Date: February 24, 2005
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

Some nations really love their leaders. The people of Turkmenistan are today celebrating the successful eye operation of their leader President Saparmurat Niyazov, also known as Turkmenbashi the Great. Holiday-like celebrations are taking place all over the ex-Soviet republic. Special prayers were being heard in mosques nationwide, and lambs were being sacrificed for special thanksgiving meals. The hard line president of the gas-rich nation has been in power since the collapse of communism. He was named president for life in 1999 and has built a personality cult around himself, similar to that of Kim Jong Il of North Korea. The operation, on his left eye, was carried out by a German eye specialist, and received widespread coverage on state television. Unfortunately, his operation meant he was unable to attend the traditional birthday parades held in his honor. He turned 65 last Saturday. On his 63rd birthday his government ministers declared him to be a prophet of God. Let’s hope he will be able to see well enough after he recovers from eye surgery to follow a more democratic leadership style.

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Turkmenistan / USSR / national holidays / lamb / eyes / birthdays / cults / …

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. EYE BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘eye. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY LEADER: Write down the three best and worst points about the leader (s) of your country. Talk to different members of your class about what you wrote. Do you love them? Would you have a special thanksgiving meal to celebrate their successful eye operation.

4. CULT OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, discuss the following opinions:

1. A dictator could never become leader of my country.
2. It’s a wonderful thing that the people of a country love its leader.
3. There’s nothing wrong with being made president for life if you are a kind leader.
4. Mr. Niyazov is a dictator and should be overthrown.
5. Leaders such as Mr. Niyazov will not be around twenty years from now after democracy sweeps the world.
6. World governments should not do business with Turkmenistan unless Mr. Niyazov holds free and fair elections.
7. Mr. Niyazov has banned all opposition and is similar to Saddam Hussein.
8. It’s fantastic that people celebrate the successful eye operation of their leader.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Turkmenistan has a national holiday to celebrate successful eye operations.  T / F
2. Turkmenistanis are today celebrating the successful eye operation of their leader.  T / F
3. Turkmenistan is an ex-Soviet republic.  T / F
4. Lambs are being sacrificed for special thanksgiving meals.  T / F
5. Turkmenistan’s president has built a cult personality around himself.  T / F
6. The president will continue in power until 2009.  T / F
7. The president is the brother of Kim Jong Il of North Korea.  T / F
8. He will be able to see well enough after he recovers from eye surgery to follow a more democratic leadership style.  T / F

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

(a)	nations	aka
(b)	operation	former
(c)	also known as	fall
(d)	celebrations	messenger
(e)	ex	surgery
(f)	sacrificed	iron fist
(g)	hard line	blanket
(h)	collapse	countries
(i)	widespread	festivities
(j)	prophet	slaughtered

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

(a)	successful	place
(b)	also	cult
(c)	celebrations are taking	were being heard in mosques
(d)	ex-Soviet	of communism
(e)	Special prayers	in his honor
(f)	special thanksgiving	coverage on state television
(g)	in power since the collapse	eye operation
(h)	personality	meals
(i)	received widespread	republic
(j)	traditional birthday parades held	known as

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Turkmenistan eye operation festival

Some nations really __________ their leaders. The people of Turkmenistan are today celebrating the successful eye operation of their leader President Saparmurat Niyazov, also __________ as Turkmenbashi the Great. Holiday-like celebrations are taking __________ all over the ex-Soviet republic. Special prayers were being heard in mosques nationwide, and lambs were being sacrificed for special thanksgiving meals. The __________ line president of the gas-rich nation has been in power since the collapse of communism. He was named president for __________ in 1999 and has built a personality cult around himself, similar to that of Kim Jong Il of North Korea. The operation, on his left eye, was __________ out by a German eye specialist, and received widespread coverage on state television. Unfortunately, his operation meant he was unable to attend the traditional birthday parades __________ in his honor. He turned 65 last Saturday. On his 63rd birthday his government ministers declared him to be a prophet of God. Let’s __________ he will be able to see well enough after he recovers from eye surgery to follow a more democratic leadership style.

life known held hope carried hard love place

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms 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 c ircle 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 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.

5. ‘EYE’/ ‘OPERATION’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of this article?
2. Does Mr. Niyazov sound like a good person?
3. Do you have good eyesight?
4. Have you ever had surgery or stayed in hospital?
5. Do you love your leader?
6. Do you love (or respect a lot) any world leader?
7. Do you love people like Nelson Mandela?
8. What national holidays are there in your country that involve special meals?
9. Do you ever watch blanket coverage of state occasions in your country?
10. Do you celebrate the birthday of your leader?
11. What would happen in your country if your leader declared himself/herself president for life?
12. What do you think of North Korea’s Kim Jong Il?
13. Has your country ever experienced personality cults / brainwashing leaders?
14. Would you like to go to Turkmenistan?
15. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB 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 on Turkmenistan. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. CULT: Create a poster on a cult.

4. LETTER TO MR. NIYAZOV: Write a letter to Turkmenistani president Niyazov telling him your thoughts on his leadership style.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Turkmenistan has a national holiday to celebrate successful eye operations.  F
2. Turkmenistanis are today celebrating the successful eye operation of their leader.  T
3. Turkmenistan is an ex-Soviet republic.  T
4. Lambs are being sacrificed for special thanksgiving meals.  T
5. Turkmenistan’s president has built a cult personality around himself.  T
6. The president will continue in power until 2009.  T
7. The president is the brother of Kim Jong Il of North Korea.  F
8. He will be able to see well enough after he recovers from eye surgery to follow a more democratic leadership style.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	nations	aka
(b)	operation	former
(c)	also known as	fall
(d)	celebrations	messenger
(e)	ex	surgery
(f)	sacrificed	iron fist
(g)	hard line	blanket
(h)	collapse	countries
(i)	widespread	festivities
(j)	prophet	slaughtered

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	successful	eye operation
(b)	also	known as
(c)	celebrations are taking	place
(d)	ex-Soviet	republic
(e)	Special prayers	were being heard in mosques
(f)	special thanksgiving	meals
(g)	in power since the collapse	of communism
(h)	personality	cult
(i)	received widespread	coverage on state television
(j)	traditional birthday parades held	in his honor

 

GAP FILL:

Turkmenistan eye operation festival

Some nations really love their leaders. The people of Turkmenistan are today celebrating the successful eye operation of their leader President Saparmurat Niyazov, also known as Turkmenbashi the Great. Holiday-like celebrations are taking place all over the ex-Soviet republic. Special prayers were being heard in mosques nationwide, and lambs were being sacrificed for special thanksgiving meals. The hard line president of the gas-rich nation has been in power since the collapse of communism. He was named president for life in 1999 and has built a personality cult around himself, similar to that of Kim Jong Il of North Korea. The operation, on his left eye, was carried out by a German eye specialist, and received widespread coverage on state television. Unfortunately, his operation meant he was unable to attend the traditional birthday parades held in his honor. He turned 65 last Saturday. On his 63rd birthday his government ministers declared him to be a prophet of God. Let’s hope he will be able to see well enough after he recovers from eye surgery to follow a more democratic leadership style.