New Che Guevara Diary Published

 

New Che Guevara Diary Published  

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWBsQArUkQY

Cuba has published a new diary of legendary freedom fighter Che Guevara. "Diary of a Combatant" tells of Guevara's experiences from the time he arrived in Cuba in 1956 until just before Fidel Castro and his rebel colleagues declared victory over the Cuban government on January 1, 1959. Guevara’s wife Aleida March had kept the diaries a secret for fifty years but has recently had a change of heart. She said she wanted "to show his work, his thoughts, his life, so that the Cuban people and the entire world get to know him and don't distort things anymore”. Other diaries have been published and achieved commercial success. "The Motorcycle Diaries," about his tour of Latin America as a 23-year-old medical student was a highly successful movie.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928. He qualified as a medical doctor but his political opinions led him to learn about the injustices in South and Central America. His motorbike tour took him to many impoverished regions of the continent. He became a fierce opponent of capitalism, which he said created great inequality. Guevara became one of history’s best-known freedom fighters. His role in the Cuban revolution made him an icon of the twentieth century. He was captured and executed in 1967 in Bolivia after starting an unsuccessful revolution there. Cubans paid tribute to him after the publication, saying: “He had an iron will, an extraordinary courage, and a deep sense of dignity”.

 

WARM-UPS

3. DIARY: Whose would be most interesting to read and why? Complete this table and share it with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Why?	What would you hope to read?
US President
National hero
Doctor
Rock star
Astronaut
Best friend

4. FREEDOM FIGHTERS: Students A strongly believe they are the same as terrorists; Students B strongly believe they are heroes.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. HEROES: Who are your biggest heroes? Rank these and put the best at the top.  

Family member Friend Sports star Business person

Soldier / Police officer / Firefighter… Voluntary worker Politician Actor

6. REBEL: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘rebel’.
 

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Che Guevara’s newly published diary is about his teenage years.	T / F
b.	The diaries are a big surprise to Che Guevara’s widow.	T / F
c.	His widow recently had a heart transplant.	T / F
d.	Earlier Che Guevara diaries have sold well.	T / F
e.	Che Guevra was born in Cuba and moved to Argentina as a child.	T / F
f.	He believed capitalism was an evil thing.	T / F
g.	He died in Bolivia after being involved in an unsuccessful revolution.	T / F
h.	Cubans admire Guevara’s determination, dignity and bravery.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	legendary	a.	whole
2	combatant	b.	bravery
3.	declared	c.	stated
4.	entire	d.	poor
5.	highly	e.	amazing
6.	opinions	f.	fighter
7.	impoverished	g.	put to death
8.	executed	h.	very
9.	extraordinary	i.	famous
10.	courage	j.	thoughts

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	legendary freedom	a.	twentieth century
2	from the time he	b.	victory
3.	his rebel colleagues declared	c.	of dignity
4.	kept the diaries a secret	d.	arrived in Cuba
5.	had a change of	e.	of the continent
6.	political	f.	fighter Che Guevara
7.	impoverished regions	g.	tribute to him
8.	an icon of the	h.	heart
9.	Cubans paid	i.	for fifty years
10.	a deep sense	j.	opinions

 

 
 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Cuba has published a new diary of (1) ____________ freedom fighter Che Guevara. "Diary of a Combatant" tells of Guevara's experiences from the (2) ____________ he arrived in Cuba in 1956 until just before Fidel Castro and his rebel colleagues (3) ____________ victory over the Cuban government on January 1, 1959. Guevara’s wife Aleida March had kept the diaries a (4) ____________ for fifty years but has recently had a change of (5) ____________. She said she wanted "to show his work, his thoughts, his life, so that the Cuban people and the (6) ____________ world get to know him and don't (7) ____________ things anymore”. Other diaries have been published and achieved (8) ____________ success. "The Motorcycle Diaries," about his tour of Latin America as a 23-year-old medical student, was  a highly successful movie.		distort declared legendary heart time commercial secret entire
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928. He (9) ____________ as a medical doctor but his political opinions led him to learn about the (10) ____________ in South and Central America. His motorbike tour took him to many impoverished (11) ____________ of the continent. He became a fierce opponent of capitalism, which he said created (12) ____________ inequality. Guevara became one of history’s best-known freedom fighters. His (13) ____________ in the Cuban revolution made him an icon of the twentieth century. He was captured and (14) ____________ in 1967 in Bolivia after starting an unsuccessful revolution there. Cubans paid (15) ____________ to him after the publication, saying: “He had an iron will, an extraordinary courage, and a deep (16) ____________ of dignity”.		role regions tribute qualified sense injustices executed great

