The Reading / Listening - Transgender Soldiers - Level 6

President Donald Trump's desire to ban transgender people from serving in the USA military has already run into problems. Senior military bosses at the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" to its policy of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal notification from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a statement: "In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect." He added: "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance."

President Trump made his announcement in a surprise tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." The decision reversed a policy that was approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican John McCain disagreed with Mr Trump. He said: "Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

    Transgender Soldiers - Level 4  or  Transgender Soldiers - Level 5

Sources
  • http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/27/539760575/joint-chiefs-chairman-says-transgender-policy-wont-change-yet
  • https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/pentagon-pushes-back-on-trump-bid-to-change-transgender-policy
  • http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.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 :-)

Warm-ups

1. TRANSGENDER SOLDIERS: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about transgender soldiers. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

       desire / ban / modifications / policy / transgender / formal / personnel / respect /
       announcement / accept / decisive / medical costs / disruption / standards / serving

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

3. MILITARY: Students A strongly believe everyone should serve in the military; Students B strongly believe otherwise.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

4. SERVING: What are the best branches of the military to serve in? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

 

Good Points

Bad Points

Army

 

 

Navy

 

 

Air Force

 

 

Special Ops

 

 

Intelligence

 

 

Coast guard

 

 
MY e-BOOK
See a sample

5. PENTAGON: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "Pentagon". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. PERSONNEL: Rank these with your partner. Put the best military positions at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

  • helicopter pilot
  • fighter pilot
  • sailor
  • spy
  • general
  • tank driver
  • marine
  • soldier

Before reading / listening

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

  1. Donald Trump tried to ban transgender people from being in the military.  T/F
  2. The Pentagon said it will modify its policies regarding transgender policy.   T/F
  3. The Pentagon said it received notification from the White House.     T / F
  4. The Secretary of Defense has issued implementation guidance.     T / F
  5. President Trump made his announcement online.     T / F
  6. President Trump said transgender people increase costs to the military.   T / F
  7. Barack Obama reversed the decision about transgender people.     T / F
  8. John McCain did not agree with President Trump.     T / F

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

  1. desire
  2. serving
  3. notification
  4. personnel
  5. guidance
  6. allow
  7. capacity
  8. burdened
  9. entail
  10. current
  1. permit
  2. staff
  3. weighed down
  4. communication
  5. present-day
  6. wish
  7. involve
  8. advice
  9. working
  10. position

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

  1. transgender people from serving
  2. Senior military
  3. treat all of our personnel
  4. the current
  5. the secretary has issued implementation
  6. individuals to serve in any
  7. overwhelming
  8. burdened with the tremendous medical
  9. reversed a policy that
  10. medical and readiness
  1. was approved
  2. guidance
  3. victory
  4. bosses
  5. in the USA military
  6. standards
  7. policy
  8. capacity
  9. with respect
  10. costs

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.
notification
bosses
guidance
desire
run
policy
policy
meantime

President Donald Trump's (1) ____________ to ban transgender people from serving in the USA military has already (2) ____________ into problems. Senior military (3) ____________ at the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" to its (4) ____________ of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal (5) ____________ from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a statement: "In the (6) ____________, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect." He added: "There will be no modifications to the current (7) ____________ until the President's Direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation (8) ____________."

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.
serve
approved
victory
meets
surprise
disagreed
decisive
entail

President Trump made his announcement in a (9) ____________ tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to (10) ____________ in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on (11) ____________ and overwhelming (12) ____________ and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would (13) ____________." The decision reversed a policy that was (14) ____________ by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican John McCain (15) ____________ with Mr Trump. He said: "Any American who (16) ____________ current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving."

