Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. Mr. Milosevic was in the middle of a lengthy trial, being accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He had been held in detention since his spectacular capture amid a gunfight in a Belgrade suburb in June 2001. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first broke the news. The UN war crimes court in The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen. The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

Initial reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from natural causes and not suicide or foul play. However, the court immediately announced it would be launching an inquiry and a full autopsy into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from a series of ailments that repeatedly interrupted his trial. He had used his previous experience as a lawyer to conduct his own defence. He beguiled numerous prosecution teams with his tactics and managed to extend his trial, the costliest in legal history. He tried on various occasions to call former US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to stand in his defence. Mr. Milosevic played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.

WARM-UPS

1. SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Walk around the class gathering as much information as you can on Slobodan Milosevic. After you have finished, sit with your partner(s) and share your information. What things surprised you most?

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

Yugoslavia / prison cells / trials / war crimes / gunfights / radio stations / guards / natural causes / courtroom tactics / Bill Clinton / Bosnia / Kosovo / ethnic cleansing

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. HEADLINE PREDICTION: With your partner(s), use all of the words in the “Chat” activity above to predict what the news article will be about. Once you have your story, change partners and compare your different versions. Who was closest to the real story?

4. ETHNIC CLEANSING: A search on Google for “ethnic cleansing” produced the following “examples”. In pairs / groups, discuss what you know of and think about these and their inclusion on this list.

Bosnia Rwanda Cambodia Iraq

Kosovo Palestine East Timor Tibet

5. WAR CRIMES OPINIONS: Do you agree with the following opinions about war crimes? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. International courts of justice will never stop people committing war crimes.
2. War crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing will always happen.
3. My country has no history of ethnic cleansing.
4. The former colonial powers are the biggest ethnic cleansers.
5. People in the Balkans will now live peaceably, side by side.
6. All children should be taught special lessons on the horror of ethnic cleansing.
7. Suspected war criminals should be tried in super-fast trials.
8. It is impossible for the leader of a democracy to commit ethnic cleansing.

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Slobodan Milosevic was a former ruler of Czechoslovakia.	T / F
b.	Mr. Milosevic quietly surrendered to UN officials in June 2001.	T / F
c.	CNN was the first to report the news of Mr. Milosevic’s death.	T / F
d.	It is likely that Mr. Milosevic died in his sleep.	T / F
e.	There is no suspicion of suicide or foul play being a part of the death.	T / F
f.	Mr. Milosevic’s trial was the costliest in legal history.	T / F
g.	Bill Clinton and Tony Blair testified at Mr. Milosevic’s trial.	T / F
h.	Mr. Milosevic was a peripheral figure in the Balkan wars of the 1990’s.	T / F

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

a.	former	apprehension
b.	lengthy	postmortem
c.	capture	incumbent
d.	confirmed	genocide
e.	command	murder
f.	foul play	one-time
g.	autopsy	distracted
h.	beguiled	drawn out
i.	serving	charge
j.	ethnic cleansing	verified

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Mr. Milosevic was in the	causes and not suicide or foul play
b.	held in detention since his	wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo
c.	Serbian Radio station B92	spectacular capture amid a gunfight
d.	found lifeless	former US President Bill Clinton
e.	The guard immediately alerted	autopsy into the death
f.	died from natural	prosecution teams with his tactics
g.	launching an inquiry and a full	middle of a lengthy trial
h.	He beguiled numerous	the detention unit officer
i.	He tried on various occasions to call	first broke the news
j.	played a central role in the	on his bed in his cell

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. Mr. Milosevic was in the middle of a _________ trial, being accused of crimes against _________ and war crimes. He had been held in detention since his spectacular _________ amid a gunfight in a Belgrade suburb in June 2001. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first _________ the news. The UN war crimes court in The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found _________ on his bed in his cell at the United Nations _________ unit in Scheveningen. The guard immediately _________ the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter _________ that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”		detention capture lengthy alerted broke confirmed humanity lifeless
_________ reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from natural causes and not suicide or _________ play. However, the court immediately announced it would be launching an inquiry and a full _________ into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from a series of _________ that repeatedly interrupted his trial. He had used his previous experience as a lawyer to _________ his own defence. He _________ numerous prosecution teams with his tactics and managed to _________ his trial, the costliest in legal history. He tried on various occasions to call former US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to _________ in his defence. Mr. Milosevic played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.		autopsy extend beguiled ailments initial stand foul conduct

