Breaking News English

        

1. GANGS AND RIOTS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about gangs and riots. 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.

riots / crack down / gangs / appalling / looting / violence / law and order / Olympics / stability / court hearings / face masks / punish / social media / chaos / criminality

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. REASONS FOR RIOTS: Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Reason	What’s this?	Why it makes people riot
Welfare dependence
Social exclusion
Gangsta rap & culture
Consumerism
Opportunism
Social networking

4. LAW & ORDER: Students A strongly believe it’s easy for countries to maintain law and order; Students B strongly disagree.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
5. TAKE TO THE STREETS: What would make you do it? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Change partners and share your rankings again.

government spending cuts increase in food prices declaration of war racist government policies

erosion of freedom tax rises to get rid of an autocrat to save the environment

6. RIOT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘riot’. 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.	Britain’s Prime Minister says he will get tough on the country’s gangs.	T / F
b.	The British leader said there were many excuses for the rioting.	T / F
c.	Cameron said he would put up with some culture of fear on the streets.	T / F
d.	The riots in England are bad news for the 2012 London Olympics.	T / F
e.	Mr Cameron has ruled out the use of using the Army against rioters.	T / F
f.	He is considering letting police order people to remove face masks.	T / F
g.	Britain’s leader is thinking about cracking down on social media sites.	T / F
h.	Mr Cameron said Twitter and Facebook played no part in the riots.	T / F

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

1.	crack down on	a.	stealing
2.	appalling	b.	disorder
3.	thieving	c.	anarchic
4.	assured	d.	defined
5.	tarnished	e.	organise
6.	outlined	f.	terrible
7.	lawless	g.	take tough action on
8.	coordinate	h.	damaged
9.	chaos	i.	scheming
10.	plotting	j.	promised

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

1.	five days of riots across	a.	to British streets
2.	shocked by the most	b.	no excuse for it
3.	there is absolutely	c.	violence
4.	We will not put	d.	image abroad
5.	tarnished Britain’s	e.	you down
6.	return stability	f.	what you have done
7.	all-night court	g.	many of Britain’s cities
8.	We will track	h.	hearings
9.	You will pay for	i.	appalling scenes
10.	technology was used for plotting	j.	up with this

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

After five days of riots (1) ____________ many of Britain’s cities, Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is going to crack down on Britain’s gangs. He told the British parliament on Thursday: "The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling (2) ____________ of people looting, violence, vandalising and (3) ____________. It is criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no (4) ____________ for it.” He assured the British public: "We will not (5) ____________ up with this in our country. We will not allow a culture of fear to (6) ____________ on our streets. And we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities.” Scenes of hooded (7) ____________ attacking police, setting fire to buildings and smashing store windows have tarnished Britain’s image abroad, which is a (8) ____________ just one year before the 2012 London Olympics.		exist thieving concern across youths excuse scenes put
Mr Cameron outlined the various methods he could use to return (9) ____________ to British streets. These include the use of the army to restore order, all-night (10) ____________ hearings and giving police the power to demand people remove face masks. He had a (11) ____________ for the rioters, telling them: "To the lawless minority…I say this - We will track you down…we will charge you, we will (12) ____________ you. You will (13) ____________ for what you have done.” Cameron also targeted social media in his fight against public disorder. He said he was looking at (14) ____________ he could put limits or bans on sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger that were used by rioters to coordinate this week’s  (15) ____________. The British leader said this technology was used for “(16) ____________ violence, disorder and criminality”.		pay court chaos message plotting stability whether punish

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

After five ____________________ many of Britain’s cities, Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is going to crack down on Britain’s gangs. He told the British parliament on Thursday: "The whole country has been shocked by the ____________________ of people looting, violence, vandalising and thieving. It is criminality ____________________. And there is absolutely no excuse for it.” He assured the British public: "We will not put up with this in our country. We will not allow ____________________ exist on our streets. And we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities.” Scenes ____________________ attacking police, setting fire to buildings and smashing store ____________________ Britain’s image abroad, which is a concern just one year before the 2012 London Olympics.
Mr Cameron outlined the various methods he could use ____________________ British streets. These include the use of the army to restore order, all-night court hearings and giving police the power to ____________________ face masks. He had a message for the rioters, telling them: "To the lawless minority…I say this - We will track you down…we will charge you, ____________________. You will pay for what you have done.” Cameron also targeted social media in his fight ____________________. He said he was looking at whether he could put limits or bans on sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger that were used by ____________________ this week’s chaos. The British leader said this technology was used for “plotting violence, ____________________”.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

crack

down

• 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:

five told simple allow youths image

methods court message track limits chaos

STUDENT GANGS AND RIOTS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about gangs and riots 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.