Listening — Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1) Donald Trump's desire to ban transgender people from serving in ______
     a.  the USA militaries
     b.  the USA militarize
     c.  the USA military
     d.  the USA militia

2) allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more ______
     a.  formally notification
     b.  formally notify caption
     c.  formal not if it's location
     d.  formal notification

3)  In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel ______
     a.  within respect
     b.  with respect
     c.  without respect
     d.  wither respect

4)  There will be no modifications to ______
     a.  the currant policy
     b.  the current policy
     c.  the currants policy
     d.  the currency policy

5)  the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued ______
     a.  implementation guidance
     b.  implementation guide ants
     c.  implement nation guidance
     d.  implement ration guide ants

6)  President Trump made his announcement in a ______ Wednesday
     a.  surprise tweet on
     b.  surprised tweet on
     c.  surprise tweeting on
     d.  surprises tweet on

7)  not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve ______
     a.  in many capacity
     b.  in any cap a city
     c.  in any cap acidity
     d.  in any capacity

8)  Our military must be focused on decisive and ______
     a.  overwhelming victorious
     b.  overwhelming victories
     c.  overwhelming victory
     d.  overwhelmingly victory

9)  be burdened with the tremendous medical costs ______
     a.  and disrupted
     b.  end disruption
     c.  and disruption
     d.  end disrupted

10)  Any American who meets current medical and ______
     a.  ready ness standard
     b.  read in ness standards
     c.  readiness standard
     d.  readiness standards

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

President Donald Trump's (1) ___________________ transgender people from (2) ___________________ USA military has already run into problems. Senior military bosses at the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" (3) ___________________ of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal notification from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a statement: "In the meantime, we will continue (4) ___________________ our personnel with respect." He added: "There will be no modifications to the current (5) ___________________ President's Direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary (6) ___________________ implementation guidance."

President Trump made his announcement (7) ___________________ tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals (8) ___________________ capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot (9) ___________________ the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." The decision (10) ___________________ that was approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican John McCain disagreed with Mr Trump. He said: "Any American (11) ___________________ medical and readiness standards should (12) ___________________ continue serving."

Comprehension questions

  1. What did one of Donald Trump's plans run into?
  2. What organization said there would be no modifications?
  3. What is the job of Joseph Dunston?
  4. How will the Pentagon treat all of its personnel?
  5. Which secretary has to inform the Pentagon of modifications?
  6. How did Donald Trump make his announcement?
  7. What did President Trump say the military must be focused on?
  8. What kind of costs did President Trump talk about?
  9. Who initially approved transgender people serving in the military?
  10. Who disagreed with President Trump?

Multiple choice quiz

1) What did one of Donald Trump's plans run into?
a) resistance
b) ideas
c) problems
d) danger

2) What organization said there would be no modifications?
a) the Pentagon
b) the CIA
c) the FBI
d) the White House

3) What is the job of Joseph Dunston?
a) Joint Chiefs Chairman
b) Chief of Staff
c) general
d) head of the FBI

4) How will the Pentagon treat all of its personnel?
a) later
b) with respect
c) to dinner
d) normally

5) Which secretary has to inform the Pentagon of modifications?
a) the Secretary of Military
b) the White House secretary
c) the President's secretary
d) the Secretary of Defense

6) How did Donald Trump make his announcement?
a) on TV
b) via Twitter
c) over the radio
d) in the newspaper

7) What did President Trump say the military must be focused on?
a) victory
b) the military
c) soldiers
d) sailors

8) What kind of costs did President Trump talk about?
a) policy costs
b) spiralling costs
c) medical costs
d) standard costs

9) Who initially approved transgender people serving in the military?
a) George W. Bush
b) a soldier
c) a 5-star general
d) Barack Obama

10) Who disagreed with President Trump?
a) John McCain
b) Barack Obama
c) Melania Trump
d) a 5-star general

Role play

Role  A – General

You think a general is the best military job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a tank driver, a fighter pilot or a spy.

Role  B – Tank Driver

You think a tank driver is the best military job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a general, a fighter pilot or a spy.

Role  C – Fighter Pilot

You think a fighter pilot is the best military job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): a tank driver, a general or a spy.

Role  D – Spy

You think a spy is the best military job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why):  a tank driver, a fighter pilot or a general.

