Breaking News English

        

1. SOUTH SUDAN: Walk around the class and talk to other students about South Sudan. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

new country / carnival atmosphere / national anthem / long struggle ahead / hope / rebel army / civil war / refugees / independence / borders / dispute / oil revenues

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. NEW COUNTRY: Make one. Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Why?
Name
Flag
National anthem
Currency
Economy
Geography

4. PEACE: Students A strongly believe Sudan and South Sudan will be peaceful neighbours; Students B strongly believe not.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. PRIDE: What are you most proud of your country? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

sports stars army degree of democracy its leaders

human rights record environment record its world power its geography

6. NATION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘nation’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	South Sudan has a new flag but an old national anthem.	T / F
b.	Fifty African leaders attended the independence ceremony.	T / F
c.	South Sudan has less than 200 km of paved roads.	T / F
d.	South Sudan sports teams are getting ready for the 2012 Olympics.	T / F
e.	The South Sudanese have fought for independence for a century.	T / F
f.	Over two-and-a-half million people died in civil wars in Sudan.	T / F
g.	Over 98% of South Sudanese voted for independence.	T / F
h.	All of the borders between Sudan and South Sudan are agreed on.	T / F

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

1.	declared	a.	nasty
2	carnival	b.	fight
3.	heads of state	c.	festival
4.	struggle	d.	belief
5.	hope	e.	announced
6.	rebel	f.	wars
7.	formed	g.	leaders
8.	conflicts	h.	guerilla
9.	bitter	i.	profits
10.	revenues	j.	came into being

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	it declared its	a.	$1 a day
2	There was a carnival	b.	for nationhood
3.	a long struggle	c.	atmosphere
4.	an illiteracy rate	d.	war from 1955 to 1972
5.	live on less than	e.	for six decades
6.	fighting the Arab north	f.	of 85 per cent
7.	the first civil	g.	bitter dispute
8.	2.5 million people died	h.	independence
9.	paving the way	i.	in the conflicts
10.	locked in a	j.	ahead

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

South Sudan became the world's (1) ____________ country on July the 9th as it declared its independence. There was a (2) ____________ atmosphere in the capital Juba as thousands waved their new flag and sang their freshly-penned national (3) ____________. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and 30 African (4) ____________ of state attended the celebrations. The world’s 193rd nation has a long (5) ____________ ahead. It is almost the size of the American state of Texas but has only 150 kilometers of (6) ____________ roads. It also has an illiteracy (7) ____________ of 85 per cent and half of the country’s 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. However, people are full of (8) ____________; they have a soccer and basketball team that have already started practising for the 2012 Olympic games.		struggle rate carnival newest paved anthem hope heads
The people of South Sudan, (9) ____________ Christian, have been fighting the Arab north for six decades.  The Sudanese government fought a (10) ____________ army from the south in the first (11) ____________ war from 1955 to 1972. In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (12) ____________ and fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War for almost twenty-one years. Over 2.5 million people died in the conflicts and more than 5 million have become (13) ____________ in their own country or in neighbouring countries. In January 2011, 98.83 per cent of the south’s population voted for independence from Sudan,           (14) ____________ the way for nationhood. There are no official (15) ____________ separating South Sudan from Sudan and the two countries are (16) ____________ in a bitter dispute over the rights to oil revenues.		borders formed rebel locked refugees largely paving civil

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

South Sudan ________________________ country on July the 9th as it declared its independence. There ________________________ in the capital Juba as thousands waved their new flag and sang their freshly-________________________. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and 30 African heads of state attended the celebrations. The world’s 193rd nation has a long struggle ahead. It is almost the size of the American state of Texas but has only 150 kilometers ________________________. It also has an ________________________ per cent and half of the country’s 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. However, ________________________; they have a soccer and basketball team that have already started practising for the 2012 Olympic games.

The people of South Sudan, largely Christian, have been fighting the Arab ________________________.  The Sudanese government fought a rebel army from the south in the first civil war from 1955 to 1972. In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army ________________________ the Second Sudanese Civil War for almost twenty-one years. Over 2.5 million people died in the conflicts and more than 5 million ________________________ in their own country or in neighbouring countries. In January 2011, 98.83 per cent of the south’s population ________________________ from Sudan, paving the way for nationhood. There ________________________ separating South Sudan from Sudan and the two countries are locked in a bitter dispute over the ________________________.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

carnival

atmosphere

• 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 activity. 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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

declared waved heads size rate games

six civil refugees 98.83 borders oil

STUDENT SOUTH SUDAN SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about South Sudan 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

