25.03.20 

PACE WORK 6 D FORM  

MYANMAR. 

Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Myanmar. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 

Students brainstorm their ideas. 

Reading 

Pre-reading 

Teacher: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F) 

A	Myanmar’s rulers have touched the hearts of residents in the capital.	T/F
B	The former name of Myanmar is Burma.	T/F
C	A sprawling administrative center will house the new government.	T/F
D	British colonial rule ended in Myanmar in 1988.	T/F
E	Myanmar’s capital has relocated to be more centrally positioned.	T/F
F	Analysts speculate Myanmar fears a seaborne invasion by the U.S.	T/F
G	Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is Myanmar’s president.	T/F
H	Ethnic minorities have waged separatist insurgencies for decades.	T/F

While-reading 

Teacher: Match the following synonyms from the article 

A	ruling	spread out
B	insurgencies	accommodate
C	waged	uprisings
D	relinquish	fitting
E	tyranny	governing
F	rife	authoritarianism
G	appropriate	remnant
H	relic	give up
I	house	abundant
J	sprawling	carried out

Post-reading 

Teacher: Look in your dictionaries to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms for the words ‘ethnic’ and ‘minority’. Share your findings with your partners. Make questions using the words you found. Ask your partner your questions. 

Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 

In pairs / groups, write down questions about Myanmar, democracy and human rights. 

Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers. 

What new information have you got today? 

Myanmar moves its capital city 

In a surprise move, the military junta ruling Myanmar, formerly Burma, has announced that the country's capital city will move from Yangon, formerly Rangoon, 320 kilometers north, to the town of Pyinmana. The regime has already transferred nine different departments to the new location and others are due to follow shortly. The new administrative center is a sprawling ten-square-kilometer complex, which will house all government ministries. Spokesman Kyaw Hsan said Yangon had merely been a “headquarters” and a relic of British colonial rule, which ended in 1948. He attributed advances in communications and infrastructure to facilitating the move to Pyinmana, which he described as “the most appropriate place for the seat of a new city”. 

International speculation is rife over motivations behind the move. Mr. Hsan explained: “The authorities have chosen Pyinmana because it is centrally located and has quick access to all parts of the country.” Some observers speculate that Myanmar’s strong-arm dictators fear a US seaborne invasion and preferred a location less vulnerable to attack than coastal Yangon. The US has branded Myanmar an “outpost of tyranny”. Another theory is that the military junta wishes to further suppress attempts at democracy. In 1990, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won democratic elections but the ruling dictatorship has refused to relinquish power. Pyinmana is a former communist stronghold. It is also closer to the Kachin, Karen, and Shan ethnic minorities, who have waged separatist insurgencies against the central government for decades. 

Thank you very much. The leson is over.