After reading / listening

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

'transgender'

  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________

    • and 'military'.

  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________

    • • 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:

    • surprise
    • accept
    • focused
    • costs
    • under
    • current
    • desire
    • bosses
    • more
    • treat
    • current
    • issued

    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 - Debate over US military transgender policy

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

    1. What did you think when you read the headline?
    2. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'transgender'?
    3. Why does Donald Trump want to stop transgender soldiers?
    4. What do you think of the US military?
    5. Why has President Trump's plan run into problems?
    6. What do you think of Donald Trump as president?
    7. How good is the military in your country?
    8. Why wouldn't transgender people be anything but great soldiers?
    9. How do you think Mr Trump feels about his plan not being implemented?
    10. What advice do you have for Donald Trump?

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

    1. Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
    2. What do you think of when you hear the word 'military'?
    3. What do you think about what you read?
    4. What do you think of President Trump's tweets?
    5. Why would transgender people affect the military's medical costs?
    6. What "disruption" would transgender people create in the military?
    7. How much do you agree with John McCain's words?
    8. What advice do you have for transgender soldiers?
    9. Would you be a good soldier?
    10. What questions would you like to ask Donald Trump?

    Discussion — Write your own questions

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

    (a) ________________

    (b) ________________

    (c) ________________

    (d) ________________

    (e) ________________

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

    (f) ________________

    (g) ________________

    (h) ________________

    (i) ________________

    (j) ________________

    Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

    President Donald Trump's (1) ____ to ban transgender people from serving in the USA military has already (2) ____ into problems. Senior military bosses at the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" (3) ____ its policy of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal notification from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a statement: "In the (4) ____, we will continue to (5) ____ all of our personnel with respect." He added: "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's Direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation (6) ____."

    President Trump made his announcement in a (7) ____ tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to (8) ____ in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot (9) ____ burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." The decision (10) ____ a policy that was approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican John McCain disagreed (11) ____ Mr Trump. He said: "Any American who (12) ____ current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving."

    Which of these words go in the above text?

    1. (a)     desist     (b)     desire     (c)     derisory     (d)     destined    
    2. (a)     jogged     (b)     run     (c)     sprinted     (d)     paced    
    3. (a)     on     (b)     by     (c)     of     (d)     to    
    4. (a)     much time     (b)     meantime     (c)     main time     (d)     mealtime    
    5. (a)     treaties     (b)     treatise     (c)     treaty     (d)     treat    
    6. (a)     guide     (b)     guiding     (c)     guidance     (d)     guided    
    7. (a)     surprise     (b)     surprised     (c)     surprises     (d)     surprisedly    
    8. (a)     service     (b)     servile     (c)     serve     (d)     servant    
    9. (a)     take     (b)     do     (c)     have     (d)     be    
    10. (a)     reversed     (b)     reversal     (c)     reserved     (d)     reservoir    
    11. (a)     with     (b)     at     (c)     of     (d)     by    
    12. (a)     meets     (b)     greets     (c)     assembles     (d)     gathers

    Spelling

    Paragraph 1

    1. ivnergs in the USA military
    2. formal catntiioniof
    3. treat all of our nronepsel with respect
    4. There will be no aiiioomntfcds
    5. the current lcpoiy
    6. implementation andegcui

    Paragraph 2

    1. Trump made his nanemtcenoun
    2. transgender lnidsuiidva
    3. serve in any iypcacta
    4. imlhneorevwg victory
    5. medical costs and itspoirund
    6. tnsasrdda should be allowed

    Put the text back together

    (    )     costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." The decision reversed a

    (    )     will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must

    (    )     be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical

    (    )     policy that was approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican

    (    )     medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving."

    (    )     of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance."