SOUTH SUDAN DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘independence’?
c)	What do you think of South Sudan becoming a country?
d)	Are there any parts of your country that should get independence?
e)	What do you think of your flag and national anthem?
f)	What message would you give to the people of South Sudan?
g)	What do you know about the history of South Sudan’s independence?
h)	What should South Sudan focus on in the next decade?
i)	What should the world do to help South Sudan?
j)	How will the South Sudanese feel watching their athletes at the Olympics?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What three adjectives describe this article (and why)?
c)	Should the UN decide if peoples can be independent or not (to save wars)?
d)	Is independence worth the lives of the 2.5 million who died in the fighting?
e)	What would it be like to be a refugee in your own country?
f)	What progress do you think South Sudan will make in the coming years?
g)	How will people decide the borders?
h)	Do you think talks over oil revenues will be peaceful?
i)	Would you like to go to South Sudan?
j)	What questions would you like to ask South Sudan’s president?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

South Sudan became the world's newest country on July the 9th (1) ____ it declared its independence. There was a carnival atmosphere in the capital Juba as thousands waved their new flag and sang their freshly-(2) ____ national anthem. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and 30 African (3) ____ of state attended the celebrations. The world’s 193rd nation has a long struggle ahead. It is almost the size of the American state of Texas but has only 150 kilometers of (4) ____ roads. It also has an illiteracy (5) ____ of 85 per cent and half of the country’s 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. However, people are full of hope; they have a soccer and basketball team that have already started practising (6) ____ the 2012 Olympic games.

The people of South Sudan, (7) ____ Christian, have been fighting the Arab north for six decades.  The Sudanese government fought a rebel army from the south in the first civil war from 1955 to 1972. In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (8) ____ and fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War for almost twenty-one years. Over 2.5 million people died (9) ____ the conflicts and more than 5 million have become refugees in their own country or in (10) ____ countries. In January 2011, 98.83 per cent of the south’s population voted for independence from Sudan, paving the (11) ____ for nationhood. There are no official borders separating South Sudan from Sudan and the two countries are locked in a (12) ____ dispute over the rights to oil revenues.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	is	(b)	was	(c)	has	(d)	as
2.	(a)	penned	(b)	keyed	(c)	painted	(d)	erased
3.	(a)	faces	(b)	heads	(c)	shoulders	(d)	backs
4.	(a)	paving	(b)	pavement	(c)	paved	(d)	paves
5.	(a)	late	(b)	date	(c)	rate	(d)	mate
6.	(a)	by	(b)	for	(c)	as	(d)	to
7.	(a)	largest	(b)	large	(c)	larger	(d)	largely
8.	(a)	formed	(b)	farmed	(c)	firmed	(d)	framed
9.	(a)	of	(b)	in	(c)	on	(d)	to
10.	(a)	neighbourhood	(b)	neighbour	(c)	neighbours	(d)	neighbouring
11.	(a)	street	(b)	pavement	(c)	way	(d)	highway
12.	(a)	bitter	(b)	bit	(c)	bitten	(d)	bitterness

 
 

WRITING

Write about South Sudan for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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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 out more about South Sudan. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. SOUTH SUDAN: Make a poster about South Sudan. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. NEIGHBOURS: Write a magazine article about Sudan and South Sudan and how they should be good neighbours. Include imaginary interviews with people from both countries.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to South Sudan’s leader. Ask him three questions about South Sudan. Give him three pieces of advice on how he can help his new country. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

T

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	declared	a.	announced
2	carnival	b.	festival
3.	heads of state	c.	leaders
4.	struggle	d.	fight
5.	hope	e.	belief
6.	rebel	f.	guerilla
7.	formed	g.	came into being
8.	conflicts	h.	wars
9.	bitter	i.	nasty
10.	revenues	j.	profits

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	it declared its	a.	independence
2	There was a carnival	b.	atmosphere
3.	a long struggle	c.	ahead
4.	an illiteracy rate	d.	of 85 per cent
5.	live on less than	e.	$1 a day
6.	fighting the Arab north	f.	for six decades
7.	the first civil	g.	war from 1955 to 1972
8.	2.5 million people died	h.	in the conflicts
9.	paving the way	i.	for nationhood
10.	locked in a	j.	bitter dispute

GAP FILL:

South Sudan becomes world’s 193rd nation

South Sudan became the world's (1) newest country on July the 9th as it declared its independence. There was a (2) carnival atmosphere in the capital Juba as thousands waved their new flag and sang their freshly-penned national (3) anthem. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and 30 African (4) heads of state attended the celebrations. The world’s 193rd nation has a long (5) struggle ahead. It is almost the size of the American state of Texas but has only 150 kilometers of (6) paved roads. It also has an illiteracy (7) rate of 85 per cent and half of the country’s 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. However, people are full of (8) hope; they have a soccer and basketball team that have already started practising for the 2012 Olympic games.

The people of South Sudan, (9) largely Christian, have been fighting the Arab north for six decades.  The Sudanese government fought a (10) rebel army from the south in the first (11) civil war from 1955 to 1972. In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (12) formed and fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War for almost twenty-one years. Over 2.5 million people died in the conflicts and more than 5 million have become (13) refugees in their own country or in neighbouring countries. In January 2011, 98.83 per cent of the south’s population voted for independence from Sudan, (14) paving the way for nationhood. There are no official (15) borders separating South Sudan from Sudan and the two countries are (16) locked in a bitter dispute over the rights to oil revenues.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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