Words In The News
Teacher’s pack Lesson plan and student worksheets with answers
Pop concert in Iran 19 December 2007
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
CONTENTS
1. Level, topic, language, aims, materials 2. Lesson stages 3. Student worksheets 1, 2, 3 4. Answers
Level: Intermediate and above
Topic: A concert with a Western singer and an Iranian band will be held in Iran next year.
Language: Vocabulary of a news report
Aims: Reading skills – Understanding a short news report Language skills – 'have to' and 'must' Writing skills – Poetry and letter writing
Materials: Worksheet 1 – Comprehension questions Worksheet 2 – Vocabulary matching task Worksheet 3 – Grammar/language focus – present perfect
News story – Available online at:
Preparation: Before the lesson, make enough copies of worksheet 2 so that there is one worksheet for every 4 – 5 students. Cut up the vocabulary and explanations, to make a matching exercise. Students also need one copy each of worksheets 1 and 3.
bbclearningenglish.com Words in the News Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 2 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
LESSON STAGES
A Stimulate student interest in text Tell students to think of their favourite popular singer or band but don't tell anyone else. Then get students to walk around, guessing the favourite singers of their classmates by asking closed (yes/no) questions.
After 10 minutes, put students into groups of 2-3. Ask them to talk about their favourite song by the singer/band they have chosen, and encourage them to discuss why they like songs. Clarify vocabulary where necessary.
After 5 minutes, encourage open class feedback on the activity. You could encourage a few performances of favourite songs.
B Pre-teach essential vocabulary Elicit/present key vocabulary that students need either to understand the key points in the text or to understand and/or answer any questions that you'll set them later in the lesson. The vocabulary is from Words in the News (so you can elicit the vocabulary by using the explanations provided online or below).
You could either pre-teach the vocabulary at this stage of the lesson or you could use the vocabulary building activity from further down in this lesson plan. Have students working together in small groups and ask them to try to match the vocabulary with the definitions. Encourage them to work with the other groups to pool their knowledge. When they have done as much as they can, if they have dictionaries, ask them to look up the words to check their answers and to find out the definitions of any words they are not sure of. If they don't have dictionaries, check their answers and give them help with any words they aren't sure of.
Whichever method you use to elicit/present the vocabulary, you should then model it (say it clearly, highlighting the word stress) and get them to repeat the words after you. ground-breaking innovative, pioneering, new no doubt certainly delicate careful and sensitive (here) vets screens, looks closely at decadent
bbclearningenglish.com Words in the News Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 3 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007 morally degenerate or questionable restrictions limitations lyrics words for songs rarely seldom, infrequently, not often
due to scheduled to, going to line-up programme, list of artists (here)
C Written record of vocabulary Write the words on the board, eliciting spelling as you write. Elicit and show the word stress of each item and word class, if appropriate. Give students some time to copy the boardwork into their notebooks.
Boardwork: ground-breaking no doubt delicate vets decadent restrictions lyrics rarely due to line-up D Set global questions.
bbclearningenglish.com Words in the News Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 4 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
Tell the students they are going to read a text about a concert in Iran. Put these questions on the board:
1. What happens before a concert in Iran? 2. What recent changes have happened in Iranian pop music? 3. What do you think is unusual about this concert?
Students read text the first time. Give them a time limit (1 - 2 minutes) to read the text quickly to find the answer to the first 3 questions. They do not need to understand the details for each topic.
E Check answers Elicit students' answers and tick the correct answers on the board.
The answers are: 1 – The Ministry of Islamic Guidance checks the lyrics and style of music (paragraph 1). 2 – Music is becoming more westernised, with styles like hip hop and rap (paragraph 2) 3 – A Western singer is appearing with an Iranian band and women are going to perform (paragraph 3).
F Set specific information questions Hand out Worksheet 1 or use the online quiz. Students complete the worksheet to help them understand the text in more detail. Give them a time limit (5 - 6 minutes) to read the text a second time in more detail and to answer the questions.
G Check answers Elicit True or False answers. Direct attention to a particular paragraph. If an answer is wrong to try to elicit the correct answer (see worksheet 1 and answer key).
H Vocabulary consolidation/building Students do the vocabulary matching exercise (worksheet 2 that you cut up before the lesson): in small groups they match the correct word with the right definition.
I Check answers Elicit answers. If an answer is wrong, ask other students to try to elicit the correct answer.
J Grammar focus: 'have to' and 'must' There are several ways of using 'have to' and 'must', which are all very idiomatic and should really be learned.
1. describing obligation and necessity
In the present or future tenses, 'have to', 'have got to', and 'must' may all be used: My teacher says I have (got to) to revise my grammar My teacher says I must revise my grammar
bbclearningenglish.com Words in the News Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 5 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
If talking about obligation in the past, 'have to' is used. 'Must' cannot be used in the past tense [NB this is a common error in non-native speakers]
I had to go to the embassy for a visa before I could get my work permit
NB when used in the negative form, 'must' and 'have to' have different meanings:
Must not (mustn't) indicates something is prohibited Don't have to indicates that there is no obligation You must not open that door; it will set off the alarm. You don't have to do question 3 if you do question 2.
2. 'must' and 'have to' can also be used to express certainty That must be our teacher's sister – they look very alike she has to be the prettiest girl in the town.
When speaking about certainty in the past, 'must' is used, never 'have to' He must have done badly on the test – I know he didn't do any work all term. The weather must have changed their plans to go to the beach.
