The Reading / Listening - Eid al-Fitr - Level 5

An astronaut has sent an end-of-Ramadan greeting from the International Space Station. Sultan al-Neyadi is from the UAE. He wished the world a happy, peaceful and prosperous Eid al-Fitr. This is a short holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims worldwide spend a month fasting, praying, reflecting, and serving their communities. Mr al-Neyadi is in space for six months. He will be the first Arab to complete a spacewalk. He has to upgrade equipment on the outside of the orbiting space station in a six-hour walk.

Mr al-Neyadi shared footage of Earth while on his mission. He has amazed millions of Muslims with images of the holy site of Mecca glowing in the dark. He has sparked an interest in technology among his compatriots in the UAE. He has received many questions about fasting in space. Adult Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk. Al-Neyadi said his fasting was different. This is to avoid activities "that could jeopardize the mission or put crew members at risk." He said he needed sufficient food to prevent a lack of nutrition or hydration.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Eid al-Fitr - Level 4 or  Eid al-Fitr - Level 6

Sources
  • https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2023/04/21/Emirati-astronaut-Sultan-al-Neyadi-sends-Eid-wishes-from-space-alongside-mascot-
  • https://www.space.com/uae-astronaut-ramadan-end-eid-in-space
  • https://www.khaleejtimes.com/space/watch-uae-astronaut-sultan-alneyadi-sends-eid-al-fitr-greetings-from-space


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. a happy, peaceful and prosperous
  2. a short holiday that marks
  3. the holy
  4. spend a month
  5. serving their
  6. the first Arab to complete
  7. He has to upgrade
  8. on the outside of the orbiting
  1. month of Ramadan
  2. equipment
  3. Eid al-Fitr
  4. a spacewalk
  5. fasting
  6. space station
  7. the end
  8. communities

Paragraph 2

  1. Mr al-Neyadi shared footage
  2. the holy
  3. He has sparked an interest
  4. required to fast
  5. activities "that could jeopardize
  6. put crew members
  7. He said he needed
  8. prevent a lack of
  1. sufficient food
  2. in technology
  3. nutrition or hydration
  4. of Earth
  5. from dawn to dusk
  6. site of Mecca
  7. at risk
  8. the mission

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

An astronaut (1) ___________________ end-of-Ramadan greeting from the International Space Station. Sultan al-Neyadi is from the UAE. He (2) ___________________ a happy, peaceful and prosperous Eid al-Fitr. This is a short holiday that (3) ___________________ of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims worldwide spend (4) ___________________, praying, reflecting, and serving their communities. Mr al-Neyadi is in space for six months. He will be the first Arab to (5) ___________________. He has to upgrade equipment on the outside (6) ___________________ space station in a six-hour walk.

Mr al-Neyadi (7) ___________________ Earth while on his mission. He has amazed millions of Muslims with images of the (8) ___________________ Mecca glowing in the dark. He has sparked an interest in technology (9) ___________________ in the UAE. He has received many questions about (10) ___________________. Adult Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk. Al-Neyadi said his fasting was different. This is (11) ___________________ "that could jeopardize the mission or put crew members at risk." He said he needed sufficient food to (12) ___________________ of nutrition or hydration.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Anastronauthassentanend-of-RamadangreetingfromtheInternati
onalSpaceStation.Sultanal-NeyadiisfromtheUAE.Hewishedtheworl
dahappy,peacefulandprosperousEidal-Fitr.Thisisashortholidaytha
tmarkstheendoftheholymonthofRamadan.MillionsofMuslimsworldw
idespendamonthfasting,praying,reflecting,andservingtheircommu
nities.Mral-Neyadiisinspaceforsixmonths.HewillbethefirstArabtoco
mpleteaspacewalk.Hehastoupgradeequipmentontheoutsideoftheor
bitingspacestationinasix-hourwalk.Mral-NeyadisharedfootageofE
arthwhileonhismission.HehasamazedmillionsofMuslimswithimages
oftheholysiteofMeccaglowinginthedark.Hehassparkedaninterestint
echnologyamonghiscompatriotsintheUAE.Hehasreceivedmanyques
tionsaboutfastinginspace.AdultMuslimsarerequiredtofastfromdawn
todusk.Al-Neyadisaidhisfastingwasdifferent.Thisistoavoidactiviti
es"thatcouldjeopardizethemissionorputcrewmembersatrisk."Hesai
dheneededsufficientfoodtopreventalackofnutritionorhydration.

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 — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You