Nelson Mandela's Life Story (video + comprehension exercises)

Dec. 5 - South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela dies at the age of 95.

 

Here is a short documentary about Nelson Mandela and his legacy.

Comprehension questions

1. Why was Nelson Mandela able to get a good education?
2. Where did he work while he studied law in Johannesburg?
3. When did the Nationalist Government come to power in South Africa?
4. What was the Freedom Charter?
5. What charge did the Freedom Charter organisers face in 1956?
6. What happened in Sharpeville in 1960?
7. What sentence did Mandela receive in 1964?
8. Where was he sent as a prisoner?
9. What event signalled the beginning of the end to apartheid?
10. When was Mandela released from prison?

Vocabulary

• apartheid: a former social system in South Africa in which black people and people from other racial groups did not have the same political and economic rights as white people and were forced to live separately from white people
• blueprint: a detailed plan of how to do something e.g.  a blueprint for reforming the public school system
• martial law: control of an area by military forces rather than by the police e.g. The government has imposed/declared martial law throughout the city to stop the riots.  

Now you can try the following quiz:

Nelson Mandela's Life Story

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How Malala Yousafzai made Jon Stewart's jaw drop (VIDEO)

SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/malala-jon-stewart_n_4073426.html

Jon Stewart isn’t easily impressed. But on Tuesday October 8, 2013, a 16-year-old left this sardonic late-show host speechless.

Exclusive - Malala Yousafzai Extended Interview Pt. 1

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Click the CC button on the video to view the closed captions (written words/sentences in English)

Class discussion questions:

1. When did Malala realize the importance of education?
2. According to Malala, why are terrorists afraid of education?
3. When did the Taliban come to Swat Valley?
4. How did their behaviour change a few years later?
5. What gave Malala the courage to speak out publicly against the Taliban?
6. When did she realize that the Taliban had made her a target?
7. What does she say is the best way to fight violence?

Vocabulary

• If your jaw drops, you open your mouth in a way that shows you are very surprised or shocked. e.g. His jaw dropped  when he heard who had won.
• When you snatch something from somebody you take it away from them, esp. by force. e.g. She snatched  the toy from his hands.
• to blast something means to destroy something with a bomb or gun e.g. A powerful car bomb blasted  the building.
• to slaughter means to kill a lot of people in a violent way e.g. Thousands of people were slaughtered  in the civil war.  
• to flog someone means to hit someone very hard with a stick or whip as a punishment e.g. He was publicly flogged  for breaking the country's alcohol laws.
• When a person becomes a target, it means that someone is planning to attack them.

Now you can try the following quiz:

Malala leaves Jon Stewart speechless

Watch the next parts of Malala's interview on The Daily Show:

Exclusive - Malala Yousafzai Extended Interview Pt. 2

Exclusive - Malala Yousafzai Extended Interview Pt. 3

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