break down so quickly?

f)

How sad is it that the cease-fire didn't last long enough to allow Syria's Muslims to celebrate Eid?

g)

What do you think of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad?

h)

Do you think the United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi can do any good in Syria?

i)

Both sides are blaming the other for breaking the cease-fire. Who do you think is more at fault?

j)

What do you think it's like living in Damascus at the moment?

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

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

a)

Did you like reading this article?

b)

When do you think peace will come to Syria?

c)

What will it take for peace to come to Syria?

d)

How far could the conflict in Syria spread among its neighbours?

e)

Do you think countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan will end up at war with Syria?

f)

What do you think of al-Qaeda's backing of the Syrian people against al-Assad?

g)

What will the situation be like a year from now?

h)

Why are Russia and China refusing to back the United States, France and others in calling for greater international intervention?

i)

What questions would you like to ask Syrian president Bashar al-Assad?

j)

What do you think his answers might be?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The four-day cease-fire between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime and the (1) ____ Free Syrian Army (FSA) was in (2) ____ yesterday just two days into the holy Eid al-Adha holiday. The United Nations special (3) ____ Lakhdar Brahimi arranged the cease-fire last week to allow all Syrians to celebrate Eid. Mr Brahimi also hoped a four-day (4) ____ of hostilities would provide a window for talks to extend the truce. However, fighting broke (5) ____ on both sides early on Friday, including in the capital Damascus. Both sides are blaming the other for breaking the cease-fire. The FSA told reporters that Syrian forces have been (6) ____ Damascus and Aleppo. A jet-fighter strike killed eight people in an attack on the capital.

Reports are that over 32,000 people have been killed in the fighting since the civil war began in March 2011. Recent events have seen the conflict spill (7) ____ Syria's borders. Turkey launched rockets into Syria for days after a Syrian shell killed five Turks in a border village. Tensions have heightened in (8) ____ Lebanon, where a large part of the population (9) ____ the Syrian leadership. The BBC reported that Lebanon risks being "torn (10) ____ " by the conflict. Al-Qaeda has called on Muslims everywhere to support Syrians in their fight against what it described as al-Assad's "(11) ____, cancerous regime." Russia and China are refusing to back the United States, France and others (12) ____ calling for greater international intervention.

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

1.

(a)

rebel

(b)

rebellion

(c)

revel

(d)

revelation

2.

(a)

matters

(b)

batters

(c)

tatters

(d)

patters

3.

(a)

envelope

(b)

envy

(c)

envoy

(d)

envisage

4.

(a)

cessations

(b)

ceases

(c)

ceased

(d)

cessation

5.

(a)

out

(b)

in

(c)

up

(d)

on

6.

(a)

damning

(b)

pounding

(c)

contravening

(d)

prohibiting

7.

(a)

up

(b)

into

(c)

via

(d)

over

8.

(a)

neighbourhood

(b)

neighbouring

(c)

neighborly

(d)

neighbours

9.

(a)

support

(b)

supportive of

(c)

supports

(d)

supporter

10.

(a)

over

(b)

apart

(c)

separately

(d)

pieces

11.

(a)

murdered

(b)

murder

(c)

murders

(d)

murderous

12.

(a)

on

(b)

in

(c)

of

(d)

as


 
 

WRITING

Write about Syria 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 the conflict in Syria. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. SYRIA: Make a poster about Syria and its history. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. CEASE-FIRE: Write a magazine article about the broken cease-fire. Include imaginary interviews with Bashar al-Assad and the leader of the Free Syrian Army.

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 Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Ask him three questions about the conflict. Give him three pieces of advice on what to do from now. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.


 


 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

T

d.

F

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.

cease-fire

a.

truce

2.

in tatters

b.

ruined

3.

envoy

c.

diplomatic representative

4.

cessation

d.

halting

5.

pounding

e.

bombarding

6.

reports

f.

accounts

7.

spill

g.

pour

8.

tensions

h.

strained relations

9.

murderous

i.

bloodthirsty

10.

intervention

j.

involvement

PHRASE MATCH:

1.

The four-day

a.

cease-fire

2.

The United Nations special

b.

envoy Lakhdar Brahimi

3.

a four-day cessation

c.

of hostilities

4.

Both sides are blaming the other for

d.

breaking the cease-fire

5.

A jet-fighter strike killed 8 people in

e.

an attack on the capital

6.

events have seen the conflict spill

f.

over Syria's borders

7.

Tensions have heightened

g.

in neighbouring Lebanon

8.

Lebanon risks being torn

h.

apart by the conflict

9.

murderous,

i.

cancerous regime

10.

calling for greater

j.

international intervention

GAP FILL:

200 dead despite Eid cease-fire in Syria

The four-day cease-fire between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime and the (1) rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) was in tatters yesterday just two days into the (2) holy Eid al-Adha holiday. The United Nations special (3) envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arranged the cease-fire last week to allow all Syrians to celebrate Eid. Mr Brahimi also hoped a four-day (4) cessation of hostilities would provide a window for talks to extend the (5) truce. However, fighting broke out on both sides early on Friday, including in the capital Damascus. Both sides are (6) blaming the other for breaking the cease-fire. The FSA told reporters that Syrian forces have been (7) pounding Damascus and Aleppo. A jet-fighter (8) strike killed eight people in an attack on the capital.

Reports are that over 32,000 people have been killed in the fighting since the (9) civil war began in March 2011. Recent events have seen the conflict (10) spill over Syria's borders. Turkey launched rockets into Syria for days after a Syrian (11) shell killed five Turks in a border village. Tensions have (12) heightened in neighbouring Lebanon, where a large part of the population supports the Syrian leadership. The BBC reported that Lebanon risks being "(13) torn apart" by the conflict. Al-Qaeda has called on Muslims everywhere to support Syrians in their fight against what it (14) described as al-Assad's "murderous, (15) cancerous regime." Russia and China are refusing to back the United States, France and others in calling for greater international (16) intervention.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 – a

2 – c

3 – c

4 – d

5 – a

6 – b

7 – d

8 – b

9 –c

10 – b

11 – d

12 – b

 

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