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ESL Worksheets

Skim through this newspaper article, then do the tasks which follow it.

Fuel protests hit Britain

Protests against rising petrol prices spread across the UK yesterday as drivers blocked roads and prevented tankers from leaving oil refineries.

Police moved to avoid traffic chaos on the A1 at Gateshead last night by warning protesting truck drivers and farmers they faced arrest if they carried out a threat to park lorries and tractors on the busy trunk road. Nevertheless, a slow procession of 100 vehicles, which police said was a mile long, led to huge tailbacks.

Blockading farmers cut off distribution for several hours from the Shell refinery at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. Fuel supplies to parts of north-west England, Yorkshire and the borders were badly disrupted.

Protesters said they had resorted to direct action out of desperation. Craig Eley, who runs a haulage business in Gateshead, and organised the A1 demonstration, said: "The response has been fantastic. Car drivers were honking their horns in support."

Andrew Spence, regional organiser of Farmers for Action, the group which has been co-ordinating protests around the country, said his members had turned out to support the hauliers' call for cuts in fuel taxes. He added: "This is an act of desperation by both the farmers and the truck drivers."

Guardian

Saturday September 9, 2000

TASKS

1. Complete this diagram for the first paragraph:

WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHEN?
WHY?
HOW?

2. How many sentences are there in most paragraphs?

3. How are the followed people defined/labelled?

• Craig Eley
• Andrew Spence
4. How many quotes does the article contain?

5. How are the quotes introduced?

6. How long are the quotes?

7. What tense is used for the headline?

Writing about the rent protest in Maekung

1. Complete this table with notes about Inthorn and the other farmers resisting the rent-collector’s demands:

WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHEN?
WHY?
HOW?

2. Add phrases to the following names in order to define the people concerned.

Example: Mr Park Moon Kyu, 34, a Samsung marketing director, …

• Mr Inthorn Boonrueng, …
• Mr Nedmanoon Angkulprasert, …
• Miss Sri ???, …
• Mr ??? Dusit, …
3. Write a quote for each of the people above. (You may find your notes for the TV report useful here.) When you write the newspaper article, you will probably not use all of the quotes, but it is better to have a choice.

4. Write a first draft of a newspaper article about the rent protest and the subsequent jailing of Inthorn.

• Start with the "four Ws" (see No.1 above).
• Keep your paragraphs short.
• Explain the events and their background very clearly. (The introduction to your TV report may be useful.)
• Include a couple of quotes. Make sure these are laid out correctly. Keep the quotes fairly short.
• Do not be satisfied with your first draft! Re-read it; share it with someone; improve it; rewrite it; edit it.

5. Create a headline for your article. Make it brief and eyecatching: perhaps use a pun.

Frankie Meehan