Thursday December 23, 2004

Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Peace talks in the Middle East appear to be once again on track following Tony Blair’s visit to Palestine yesterday. A meeting with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman, Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) resulted in a planned international peace conference scheduled for February next year, which could finally result in an independent Palestinian state. Tony Blair said this would help revive the ‘Roadmap to Peace’ plan, which has been sidelined for so long amidst increased tensions between Israel and Palestine and the death of Yasser Arafat. He received clear commitments from Mr Abbas regarding renewed efforts for peace, “We had got this commitment from Abu Mazen as well as from the Israeli side, and we should not miss this opportunity in order to achieve progress in the peace process.” Mahmoud Abbas agreed, saying, “We believe that this conference represents an important opportunity to support the efforts of the Palestinian Authority towards reform, security, economical prosperity and implementing the roadmap plan.” He also called on Israel to “stop all constructions of the security wall in the West Bank, stop settlements expansion and release prisoners.”

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Tony Blair / Mahmoud Abbas / the PLO / the Middle-East / peace / Israel / Palestine …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. PEACE: Brainstorm different countries that have had civil wars in the past, but are now at peace. Students talk together about these and compare them with prospects for peace in the Middle East.

3. MY COUNTRY: Talk about the policy towards Palestine and Israel of your country. State what more (if anything) they should be doing.

4. PALESTINE BRAINSTORM: Brainstorm facts from students about Palestine. Students talk together about these facts.

5. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
Signs for peace are good. vs. This will be yet another initiative that ends in failure.
Peace will never be achieved in the Middle-East. vs Of course it will.
Israel must stop building the Security Fence first. vs Palestinian attacks on Israelis should be before that.
Ariel Sharon is a peacemaker. vs. He’s the biggest obstacle to peace.
America should put more pressure on Israel to make concessions for peace. vs. Israel has already made enough concessions.
Israel should remove all settlements from the West Bank. vs. But Israelis live there, it’s there home.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘talk’, ‘track’ and ‘tension’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Peace talks in the Middle East are back on track.  T / F
(b)  George W. Bush visited Palestine yesterday.  T / F
(c)  The PLO chairman is Yasser Arafat.  T / F
(d)  There will be an international peace conference next February.  T / F
(e)  The Middle-East peace process has been sidelined for a long time because of tensions between Israel and Palestine.  T / F
(f)  Tony Blair received no commitments from the Israeli side  T / F
(g)  The Palestinian Authority must reform.  T / F
(h)  Israel has agreed to stop building its security fence.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	peace	resuscitate
(b)	on track	chance
(c)	scheduled	in gear
(d)	revive	shelved
(e)	independent	tabled
(f)	sidelined	remodel
(g)	commitment	set free
(h)	opportunity	autonomous
(i)	reform	promise
(j)	release	calm

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	peace	track
(b)	on	state
(c)	peace	this opportunity
(d)	independent	prisoners
(e)	sidelined for	talks
(f)	increased	efforts
(g)	clear	so long
(h)	renewed	conference
(i)	miss	prosperity
(j)	economic	tensions
(k)	release	commitments

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Mid-East peace closer?

Peace ________ in the Middle East appear to be once again on ________ following Tony Blair’s visit to Palestine yesterday. A meeting with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman, Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) resulted in a planned international p eace conference ________ for February next year, which could finally result in an independent Palestinian state. Tony Blair said this would help ________ the ‘Roadmap to Peace’ plan, which has been sidelined for so long ________ increased tensions between Israel and Palestine and the death of Yasser Arafat. He received clear commitments from Mr Abbas regarding ________ efforts for peace, “We had got this commitment from Abu Mazen as well as from the Israeli side, and we should not miss this opportunity in order to achieve progress in the peace process.” Mahmoud Abbas agreed, saying, “We believe that this conference ________ an important opportunity to support the efforts of the Palestinian Authority towards reform, security, economical prosperity and implementing the roadmap plan.” He also ________ on Israel to “stop all constructions of the security wall in the West Bank, stop settlements expansion and release prisoners.”

amidst track scheduled renewed talks called represents revive

 

3. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED MID-EAST SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

5. PALESTINE DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  Are you interested in the Middle-East and the peace process?
(b)  What do you think of the future for Palestine and Israel?
(c)  What needs to be done to secure peace?
(d)  Will George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon move the peace process forward?
(e)  Whose land is it?
(f)  Can Palestinian Arabs and Israelis live side by side in peace?
(g)  Should Israel’s security fence be pulled down?
(h)  Should Palestinians accept the presence of Israeli settlements on the West Bank?
(i)  Do you think there’ll be another war in the Middle-East between Israel and its Arab neighbours?
(j)  What is the connection between the suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation and international terror?
(k)  Teacher’s additional questions

6. OPINIONS: Comment on the following opinions regarding Tony Blair’s visit
- The peace conference in February is another initiative that will go nowhere
– This is an important chance in world history – each side will take it
- Tony Blair has no real influence in the Middle-East without George W. Bush.
- Palestinian terror groups must stop killing innocent Israelis before any peace talks can begin
– The London Conference is a waste of time because the Israelis won’t be there
- Israel isn’t interested in peace – it will not allow refugees back to Palestine, nor dismantle settlements, nor allow East Jerusalem to be the Palestinian capital
- Ariel Sharon will see this as his chance for glory and to go down in history as the Israeli leader who secured peace for his leader
- America should redirect its efforts (and money) at forcing Israel into painful compromises. A free Palestine will do more to end the War on Terror than invading sovereign states every three years.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the Middle East. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. A DAY IN MY LIFE: Imagine you are a Palestinian living in a Gaza refugee camp, or an Israeli living daily with the threat of suicide bombings on buses or in restaurants. Write your diary entry for one day in your life.

4. LETTER TO ARIEL: Write a letter to Israeli leader Ariel Sharon telling him what you think is required to make peace with Palestine.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Peace talks in the Middle East are back on track.  T
(b)  George W. Bush visited Palestine yesterday.  F
(c)  The PLO chairman is Yasser Arafat.  F
(d)  There will be an international peace conference next February.  T
(e)  The Middle-East peace process has been sidelined for a long time because of tensions between Israel and Palestine.  T
(f)  Tony Blair received no commitments from the Israeli side  F
(g)  The Palestinian Authority must reform.  T
(h)  Israel has agreed to stop building its security fence.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	peace	calm
(b)	on track	in gear
(c)	scheduled	tabled
(d)	revive	resuscitate
(e)	independent	autonomous
(f)	sidelined	shelved
(g)	commitment	promise
(h)	opportunity	chance
(i)	reform	remodel
(j)	release	set free

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	peace	talks
(b)	on	track
(c)	peace	conference
(d)	independent	state
(e)	sidelined for	so long
(f)	increased	tensions
(g)	clear	commitments
(h)	renewed	efforts
(i)	miss	this opportunity
(j)	economic	prosperity
(k)	release	prisoners