Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other

Level 1 Elementary
1 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to help you. asylum seeker game show controversial contestant

1. A ______________________________ is a TV programme in which people play games or answer questions to win prizes. (title) 2. An ______________________________ is someone who has to leave their own country because they are in danger and who arrives in another country and asks to be allowed to live there. (title) 3. A ______________________________ subject is one that people disagree about. (para 1) 4. A ______________________________ is someone who takes part in a competition or contest. (para 1) quiz home country prize well integrated

5. Your ______________________________ is the country you are from. (para 1) 6. A ______________________________ is a competition in which you answer questions. (para 1) 7. If you are ______________________________ in a country, you are completely involved in its life and activities. (para 2) 8. A ______________________________ is a reward that you get for being successful in a sport, competition or game. (para 2) transplant kidney stricter liberal

9. If laws have become _________________________, they control peoples behaviour more than before. (para 3) 10. If you are _________________________, you accept different opinions and ways of behaving. (para 3) 11. A _________________________ is a medical operation in which a new organ is put into someones body. (para 6) 12. Your _________________________ is one of the two organs in your body that clean your blood and remove waste. (para 6)

2 Find the information

Find this information in the text as quickly as possible. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How many contestants are there in the game show? What is the prize for winning the game show? How many people help the man who presents the game show? When was The Big Donor Show made? How many contestants were there in The Big Donor Show?
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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other / Elementary

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Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other

Level 1 Elementary

1

Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other
Peter Walker 1 September, 2011 Weg van Nederland is a controversial Dutch TV game show. The contestants in the show are five asylum seekers who are no longer allowed to stay in the Netherlands legally and will soon be sent back to their home countries. They play in a quiz about Dutch culture, history and language and the winner receives 4,000. The show is presented by a man, and there are two women who help him. The title has two meanings it can mean either leaving the Netherlands or mad about the Netherlands. The contestants are well-educated and well-spoken, and include a man from Cameroon who designs aeroplanes and a Slavic languages student from Chechnya. The programme does not want to laugh at asylum seekers; it wants to show how well integrated many of them are. People at home can also answer the same questions using the internet, but their prize is a flight return, of course to a Caribbean island. Asylum laws in the Netherlands are now stricter than before. This is surprising because many people thought that the Netherlands was one of the worlds most liberal countries. But the Netherlands is changing for example, the antiMuslim, far-right PVV party is now the third biggest in the Dutch parliament. The manager of the TV station that made the programme, Frank Wiering, said he was not sure about the idea in the beginning. My first reaction was: terrible idea, were not doing that. Then I thought about it more carefully and decided we have to do this. Weg van Nederland shows that many asylum seekers who have to go back to their countries have children who have lived in the Netherlands for eight years or more. They have had a good education, speak perfect Dutch and have only seen their home country on television. 5

We believe its time to stop and think about this. The contestants are, he added, very intelligent, confident people who can decide if they want to play or not. A group that works with asylum seekers thinks the show is a good idea. Someone from the group said: We hope Weg van Nederland makes more people think about what asylum seekers experience. Sometimes it is a very long time before they know if they can stay. His group would like a fast but careful asylum system. Young people who have spent so many years in the Netherlands are often more Dutch than Afghan or Somali and more comfortable here than in their home country. The programme is a bit similar to another Dutch programme, made in 2007. In The Big Donor Show, three people who needed a transplant played to win a kidney from a very ill woman. The woman was an actor. It was true that the contestants needed transplants but they knew the show was not real. They knew the show wanted to make people think about the problem. But Weg van Nederland is real, Wiering said: The contestants are not actors, they are real asylum seekers who have to leave this country within a month or two. Guardian News and Media 2011
First published in The Guardian, 01/09/11

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Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other

Level 1 Elementary
3 Comprehension check
Match the beginnings and endings to make sentences about the text. 1. The title of the game show 2. The contestants play 3. The programme wants 4. The contestants can 5. The Big Donor Show was designed 6. People who work with asylum seekers hope a. to make people think about the problem of transplants. b. to show how well integrated some asylum seekers are. c. the programme will make people think about how asylum seekers are treated. d. in a quiz about Dutch culture, history and language. e. has two meanings. f. decide if they want to be in the programme.

Chunks 4
Rearrange the words to make phrases from the text. 1. liberal worlds most one of the countries 2. third the the in Dutch biggest parliament 3. think stop to time its and 4. group a that with seekers asylum works 5. the make problem people about think 6. two or a within month

5 Two-word expressions
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make phrases from the text. 1. asylum 2. game 3. liberal 4. well- 5. far- a. right b. seeker c. educated d. country e. show

6 Word-building
Complete the table. verb 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. contest study win act seek noun (person) (person) (person) (person) (person)

7 Discussion
Do you think this programme is a good idea? Why? Why not?
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other / Elementary
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Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other

Level 1 Elementary KEY

1 Key words
1. game show 2. asylum seeker 3. controversial 4. contestant 5. home country 6. quiz 7. well integrated 8. prize 9. stricter 10. liberal 11. transplant 12. kidney

4 Chunks
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. one of the worlds most liberal countries the third biggest in the Dutch parliament its time to stop and think a group that works with asylum seekers make people think about the problem within a month or two

5 Two-word expressions
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. b e d c a

2 Find the information

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. five 4,000 two 2007 three

6 Word-building
1. contestant 2. student 3. winner 4. actor 5. seeker

3 Comprehension check
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. e d b f a c

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Dutch game show pits failed asylum seekers against each other / Elementary

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N T O FR BE C O DO O M W P W N IA EB LO B SI A L TE DE E D