Name

Unit 4  Protest Class

Date

Start thinking
1 Answer the questions.
1 What do people usually protest against in your country?

2 How do they usually protest?

3 Have you ever been on a protest march? What were you protesting against?

Comprehension check
2 Watch the video. Choose the correct answers.
1 The ‘Occupy London’ protest began at …
a St Paul’s Cathedral. b a campsite. c the London Stock Exchange.
2 … of the four people interviewed in the video are hopeful about the effect of the protest.
a One b Two c Three
3 The ‘Occupy London’ protest continued for about …
a two weeks. b 28 days. c four months.

3 Watch the video again. Correct the factual errors in the sentences.
1 The ‘Occupy London’ protest began on 6 October 2011.

2 Two days later, there were 50 tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

3 On 21 October, the cathedral was opened because of the protestors.

4 The first person interviewed thinks that the public should control capitalism.

5 The second person interviewed uses music to try and make a difference.

6 The third person interviewed says that the protesters have no money.

7 The fourth person interviewed thinks that the protest has failed.

8 In the end, St Paul’s Cathedral forced the protestors to leave.

4 Complete the summary. Write a word or a number in each gap.

The people in the ‘Occupy London’ protest had originally planned to set up a 1 outside the London
Stock Exchange. The demonstrators were protesting against social and 2 inequality. In the end, they
put up their 3 outside St Paul’s Cathedral instead. People who wanted to find out more about the
4
could attend a forum and the protesters also held lectures and 5  . The Dean of St Paul’s
wanted the protestors to leave, but the protesters said that the camp was 6  . Eventually, the protesters
had to leave the area, but they said that their 7 would not be silenced.

5 Work in pairs. Answer the questions.

1 What do you think the ‘Occupy London’ protest hoped to change?
2 How do you think the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral felt about the protest?
3 Do you think the ‘Occupy London’ protest was a success? Why / why not?

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 Vocabulary
6 Match the words 1–8 with the definitions a–h.
1 corrupt a the usual situation, as it is now
2 evict b unfair differences between people or groups of people
3 exposure c to force somebody to leave a place
4 inequality d the reason why something is unsuccessful
5 overflow e a building that gives you protection from bad weather
6 shelter f doing dishonest things, usually for money
7 the status quo g telling many people about something bad
8 undoing h to have too much of something so that it cannot be contained

7 Complete the sentences with the prepositions below.

against for from from to to with with
1 The farmers marched the Ministry of Agriculture to deliver a petition.
2 They were protesting the falling price of milk.
3 The police prevented them entering the building.
4 The protest relocated the main square in the city centre.
5 Soon the square was overflowing demonstrators.
6 The demonstrators were hoping to co-exist the tourists in the square.
7 The government was concerned the safety of the people.
8 The protestors were evicted the city centre.

Extension
Work in groups. You are going to form a new political party and present the views of your party.
1 Brainstorm the things that the government is responsible for in your country, e.g. education, health, etc.
2 Choose two of these things each and research ways of improving them for the people in your country. When
you have finished, tell your group your ideas.
3 Choose one person in your group to write. Make a list of eight things that your new political party wants to
change in your country.
4 Decide on a name for your party and make a poster to illustrate your views.
5 Present your views to the class. Then hold a class election to vote for the best party.

Useful expressions: Making promises

This party believes that … is essential for …
We will take action to …
We promise to introduce …
We intend to …
We plan to …
We guarantee …

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 Unit 4  DVD teacher’s notes

Video summary
The video is about the ‘Occupy London’ protest of 2011–2012 at St Paul’s Cathedral, in London. It follows the
progress of the protest and includes interviews with four participants. This video links to page 46 of the
Student’s Book.

Background culture notes

St Paul’s Cathedral is one of the most important churches in London. It dates back to the seventeenth century
and was designed by the British architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
The St Paul’s ‘Occupy London’ protest was a non-violent demonstration against economic inequality that took
place in London from 15 October 2011 to 28 February 2012. The campaign was first launched on Facebook on
10 October to coincide with the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest in New York. The initial plan was for the protestors
to march to the London Stock Exchange, but the police closed off the square before they could reach it. For this
reason, the protestors gathered outside St Paul’s Cathedral instead. After issuing a statement outlining their aims
and beliefs the protesters set up camp outside the cathedral. On 18 January, the law courts ordered the camp
to be broken up, but the protestors appealed against the decision. On 22 February, their appeal was rejected
and, just after midnight on 28 February, the police began to remove the tents. After the camp, the protestors
continued to organize meetings, events and other protests.

Start thinking
1 Read the questions with the class and elicit answers from individual students. Encourage students to give a
personal response and use their suggestions to start a class discussion.
Answer key
Students’ own answers.