 
 

GANGS AND RIOTS 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 ‘riot’?
c)	What do you think of the riots in England?
d)	What makes people riot?
e)	What punishment should people get for rioting?
f)	Are you worried about gangs in your country?
g)	Why do people join gangs?
h)	What scenes of the riots in England did you see?
i)	How can Britain prevent a “culture of fear” existing on its streets?
j)	Do you think the 2012 London Olympics could be in trouble because of the riots?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Should the Army be used against the rioters?
c)	Why do you think Britain only uses police against rioters?
d)	Do you think it’s a good idea that police can force rioters to remove face masks?
e)	What do you think goes through the mind of a rioter?
f)	Will punishing the rioters make Britain’s streets safer?
g)	Do you think a government can prevent social media from neing used to coordinate the riots?
h)	What would you do if rioters were in your street?
i)	Do you think the riots will continue?
j)	What questions would you like to ask a rioter?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

After five days of riots across many of Britain’s cities, Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is going to crack down on Britain’s gangs. He told the British parliament on Thursday: "The (1) ____ country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and (2) ____. It is criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no (3) ____ for it.” He assured the British public: "We will not put up with this in our country. We will not allow a culture of (4) ____ to exist on our streets. And we will do whatever it (5) ____ to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities.” Scenes of hooded youths attacking police, setting fire to buildings and smashing store windows have (6) ____ Britain’s image abroad, which is a concern just one year before the 2012 London Olympics.
Mr Cameron outlined the (7) ____ methods he could use to return stability to British streets. These include the use of the army to restore (8) ____, all-night court hearings and giving police the power to demand people remove face masks. He had a message for the rioters, telling them: "To the lawless minority…I say this - We will (9) ____ you down…we will charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done.” Cameron also targeted social media in his fight (10) ____ public disorder. He said he was looking at whether he could put limits or bans on sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger that were used by rioters to coordinate this week’s (11) ____. The British leader said this technology was used for “(12) ____ violence, disorder and criminality”.
Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	all	(b)	every	(c)	entirely	(d)	whole
2.	(a)	thief	(b)	thieve	(c)	thieving	(d)	thieves
3.	(a)	pardon	(b)	excuse	(c)	sorry	(d)	apology
4.	(a)	fear	(b)	afraid	(c)	frightened	(d)	fearless
5.	(a)	makes	(b)	bakes	(c)	takes	(d)	fakes
6.	(a)	tarnishes	(b)	tarnish	(c)	tarnishing	(d)	tarnished
7.	(a)	variety	(b)	various	(c)	vary	(d)	varieties
8.	(a)	order	(b)	disorder	(c)	ordering	(d)	ordered
9.	(a)	trick	(b)	track	(c)	truck	(d)	took
10.	(a)	for	(b)	via	(c)	against	(d)	through
11.	(a)	chaos	(b)	chasm	(c)	charter	(d)	change
12.	(a)	plotted	(b)	plot	(c)	plots	(d)	plotting

 
 

WRITING

Write about gangs and riots 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 the riots in Britain. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. GANGS AND RIOTS: Make a poster about gangs and riots. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. GANGS: Write a magazine article about a gang member. Include imaginary interviews with him/her and someone who is afraid of him/her.
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 a gang leader. Ask him/her three questions about gangs. Give him/her three of your opinions on them. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

T

b.

F

c.

F

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	crack down on	a.	take tough action on
2.	appalling	b.	terrible
3.	thieving	c.	stealing
4.	assured	d.	promised
5.	tarnished	e.	damaged
6.	outlined	f.	defined
7.	lawless	g.	anarchic
8.	coordinate	h.	organise
9.	chaos	i.	disorder
10.	plotting	j.	scheming

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	five days of riots across	a.	many of Britain’s cities
2.	shocked by the most	b.	appalling scenes
3.	there is absolutely	c.	no excuse for it
4.	We will not put	d.	up with this
5.	tarnished Britain’s	e.	image abroad
6.	return stability	f.	to British streets
7.	all-night court	g.	hearings
8.	We will track	h.	you down
9.	You will pay for	i.	what you have done
10.	technology was used for plotting	j.	violence

GAP FILL:

British leader to crack down on gangs

After five days of riots (1) across many of Britain’s cities, Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is going to crack down on Britain’s gangs. He told the British parliament on Thursday: "The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling (2) scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and (3) thieving. It is criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no (4) excuse for it.” He assured the British public: "We will not (5) put up with this in our country. We will not allow a culture of fear to (6) exist on our streets. And we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities.” Scenes of hooded (7) youths attacking police, setting fire to buildings and smashing store windows have tarnished Britain’s image abroad, which is a (8) concern just one year before the 2012 London Olympics.
Mr Cameron outlined the various methods he could use to return (9) stability to British streets. These include the use of the army to restore order, all-night (10) court hearings and giving police the power to demand people remove face masks. He had a (11) message for the rioters, telling them: "To the lawless minority…I say this - We will track you down…we will charge you, we will (12) punish you. You will (13) pay for what you have done.” Cameron also targeted social media in his fight against public disorder. He said he was looking at (14) whether he could put limits or bans on sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger that were used by rioters to coordinate this week’s (15) chaos. The British leader said this technology was used for “(16) plotting violence, disorder and criminality”.
LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - c

3 - b

4 - a

5 - c

6 - d

7 - b

8 - a

9 - b

10 -c

11 - a

12 - d

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