THE ARTICLE

START

1. URANIUM SEIZED: What do you know about the recent news story about the Slovak police arresting three men found to be in possession of enriched uranium? Note: This story hit the news at the end of November 2007 and featured heavily in the international press. Go round the room swapping stories. Change partners often.

2. DICTATION: The teacher will read some of the article slowly and clearly. Students will write down what they hear. The teacher will repeat the passage slowly again. Self correct your work from page 2 - filling in spaces and correcting mistakes. Be honest with yourself on the number of errors. Advise the teacher of your total number of errors. Less than 5 is very good. 10 are acceptable. Any more is room for improvement! More than 20 - we need to do some work!

3. READING: Get students to read the passage aloud. Swap readers every paragraph.

4. VOCABULARY: Students look through the article. Underline/highlight any vocabulary you don’t know. Look in dictionaries. Discuss and help each other out. The teacher will go through and explain any words or phrases you are stuck with!

5. ENRICHED URANIUM: With your partner on the board write as many words to do with the ‘enriched uranium’ as you can. One-two minutes. Compare with other teams. Discuss together – linking your words.

6. UNDERCOVER WORK: You and your partner are detectives! Together list 6 different ways undercover work might be done. Discuss your findings. The teacher will select some pairs to find the most interesting result.

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7. UNDER SURVEILLANCE: With your partner on the board write as many words to do with the ‘under surveillance’ as you can. One-two minutes. Compare with other teams. Discuss together – linking your words.

8. TERRORISTS: Think of 6 different terrorist groups or smugglers. List them. What does their group represent? What do they smuggle? Compare your list with your partner. Discuss together. The teacher will select some pairs to discuss their findings.

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9. PRESS CONFERENCE: In pairs: You are at the police press conference to do with the seized uranium. One of you is spokesman Michal Kopčík. The other is a journalist from a local TV station. The journalist has to ask 3 questions. The spokesman has to say a few words at the beginning before taking any questions. Role play: 5 minutes.

10. QUICK DISCUSSION: Student(s) A think the new Schengen borders will make it easier for smugglers to get uranium into Western Europe. Student(s) B thinks the new border controls will make it harder.

11. ARTICLE QUIZ: With your partner or in small groups: (1 point for each correct answer. Lose ½ point if you look at the article for help!) Student A 1) What was seized by the police? 2) Which countries were the suspects from? 3) Which country were the suspects arrested in? 4) What isotope numbers were mentioned? 5) What are pretty slack? 6) Where did the enriched uranium come from? 7) How old were the suspects? 8) How many grams of radioactive material were seized? 9) What have international agencies warned of? 10) Why was the material more dangerous? Student B 1) Where were the suspects detained? 2) What can the 235-type uranium be used for? 3) How much per gram was the uranium worth? 4) What was the total value of the amount seized? 5) What is a pretty common currency? 6) What does Ukraine still house? 7) What did the authorities say to the public? 8) What is a dirty bomb? 9) What was radioactive? 10) How long have the suspects been tracked and under surveillance?

12. SENTENCE STARTERS: With your partner(s), finish these sentence starters. Change partner(s) and talk about the sentences you made.

1. Slovak police ___________________________________________________

2. The suspects ___________________________________________________

3. Uranium _______________________________________________________

4. Ukraine _______________________________________________________

5. Police ________________________________________________________

6. Radioactive material _____________________________________________

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: After reading the article guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

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

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article:

GAP FILL: READING

Put the words into the gaps in the text.

GAP FILL: LISTENING:

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Slovak Police seize enriched uranium

Radioactive material ___________________ Slovakia last week was enriched uranium that could have been ________________ bomb. “Slovak police seized 481.4 grams (2.2 lbs) of radioactive material and arrested two Hungarians and one Ukrainian,” spokesman Michal Kopčík said. The men aged between ___________________ were arrested in a raid along the border with Hungary, near to the frontier with Ukraine. Slovak investigators believe the ________________ came from somewhere in the former Soviet Union but did not specify which country. The identity of the buyer for the uranium has not been released. A dirty bomb is an explosive device that spreads radioactivity but the explosion itself is secured by non-nuclear material. Kopčík added, “What made the material more dangerous was that it was in a powder form.” Strict _________________ were taken in order not to contaminate the nearby environment. Authorities assured the public there ____________________ about.

The suspects were detained ____________ to a meeting where they wanted to sell the material for US$3,500 per gram, making the total amount seized worth nearly US$1.7 million. The ____________ entered Slovakia from Hungary. Slovak and Hungarian police are believed to _________________ tracking the alleged smugglers. Officials refused to say how long they had been under surveillance or how they were arrested. Police ___________________ level the uranium was enriched but said the material, found in two cases, contained two types of uranium known as 235 ________________. Enrichment raises the proportion of the 235-type uranium in the material, which can yield fuel for nuclear power stations or be used to make nuclear warheads. International agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of radioactive material from the former Soviet Union passing into the hands of criminals or terrorists. Independent British _________________ John Large: “Uranium is a pretty common currency and controls are pretty slack.” Ukraine still houses vast amounts of uranium waste.

DISCUSSION

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

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?