    (    )     policy of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal notification

    (  1  )     President Donald Trump's desire to ban transgender people from serving in the USA military has already run

    (    )     from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a statement: "In the meantime, we will continue to

    (    )     treat all of our personnel with respect." He added: "There will be no modifications to

    (    )     President Trump made his announcement in a surprise tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government

    (    )     John McCain disagreed with Mr Trump. He said: "Any American who meets current

    (    )     into problems. Senior military bosses at the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" to its

    (    )     the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary

    Put the words in the right order

    1. transgender   the   people   USA   from   military   serving   Ban   in   .
    2. of   policy   Its   people   serve   transgender   to   allowing   .
    3. continue   to   treat   all   of   our  personnel   with  respect  We   will   .
    4. There   to   will   the   be   current   no   policy   modifications   .
    5. The   guidance   implementation   issued   has   secretary   .
    6. announcement   his   made   Trump   tweet   surprise   a   in   .
    7. accept   serve   Not   individuals   allow   to   transgender   or   .
    8. focused   decisive   overwhelming   Be   on   and   victory   .
    9. entail   would   military   the   in   transgender   that   Disruption   .
    10. that   policy   a   reversed   decision   The   approved   was   .

    Circle the correct word (20 pairs)

    President Donald Trump's desire / derisory to ban transgender people from serving in the USA military has already run onto / into problems. Senior military bosses at / on the Pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" to its policy of allow in / allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal / formally notification from the White House. Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford said in a stated / statement: "In the meantime, we will continue to / for treat all of our personnel with respect." He added: "There will being / be no modifications to the current / currant policy until the President's Direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued / issuing implementation guidance."

    President Trump made / make his announcement in a surprise tweet on Wednesday. It said: "The United States Government will not receipt / accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in many / any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on / in decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened / burgeon with the tremendous medical costs and contraption / disruption that transgender in the military would retail / entail." The decision reversed a policy that was approved / approval by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama. Republican John McCain disagreed with Mr Trump. He said: "Any American who meet / meets current medical and readiness standards should be / being allowed to continue serving."

    Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

    Insert the vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

    Pr_s_d_nt D_n_ld Tr_mp's d_s_r_ t_ b_n tr_nsg_nd_r p__pl_ fr_m s_rv_ng _n th_ _S_ m_l_t_ry h_s _lr__dy r_n _nt_ pr_bl_ms. S_n__r m_l_t_ry b_ss_s _t th_ P_nt_g_n h_v_ s__d th_t th_r_ w_ll b_ "n_ m_d_f_c_t__ns" t_ _ts p_l_cy _f _ll_w_ng tr_nsg_nd_r p__pl_ t_ s_rv_ _nt_l _t r_c__v_s m_r_ f_rm_l n_t_f_c_t__n fr_m th_ Wh_t_ H__s_. J__nt Ch__fs Ch__rm_n J_s_ph D_nf_rd s__d _n _ st_t_m_nt: "_n th_ m__nt_m_, w_ w_ll c_nt_n__ t_ tr__t _ll _f __r p_rs_nn_l w_th r_sp_ctH_ _dd_d: "Th_r_ w_ll b_ n_ m_d_f_c_t__ns t_ th_ c_rr_nt p_l_cy _nt_." l th_ Pr_s_d_nt's d_r_ct__n h_s b__n r_c__v_d by th_ S_cr_t_ry _f D_f_ns_ _nd th_ s_cr_t_ry h_s _ss__d _mpl_m_nt_t__n g__d_nc_."

    Pr_s_d_nt Tr_mp m_d_ h_s _nn__nc_m_nt _n _ s_rpr_s_ tw__t _n W_dn_sd_y. _t s__d: "Th_ _n_t_d St_t_s G_v_rnm_nt w_ll n_t _cc_pt _r _ll_w tr_nsg_nd_r _nd_v_d__ls t_ s_rv_ _n _ny c_p_c_ty _n th_ _.S. M_l_t_ry. __r m_l_t_ry m_st b_ f_c_s_d _n d_c_s_v_ _nd _v_rwh_lm_ng v_ct_ry _nd c_nn_t b_ b_rd_n_d w_th th_ tr_m_nd__s m_d_c_l c_sts _nd d_sr_pt__n th_t tr_nsg_nd_r _n th_ m_l_t_ry w__ld _nt__l." Th_ d_c_s__n r_v_rs_d _ p_l_cy th_t w_s _ppr_v_d by th_ D_f_ns_ D_p_rtm_nt _nd_r Pr_s_d_nt B_r_ck _b_m_. R_p_bl_c_n J_hn McC__n d_s_gr__d w_th Mr Tr_mp. H_ s__d: "_ny _m_r_c_n wh_ m__ts c_rr_nt m_d_c_l _nd r__d_n_ss st_nd_rds sh__ld b_ _ll_w_d t_ c_nt_n__ s_rv_ng."

    Punctuate the text and add capitals

    president donald trump's desire to ban transgender people from serving in the usa military has already run into problems senior military bosses at the pentagon have said that there will be "no modifications" to its policy of allowing transgender people to serve until it receives more formal notification from the white house joint chiefs chairman joseph dunford said in a statement "in the meantime we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect" he added "there will be no modifications to the current policy until the president's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance"

    president trump made his announcement in a surprise tweet on wednesday it said "the united states government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the us military our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail" the decision reversed a policy that was approved by the defense department under president barack obama republican john mccain disagreed with mr trump he said "any american who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving"

    Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

    PresidentDonaldTrump'sdesiretobantransgenderpeoplefromservin
    gintheUSAmilitaryhasalreadyrunintoproblems.Seniormilitarybosse
    satthePentagonhavesaidthattherewillbe"nomodifications"toitspolic
    yofallowingtransgenderpeopletoserveuntilitreceivesmoreformalnot
    ificationfromtheWhiteHouse.JointChiefsChairmanJosephDunfordsai
    dinastatement:"Inthemeantime,wewillcontinuetotreatallofourpers
    onnelwithrespect."Headded:"Therewillbenomodificationstothecurr
    entpolicyuntilthePresident'sdirectionhasbeenreceivedbytheSecreta
    ryofDefenseandthesecretaryhasissuedimplementationguidance."Pr
    esidentTrumpmadehisannouncementinasurprisetweetonWednesda
    y.Itsaid:"TheUnitedStatesGovernmentwillnotacceptorallowtransge
    nderindividualstoserveinanycapacityintheU.S.Military.Ourmilitary
    mustbefocusedondecisiveandoverwhelmingvictoryandcannotbebur
    denedwiththetremendousmedicalcostsanddisruptionthattransgend
    erinthemilitarywouldentail."Thedecisionreversedapolicythatwasap
    provedbytheDefenseDepartmentunderPresidentBarackObama.Rep
    ublicanJohnMcCaindisagreedwithMrTrump.Hesaid:"AnyAmericanw
    homeetscurrentmedicalandreadinessstandardsshouldbeallowedtoc
    ontinueserving."

    Free writing

    Write about transgender soldiers for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

     

    Academic writing

    Anyone should be able to be a soldier as long as they are fit and able. Discuss.

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________________________

     

    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 this story. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

    3. TRANSGENDER SOLDIERS: Make a poster about transgender soldiers. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

    4. FIT AND ABLE: Write a magazine article about anyone being able to serve as a soldier, as long as they are fit and able. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

    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. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

    6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on transgender soldiers. Ask him/her three questions about them. Give him/her three of your opinions. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

    A Few Additional Activities for Students

    Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

    Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

    Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

    Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

    Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

    Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

    Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

    Also...

    Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

    • News
    • Warm ups
    • Pre-reading / Post-reading
    • Using headlines
    • Working with words
    • While-reading / While-listening
    • Moving from text to speech
    • Post-reading / Post-listening
    • Discussions
    • Using opinions
    • Plans
    • Language
    • Using lists
    • Using quotes
    • Task-based activities
    • Role plays
    • Using the central characters in the article
    • Using themes from the news
    • Homework

    Buy my book

    $US 9.99

    Answers

    (Please look at page 26 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

    Back to the top

    Help Support This Web Site

    • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

    Sean Banville's Book

    Thank You