The Reading / Listening - Newspapers - Level 5

Lebanon's English-language Daily Star newspaper published an edition on Thursday without any news. It printed largely blank, white pages. The front page simply said "Lebanon". The inside pages contained headlines highlighting the country's current ills, and the back page had a photo of a cedar tree (Lebanon's national symbol) with a caption reading: "Wake up before it's too late." The newspaper said it had, "refrained from publishing news articles in its print edition" to protest against the country's worsening economy and political situation.

The editor-in-chief spoke to CNN reporters about the rationale for the protest. She said: "The aim is to ring the alarm bells about all the challenges that our country is facing and to urge everyone in Lebanon to work towards resolving these crises." She called on "politicians and everyone to pull together". Some of the headlines inside the paper highlighted a government deadlock, "alarming" levels of pollution, public debt, unemployment and illegal weapons flooding the country. The editor-in-chief said: "It's enough that people take notice of these problems and think."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Newspapers - Level 4 or  Newspapers - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/lebanon-daily-star-publishes-edition-protest-national-crisis-190808095602980.html
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/08/middleeast/lebanon-newspaper-intl/index.html
  • https://www.yahoo.com/news/lebanon-newspaper-goes-black-raise-alarm-over-political-115046432.html


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. published an
  2. It printed largely blank,
  3. The inside pages contained
  4. highlighting the country's
  5. the back page had a photo
  6. Wake up before
  7. refrained from publishing
  8. protest against the country's
  1. news articles
  2. current ills
  3. worsening economy
  4. white pages
  5. it's too late
  6. edition
  7. of a cedar tree
  8. headlines

Paragraph 2

  1. the rationale
  2. The aim is to ring
  3. all the challenges that
  4. work towards resolving
  5. alarming levels
  6. public
  7. illegal weapons
  8. people take
  1. flooding the country
  2. these crises
  3. debt
  4. notice of these problems
  5. our country is facing
  6. for the protest
  7. of pollution
  8. the alarm bells

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Lebanon's English-language Daily Star newspaper (1) ___________________ on Thursday without any news. It printed largely (2) ___________________. The front page simply said "Lebanon". The inside pages contained headlines highlighting the (3) ___________________, and the back page had a photo of a cedar tree (Lebanon's national symbol) with (4) ___________________: "Wake up before it's too late." The newspaper said it had, "refrained from publishing news articles in (5) ___________________" to protest against the country's worsening economy (6) ___________________.

The editor-in-chief spoke to CNN reporters (7) ___________________ for the protest. She said: "The aim is to (8) ___________________ bells about all the challenges that our country is facing and to urge everyone in Lebanon to work towards (9) ___________________." She called on "politicians and everyone to pull together". Some of (10) ___________________ the paper highlighted a government deadlock, "alarming" (11) ___________________, public debt, unemployment and illegal weapons flooding the country. The editor-in-chief said: "It's enough that people (12) ___________________ these problems and think."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Lebanon'sEnglish-languageDailyStarnewspaperpublishedaneditio
nonThursdaywithoutanynews.Itprintedlargelyblank,whitepages.Th
efrontpagesimplysaid"Lebanon".Theinsidepagescontainedheadline
shighlightingthecountry'scurrentills,andthebackpagehadaphotoofa
cedartree(Lebanon'snationalsymbol)withacaptionreading:"Wakeup
beforeit'stoolate."Thenewspapersaidithad,"refrainedfrompublishin
gnewsarticlesinitsprintedition"toprotestagainstthecountry'sworseni
ngeconomyandpoliticalsituation.Theeditor-in-chiefspoketoCNNrep
ortersabouttherationalefortheprotest.Shesaid:"Theaimistoringthea
larmbellsaboutallthechallengesthatourcountryisfacingandtourgeev
eryoneinLebanontoworktowardsresolvingthesecrises."Shecalledon
"politiciansandeveryonetopulltogether".Someoftheheadlinesinsidet
hepaperhighlightedagovernmentdeadlock,"alarming"levelsofpolluti
on,publicdebt,unemploymentandillegalweaponsfloodingthecountry
.Theeditor-in-chiefsaid:"It'senoughthatpeopletakenoticeofthesepr
oblemsandthink."

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.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You