2. Can you think of another famous radiation incident?

3. Are you in favour of nuclear power?

4. Do you think it’s easy to get enriched uranium into Slovakia?

5. What is uranium normally used for?

6. Are you in favour of nuclear warheads?

7. What other types of smuggling can you think of?

8. Can you think of two well known terrorists?

9. Should Iran be allowed to have nuclear power stations?

10. Do you think Iran has other plans for its nuclear activities?

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

1. Do you think security is strong enough along the Slovak Ukrainian border?

2. Have you ever visited a nuclear power station?

3. Can you think of two famous undercover detectives?

4. Do you think there will be more incidents like the one in the article?

5. Is smuggling big business?

6. Is nuclear power safe?

7. Where do you think nuclear waste should be disposed?

8. Would you want nuclear waste in your backyard?

9. Should the former Soviet Union countries be doing more to combat the illegal transportation of uranium?

10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?

2. Was there a question you didn’t like?

3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?

4. What did you like talking about?

5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ROLE PLAY: SPEAKING:

In groups:

You are at a debate on nuclear power. You are the committee who is in front of an invited audience.

The teacher will select some groups to present their debate to the rest of the class.

LANGUAGE: CORRECT WORD: Choose the correct words from a–d below and write them in the article.

Radioactive material (1)___ by police in Slovakia last week was enriched uranium that could have been used for a dirty bomb. “Slovak police seized 481.4 grams (2.2 lbs) of radioactive material and arrested two Hungarians and one Ukrainian,” spokesman Michal Kopčík said. The men (2)___ between 40 and 51 years old were arrested in a raid along the border with Hungary, near to the frontier with Ukraine. Slovak investigators believe the enriched uranium came from somewhere in the former Soviet Union but did not specify which country. The identity of the buyer for the uranium has not been released. A dirty bomb is an explosive device that spreads radioactivity but the explosion itself is secured by non-nuclear material. Kopčík added, “What made the material more dangerous was that it was in a powder form.” Strict security (3)___ were taken in order not to contaminate the nearby environment. Authorities assured the public there was nothing to worry about. The suspects were detained on their way to a meeting where they wanted to sell the material for US$3,500 per gram, making the total amount seized worth nearly US$1.7 million. The suspects had entered Slovakia from Hungary. Slovak and Hungarian police are believed to have spent months tracking the alleged smugglers. Officials (4)___ to say how long they had been under surveillance or how they were (5)___. Police did not say to what level the uranium was (6)___ but said the material, found in two cases, contained two (7)___ of uranium known as 235 and 238 isotopes. Enrichment raises the proportion of the 235-type uranium in the material, which can (8)___ fuel for nuclear power stations or be used to make nuclear warheads. International agencies have (9)___ warned of the risk of radioactive material from the former Soviet Union passing into the (10)___ of criminals or terrorists. Independent British nuclear scientist John Large: “Uranium is a pretty common currency and controls are pretty (11)___.” Ukraine still houses vast amounts of uranium (12)___.

GRAMMAR 1: MIDWAY

Put the words into the gaps in the text.

GRAMMAR 2: EASY

Put the words into the gaps in the text.

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. NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: Write a newspaper article about Uranium and terrorism. (Minimum 200 words)

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Which article was best and why?

WRITING: IN CLASS:

1. FIVE MINUTE ARTICLE: Write an article on ‘Uranium and terrorism.’ You have five minutes. Afterwards swap articles with your partner. Read through their article and correct any mistakes. The teacher will select some students to read out their work.

Countdown: Every minute the teacher may say, “You have xx minutes.”

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

GAP FILL: Slovak Police seize enriched uranium: Radioactive material seized by police in Slovakia last week was enriched uranium that could have been used for a dirty bomb. “Slovak police seized 481.4 grams (2.2 lbs) of radioactive material and arrested two Hungarians and one Ukrainian,” spokesman Michal Kopčík said. The men aged between 40 and 51 years old were arrested in a raid along the border with Hungary, near to the frontier with Ukraine. Slovak investigators believe the enriched uranium came from somewhere in the former Soviet Union but did not specify which country. The identity of the buyer for the uranium has not been released. A dirty bomb is an explosive device that spreads radioactivity but the explosion itself is secured by non-nuclear material. Kopčík added, “What made the material more dangerous was that it was in a powder form.” Strict security measures were taken in order not to contaminate the nearby environment. Authorities assured the public there was nothing to worry about. The suspects were detained on their way to a meeting where they wanted to sell the material for US$3,500 per gram, making the total amount seized worth nearly US$1.7 million. The suspects had entered Slovakia from Hungary. Slovak and Hungarian police are believed to have spent months tracking the alleged smugglers. Officials refused to say how long they had been under surveillance or how they were arrested. Police did not say to what level the uranium was enriched but said the material, found in two cases, contained two types of uranium known as 235 and 238 isotopes. Enrichment raises the proportion of the 235-type uranium in the material, which can yield fuel for nuclear power stations or be used to make nuclear warheads. International agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of radioactive material from the former Soviet Union passing into the hands of criminals or terrorists. Independent British nuclear scientist John Large: “Uranium is a pretty common currency and controls are pretty slack.” Ukraine still houses vast amounts of uranium waste.

LANGUAGE WORK