The Reading / Listening - Level 1

Israel has OK'd a bill to make mosques quieter. The bill says loudspeakers at mosques during the call to prayer are too loud and damage people's quality of life. The call to prayer happens five times a day. The first time is at dawn and the last is after sunset. The bill has to pass a few more stages to be law. An Israeli politician said, "hundreds of thousands of Israelis suffer regularly" from the loudspeakers announcing prayer time.

Israel's Prime Minister supports the bill. He said: "Israel is committed to freedom of religion, but it must also protect citizens from the noise." An Arab politician said the bill was racist and its aim was, "to create an atmosphere of hatred…against the Arab public". A critic of the bill said it would, "hurt all of society and the efforts to establish [harmony] between Jews and Arabs". Arabs make up roughly 20 per cent of Israel's population.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Level 0 Level 2   or  Level 3

Sources
  • http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.752956
  • http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/benjamin-netanyahu-backs-bill-stop-mosque-noise-161113183806099.html
  • https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/11/13/israeli-pm-backs-quietening-muslim-call-to-prayer
  • http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Ministers-approve-bill-muffling-muezzins-call-to-prayer-472519


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Israel has OK'd a bill to
  2. damage people's quality
  3. The call to prayer happens
  4. the last is after
  5. The bill has to pass
  6. An Israeli
  7. hundreds of
  8. the loudspeakers announcing
  1. sunset
  2. thousands of Israelis
  3. a few more stages
  4. prayer time
  5. five times a day
  6. make mosques quieter
  7. of life
  8. politician

Paragraph 2

  1. Israel's Prime
  2. freedom of
  3. protect citizens
  4. create an atmosphere
  5. A critic of
  6. hurt all
  7. harmony between
  8. Arabs make up roughly
  1. the bill
  2. from the noise
  3. 20 per cent
  4. of society
  5. Jews and Arabs
  6. religion
  7. of hatred
  8. Minister

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Israel has (1) ___________________ to make mosques quieter. The bill says loudspeakers at mosques (2) __________________ to prayer are too loud and damage (3) ___________________ of life. The call to prayer happens five times a day. The first time is at dawn and the last is (4) ___________________. The bill has to pass a few more stages to be law. An Israeli politician said, "hundreds (5) ___________________ of Israelis suffer regularly" from the loudspeakers announcing (6) ___________________.

Israel's Prime Minister (7) ___________________. He said: "Israel is committed (8) ___________________ religion, but it must also protect citizens from the noise." An Arab politician said the bill was racist (9) ___________________ was, "to create an atmosphere (10) ___________________ the Arab public". A critic of the bill said it would, "hurt (11) ___________________ and the efforts to establish [harmony] between Jews and Arabs". Arabs (12) ___________________ 20 per cent of Israel's population.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

IsraelhasOK'dabilltomakemosquesquieter.Thebillsaysloudspeakers
atmosquesduringthecalltoprayeraretooloudanddamagepeople'squ
alityoflife.Thecalltoprayerhappensfivetimesaday.Thefirsttimeisatda
wnandthelastisaftersunset.Thebillhastopassafewmorestagestobela
w.AnIsraelipoliticiansaid,"hundredsofthousandsofIsraelissufferreg
ularly"fromtheloudspeakersannouncingprayertime.Israel'sPrimeMi
nistersupportsthebill.Hesaid:"Israeliscommittedtofreedomofreligio
n,butitmustalsoprotectcitizensfromthenoise."AnArabpoliticiansaidt
hebillwasracistanditsaimwas,"tocreateanatmosphereofhatred…aga
insttheArabpublic".Acriticofthebillsaiditwould,"hurtallofsocietyandt
heeffortstoestablish[harmony]betweenJewsandArabs".Arabsmake
uproughly20percentofIsrael'spopulation.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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