Breaking News English

Level: Harder (Try the easier lesson.)

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Audio: (2:04 - 243.3 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

Two Japanese men claiming to be World War II soldiers have surfaced from a Philippine jungle. Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83, claim they have been on the southern island of Mindanao since being stationed there in the early 1940s, perhaps as early as 1941, the year Japan invaded the Philippines. It is believed they may not know of Japan’s surrender in August 1945 to Allied forces. They had apparently been living in an area on Mindanao held by separatist guerillas who have long been engaged in a conflict with the Philippine army. The two octogenarians still had their WWII army issue, in verification of their claims to have been left behind after the war ended.

WARM-UPS

1. SURVIVAL: Half of the class has just spent the past 10 years living in the jungle, the other half has spent the same time living in the desert. Jungle survivors and desert survivors talk to each other to describe how they lived and what they did each day.

2. JUNGLE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “jungle”. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. HARSH ENVIRONMENTS:

1. Rank these environments in order of which is the most difficult to survive in for a year.
2. Talk about the difficulties of surviving in each one.
3. Choose one environment in which you would like to try living for a year.

A Philippine jungle

Baghdad

Sahara Desert

Antarctica

Siberia

Grand Canyon

Mountain Everest

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

Japanese men / WWII soldiers / Philippines / jungles / WWII / octogenarians

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

5. I’M HOME: Imagine you have been in the jungle for 60 years. Think about how the world has changed.

• Talk with your partner / group about the changes you have seen and experienced since returning home. What are the most surprising, saddest and most amazing things?
• Make a list of the changes or surprises and write them on the board or on a piece of paper. Look at the things other students have written and talk about them.
• Which new things do you like about life today?
• Talk about which is better, life in 1945 or life today.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

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

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

WHILE READING / LISTENING

Japanese WW2 soldiers found in jungle

Two Japanese men claiming / professing / clamming to be World War II soldiers have surfaced / topped / emerged from a Philippine jungle. Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83, claim they have been on the southern island of Mindanao since being mailed / stationed / posted there in the early 1940s, perhaps as early as 1941, the year Japan invaded the Philippines. It is believed they may not know of Japan’s capitulation / suspender / surrender in August 1945 to Allied forces. They had apparently been living in an area on Mindanao held by separatist gorillas / guerillas / insurgents who have long been engaged in a conflict with the Philippine army. The two octogenarians still had their WWII army equipment / issue / tissues, in verification of their claims to have been left behind after the war ended.

The veterans’ existence came to dark / was revealed / came to light after they were discovered by a Japanese national / citizen / nationality who was collecting the remains of war dead. Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily newspaper said the elderly veterans / vets / veterinarians want to be repatriated, but fear facing a court martial and execution for deserting / abandoning / dishing the front lines. Officials from the Japanese Embassy met the men Friday, May 27, to try to confirm their identities. Reports indicate another 40 former Japanese soldiers may be holed up / subsisting / tooled up in the same mountains. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: “It is a surprise if it’s true. We are checking it now.” The last WWII-era soldier to emerge / submerge / walk out from the Philippine jungles was Hiroo Oona in 1974. He refused to believe the war had ended.

AFTER READING

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

• 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. ODD WORD OUT: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about possible relationships the “odd” words out might have with the correct words.

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

5. STUDENT JUNGLE SURVEY: In pairs / groups write down questions about jungles and survival.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make a mini-presentation to another group / the class 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:

 DISCUSSION

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

1. What was your initial reaction to this article?
2. Have you heard similar stories before?
3. How surprised are you at this news?
4. What emotions do you think the old soldiers are experiencing now?
5. Do you think they still believe America is their enemy?
6. Would their story make a good movie?
7. Should the Japanese government have done more to find their missing in action?
8. How long would you be able to survive in the jungle?
9. What would you do to survive?
10. What will the old men think of the 21^st Century?

