The Reading / Listening - King Leopold II Statue - Level 1

Anti-racism protestors in Belgium covered a statue of former King Leopold II in paint. Workers pulled the statue down. Hundreds of protestors cheered. Leopold was king from 1865 to 1909. He ruled the Congo Free State in Africa for 23 years. City officials will probably put the statue in a museum. One official said: "The square where the statue stood will be redesigned in 2023. There will be no room for it there afterwards."

Over 64,000 people signed a petition. They want people to know what happened in the Congo. The petition said that in 23 years, "this man killed more than 10 million Congolese" without ever even going to the Congo. A newspaper said these deaths led to the first use of the term, "crime against humanity". Leopold made a lot of money from rubber plantations. Over 8,000 people signed a different petition. They say the people who ran the Congo caused the deaths.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    King Leopold II Statue - Level 0 King Leopold II Statue - Level 2   or  King Leopold II Statue - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.dw.com/en/belgium-king-leopold-ii-statue-removed-in-antwerp-after-anti-racism-protests/a-53755021
  • https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/leopold-ii-belgium-antwerp-remove-statue-200609133037080.html
  • https://www.okayafrica.com/black-lives-matter-protests-belgian-statue-removed-from-square/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium


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. Anti-racism
  2. covered a statue of former
  3. Workers pulled the statue
  4. Hundreds of protestors
  5. City
  6. put the statue
  7. The square where the statue
  8. There will be no room
  1. stood
  2. officials
  3. cheered
  4. King Leopold II
  5. in a museum
  6. protestors
  7. for it
  8. down

Paragraph 2

  1. Over 64,000 people
  2. They want people to know
  3. without ever even going
  4. crime
  5. Leopold made a
  6. rubber
  7. Over 8,000 people signed
  8. people who ran the Congo
  1. a different petition
  2. to the Congo
  3. caused the deaths
  4. signed a petition
  5. plantations
  6. what happened
  7. against humanity
  8. lot of money

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Anti-racism protestors in Belgium (1) ___________________ of former King Leopold II in paint. Workers pulled (2) ___________________. Hundreds of protestors cheered. Leopold was king from 1865 to 1909. (3) ___________________ Congo Free State in Africa for 23 years. City (4) ___________________ put the statue in a museum. (5) ___________________: "The square where the statue stood will be redesigned in 2023. There will be (6) ___________________ it there afterwards."

Over 64,000 people (7) ___________________. They want people to know what happened in the Congo. The (8) ___________________ in 23 years, "this man killed more than 10 million Congolese" (9) ___________________ going to the Congo. A newspaper said these (10) ___________________ the first use of the term, "crime against humanity". Leopold made a lot of (11) ___________________ plantations. Over 8,000 people signed a different petition. They say the people who ran the Congo (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Anti-racismprotestorsinBelgiumcoveredastatueofformerKingLeop
oldIIinpaint.Workerspulledthestatuedown.Hundredsofprotestorsch
eered.Leopoldwaskingfrom1865to1909.HeruledtheCongoFreeStat
einAfricafor23years.Cityofficialswillprobablyputthestatueinamuseu
m.Oneofficialsaid:"Thesquarewherethestatuestoodwillberedesigne
din2023.Therewillbenoroomforitthereafterwards."Over64,000peop
lesignedapetition.TheywantpeopletoknowwhathappenedintheCongo.
Thepetitionsaidthatin23years,"thismankilledmorethan10million
Congolese"withouteverevengoingtotheCongo.Anewspapersaidthes
edeathsledtothefirstuseoftheterm,"crimeagainsthumanity".Leopoldm
adealotofmoneyfromrubberplantations.Over8,000peoplesignedadiffe
rentpetition.TheysaythepeoplewhorantheCongocausedthedeaths.

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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