More than 450 sheep died in a village in Turkey after they jumped off a cliff. The Turkish newspaper Radikal reported on Friday that almost a third of a flock of 1,500 sheep leapt 15 meters across a ravine. Naturally, the creatures could not jump so far. People in the Turkish village of Gevas, Van province, are shocked by the deaths. Villager Umit Ozalan said that the sheep followed each other one by one in jumping to their deaths. The incident is a financial disaster for the village. A village spokesperson calculated people have lost up to $100,000. Mr. Ozalan said “This is a catastrophe. I am financially ruined.” He also said he would switch to chicken farming in the future.

WARM-UPS

1. I’M A SHEEP: Everyone in the class is now a sheep. Introduce yourself to the other sheep in the class and talk about your sheep lives. What do you do every day? What do you worry or get stressed about? What do you think about humans keeping you in fields or dogs chasing you? Don’t you get fed up with eating grass all the time?

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Sheep / lamb / wool / Turkey / shock / shepherds / $100,000 / catastrophes / chicken farming

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. SHEEP: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with sheep. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

4. SHEEP OPINIONS: Talk with your partner(s) about these opinions on sheep. Do you agree or disagree with the opinions?

1. Sheep are very intelligent creatures.
2. Sheep make wonderful pets.
3. Sheep are dangerous.
4. Sheep are among the most useful animals in the world.
5. Sheep have wonderful, stress-free lives.
6. Lamb is the most delicious meat in the world.
7. Being a shepherd and looking after sheep is a relaxing and enjoyable job.
8. The world would be in big trouble without sheep.

5. FARMING: Imagine you are farmers. In pairs / groups, talk about the advantages and disadvantages of raising the following animals on a farm. Which animal would you choose to raise?

Sheep Cows Chickens Pigs

Ducks Ostriches Snakes Other

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Share prices in sheep farms fell sharply.	T / F
b.	450 sheep in Turkey copied each by leaping to their deaths.	T / F
c.	The sheep tried to jump across a 15-meter ravine.	T / F
d.	Turkish villagers are shocked by the death of the sheep.	T / F
e.	The sheep jumped in pairs.	T / F
f.	The incident has brought financial ruin to the village.	T / F
g.	The cost of 450 sheep in Turkey is $10,000.	T / F
h.	A shepherd said he would abandon sheep in favor of pigs.	T / F

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

a.	jumped	happening
b.	flock	stunned
c.	ravine	estimated
d.	creatures	gap
e.	shocked	representative
f.	incident	group
g.	one by one	disaster
h.	spokesperson	beasts
i.	calculated	leaped
j.	catastrophe	consecutively

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

a.	jumped	a ravine
b.	a flock	ruined
c.	leap 15 meters across	to $100,000
d.	shocked	by one
e.	followed each other one	disaster
f.	financial	in the future
g.	lost up	by the deaths
h.	financially	of 1,500 sheep
i.	switch to chicken farming	off a cliff

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Sheep suicides cause financial ruin

More than 450 sheep died in a village in Turkey after they jumped off a ________. The Turkish newspaper Radikal reported on Friday that almost a third of a ________ of 1,500 sheep tried to leap 15 meters ________ a ravine. Naturally, the ________ could not jump so far. People in the Turkish village of Gevas, Van province, are shocked by the ________. Villager Umit Ozalan said that the sheep followed each other one by one in jumping to their deaths. The ________ is a financial disaster for the village. A village spokesperson calculated people have lost up to $100,000. Mr. Ozalan said “This is a ________. I am financially ruined.” He also said he would ________ to chicken farming in the future.

deaths across catastrophe cliff creatures switch flock incident

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 gap fill. 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. STUDENT SHEEP SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about sheep.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

village cliff Turkish flock naturally

followed disaster calculated ruined switch

 DISCUSSION

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

1. What did you think when you saw this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What is your opinion of sheep?
4. Would you choose to have a sheep as a pet?
5. Do you think sheep are intelligent?
6. Do you think the life of a sheep is an easy one?
7. Why do you think sheep always follow each other?
8. What do you think sheep think about all day?
9. What do you think is the biggest dream for a sheep?
10. Do you think sheep are dangerous?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. Do you feel sorry for the shepherds in the Turkish village?
4. Do you think a shepherd’s life is a good one?
5. Why do you think the sheep jumped to their deaths?
6. Do you think sheep farming is a risky business?
7. What is your favorite farmyard animal and why?
8. What should the villagers do now?
9. Do you think switching to chicken farming is a good idea?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

SHEEP ADVICE:

You are a sheep counselor. It is your job to provide help for stressed sheep. You have to train some new sheep counselors. In pairs / groups, create an information sheet for new counselors about what kinds of things makes sheep stressed and how to help the sheep overcome their stress.

	STRESSFUL THINGS	HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS
Life on the farm
Dogs
Other sheep
Rumors about kebabs, mint sauce and dinner tables
Weather
Other

After you have finished, change partners and tell each other about your worksheets. Give each other advice on how to improve your worksheets.

Return to your original partners and use the advice you received into making your original worksheet better.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Sheep suicides cause financial ruin

More than 450 sheep died in __ _______ in Turkey after they jumped ___ __ _____. The Turkish newspaper Radikal reported on Friday that almost __ _____ of a flock of 1,500 sheep tried to leap 15 meters across a ______. Naturally, the creatures could not jump so far. People in the Turkish village of Gevas, Van province, are _______ __ the deaths. Villager Umit Ozalan said that the sheep followed ____ _____ one by one in jumping to their deaths. The incident is a financial ________ ___ the village. A village spokesperson __________ people have lost up to $100,000. Mr. Ozalan said “This is a catastrophe. I am financially ______.” He also said he would ______ __ chicken farming in the future.

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 more information on sheep. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. FARMER: Write an essay about what you think life as a farmer is like. Read the main points of your essay to your classmates in your next lesson. Did everyone have similar ideas?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to the Turkish shepherd Umit Ozalan. Tell him what you think he should do to make a living in the future. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. T

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	jumped	leaped
b.	flock	group
c.	ravine	gap
d.	creatures	beasts
e.	shocked	stunned
f.	incident	happening
g.	one by one	consecutively
h.	spokesperson	representative
i.	calculated	estimated
j.	catastrophe	disaster

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	jumped	off a cliff
b.	a flock	of 1,500 sheep
c.	leap 15 meters across	a ravine
d.	shocked	by the deaths
e.	followed each other one	by one
f.	financial	disaster
g.	lost up	to $100,000
h.	financially	ruined
i.	switch to chicken farming	in the future

GAP FILL:

Sheep suicides cause financial ruin

More than 450 sheep died in a village in Turkey after they jumped off a cliff. The Turkish newspaper Radikal reported on Friday that almost a third of a flock of 1,500 sheep tried to leap 15 meters across a ravine. Naturally, the creatures could not jump so far. People in the Turkish village of Gevas, Van province, are shocked by the deaths. Villager Umit Ozalan said that the sheep followed each other one by one in jumping to their deaths. The incident is a financial disaster for the village. A village spokesperson calculated people have lost up to $100,000. Mr. Ozalan said “This is a catastrophe. I am financially ruined.” He also said he would switch to chicken farming in the future.

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