Breaking News English

Listening (1:32 - 180 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

Vietnam and the USA held events yesterday to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. In Washington DC, war veterans wore their old uniforms at a remembrance ceremony. They paid tribute to the soldiers who died or are still missing in Vietnam. They also laid wreaths at the Vietnam War Memorial and listened to a military band. In Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, colourful parades were held to celebrate Liberation Day. In Vietnam, the war is known as the American War.

Both countries have moved on since the war and are now friends. One million Vietnamese Americans across America held various events using the slogan: “Remembering the past, shaping the future”. Heavy political speeches in Ho Chi Minh City were replaced by talks on the future economic prosperity of Vietnam. In a sign of how much things have changed, logos of American companies were a common sight along the route of the pageant. America is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: Vietnam / The Vietnam War / Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon / Washington DC / parades / war / remembering the past / moving on… For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. VIETNAM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Vietnam. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. THE WAR: In pairs / groups, interview each other about what you know (remember) of the Vietnam War. Where did you learn about the war? How much of your information is from movies? What do you know about the feelings of Vietnamese and Americans since the war? What lessons can we learn from the war?

4. WAR: Write down three sentences that begin with the word “war”. Read one sentence to your partner / group and have a quick discussion about it. Read another sentence and have another quick discussion. Change partners and try to listen to as many sentences from other people as you can. Go back to your original partner / group and make one conclusion about what you heard. Share / Discuss this with the rest of the class.

5. WARS: Wars are horrific and brutal events in our history and present day. Somehow countries move on, become friends and live in peace. Circle the names of the wars below that you know the names of in English. Talk about them and how they changed the world. Are the countries friends today?

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘anniversary’ and ‘end’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. The Vietnam War ended 40 years ago. T / F
2. In Washington DC, veterans paid tribute to soldiers who died in the war.  T / F
3. The Vietnam War is known as The American War in Vietnam.  T / F
4. There are very few Vietnamese people living in America.  T / F
5. There were lots of heavy speeches in Ho Chi Minh City.  T / F
6. America is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.  T / F

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

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

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. PHRASE FILL: Write the number of the phrase that belongs in each space.

US Vietnam mark end of war

Vietnam and the USA held events yesterday to ____________________ of the end of the Vietnam War. In Washington DC, war veterans wore their old uniforms at a remembrance ceremony. They ____________________ or are still missing in Vietnam. They also laid wreaths at the Vietnam War Memorial and listened to a military band. In Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, ____________________ to celebrate Liberation Day. In Vietnam, the war is known as the American War.

____________________ since the war and are now friends. One million Vietnamese Americans across America held various events ____________________: “Remembering the past, shaping the future”. Heavy political speeches in Ho Chi Minh City were replaced by talks on the future economic prosperity of Vietnam. In a sign of ____________________, logos of American companies were a common sight along the route of the pageant. America is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.

1. both countries have moved on
2. colourful parades were held
3. mark the 30th anniversary
4. how much things have changed
5. using the slogan
6. paid tribute to the soldiers who died

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to this exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. PHRASE FILL: Check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT VIETNAM WAR SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down questions about the Vietnam War. Ask other classmates your questions and report back to your original partner/ group to compare your findings.

5. ‘ANNIVERSARY’ / ‘END’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. What was the most interesting thing in this article?
2. Did you learn anything new from reading this article?
3. Did an American or Vietnamese reporter write it?
4. What do you feel about the Vietnam War?
5. Was it a war that should never have happened?
6. The media often speak of “another Vietnam”. What does this mean?
7. Do you like watching movies about the Vietnam War?
8. Do you think the Vietnam War changed history?
9. The American Government of that time feared communism would spread around the world. What do you think of this?
10. Is communism dangerous?
11. What lessons can we learn from the Vietnam War?
12. Would you like to go to Vietnam?
13. If you went to Vietnam, what would you like to do and see?
14. How does your country commemorate the winning or ending of wars?
15. How does your country deal with wars that were lost?
16. When will countries stop going to war?
17. Did you like this discussion?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. GOODBYE WAR: Your task is to end a war by the finish of this lesson. You have all the power in the world you need to do this. Everything you decide will happen when you leave class. Choose one war in the world. Discuss what needs to be done to end that war. Some of the following may need to be changed:

After you have ended the war, tell another partner / group what you decided. Your partner(s) will give you feedback on your decisions.

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 on the Vietnam War. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. NO MORE WAR: Write a poem and read it to your class in your next lesson. Call the poem “No More War”.

4. GOOD FRIENDS NOW: There are many countries that have been at war but are now good friends. Write a short article describing two such countries. Write about the history between these countries and focus on their future. Present your article to the class in your next lesson.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. The Vietnam War ended 40 years ago. F
2. In Washington DC, veterans paid tribute to soldiers who died in the war.  T
3. The Vietnam War is known as The American War in Vietnam.  T
4. There are very few Vietnamese people living in America.  F
5. There were lots of heavy speeches in Ho Chi Minh City.  F
6. America is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

PHRASE FILL:

US Vietnam mark end of war

Vietnam and the USA held events yesterday to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. In Washington DC, war veterans wore their old uniforms at a remembrance ceremony. They paid tribute to the soldiers who died or are still missing in Vietnam. They also laid wreaths at the Vietnam War Memorial and listened to a military band. In Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, colourful parades were held to celebrate Liberation Day. The war in Vietnam is known as the American War.

Both countries have moved on since the war and are now friends. One million Vietnamese Americans across America held various events using the slogan: “Remembering the past, shaping the future”. Heavy political speeches in Ho Chi Minh City were replaced by talks on the future economic prosperity of Vietnam. In a sign of how much things have changed, logos of American companies were a common sight along the route of the pageants. America is now Vietnam’s largest trading partner.