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

1. Did you like reading the article?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What did you think of this news?
4. How do you think it’s possible to remain cut off from the world for so long?
5. Should they now be court-martialed for deserting the front lines?
6. Should they receive a hero’s welcome when they arrive back in Japan?
7. Should they receive back pay for their 60 years of military service?
8. Should they get a medal?
9. Do you think there are other soldiers fighting other long-ended wars?
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

WELCOME TO THE 21^st CENTURY: You are head of the repatriation committee for the returning soldiers. They have had no contact with the outside world for 60 years. Your job is to bring them up to date on the important events of the past six decades.

In pairs / groups, decide on the two most essential things they need to know about the following five areas (you must decide the fifth category):

Change partners / groups and compare your choices. Discuss which of your choices are best and combine them so that you both / all agree.

Role play the “updating” session between the repatriation committee member the totally in-the-dark war veteran (who will have many questions!).

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Japanese WW2 soldiers found in jungle

Two Japanese men claiming to be World War II soldiers
____ ________ ____ a Philippine jungle. Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83, claim they have been on the southern island of Mindanao since _____ _____ _________ in the early 1940s, perhaps as early as 1941, the year Japan invaded the Philippines. It is believed they may not know __ ______ ________ __ August 1945 to Allied forces. They had apparently been living in an area on Mindanao held by __________ _________ who have long been engaged in a conflict with the Philippine army. The two octogenarians still had their WWII army issue, __ ___________ __ their claims to have been left behind after the war ended.

The veterans’ _________ ____ __ _____ after they were discovered by a Japanese national who was collecting the remains of war dead. Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily newspaper said the elderly veterans
____ __ __ __________, but fear facing a court martial and execution for _________ ___ _____ ____. Officials from the Japanese Embassy met the men Friday, May 27, to try to confirm their identities. Reports indicate another 40 former Japanese soldiers ___ __ _____ __ __ the same mountains. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: “It is a surprise if it’s true. We are checking it now.” The last WWII-___ _______ __ ________ from the Philippine jungles was Hiroo Oona in 1974. He refused to believe the war had ended.

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 story of the old Japanese soldiers. Keep updated with the news of them and share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. JUNGLE SURVIVAL KIT: Write an emergency guide for a jungle survival kit. List the ten most essential things necessary for survival, with an explanation of how to use them. Show it to your classmates in your next lesson.

4. DIARY: Imagine you are one of the old Japanese soldiers. You have been back at home for one week. Write your diary / journal entry explaining your feelings to be home. Describe what you have done in your first seven days. Write also about the things that have surprised and saddened you. Show your diary / journal entry to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you write about the same things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

GAP FILL:

Japanese WW2 soldiers found in jungle

Two Japanese men claiming / professing / clamming to be World War II soldiers have surfaced / topped / emerged from a Philippine jungle. Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83, claim they have been on the southern island of Mindanao since being mailed / stationed / posted there in the early 1940s, perhaps as early as 1941, the year Japan invaded the Philippines. It is believed they may not know of Japan’s capitulation / suspender / surrender in August 1945 to Allied forces. They had apparently been living in an area on Mindanao held by separatist gorillas / guerillas / insurgents who have long been engaged in a conflict with the Philippine army. The two octogenarians still had their WWII army equipment / issue / tissues, in verification of their claims to have been left behind after the war ended.

The veterans’ existence came to dark / was revealed / came to light after they were discovered by a Japanese national / citizen / nationality who was collecting the remains of war dead. Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily newspaper said the elderly veterans / vets / veterinarians want to be repatriated, but fear facing a court martial and execution for deserting / abandoning / dishing the front lines. Officials from the Japanese Embassy met the men Friday, May 27, to try to confirm their identities. Reports indicate another 40 former Japanese soldiers may be holed up / subsisting / tooled up in the same mountains. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: “It is a surprise if it’s true. We are checking it now.” The last WWII-era soldier to emerge / submerge / walk out from the Philippine jungles was Hiroo Oona in 1974. He refused to believe the war had ended.