Breaking News English

        

1. WOMEN DRIVERS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about women drivers. 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.

protest / driving bans / motorists / arrested / posting videos / public opinion / traffic / incidents / driving / passenger seat / illegal / errands / complain / hiring a driver

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

3. MEN & WOMEN: Who does what better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Men (why?)	Women (why?)
Drive
Cook
Read maps
Play sport
Act
Make decisions

4. EQUALITY: Students A strongly believe equality between the races will come one day everywhere in the world; Students B strongly believe not.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. NO RIGHTS: Which of these rights would offend you most if taken away? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

being allowed to drive keeping a pet staying at a hotel marrying who you want

sitting in a public park owning a gun free healthcare free education

6. BAN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘ban’. 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.	Hundreds of Saudi women defied their government by driving.	T / F
b.	A woman was arrested for setting up a Facebook campaign.	T / F
c.	No women were arrested in the campaign mentioned in the article.	T / F
d.	The organizers of the campaign thought more women would join in.	T / F
e.	The recent campaign is the first involving Saudi women driving.	T / F
f.	A woman called Manal has a husband who stopped her from driving.	T / F
g.	A Saudi woman complained that she spent half her salary on drivers.	T / F
h.	The law in Saudi specifically forbids women from driving.	T / F

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

1.	protest	a.	uploading
2	motorists	b.	criticize
3.	posting	c.	image
4.	inciting	d.	demonstrate
5.	reputation	e.	fundamental
6.	incidents	f.	given
7.	basic	g.	drivers
8.	errands	h.	encouraging
9.	complain	i.	tasks
10.	issued	j.	happenings

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

1.	took part	a.	of incidents
2	pretty	b.	released the following day
3.	arrested on May 21 and	c.	a driving licence
4.	harming the country’s	d.	much ban them from driving
5.	Fewer women than expected	e.	my errands
6.	the latest in a string	f.	in a protest
7.	her husband in the passenger	g.	big deal
8.	It should not be a	h.	reputation
9.	All I want is to do	i.	decided to protest
10.	get issued with	j.	seat

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Women in Saudi Arabia (1) ____________  part in a protest on Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars in (2) ____________ cities across the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, who       (3) ____________ up the site, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after                 (4) ____________ videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “(5) ____________ public opinion and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was given a traffic (6) ____________ in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no (7) ____________. Fewer women than (8) ____________ decided to protest against their inability to drive.		ticket various posting expected took arrests set inciting
Friday’s protest was the latest in a (9) ____________ of incidents of Saudi women driving (10) ____________ a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the                   (11) ____________ seat. She said: “This is my basic right. It should not be a big (12) ____________. There is nothing wrong or (13) ____________ about driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to do my     (14) ____________ or go to work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend a quarter of their salary on   (15) ____________ a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women cannot get (16) ____________ with a driving licence to drive in cities.		illegal without issued string deal hiring passenger errands

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Women in Saudi Arabia ________________________ Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars ________________________ the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, ________________________, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after posting videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “________________________ and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was ________________________ in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no arrests. Fewer women than expected decided to protest ________________________ drive.

Friday’s protest was the latest in ________________________ Saudi women driving without a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the passenger seat. She said: “________________________. It should not be a big deal. There is nothing ________________________ driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to ________________________ work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend ________________________ on hiring a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women ________________________ a driving licence to drive in cities.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

driving

ban

• 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:

part various following spent opinion decided

string seat basic message salary issued

STUDENT WOMEN DRIVERS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about women drivers 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.

