CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Marathon 2007 Presentation

International Terrorism

Nowadays the problem of terrorism is growing worse. It concerns not only one country but all developed and developing countries in the world. Moreover, people living on our planet suffer from cruelty and violence of terrorism.

Integrating English with other school subjects, e.g. basic rules of security, it might be useful and appropriate to devote two lessons to discussing this problem. The aim of these lessons is to promote feelings of tolerance and respect towards other countries and people of different nationalities and races.

Taking into account the global threat of terrorism facing humanity, it is important to explain to students the main rules of behaviour in these situations and teach them how to protect themselves from being hurt or injured.

Objectives:

To introduce the kinds of terrorism
To develop the topic-based vocabulary
To revise modal verbs and past tenses
To develop skills to express an opinion

Sub-topics: Self-Protection; Evacuation

• Introduce the topic of the lesson and ask students what it might refer to.

• Introduce the sub-topics that will be covered in this lesson.

Film Fahrenheit 9/11

Students are now going to see some episodes from the film Fahrenheit 9/11. Begin by asking if they can tell you what the title of the film means and if it tells them anything about terrorism.

Ask the students to answer what event is shown in this film, how people who witnessed this violent action felt; if it was an act of terrorism, and get them to justify their answers.

If you don’t have the film this part of the lesson can be omitted. You can ask students what they know about terrorism, ask them to give examples of terrorism or discuss the acts of terrorism which happened on 11 September, 2001.

Let’s recall what happened on 11 September, 2001.

Remind students of some horrible facts of that day. Ask students to discuss what the main reason for terrorism is.

• Give the dictionary definition of terrorism.

• Ask students what words are associated with the word “terrorism”.

• Encourage them to make a wordweb.

• Go round the class monitoring and helping where necessary.

• If you prefer, conduct a brief discussion involving the whole class by reading out their wordwebs or inviting different students to write down their webs on the board.

Exercise 1. I was there… (See Appendix)

Aim: to read for gist.

• Students are now going to read the text about the bleakest day in the history of the USA (11 September, 2001) and how people who were in the World Trade Centre tried to protect themselves and managed to survive.

• Begin by asking students if they can tell you what the title of the text means and if it tells them anything about terrorism.

• Ask students to read the text. This can be done individually or as a class activity with different students being asked to read different sections aloud to the rest of the class.

• Remind students that at this stage they do not need to understand all of the vocabulary as items will be covered in the following exercises.

Exercise 2

Aim: to skim for gist to answer true or false statements.

• Read the first statement together.

• Remind students that they can look at the text, but they do not need to read it in detail again.

• Elicit the answers and ask students to justify them by reading directly from the passage.

• Remind students of the importance of underlining when they find the answer in the passage.

• Ask students to work individually or in pairs to do the rest of the exercise.

• Elicit answers, asking for justification from the passage.

Exercise 3

Aim: to introduce new vocabulary.

• Before students do this exercise, ask them to read the definitions.

• Remind them of the importance of looking back at the text / passage for cues if they are not sure of the meaning of any word.

• Ask students to work individually or with a partner to do the exercise.

• Elicit answers.

• Ask students if there were any other words in the text which they didn’t know the meaning of.

• Ask students if they learnt anything from this text or not and get them to justify their answers.

Having done this exercise, you can ask students to answer some questions to check their understanding of the text (e.g. ask them how people behaved in that situation, what they did to protect themselves, if they panicked, how some people who were in the World Trade Centre managed to escape, how they evacuated, the buildings, etc.).

Exercise 4

Aim: to introduce new vocabulary.

• Before students do this exercise, ask them to read the sentences.

• Remind them of the importance of deciding before they fill in the gaps whether they need to look for a noun, adjective or the correct form of the verb.

• Ask students to work individually or with a partner to do the exercise.

• Elicit answers by asking students to read them out or to write them down on the board.

Students are now going to discuss the common rules of self-protection.

• Ask students what the common rules of behaviour are in emergency situations they can name according to the previous exercises.

• If you prefer, give some common rules on the board and ask students to continue this list.

• Encourage students to discuss their rules and justify their point of view.

Ask students what/who helps people escape in emergency situations.

• Students are now going to discuss methods of evacuation (there are some pictures on the board).

• Ask students if it is necessary to call an emergency service, the fire brigade, etc.; to get medical, psychological help.

• Elicit answers, asking students to justify them or give examples.

Additional task

Explain the situation: There is a bomb in the school

• Ask students to discuss this situation working in groups.

• Ask them to explain the rules of behaviour and how to evacuate in this situation.

Suggested home assignment: Do a project in groups using one of these themes:

1. Emergency situations
2. Emergency situations on the underground
3. Emergency situations in public places

Questions for discussion:

• If you prefer, ask students to write a report to the newspaper (How to prevent people all over the world from becoming victims of terrorism).

Start thinking!

What does the title of this text mean? Does it tell you anything about terrorism?

Appendix

1. Read the text to check you predictions. What is this text about?

I was there…

Adam Mayblum’s office was on the 87th floor of 1 World Trade Centre when the first plane crashed into the tower… Read his powerful account of the tragedy.

We were standing around, checking e-mails, getting set for the day, when the first plane hit just a few storeys above us. We didn’t know that it was a plane.

1) The building shook as if it were an earthquake. People screamed. Parts of the ceiling collapsed. We looked out of the windows. Reams of paper were flying everywhere. Smoke started streaming in through the holes in the ceiling. It was thick and white and didn’t smell like I imagined smoke should smell – not like your BBQ or your fireplace or even a bonfire.

