Breaking News English

        

1. MAIDS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about maids. 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.

government / announced / domestic workers / mistreated / at the mercy of / slaves / recruitment / export / concern / distress / radio / human rights / human trafficking

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

3. TRAFFICKING: How do we stop it? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Traffic in…	What do you know about this?	How do we help stop it?
workers
drugs
women
ivory
endangered species
arms

4. HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Students A strongly believe human trafficking will end one day; Students B strongly believe it will never stop.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. JOB ABROAD: Where would you like to work? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share again.

Saudi Arabia Mexico Brazil Kenya

Papua New Guinea Japan China India

6. SLAVE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'slave'. 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.	Kenya is sending workers to the Middle East to work in bars.	T / F
b.	Kenya's government reports its citizens are being mistreated overseas.	T / F
c.	Unscrupulous agents keep the passports of Kenyan workers.	T / F
d.	Many maids in the Middle East must work seven days a week.	T / F
e.	Kenya has permanently stopped Kenyans working in the Middle East.	T / F
f.	Kenya's government said it is not worried about the domestic workers.	T / F
g.	A human rights group said 30,000 Kenyans worked as maids globally.	T / F
h.	The group likened maids working in the Mid-East to human trafficking.	T / F

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

1.	announced	a.	put on hold
2.	suspend	b.	danger
3.	mistreated	c.	dishonest
4.	at the mercy of	d.	observed
5.	shady	e.	made public
6.	temporarily	f.	instant
7.	immediate	g.	labeled
8.	noted	h.	abused
9.	distress	i.	for the time being
10.	termed	j.	in the control of

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

1.	temporarily suspend the recruitment	a.	shady agents
2.	increasing numbers of	b.	concern
3.	at the mercy of	c.	such by their employers
4.	very poor working	d.	effect
5.	they are slaves and are treated as	e.	Kenyans
6.	The statement from	f.	trafficking
7.	with immediate	g.	of its citizens
8.	noted with	h.	Kenya's government
9.	sought	i.	conditions
10.	termed it as human	j.	employment

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

The Kenyan government (1) ____________ on Friday that it would temporarily suspend the recruitment of its                      (2) ____________ going to Middle East countries to work as domestic workers. The Foreign Affairs committee stated that     (3) ____________ numbers of Kenyans, especially maids, are being mistreated. It says many people are promised jobs in Gulf countries that do not (4) ____________ when they arrive. They are then at the mercy of (5) ____________ agents who take their passports and place them in jobs with very poor working conditions. Many get no day (6) ____________ and some are never allowed to leave the house in which they work. Many maids report they are (7) ____________ and are (8) ____________ as such by their employers.		exist slaves increasing off announced treated citizens shady
The statement from Kenya's government read: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (9) ____________ to inform that the government has temporarily suspended recruitment and (10) ____________ of domestic workers (housekeepers/maids) to Middle East countries with immediate (11) ____________." Kenya's Political and Diplomatic Secretary Patrick Wamoto said: "The government has (12) ____________ with concern, the increasing number of Kenyan citizens who have (13) ____________ employment in the Middle East…and (14) ____________ up in distress." Kenya's Capital FM radio website stated: "Last month…Muslims for Human Rights (15) ____________ that there are more than 30,000 Kenyans working as domestic workers in the Middle East but termed it as human (16) ____________."		estimated effect trafficking wishes sought export ended noted

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The Kenyan government announced on Friday that ____________________ suspend the recruitment of its citizens going to Middle East countries to work as domestic workers. The Foreign Affairs ____________________ increasing numbers of Kenyans, especially maids, ____________________. It says many people are promised jobs in Gulf countries that do not exist when they arrive. They are then ____________________ shady agents who take their passports and place them in jobs with very poor working conditions. Many ____________________ and some are never allowed to leave the house in which they work. Many maids report they are slaves and are ____________________ their employers.

The statement from Kenya's government read: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ____________________ that the government has temporarily suspended recruitment and export of domestic workers (housekeepers/maids) to Middle East countries ____________________." Kenya's Political and Diplomatic Secretary Patrick Wamoto said: "The government has ____________________, the increasing number of Kenyan citizens ____________________ employment in the Middle East…and ____________________." Kenya's Capital FM radio website stated: "Last month…Muslims for Human Rights estimated that there are more than 30,000 Kenyans working as domestic workers in the Middle East but termed ____________________."

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

human

traffic

• 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:

suspend increasing promised agents poor such

wishes export effect increasing ended termed

MAIDS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about maids 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.