CHE GUEVARA DISCUSSION

b)	What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘freedom fighter’?
c)	What are the differences between a freedom fighter and a terrorist?
d)	Would you ever support a freedom fighter?
e)	What do you know aout Che Guevara?
f)	Would you like to read Che Guevara’s new diary?
g)	Why do you think his widow kept the diary a secret for five decades?
h)	What kind of life do you think Che Guevara had?
i)	What are the good and bad things about keeping a diary?
j)	Why would people want (or not) to read a diary you wrote?

------------------------------------------------------------------------PART 2

b)	What do you think of Che Guevara giving up a medical career to be a revolutionary?
c)	Would you fight for injustice in the world?
d)	Do you think capitalism creates great inequality?
e)	Why has Che Guevra become a cultural icon?
f)	How would Guevara’s name be diffierent if his Bolivian revolution had succeeded?
g)	What other figures in history are similar to Che Guevara?
h)	If you were a cultural icon, what would you like to have done?
i)	What three adjectives would you use to describe this story?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Che Guevara’s widow?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Cuba has published a new diary of (1) ____ freedom fighter Che Guevara. "Diary of a Combatant" tells of Guevara's experiences from the time he arrived in Cuba in 1956 until just before Fidel Castro and his (2) ____ colleagues declared victory over the Cuban government on January 1, 1959. Guevara’s wife Aleida March had kept the diaries a secret for fifty years but has recently had a change of (3) ____. She said she wanted "to show his work, his thoughts, his life, so that the Cuban people and the (4) ____ world get to know him and don't distort things anymore”. Other diaries have been published and achieved commercial (5) ____. "The Motorcycle Diaries," about his tour of Latin America as a 23-year-old medical student, was  a  (6) ____ successful movie.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928. He qualified (7) ____ a medical doctor but his political opinions led him to learn about the injustices in South and Central America. His motorbike tour (8) ____ him to many impoverished regions of the continent. He became a fierce opponent (9) ____ capitalism, which he said created great inequality. Guevara became one of history’s best-known freedom fighters. His (10) ____ in the Cuban revolution made him an icon of the twentieth century. He was captured and executed in 1967 in Bolivia after starting an unsuccessful revolution there. Cubans (11) ____ tribute to him after the publication, saying: “He had an (12) ____ will, an extraordinary courage, and a deep sense of dignity”.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	legendary	(b)	legend	(c)	legends	(d)	legended
2.	(a)	attack	(b)	counter	(c)	rebel	(d)	opposite
3.	(a)	liver	(b)	heart	(c)	lungs	(d)	brain
4.	(a)	all	(b)	every	(c)	entire	(d)	each
5.	(a)	recess	(b)	access	(c)	success	(d)	process
6.	(a)	highly	(b)	tall	(c)	height	(d)	above
7.	(a)	was	(b)	has	(c)	is	(d)	as
8.	(a)	gave	(b)	took	(c)	had	(d)	been
9.	(a)	for	(b)	of	(c)	from	(d)	by
10.	(a)	role	(b)	roll	(c)	real	(d)	rile
11.	(a)	bought	(b)	paid	(c)	purchased	(d)	sold
12.	(a)	onion	(b)	ion	(c)	union	(d)	iron