2) I took off my T-shirt and ripped it into three pieces, soaked it in water and gave two pieces to my friends. Tied my piece around my face to act as an air filter. And we all started moving to the staircase.

3) In the halls there were tiny fires and sparks. The ceiling had collapsed in the men’s bathroom. It was gone, along with anyone who may have been in there. We did not go in to look. We were moving down very orderly, very slowly, no panic. But my legs couldn’t stop shaking. My heart was pounding.

4) Around the 44th floor the firemen and policemen started coming up as we were heading down. They headed up to save people but met death instead… On the 3rd floor the lights went out and we heard this rumbling coming towards us from above. It was 10 a.m. now and that was Tower 2 collapsing next door. We didn’t know that.

5) We headed down a dark corridor to an exit. We reached another stairwell and saw a police officer. She was wet through and covered in soot. She said we could not go that way, it was blocked. There was water everywhere. She stayed behind instructing people to do that. I don’t know what happened to her…

6) When we went out into the courtyard, there was dust and soot everywhere. Twisted steel and wires. I heard there were bodies and body parts as well, but I did not look. It was bad enough. We moved out to the street.

7) Several blocks away we stopped and looked up. Our building, exactly where our office is (was), was engulfed in flame and smoke. Someone said that Tower 2 had fallen down. I looked again and sure enough, it was gone.

8) We sat down. A girl on a bike offered us some water. Just as she took the cap off her bottle we heard a rumble. We looked up and our building, Tower 1, collapsed…

9) The responsible ones are in hiding somewhere on this planet and damn them for making me feel like this. But they should know that they failed in terrorizing us. We were calm. Those men and women that went up (to help others) were heroes. They must have known what was going on and they did their jobs. Ordinary people were heroes, too. The very moment the first plane was hijacked, democracy won.

2. Decide if the following are true (T) or false (F). Scan the text again, but don’t read it in detail.

1) The author says that he took off his shirt and ripped it into two pieces.

2) The smoke was thin and grey and smelled like a bonfire.

3) The police officer explained that they shouldn’t go that way because it was blocked.

4) There were twisted cars, buses and wires everywhere.

5) There were a lot of bodies and even body parts.

3. Match the words from the box with the correct definitions.

1) An open space that is completely or partly surrounded by buildings.

2) A thread of thin metal.

3) To use violence or threats to take control of a plane, vehicle, or ship.

4) To fall down suddenly, usually because of weakness or damage.

5) A large amount of paper.

6) To tear something or be torn quickly and violently.

7) Being bent in many directions or turned many times.

8) To completely surround or cover something.

9) This is a series of long low sounds.

10) A black powder that is produced when something is burnt.

11) A very small piece of fire or electrical flash.

12) Something that you pass water, air etc through in order to remove unwanted substances.

13) The stair area going up through all the floors of a building.

14) A hot bright burning gas that you see from a fire.

15) To make something completely wet.

16) This is dry powder consisting of extremely small bits of dirt.

4. Complete the sentences with the correct form (if it is necessary) of the words in the box.

Tuesday morning started like any other. I was on the 65th floor of 2 World Trade Center, sitting at my computer and checking e-mails. All of a sudden I heard a / an 1) …. I ran to the window and saw lots of 2) … floating in the air – paper, metal, all kinds of things! At that moment we had no idea what had happened. Someone said that we were 3) …. We had reached either the 51st or the 50th floor when we heard a huge 4) …. People began 5) … and 6) … and 7) … for God to help them. Somewhere around the 25th floor we began to smell 8) … and a lot of it. It became difficult to 9) … but by the 15th floor it became unbearable. I took off my shirt and 10) … it around my head to help me breathe and it worked, but my eyes were stinging real bad.

Answers:

Exercise 2: 1. F; 2. F; 3. T; 4. F; 5. T.

Exercise 3: 1. courtyard; 2. wire; 3. hijack; 4. collapse; 5. reams; 6. rip; 7. twisted; 8. engulf; 9. rumble; 10. soot; 11. spark; 12. filter; 13. stairwell; 14. flame; 15. soak; 16. dust.

Exercise 4: 1. explosion; 2. debris; 3. evacuating; 4. explosion; 5. screaming; 6. crying; 7. praying; 8. smoke; 9. breathe; 10. wrapped.

Useful vocabulary

Missile (ракета), to crash into, to get scared, to rush, survivor (уцелевший), explosion, to escape, debris (обломки, осколки), to evacuate, to crack, to scream, to pray, to breathe, to wrap around, jet, to collapse, reams (масса, куча), to rip, staircase, cell phone, rumbling (грохот), soot, to instruct, courtyard, dust, to engulf (поглощать, охватывать), to hijack, hostage, witness.

Fire and medical services

Fire brigade, a fireman, a helmet, a hydrant, a hose(pipe) (шланг), a fire-extinguisher (огнетушитель), fire-engine, a ladder, a fire-escape (пожарная лестница), a hospital ward, a sling (перевязь), a crutch (костыль), bandage, stretchers (носилки), a gas mask (противогаз), an asbestos suit (противопожарный костюм), to apply bandage (наложить повязку), brilliant green, cotton wool (вата), etc.

Also see Additional Resources in English No. 34, 2002.

By Elena Savushkina, Lyceum 1523, Moscow