WOMEN DRIVERS 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 ‘ban’?
c)	What do you think about what you read?
d)	Why is Saudi Arabia the only country that does not allow women to drive?
e)	Do you think the women2drive campaign will work?
f)	Are there things you want to do in your country that you can’t?
g)	Wht didn’t Saudi police arrest the women who drove?
h)	What three adjectives would you use to describe the Saudi women protestors?
i)	Are the female protestors harming Saudi Arabia’s reputation?
j)	Do you think more women will protest in the future?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do you think men or women are better drivers? Why?
c)	Do you think the protests will continue?
d)	Maha al-Qahtani said it shouldn’t be a big deal. Why is it a big deal?
e)	Would Saudi society change if women were alwoed to drive?
f)	Why can women in neighbouring Arab countries drive but those in Saudi cannot?
g)	What advice do you have for the Saudi women protestors?
h)	What would life be like without being allowed to drive?
i)	Where will this story be ten years from now?
j)	What questions would you like to ask the Saudi women protestors?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Women in Saudi Arabia took part in a protest on Friday against measures that (1) ____ much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-(2) ____ motorists drove their cars in various cities across the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, who set (3) ____ the site, was arrested on May 21 and released the (4) ____ day. She was rearrested after posting videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “inciting public opinion and harming the country’s (5) ____.” Another woman was given a traffic ticket in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no arrests. (6) ____ women than expected decided to protest against their inability to drive.

Friday’s protest was the latest in a (7) ____ of incidents of Saudi women driving without a licence and then (8) ____ videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the passenger seat. She said: “This is my basic right. It should not be a big (9) ____. There is nothing wrong or illegal about driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to do my (10) ____ or go to work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend a quarter of their salary (11) ____ hiring a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women cannot get (12) ____ with a driving licence to drive in cities.

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

1.	(a)	cute	(b)	beauty	(c)	attractive	(d)	pretty
2.	(a)	do	(b)	be	(c)	can	(d)	is
3.	(a)	up	(b)	in	(c)	on	(d)	of
4.	(a)	follows	(b)	followed	(c)	following	(d)	follower
5.	(a)	reputable	(b)	reputed	(c)	reputation	(d)	repute
6.	(a)	Smaller	(b)	Fewer	(c)	Less	(d)	Lower
7.	(a)	string	(b)	cotton	(c)	rope	(d)	cord
8.	(a)	mailing	(b)	receiving	(c)	entering	(d)	posting
9.	(a)	wheel	(b)	deal	(c)	seal	(d)	feel
10.	(a)	posts	(b)	favours	(c)	errors	(d)	errands
11.	(a)	to	(b)	at	(c)	on	(d)	of
12.	(a)	issued	(b)	issuing	(c)	issue	(d)	issues

 
 

WRITING

Write about women drivers 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 women drivers in Saudi Arabia. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. DRIVERS: Make a poster about man and women drivers. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. SAUDI: Write a magazine article about women driving (or not) in Saudi Arabia. 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. LETTER: Write a letter to the head of the Saudi rule-making body. Ask him/her three questions about women drivers. 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.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

F

d.

F

e.

F

f.

F

g.

F

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	protest	a.	demonstration
2	motorists	b.	drivers
3.	posting	c.	uploading
4.	inciting	d.	encouraging
5.	reputation	e.	image
6.	incidents	f.	happenings
7.	basic	g.	fundamental
8.	errands	h.	tasks
9.	complain	i.	criticize
10.	issued	j.	given

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	took part	a.	in a protest
2	pretty	b.	much ban them from driving
3.	arrested on May 21 and	c.	released the following day
4.	harming the country’s	d.	reputation
5.	Fewer women than expected	e.	decided to protest
6.	the latest in a string	f.	of incidents
7.	her husband in the passenger	g.	seat
8.	It should not be a	h.	big deal
9.	All I want is to do	i.	my errands
10.	get issued with	j.	a driving licence

GAP FILL:

Women2Drive Day in Saudi Arabia

Women in Saudi Arabia (1) took part in a protest on Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars in (2) various cities across the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, who (3) set up the site, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after (4) posting videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “(5) inciting public opinion and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was given a traffic (6) ticket in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no (7) arrests. Fewer women than (8) expected decided to protest against their inability to drive.

Friday’s protest was the latest in a (9) string of incidents of Saudi women driving (10) without a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the (11) passenger seat. She said: “This is my basic right. It should not be a big (12) deal. There is nothing wrong or (13) illegal about driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to do my (14) errands or go to work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend a quarter of their salary on (15) hiring a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women cannot get (16) issued with a driving licence to drive in cities.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - b

3 - a

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - a

8 - d

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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