 
 

MAIDS 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 term 'human trafficking'?
c)	What do you think of this story?
d)	Do you think Kenya is right to stop citizens working in the Middle East?
e)	Should Kenya take up issue of its citizens being mistreated with the countries they are suffering in?
f)	What should countries do to crack down on traffickers or those who take people's money on false promises of good jobs?
g)	Should people immediately go to their embassy if someone keeps their passport?
h)	What kind of people employ someone to work seven days a week and don't ley them go anywhere?
i)	How widespread do you think slavery is in the 21st century?
j)	Should people be punished for mistreating maids?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	How long do you think the suspension will last?
c)	Do you think the suspension could be just a token gesture?
d)	What would you do if you were in distress while working overseas?
e)	How do you think Middle Eastern countries take to the Muslims for Human Rights group saying trafficking exists in their countries?
f)	What would happen in the Middle East if all the maids and foreign laborers left?
g)	Should the UN ensure a minimum wage and acceptable working conditions?
h)	Is suspending recruitment an answer?
i)	Should Kenya educate its people more before they accept such jobs?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Kenya's Political and Diplomatic Secretary Patrick Wamoto?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The Kenyan government announced on Friday that it would (1) ____ suspend the recruitment of its citizens going to Middle East countries to work as domestic workers. The Foreign Affairs committee stated that (2) ____ numbers of Kenyans, especially maids, are being mistreated. It says many people are promised jobs in Gulf countries that do not (3) ____ when they arrive. They are then at the (4) ____ of shady agents who take their passports and place them in jobs with very (5) ____ working conditions. Many get no day off and some are never allowed to leave the house in which they work. Many maids report they are slaves and are treated as  (6) ____ by their employers.

The statement from Kenya's government read: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs    (7) ____ to inform that the government has temporarily suspended recruitment and export of domestic workers (housekeepers/maids) to Middle East countries with immediate (8) ____." Kenya's Political and Diplomatic Secretary Patrick Wamoto said: "The government has (9) ____ with concern, the increasing number of Kenyan citizens who have (10) ____ employment in the Middle East…and ended  (11) ____ in distress." Kenya's Capital FM radio website stated: "Last month…Muslims for Human Rights estimated that there are more than 30,000 Kenyans working as domestic workers in the Middle East but (12) ____ it as human trafficking."

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

1.	(a)	tempered	(b)	temporary	(c)	tempers	(d)	temporarily
2.	(a)	heightening	(b)	increasing	(c)	upping	(d)	enlarging
3.	(a)	exist	(b)	there	(c)	be	(d)	have
4.	(a)	merit	(b)	method	(c)	mercy	(d)	merchant
5.	(a)	skimpy	(b)	poverty	(c)	poor	(d)	penniless
6.	(a)	so	(b)	such	(c)	it	(d)	not
7.	(a)	wishes	(b)	dreams	(c)	aspires	(d)	bids
8.	(a)	effort	(b)	affect	(c)	affront	(d)	effect
9.	(a)	scribbled	(b)	noted	(c)	doodled	(d)	written
10.	(a)	wrought	(b)	ought	(c)	thought	(d)	sought
11.	(a)	on	(b)	at	(c)	up	(d)	down
12.	(a)	termed	(b)	spoke	(c)	cognized	(d)	cut

 
 

WRITING

Write about maids 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 maids in the Middle east. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Make a poster about human trafficking. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. DOMESTIC WORKER: Write a magazine article about a domestic worker who is abused by her/his employer. Include imaginary interviews with people her/him.

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 boss of the United Nations. Ask him three questions about human trafficking. Give him three ideas on how to crack down on it. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

T

d.

T

e.

F

f.

F

g.

F

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	announced	a.	made public
2.	suspend	b.	put on hold
3.	mistreated	c.	abused
4.	at the mercy of	d.	in the control of
5.	shady	e.	dishonest
6.	temporarily	f.	for the time being
7.	immediate	g.	instant
8.	noted	h.	observed
9.	distress	i.	danger
10.	termed	j.	labeled

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	temporarily suspend the recruitment	a.	of its citizens
2.	increasing numbers of	b.	Kenyans
3.	at the mercy of	c.	shady agents
4.	very poor working	d.	conditions
5.	they are slaves and are treated as	e.	such by their employers
6.	The statement from	f.	Kenya's government
7.	with immediate	g.	effect
8.	noted with	h.	concern
9.	sought	i.	employment
10.	termed it as human	j.	trafficking

GAP FILL:

Kenya bars maids going to Mid-East

The Kenyan government (1) announced on Friday that it would temporarily suspend the recruitment of its (2) citizens going to Middle East countries to work as domestic workers. The Foreign Affairs committee stated that (3) increasing numbers of Kenyans, especially maids, are being mistreated. It says many people are promised jobs in Gulf countries that do not (4) exist when they arrive. They are then at the mercy of (5) shady agents who take their passports and place them in jobs with very poor working conditions. Many get no day (6) off and some are never allowed to leave the house in which they work. Many maids report they are (7) slaves and are (8) treated as such by their employers.

The statement from Kenya's government read: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (9) wishes to inform that the government has temporarily suspended recruitment and (10) export of domestic workers (housekeepers/maids) to Middle East countries with immediate (11) effect." Kenya's Political and Diplomatic Secretary Patrick Wamoto said: "The government has (12) noted with concern, the increasing number of Kenyan citizens who have (13) sought employment in the Middle East…and (14) ended up in distress." Kenya's Capital FM radio website stated: "Last month…Muslims for Human Rights (15) estimated that there are more than 30,000 Kenyans working as domestic workers in the Middle East but termed it as human (16) trafficking."

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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