Breaking News English

        

1. LIES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about lies. 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.

police officers / lie detectors / corruption / modernize / bonuses / nationwide / unrest / take the test / taking bribes / sacking / struggle / judges / decisions / politicians

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

3. LYING: Who to? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Lying to…	How bad is this?	Would you lie to this person?	In what situation?
yourself
your best friend
your husband/wife
teacher
a police officer
in court

4. LYING: Students A strongly believe lying is OK; Students B strongly believe it isn’t.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. BIG, FAT OR WHITE? Rank these according to how bad it is to lie about them. Share your rankings with your partner. Put the worst at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

money exam results your age your faithfulness to your partner

your weight salary qualifications in a job interview other ____________

6. CORRUPTION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘corruption’. 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.	Not all of Ecuador’s police will have to take the lie detector test.	T / F
b.	The tests are to stop officers lying about their age.	T / F
c.	Ecuador’s police took part in unrest against the government last year.	T / F
d.	The police attacked Ecuador’s president with tear gas.	T / F
e.	A general said the tests might make some police officers blind.	T / F
f.	The general said the root of the problem is up a hill.	T / F
g.	300 people suspended on suspicion of corruption got their jobs back.	T / F
h.	The article suggests governments should test their politicians for lying.	T / F

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

1.	chief	a.	left
2	corruption	b.	stop
3.	abandoned	c.	started
4.	unrest	d.	backhanders
5.	sparked	e.	fraud
6.	bribes	f.	tough time
7.	turn a blind eye to	g.	boss
8.	uphill struggle	h.	not look at
9.	root out	i.	seriousness
10.	gravity	j.	disorder

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

1.	make all of its police officers take	a.	force
2	modernize the	b.	results of the tests
3.	affected their pay	c.	tear gas
4.	police attacked him with	d.	struggle
5.	had to be rescued	e.	taking bribes
6.	help stop police officers	f.	of their decisions
7.	turning a blind	g.	and bonuses
8.	facing an uphill	h.	by the army
9.	understand the gravity	i.	eye to crime
10.	closely follow the	j.	a lie detector test

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Ecuador’s government is going to (1) ____________ all of its police officers take a lie detector test. The BBC reports that police (2) ____________ General Wilson Alulema wants all of the police to take the test to help end corruption in the force. It is part of president Rafael Correa’s (3) ____________ to modernize the force following a police mutiny last year. In September, 2010, Ecuador’s police mutinied (4) ____________ a law that would have affected their pay and bonuses. They abandoned their posts and left (5) ____________ of the country without protection, which sparked nationwide looting and (6) ____________. President Correa faced the mutineers and challenged them to kill him – a bad (7) ____________ as his own police attacked him with tear gas and he had to be (8) ____________ by the army.		idea efforts much rescued make unrest chief against
As many as 42,000 officers will take the test. General Alulema says it will help (9) ____________ police officers taking bribes and turning a blind eye to crime. The General said he (10) ____________ the test would lead to the sacking of any officer linked to (11) ____________. He told reporters he is facing an uphill struggle to root (12) ____________ corruption. He pointed to around 300 officials suspended over corruption allegations who were recently (13) ____________ their jobs back. Judges argued there were too many irregularities for a case to be made against them. The BBC reports the General as (14) ____________: “Those judges don't understand the gravity of their (15) ____________.” Perhaps governments around the world should closely follow the results of the tests and consider (16) ____________ checks on their politicians.		out decisions stop hoped saying corruption similar given

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Ecuador’s government is going ___________________ police officers take a lie detector test. The BBC reports that police chief General Wilson Alulema wants all of the police to take ___________________ corruption in the force. It is part of president Rafael Correa’s efforts to modernize the force following ___________________ last year. In September, 2010, Ecuador’s police mutinied against a law that would have affected their pay and bonuses. They ___________________ and left much of the country without protection, which sparked nationwide ___________________. President Correa faced the mutineers and challenged them to kill him – a bad idea as his own police attacked him with tear gas and he ___________________ the army.

As many as 42,000 officers will take the test. General Alulema says it will help stop police officers ___________________ turning a ___________________. The General said he hoped the test would lead to the sacking of any officer linked to corruption. He told reporters he is facing ___________________ root out corruption. He pointed to around 300 officials suspended over corruption allegations who were recently given their jobs back. Judges argued there were ___________________ for a case to be made against them. The BBC reports the General as saying: “Those judges don't understand ___________________ decisions.” Perhaps governments around the world should closely follow the results of the tests and ___________________ on their politicians.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

lie

test

• 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:

reports part following much kill rescue

as blind uphill recently judges similar

STUDENT LIES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about lies 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.