Comprehension check
2 Answer key
1  c  2 c  3 c

3 Answer key
1 The ‘Occupy London’ protest began on 15 October 2011.
2 Two days later, there were 150 tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral.
3 On 21 October, the cathedral was closed because of the protestors.
4 The first person interviewed thinks that (the) government(s) should control capitalism.
5 The second person interviewed uses films to try and make a difference.
6 The third person interviewed says that the protesters have no plan.
7 The fourth person interviewed thinks that the protest has worked.
8 In the end, the police forced the protestors to leave.

4 Answer key
1 camp  2 economic  3 tents  4  protest / movement  5 seminars  6 legal  7 voices

5 Students’ own answers.

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 Vocabulary
6 Answer key
1 f  2 c  3 g  4 b  5 h  6 e  7 a  8 d

7 Answer key
1 to  2 against  3 from  4 to  5 with  6 with  7 for  8 from

Extension
Stage 1: Preparation before the class
• Ask: What are governments responsible for? Write the answers on the board e.g. health, education, the environment,
transport, taxes, the economy, immigration, etc.
• Tell students they are going to form a new political party and then present the views of their party.
• Ask students to choose two of the things that governments are responsible for and research them on the
internet. They should make notes on the views of other political parties that they agree with and bring their
ideas to the next class.
• Prepare a large piece of card and some coloured pens per group.
Stage 2: Procedure in the class
• Divide students into groups of about eight. Ask them to move their desks together, if possible.
• Ask students to explain the views and ideas they researched to their groups.
• Tell students to choose the five best views / ideas from the ones they discussed.
• Ask students to decide on a name for their party.
• Give out the card and coloured pens to each group and ask them to make a poster to present their views
and ideas.
• Ask each group to present their views to the class. Finally, have a class election to vote on the best political party.
Explain that the groups may not vote for themselves.
Extra ideas
Try searching for information about the political views of the different political parties in your country. If you search
the internet for phrases such as ‘health policy’ or ‘education policy’ , you might get some ideas of different views
about these areas of government.

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 Unit 4 DVD scripts  Protest
It’s six o’clock on 15 October 2011. The news today. Around 3,000 people have marched to the London Stock Exchange in
order to protest against social and economic inequality. The police have prevented these demonstrators from setting
up a camp in the area, but a lot of them say they will be relocating to St Paul’s Cathedral in the next few hours.
It’s two o’clock on 17 October 2011. The ‘Occupy London’ encampment now numbers 150 tents and several temporary
shelters. Spokespeople for ‘Occupy London’ say their actions are necessary and they will be occupying St Paul’s for as
long as it takes. They say they will be providing a forum for anyone who wants to know more about the movement and
its aims. They are going to hold lectures and seminars to discuss the need for social, economic and political reform.
It’s twelve o’clock on 21 October 2011. The Dean of St Paul’s says the famous cathedral is closing this evening due to
the protest and he hopes the protestors will have left by the end of the month, so it can re-open. However, protestors
continue to arrive and the area is now overflowing with people and tents. Protestors say they won’t leave because the
camp is legal and can easily co-exist with the cathedral. But can the movement and its ideals survive? We interviewed
some of the protestors to find out why they are protesting and what they hope they will achieve.

Graham
“Well, I think the exposure of the City of London as being rather corrupt in its management … it always has been,
but the public is now getting to know it for the first time really. So, I hope the whole thing will change. What needs
to change is, we’d invented capitalism in 1776 with Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations, and he always said that
it’d need government regulation, but unfortunately successive governments have not really been able to regulate its
excesses.”

Felix
“I ask the same question, what will come of this space, this action and this community? I’ve made films and I’ve sort of
put them out and I sort of think ‘are they going to make a difference’. And you never know who’s going to be watching
or how they’re going to be influenced and I think that’s the thing you’ve got to try, you’ve got to make an attempt of
doing this. And, you know, to coin a phrase from a great film, ‘Just do it’. ” 

Sandra
“I don’t see it as a point in history and I was concerned for the young people and I was hoping that after the two weeks
that they’ve been here they would have had a plan by now. I see no aim, and I see no progress and I see no proper
process. I see just good-hearted intentions to have a platform to voice their own concerns.
In my view, there won’t be anything. No, it will go down as a moment in history when there was a bright spark and
somebody said ‘Let’s make a stand’.
This I think will just … you know, the cold weather will come, the police in the end won’t tolerate it, the status quo will
say the poor, you know, the little dears they’ve had their say, get up and go because, from what I can see, they haven’t
got a plan and that will be their undoing.”

Jack
“Well, you always go into these things expecting it not to work because they rarely do, but it has worked. Hopefully,
I mean if it goes on for long enough, who knows, real reform, real accountability, transparency, end of investment
banking as we know it, please. Pretty please.”
It’s nine o’clock on 28 February 2012. The last protestors have been evicted from St Paul’s Cathedral, and police say the
last tent will have been cleared by the end of the day. Many protestors say they will be continuing their work from
other areas of the city, and that the voices of the ‘Occupy Movement’ won’t be silenced for a long time to come.

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