Hand out Worksheet 3 which reviews 'have to' and 'must'
K Check answers If an answer is wrong, ask other students to try to elicit the correct answer (see worksheet 3 and answer key).
L Follow-up activity: Group writing There are two follow up tasks. Firstly split students into pairs. Give them a choice of activity. They can either write the lyrics (a poem) for the 'song of peace', or they can write a letter to a singer/band of their choice (perhaps the person/band from the warmer activity) inviting them to participate in the concert in Iran.
Give students about 5 minutes to discuss their ideas and 20 minutes for the writing activity. After this, you could encourage peer feedback by swapping letters/poetry between groups and peer-correcting.
M Feedback Give praise for content and show your interest in the different views expressed. Give praise for correct language. Give feedback on incorrect language you heard/saw. You could write some example phrases or sentences on the board and elicit from students which ones are correct and which ones are wrong and why.
bbclearningenglish.com Words in the News Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 6 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
STUDENT WORKSHEET 1
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS Are the following sentences true or false?
1. The Ministry for Islamic Guidance writes the lyrics to all pop songs. T/F
2. Rap music is never heard in taxis in Iran. T/F
3. Music videos and dancing are not allowed. T/F
4. Arian is a soloist. T/F
5. There will be women performing in the concert. T/F
6. Chris de Burgh and Arian have recorded a ‘song for the environment’. T/F
Words in the News bbclearningenglish.com Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 7 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
STUDENT WORKSHEET 2
VOCABULARY Match these words and phrases to their definitions.
1. ground-breaking A. words for songs
2. no doubt B. programme, list of artists (here)
3. delicate C. seldom, infrequently, not often
4. vets D. screens, looks closely at
5. decadent E. morally degenerate or questionable
6. restrictions F. careful and sensitive (here)
7. lyrics G. scheduled to, going to
8. rarely H. certainly
9. due to I. innovative, pioneering, new
10. line-up J. limitations
Words in the News bbclearningenglish.com Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 8 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
STUDENT WORKSHEET 3
GRAMMAR FOCUS – 'have to' and 'must' Exercise 1: Rearrange the following words into sentences. Use all words.
1. the have before Chris de Burgh to to concert doesn't go Iran
2. must give Arian programme to the government the
3. have buy tickets to soon We
4. there You park mustn't
5. must They now finished the have recording by
Exercise 2: Choose the most appropriate form for the following sentence. If both options make sense, circle both.
1. We don't have to/mustn't leave yet – we still have plenty of time. 2. They must/have to be joking. 3. My teacher has not given homework for 3 weeks, he must/has got to be mad! 4. They mustn't/don't have to drink in the concert hall. 5. I must/have to take my brother to the concert – he really likes the band.
Exercise 3: Create your own sentences with each of the forms
1. They mustn't______
2. We have to______
3. The band has to______
4. I don't have to______
Words in the News bbclearningenglish.com Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 9 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
ANSWER KEY
STUDENT WORKSHEET 1
1. False – paragraph 1 of the written text says, 'the Ministry…vets the lyrics' 2. False – paragraph 2 says 'In a taxi you'll often hear house or rap music…' 3. True – paragraph 2 says 'There are still no music videos - dancing is completely banned'. 4. False – paragraph 3 says 'Chris… is due to play alongside the Iranian band Arian'. 5. True – paragraph 3 says 'the band Arian... is one of the first in Iran to include women in the line-up'. 6. False – paragraph 3 says 'they have already worked together to record a ‘song for peace’'.
STUDENT WORKSHEET 2
1. I 2. H 3. F 4. D 5. E 6. J 7. A 8. C 9. G 10. B
STUDENT WORKSHEET 3
Exercise 1
1. Chris de Burgh doesn't have to go to Iran before the concert. 2. Arian must give the programme to the Government. 3. We have to buy tickets soon. 4. You mustn't park there. 5. They must have finished the recording by now.
Exercise 2
1. We don't have to leave yet – we still have plenty of time. 2. They must/have to be joking. 3. My teacher has not given homework for 3 weeks, he must/has got to be mad! 4. They mustn't drink in the concert hall. 5. I must/have to take my brother to the concert – he really likes the band.
Exercise 3: Accept any answers which are accurate and appropriate and demonstrate correct use of 'have to' and 'must'.
Words in the News bbclearningenglish.com Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 10 of 11
BBC Learning English – Words in the News
Pop concert in Iran – 19 December 2007
Groundbreaking concert in Iran
Cue: It has been announced that the Irish pop singer Chris de Burgh will give a concert in Iran next summer alongside an Iranian band. It's thought to be the first time a major western pop musician will have performed in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Jon Leyne reports.
This ground-breaking concert was no doubt the result of delicate negotiations. All music performances in Iran have to be approved by the Ministry of Islamic guidance which vets the lyrics and even disapproves sometimes of the style of the music if it's seen as too western or decadent.
Despite those restrictions, over the last few years Iranian pop music has become more and more westernised. In a taxi you'll often hear house or rap music with lyrics in Farsi. There are still no music videos - dancing is completely banned - and western groups are rarely if ever heard on radio or TV.
Chris de Burgh is due to play alongside the Iranian band Arian, one of the first pop groups in Iran to include women in the line-up, though women are still not allowed to perform as solo singers. According to Arian's manager, Chris de Burgh and Arian have already worked together to record a 'song for peace'. The manager said the song was intended to reflect the peace-seeking spirit of the Iranian people to the world.
Jon Leyne, BBC News Teheran
Words in the News bbclearningenglish.com Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes Page 11 of 11