•
Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95
Level 1
Elementary
Key words
2
Warmer
1
Match the key words to the definitions below. Then find them in the article to read them in context. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.
1. great sadness _____________________ (para 4)
2. a big official ceremony that takes place after someone important dies _____________________ (para 6) 3. a large group of families that are related to each other _____________________ (para 7)
4. changed completely and usually for the better _____________________ (para 7) 5. someone who brings people or beliefs together _____________________ (para 10)
6. the political system that existed in the past in South Africa, in which only white people had political rights and power _____________________ (para 11)
7. the feeling and time of great sadness because someone has died _____________________ (para 12) 8. a company that deals with legal matters _____________________ (para 16)
9. officially not allowed or forbidden _____________________ (para 17)
10. the act of going into hiding so people do not know where you are _____________________ (para 17) 11. an attempt to do something by using guns and other weapons _____________________ (para 17) 12. set free _____________________ (para 18)
Write down five words or expressions that describe Nelson Mandela.
clan transformed apartheid
sorrow state funeral unifier
NEWS LESSONS / Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95 / Elementary
•PHOT OCOPIABLE
•
CAN BE DOWNLOADEDFROM WEBSITE
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013
Level 1
Elementary
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first
black president, dies aged 95
David Smith
6 December, 2013
1 Nelson Mandela, the most important person in Africa’s fight for freedom and a hero to millions of people around the world, has died at the age of 95.
2 South Africa’s first black president died with his family with him at home in Johannesburg after years of illness.
3 The news was told to the country by the current president, Jacob Zuma, who said Mandela died around 8.50pm local time and was at peace.
4 “This is the moment of our deepest sorrow,” Zuma said. “Our nation has lost its
greatest son.
5 “South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will say goodbye to him.”
6 Zuma said that Mandela would receive a state funeral.
7 Barack Obama called Mandela by his clan name – Madiba. The US president said: “Madiba transformed South Africa – and moved all of us.”
8 UK prime minister David Cameron said: “A great light has gone out in the world” and he described Mandela as “a hero of our time”. 9 FW de Klerk – the South African president who freed Mandela from prison and shared the Nobel Peace Prize with him in 1993 – said the news was very sad for South Africa and the world.
10 “He was a great unifier,” De Klerk said. 11 In Soweto, people came together to sing
and dance near the house where Mandela once lived. They sang songs from the anti-apartheid struggle. Some people were wearing South African flags and the green, yellow and black colours of Mandela’s party, the African National Congress (ANC). 12 Mandela’s death sends South Africa deep
into mourning nearly 20 years after he led the country from racial apartheid to democracy. 13 But his death will also be felt by people
around the world who thought Mandela was
one of history’s last great political leaders, similar to Gandhi and Martin Luther King. 14 After spending 27 years in prison, including
18 years on Robben Island, Mandela won the country’s first multiracial election in 1994, with his party, the ANC.
15 Born with the name Rolihlahla Dalibhunga in a small village in the Eastern Cape on 18 July, 1918, a teacher at Mandela’s school gave him his English name, Nelson. 16 He joined the ANC in 1943. In 1952, he
started South Africa’s first black law firm with his partner, Oliver Tambo.
17 When the ANC was banned in 1960, Mandela went underground. After the Sharpeville massacre, in which 69 black protesters were shot dead by police, he took the difficult decision to begin an armed struggle. He was arrested and sent to prison for life.
18 Finally, in 1990, FW de Klerk ended the ban on the ANC and Mandela was released from prison.
19 Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said: “He made people believe in Africa and Africans again.” 20 Mandela’s 91st birthday was celebrated by
the first annual “Mandela Day” in his honour. He was married three times and he had six children, 17 grandchildren and 14
great-grandchildren.
•
Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95
Level 1
Elementary
Find the information
3
Answer the questions with information from the article.
1. What was Mandela’s name when he was born? How did he get the name Nelson? 2. What was his clan name?
3. Which other political leaders is he compared to? 4. Did he have any other job, apart from his life in politics?
5. Which political party was he connected with and when did he join it? 6. How long did Mandela spend in prison?
7. How many years was he on Robben Island? 8. What did he get in 1993 and who did he get it with? 9. When was the first Mandela Day?
10. Did he have any family?
Political vocabulary
4
Write all the political words and expressions from the article onto the word wheel.
Political
NEWS LESSONS / Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95 / Elementary
•PHOT OCOPIABLE
•
CAN BE DOWNLOADEDFROM WEBSITE
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013
Level 1
Elementary
Find, watch and listen to Zuma’s announcement of Mandela’s passing and Obama’s tribute, both from 5 December, 2013. Listen carefully for the quotes that are mentioned in the article.
Find out more about Nelson Mandela by going to www.nelsonmandela.org/.
Paying tribute
5
Webquest
6
a. Who said these things about Mandela? What is their job or position?
b. Write your own personal tribute to Nelson Mandela in the empty speech bubble.
2. “Our nation has
lost its greatest son.”
4. “He was a
great unifier.”
5. “[Mandela was] a
hero of our time.”
1. “He made people
believe in Africa and
Africans again.”
3. ”Madiba transformed
South Africa – and moved
•
Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95
Level 1
Elementary
KEY
1 Warmer
Teacher’s note: Get the students to do this task individually or in pairs (if possible, before you hand out the worksheets). Then write their ideas on the board. Which, if any, words and expressions repeat themselves? Leave the words on the board, if possible, until after the students have read the article, at which point they can say whether any of their words appear in the article.
2 Key words
1. sorrow 2. state funeral 3. clan 4. transformed 5. unifier 6. apartheid 7. mourning 8. law firm 9. banned 10. underground 11. armed struggle 12. released
3 Find the information
1. Rolihlahla Dalibhunga; a teacher at his school gave Mandela his English name, Nelson.
2. Madiba
3. Martin Luther King and Ghandi 4. He worked as a lawyer in a law firm.
5. the ANC (African National Congress); in 1943 6. 27 years
7. 18 years
8. the Nobel Peace Prize; FW de Klerk 9. on Mandela’s 91st birthday
10. He had a large family: he was married three times and he had six children, 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
4 Political vocabulary
Teacher’s note: These are possible answers; they may vary so accept any that students can justify.
president; prime minister; democracy; election; victory; party; ANC; congress; nation; flags; political leader; (racial) apartheid; state
5 Paying tribute
a.
1. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
2. Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa 3. Barack Obama, president of the United States 4. FW de Klerk, former president of South Africa 5. David Cameron, UK prime minister
