Women2Drive Day In Saudi Arabia

  

Women in Saudi Arabia took part in a protest on Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars in various cities across the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, who set up the site, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after posting videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “inciting public opinion and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was given a traffic ticket in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no arrests. Fewer women than expected decided to protest against their inability to drive. Friday’s protest was the latest in a string of incidents of Saudi women driving without a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the passenger seat. She said: “This is my basic right. It should not be a big deal. There is nothing wrong or illegal about driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to do my errands or go to work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend a quarter of their salary on hiring a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women cannot get issued with a driving licence to drive in cities. WARM-UPS 1. WOMEN DRIVERS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about women drivers. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.   protest / driving bans / motorists / arrested / posting videos / public opinion / traffic / incidents / driving / passenger seat / illegal / errands / complain / hiring a driver Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. MEN & WOMEN: Who does what better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.   Men (why?) Women (why?) Drive     Cook     Read maps     Play sport     Act     Make decisions     4. EQUALITY: Students A strongly believe equality between the races will come one day everywhere in the world; Students B strongly believe not.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. NO RIGHTS: Which of these rights would offend you most if taken away? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again. being allowed to drive keeping a pet staying at a hotel marrying who you want sitting in a public park owning a gun free healthcare free education 6. BAN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘ban’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.     BEFORE READING / LISTENING 1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F). a. Hundreds of Saudi women defied their government by driving. T / F b. A woman was arrested for setting up a Facebook campaign. T / F c. No women were arrested in the campaign mentioned in the article. T / F d. The organizers of the campaign thought more women would join in. T / F e. The recent campaign is the first involving Saudi women driving. T / F f. A woman called Manal has a husband who stopped her from driving. T / F g. A Saudi woman complained that she spent half her salary on drivers. T / F h. The law in Saudi specifically forbids women from driving. T / F 2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article. 1. protest a. uploading 2 motorists b. criticize 3. posting c. image 4. inciting d. demonstrate 5. reputation e. fundamental 6. incidents f. given 7. basic g. drivers 8. errands h. encouraging 9. complain i. tasks 10. issued j. happenings       WHILE READING / LISTENING GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text. Women in Saudi Arabia (1) ____________  part in a protest on Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars in (2) ____________ cities across the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, who       (3) ____________ up the site, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after                 (4) ____________ videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “(5) ____________ public opinion and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was given a traffic (6) ____________ in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no (7) ____________. Fewer women than (8) ____________ decided to protest against their inability to drive.       ticket various posting expected took arrests set inciting Friday’s protest was the latest in a (9) ____________ of incidents of Saudi women driving (10) ____________ a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the                   (11) ____________ seat. She said: “This is my basic right. It should not be a big (12) ____________. There is nothing wrong or (13) ____________ about driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to do my     (14) ____________ or go to work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend a quarter of their salary on   (15) ____________ a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women cannot get (16) ____________ with a driving licence to drive in cities.     illegal without issued string deal hiring passenger errands LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps Women in Saudi Arabia ________________________ Friday against measures that pretty much ban them from driving. Around thirty female, would-be motorists drove their cars ________________________ the country. Their actions were part of a campaign from the Women2drive Facebook site. Manal al-Sharif, ________________________, was arrested on May 21 and released the following day. She was rearrested after posting videos of herself on YouTube and spent a week in prison. Authorities said she was “________________________ and harming the country’s reputation.” Another woman was ________________________ in the capital Riyadh on Friday, but there were no arrests. Fewer women than expected decided to protest ________________________ drive. Friday’s protest was the latest in ________________________ Saudi women driving without a licence and then posting videos of themselves online. Maha al-Qahtani, 39, drove through Riyadh on Friday with her husband in the passenger seat. She said: “________________________. It should not be a big deal. There is nothing ________________________ driving.” Another woman posted a video on YouTube with the message: “All I want is to ________________________ work whenever I want.” Many women complain that they spend ________________________ on hiring a driver to take them to and from work. There is no law against female drivers in Saudi, but women ________________________ a driving licence to drive in cities.     AFTER READING / LISTENING 1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘driving’ and ‘ban’. driving ban       Share your findings with your partners. Make questions using the words you found. Ask your partner / group your questions. 2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text. Share your questions with other classmates / groups. Ask your partner / group your questions. 3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text: part various following spent opinion decided string seat basic message salary issued STUDENT WOMEN DRIVERS SURVEY Write five GOOD questions about women drivers in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.   STUDENT 1 _____________ STUDENT 2 _____________ STUDENT 3 _____________ Q.1.         Q.2.         Q.3.         Q.4.         Q.5.         Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often. Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings. WOMEN DRIVERS DISCUSSION STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B) a) What did you think when you read the headline? b) What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘ban’? c) What do you think about what you read? d) Why is Saudi Arabia the only country that does not allow women to drive? e) Do you think the women2drive campaign will work? f) Are there things you want to do in your country that you can’t? g) Wht didn’t Saudi police arrest the women who drove? h) What three adjectives would you use to describe the Saudi women protestors? i) Are the female protestors harming Saudi Arabia’s reputation? j) Do you think more women will protest in the future? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A) a) Did you like reading this article? b) Do you think men or women are better drivers? Why? c) Do you think the protests will continue? d) Maha al-Qahtani said it shouldn’t be a big deal. Why is it a big deal? e) Would Saudi society change if women were alwoed to drive? f) Why can women in neighbouring Arab countries drive but those in Saudi cannot? g) What advice do you have for the Saudi women protestors? h) What would life be like without being allowed to drive? i) Where will this story be ten years from now? j) What questions would you like to ask the Saudi women protestors?