SESSION 16: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION
2.1 DEMONSTRATIONS: What do the following people think about the future of Egypt?
- Hosni Mubarak
- A riot policeman
- An opposition leader
- An unemployed person
- A ten-year-old child
- A journalist
- a lack of democracy
- corrupt leaders
- you country going to war
- lack of religious freedom
- rising food prices
- unemployment
- racism
- rising taxes
a) What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Egypt’?
b) What do you think of the protests in Egypt?
c) Where do you think the protests will go?
d) What message do you have for the Egyptian people?
e) Do you think the protests are for democracy?
f) Have things like this happened in your country?
g) Do you think protests will start in other Arab countries?
h) Could the Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt protests be the start of something similar to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe?
i) What do you think Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak thinks of the protests?
j) What have you heard on TV about this conflict before reading this article?
k) What would make you take to the streets?
l) How historical are the protests across Egypt?
m) The U.S. supported Hosni Mubarak as an ally for three decades. What will they do now?
n) Should the USA change its position towards other regimes in the Middle East?
o) What are the most striking images you’ve seen on TV?
p) What part has social media played in Egypt’s protests?
q) What three adjectives would you use to describe the situation in Egypt?
r) What do you know about Hosni Mubarak?
s) What questions would you like to ask Hosni Mubarak?
t) Why do you think journalist aren´t allowed to leave their hotels and are very strickly watched?
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 16, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- The only way the people of a country have to protest against their government is with riots and demonstrations. Express your opinion.
- Describe the situation in Egypt from your point of view.
After the events in Tunisia, now is the turn of the Egyptians, although we must not forget that in other countries like Yemen, Algeria and Morocco have also removed some positions of power.
ReplyDeleteIn general, the Arab peoples have been very submissive to their rulers, and great admirers of the "Founding Fathers." But it seems like this is coming to the end and that democracy is making great efforts to appear in these countries.
Anyway, I must say that the person who holds power in Egypt has been there for so long, so it will not be easy to leave his post.
Fortunately, the Army has taken the decision, as it did in Tunisia, it has been not to go against the people. However, the followers and the police have a more aggressive approach against the demonstrators.
On the other hand, if Egyptians and Tunisians are able to go forward, they will have to be realistic and not to be overcome with optimism. So I only wish everything runs only by peaceful means and that the decision of the majority prevails as soon as possible.
Egypt, here it is, one the older culture throughout history and although thousands of years have gone by, violence, inequality and injustice still survive, it must be that human being is the only animal who stumble twice or more over the same stone.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are many countries around the world which political systems are not very democratic and population lives under very hard conditions, so, unrest like this one is a hope for all of them in order to get freedom and justice for everyone.
Nevertheless, we must not be too optimistic because religion is too important in most of the North African and Near East countries, occupying decisive places between the authorities and while this situation does not change and religion stays inside family and individual limits, democracy will still be far away.
In today’s world, many societies are very advanced while other are kept in the same way whereas time goes by. New technologies help the second ones to discover as other countries live, so we can ask, which is the best way to get a better place where people should live in freedom?
ReplyDeleteWesternize countries are seeing as developing countries are protesting against dictatorial system of governments. Every years television broadcasts show us lots of demonstrations filling the streets with many banners explaining their problems and why they are doing their protests. Most of the time, these people are calm and they walk without violence on the streets, although politic regimes do not like these meetings, but officials sometimes take the messages and change the way they lead the country.
On the other hand, there are many other countries, such as Tunisia or Egypt, which people are very tired to support their horrible life style. People from both countries are protesting against their presidents. These governments do not accept that people protest in loud voice their problems, so that is the reason why in many countries the police attack demonstrations to persuade them to leave their protests. However, the majority of the times, all the people of a country link their strength to change their destiny, so a lot of times we watch on TV people’s violence scenes fighting against army or police. Thus violence is not the best way, sometimes is completely necessary to change system of governments which are corrupt frequently.
To sum up, although all of us do not like violence, sometimes it is the only way to change the place where you live. Furthermore it is known that many people die in these problematic situations but it is a price which society have to pay if they want to get a better life style with all the rights a person should have.