LIES 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 word ‘lie’?
c)	On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you on the lying scale. One is a huge liar, ten is telling no lies?
d)	Do you think making police take lie detector tests is a good idea?
e)	Would you take a lie detector test?
f)	Should all government employees take regular lie detector tests?
g)	What do you think of the honesty of the police officers in your country?
h)	What do you think police officers think about this lie detector test?
i)	Do you think the tests will improve the quality of the police force?
j)	Would the police in your country accept taking lie detector tests?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	How many of the 42,000 officers do you think will fail the test?
c)	What do you think of the phrase “turning a blind eye to”?
d)	How do you think the sacking of police officers will go down in Ecuador?
e)	When was the last time you faced an uphill struggle?
f)	What punishment should government officials get for corruption?
g)	Do you always trust the police?
h)	Who else could take lie detector tests to make society better?
i)	Would it be a good idea for governments to make their politicians take the lie detector test?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Ecuador’s police chief?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Ecuador’s government is going to (1) ____ all of its police officers take a lie detector test. The BBC reports that police chief General Wilson Alulema wants all of the police to take the test to help (2) ____ corruption in the force. It is part of president Rafael Correa’s efforts to modernize the force (3) ____ a police mutiny last year. In September, 2010, Ecuador’s police mutinied (4) ____ a law that would have affected their pay and bonuses. They abandoned their posts and left much of the country without protection, which (5) ____ nationwide looting and unrest. President Correa faced the mutineers and challenged them to kill him – a bad idea as his own police attacked him with (6) ____ gas and he had to be rescued by the army.

As many as 42,000 officers will take the test. General Alulema says it will help stop police officers (7) ____ bribes and turning a blind eye to crime. The General said he hoped the test would lead to the sacking of any officer linked (8) ____ corruption. He told reporters he is facing an uphill struggle to root out corruption. He pointed to around 300 officials suspended (9) ____ corruption allegations who were recently given their jobs back. Judges (10) ____ there were too many irregularities for a case to be made against them. The BBC reports the General (11) ____ saying: “Those judges don't understand the gravity of their decisions.” Perhaps governments around the world should closely follow the results of the tests and consider (12) ____ checks on their politicians.

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

1.	(a)	fake	(b)	take	(c)	wake	(d)	make
2.	(a)	finalize	(b)	over	(c)	end	(d)	finished
3.	(a)	followed	(b)	following	(c)	follows	(d)	follower
4.	(a)	against	(b)	again	(c)	gains	(d)	gaining
5.	(a)	speared	(b)	spouted	(c)	sparked	(d)	spoiled
6.	(a)	cry	(b)	rip	(c)	sobbing	(d)	tear
7.	(a)	faking	(b)	taking	(c)	waking	(d)	shaking
8.	(a)	to	(b)	of	(c)	at	(d)	on
9.	(a)	under	(b)	over	(c)	through	(d)	between
10.	(a)	argues	(b)	arguing	(c)	argued	(d)	arguable
11.	(a)	as	(b)	has	(c)	was	(d)	is
12.	(a)	similarly	(b)	similarity	(c)	same	(d)	similar

 
 

WRITING

Write about lies 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 lie detectors. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. LIES: Make a poster about lies. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. CORRUPTION: Write a magazine article about lie detectors and corruption. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against them.

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 General Alulema. Ask him three questions about the lie detectors. Give him three of your opinions on them. 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.

T

e.

F

f.

F

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	chief	a.	boss
2	corruption	b.	fraud
3.	abandoned	c.	left
4.	unrest	d.	disorder
5.	sparked	e.	started
6.	bribes	f.	backhanders
7.	turn a blind eye to	g.	not look at
8.	uphill struggle	h.	tough time
9.	root out	i.	stop
10.	gravity	j.	seriousness

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	make all of its police officers take	a.	a lie detector test
2	modernize the	b.	force
3.	affected their pay	c.	and bonuses
4.	police attacked him with	d.	tear gas
5.	had to be rescued	e.	by the army
6.	help stop police officers	f.	taking bribes
7.	turning a blind	g.	eye to crime
8.	facing an uphill	h.	struggle
9.	understand the gravity	i.	of their decisions
10.	closely follow the	j.	results of the tests

GAP FILL:

Ecuador police to take lie detector test

Ecuador’s government is going to (1) make all of its police officers take a lie detector test. The BBC reports that police (2) chief General Wilson Alulema wants all of the police to take the test to help end corruption in the force. It is part of president Rafael Correa’s (3) efforts to modernize the force following a police mutiny last year. In September, 2010, Ecuador’s police mutinied (4) against a law that would have affected their pay and bonuses. They abandoned their posts and left (5) much of the country without protection, which sparked nationwide looting and (6) unrest. President Correa faced the mutineers and challenged them to kill him – a bad (7) idea as his own police attacked him with tear gas and he had to be (8) rescued by the army.

As many as 42,000 officers will take the test. General Alulema says it will help (9) stop police officers taking bribes and turning a blind eye to crime. The General said he (10) hoped the test would lead to the sacking of any officer linked to (11) corruption. He told reporters he is facing an uphill struggle to root (12) out corruption. He pointed to around 300 officials suspended over corruption allegations who were recently (13) given their jobs back. Judges argued there were too many irregularities for a case to be made against them. The BBC reports the General as (14) saying: “Those judges don't understand the gravity of their (15) decisions.” Perhaps governments around the world should closely follow the results of the tests and consider (16) similar checks on their politicians.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - c

3 - b

4 - a

5 - c

6 - d

7 - b

8 - a

9 - b

10 - c

11 - a

12 - d

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