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died yesterday in his _______ cell in The Hague. Mr. Milosevic was in the middle of a _________ trial, being accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He had been held in ___________ since his spectacular capture ______ a gunfight in a Belgrade suburb in June 2001. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first broke the news. The UN war crimes court in The Hague later ___________ that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found __________ on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen. The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The _______ confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

Initial reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from _________ causes and not suicide or ______ ______. However, the court immediately announced it would be launching an inquiry and a full _________ into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from a series of ailments that repeatedly interrupted his trial. He had used his previous experience as a lawyer to _________ his own defence. He _________ numerous prosecution teams with his tactics and managed to extend his trial, the costliest in legal history. He tried on various occasions to call former US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to ________ in his defence. Mr. Milosevic played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from _________ cleansing.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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. STUDENT “SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Slobodan Milosevic and the Balkan Wars.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

middle amid broke confirmed alerted latter

foul full conduct numerous serving central

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you know about Slobodan Milosevic?
3. What went through your mind when you saw him on TV in court?
4. What do you know of the Balkan Wars of the 1990’s?
5. Do you think Slobodan Milosevic would have been found guilty?
6. What was the significance of Mr. Milosevic being arrested and tried for war crimes?
7. Which other leaders or ex-leaders do you think should be put on trial for crimes against humanity?
8. Do you think Mr. Milosevic’s death will have any effect on events in the former Yugoslavia?
9. What will happen to Mr. Milosevic’s trial now he has died?
10. How do you think history will remember Mr. Milosevic?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. What do you know about Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo?
4. Do you think the Balkans will remain peaceful?
5. Do you think the international community does enough in bringing war criminals to justice or stopping ethnic cleansing?
6. In which areas of the world is ethnic cleansing taking place today?
7. Why do you think Mr. Milosevic wanted Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to speak in his defence??
8. What questions would you like to have asked Mr. Milosevic?
9. How do you think he would have answered?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

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 information about Slobodan Milosevic. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. BALKAN WARS: Make a poster about the Balkan Wars of the 1990’s. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Which poster(s) did you learn most from?

4. ETHNIC CLEANSING Write an essay about an instance of ethnic cleansing? What happened to the perpetrators? Has the country recovered? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. F

d. T

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	former	one-time
b.	lengthy	drawn out
c.	capture	apprehension
d.	confirmed	verified
e.	command	charge
f.	foul play	murder
g.	autopsy	postmortem
h.	beguiled	distracted
i.	serving	incumbent
j.	ethnic cleansing	genocide

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Mr. Milosevic was in the	middle of a lengthy trial
b.	held in detention since his	spectacular capture amid a gunfight
c.	Serbian Radio station B92	first broke the news
d.	found lifeless	on his bed in his cell
e.	The guard immediately alerted	the detention unit officer
f.	died from natural	causes and not suicide or foul play
g.	launching an inquiry and a full	autopsy into the death
h.	He beguiled numerous	prosecution teams with his tactics
i.	He tried on various occasions to call	former US President Bill Clinton
j.	played a central role in the	wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo

GAP FILL:

Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell

Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic died yesterday in his prison cell in The Hague. Mr. Milosevic was in the middle of a lengthy trial, being accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He had been held in detention since his spectacular capture amid a gunfight in a Belgrade suburb in June 2001. The independent Serbian Radio station B92 first broke the news. The UN war crimes court in The Hague later confirmed that: “Today, Saturday March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen. The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead.”

Initial reports are that Mr. Milosevic died from natural causes and not suicide or foul play. However, the court immediately announced it would be launching an inquiry and a full autopsy into the death. The 65-year-old detainee had suffered from a series of ailments that repeatedly interrupted his trial. He had used his previous experience as a lawyer to conduct his own defence. He beguiled numerous prosecution teams with his tactics and managed to extend his trial, the costliest in legal history. He tried on various occasions to call former US President Bill Clinton and serving British Prime Minister Tony Blair to stand in his defence. Mr. Milosevic played a central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in which 200,000 people died – many from ethnic cleansing.

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