4. Practical tasks for teaching reading newspaper articles
Here are two newspaper articles. The first one deals with politics, the second is of an entertaining character. Each article is followed by different activities: vocabulary and grammar activities, pronunciation and communicative activities, crosswords and puzzles, etc.
DNA tests aid Ukrainian body mystery
January 10, 2001
Web posted at: 2:43 PM EST (1943 GMT)
KIEV, Ukraine - A beheaded body found in a forest near Kiev was most likely that of a missing journalist critical of the Ukraine government, the country's chief prosecutor has said.
President Leonid Kuchma’s government was criticized by the missing journalist
Mykhailo Potebenko said DNA tests from її Heorhiy Gongadze matched 99.6 percent that of his government was critisised by the mother's.
But some circumstances such as the body's decay rate raised more issues that remained to be solved, and he could not "categorically" state it was the controversial journalist, Potebenko added.
He also said experts had not determined whether mysterious audio tapes, purportedly of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma discussing ways to silence Gongadze, were authentic.
While Potebenko reported to parliament about the investigation, thousands of people demonstrated across Ukraine for and against the embattled president.
Thousands rallied to support Kuchma in Odessa, Luhansk, Lutsk, Simferopol and other provincial towns in demonstrations organised by pro-presidential parties.
"We must protect Ukraine's constitution and president from slander spread by destructive forces," a Lutsk rally organizer, Ivan Sidor, said in comments cited by the Interfax news agency.
Anti-presidential protests prompted by the Gongadze case resumed after dying out during the New Year and January 7 Orthodox Christmas holidays.
Several hundred people rallied near parliament in Kiev, where they confronted presidential supporters with shouts of "Shame!" and "Down with Kuchma!"
Gongadze, 31, a critic of the government and of alleged high-level corruption, went missing on September 16 in Kiev. A body was found in November, but efforts to identify it have so far failed.
Meanwhile, a former bodyguard, Major Mykola Melnichenko, claimed from hiding abroad that he secretly taped Kuchma and other top officials discussing steps to silence Gongadze.
In the recording, later released by an opposition leader, a man who sounds like Kuchma talks about Gongadze, but it is not clear if he is ordering any action or simply venting anger.
Kuchma and others have strongly denied Melnichenko's allegations. Potebenko's office last week announced a search for Melnichenko and said he was suspected of slander and forgery.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Pre-reading stage:
Discussion of the latest political, economical, cultural events in the world. Each student is supposed to be ready with a brief report.
What about you?
What would you do if you were President of Ukraine?
Are you interested in politics?
H
ow
often do you watch BBC?Do you like reading newspapers?
What do you prefer: reading a newspaper or watching TV? Why?
3. Prediction exercises:
a) On the blackboard a teacher writes several words which would help the students to predict the content of an article:
KYIV |
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PRESIDENT |
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BEHEADED BODY |
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JOURNALIST
PROSECUTOR
Students are to ask their teacher Yes/No questions.
b) Students are asked to read the headline of the article and express their thoughts concerning the content:
DNA TESTS AID UKRAINIAN BODY MYSTERY.
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Resume Presume Issue |
Authentic Forgery Audio |
Rally Anger Match |
Claim Allegation Decay |
Investigation Controversial Demonstration |
Search Circumstances Controversy
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4. Pronunciation activity:
While-reading stage:
While reading the article students have to find the synonyms of the following words'.
To hint (to prompt)
To renew (to resume)
Ruin (decay)
Students are asked to pay a special attention to the prepositions.
Post-reading stage: