News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 1

December 2009
Level ≥ Advanced
Style ≥ Individual or group activities
Welcome to the Guardian Weekly’s special news-based materials to support learners and teachers of
English. Each month, the Guardian Weekly newspaper selects topical news articles that can be used to
practise English language skills. The materials are graded for two levels: Advanced and Lower Intermediate.
These worksheets can be downloaded free from guardianweekly.co.uk/learningenglish/. You can also
find more advice for teachers and learners on the site
Materials prepared by Janet Hardy-Gould

Pow! Comic-book heroes fight against corruption

Family drama ... the opening scenes from Pat Mills’s story about political corruption in Iran

c When I was a child, my favourite comic book

Before reading hero was …
1 Complete the sentences below. Then work with a
partner. Compare and explain your answers.
a I sometimes/often/never read comic books d When I was younger, my favourite comic book
because … baddie was …

b I sometimes/often/never look at comic strips in e A typical comic book story usually involves …
newspapers because …

≥2
 News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
2 The article is about a new collection of comic stories
published in the UK. Look at the headline, picture
and caption of the article. Underline the words that
you think might describe the new collection.
political, serious, light-hearted, trivial, subversive,
international, childish, provocative, hilarious, powerful
. make a difference.”
Article
Pow! Comic-book heroes fight
against corruption
1 It is a comic book collection without a cape,
dodgy mask or death ray in sight. There are,
though, plenty of baddies.
2 Last month saw the publication in the UK of an
anthology aiming to encourage young people
to get angry at corruption in its many forms and
guises.
3 The people behind the project are Ctrl.Alt.Shift,
which was set up last year by the international
development agency Christian Aid and aims to
use art to create a new generation of activists.
4 “We are all about politicising a new generation,
and comic strips, with their rich, subversive his-
tory, seemed a perfect match for us,” said the
group’s director, Katrin Owusu.
5 The anthology contains stories that cover every-
thing from state-sponsored brutality and murder
in Colombia to the ravaging of Congo’s natural
resources. Two of the most powerful stories are
based on the real experiences of anonymous
sources. One, by Judge Dredd writer Pat Mills,
features the son of an Iranian ayatollah who
rebels against the system and exposes corrup-
tion. The other exposes corruption surrounding
Aids relief to villages in China.
6 The anthology is coedited by Paul Gravett,
founder of the annual Comica festival in
Page 2
December 2009
London. He is convinced that comics, in these
days of information overload, can play an impor-
tant role in getting people angry. “Comics can
grapple with these big questions very provoca-
tively and they lodge in people’s minds better,
somehow, than the constant images we see on
TV and on the internet. We want to engage with
people and get them to feel that they can actually
7 The launch of the anthology was accompanied
by an exhibition in London featuring some of the
more well-meaning but toe-curling attempts by
comic books to engage with serious issues – for
example, a Lois Lane comic entitled I Am Curious
(Black)! in which Superman’s girlfriend takes on
the body of a black woman for 24 hours, and He-
roes Against Hunger, which sees Superman and
Batman visiting Ethiopia during the 1986 famine.
8 The anthology is available at ctrlaltshift.co.uk,
and while there is much doom and gloom,
Gravett said: “There is also humour in there and
there’s passion and there’s anger and there is
hope too. There are strips that say ‘we can do
something’.”
Mark Brown
Glossary
anthology (noun) stories, poems etc by different
writers published in one book
state-sponsored (adjective) organised or supported
by the government
relief (noun) money, food, medicine etc given to
people when there has been a medical emergency,
disaster or war
well-meaning (adjective) intending to do what is
helpful and right, but not necessarily being successful
≥3
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 3

December 2009

e What does the exhibition show?

While reading
1 Read the article. Put yes (Y) or no (N) next to the
statements below. In which paragraph did you find
the information?
The new comic book collection …
a has all the typical things normally found in comic f According to Gravett, what type of emotions are
books. found in the anthology?
b tries to make young people feel angry about
corruption.
c is part of a project set up by a British newspaper.
d has a range of international stories.
e aims to make people feel that they can make a
difference.
f has an accompanying exhibition of new comic After reading
strips.
1 What do these words from the text mean? Paragraph
g can only be bought in special bookshops.
numbers are in brackets.
h contains some things to make people laugh.
a … corruption in its many forms and guises. (2)
2 Read the article again. Answer the questions.
a What do the people behind the new collection hope
to achieve?
b … the ravaging of Congo’s natural resources … (5)

b Why is the comic strip format suitable for their pur-

c … in these days of information overload … (6)
poses?

d … they lodge in people’s minds better … (6)

c Give four examples of countries covered in the
anthology. What specific issues are covered in each
country?
e … some of the more … toe-curling attempts … (7)

d Why does Paul Gravett think comics can be better

f … while there is much doom and gloom … (8)
than TV or the internet?

≥4
News-based English language activities from the global newspaper Page 4

December 2009

2 Verb and noun collocations Sentence 3

Use the verbs to complete the summary below.
engage with, expose, fight, grapple, make, play,
politicise, set up

Last year, one of the UK aid agencies decided to

(a) an organisation called
Ctrl.Alt.Shift to encourage new activists. The group has
now published an anthology to help younger people
Activity
(b) serious political issues Answer the questions below. Then work in small
and (c) with big questions. groups to compare your answers. Try to use vocabu-
The anthology hopes to lary from exercises 1 and 2 in your discussion.
(d) a new generation of a Would you be interested in reading the new comic
young people and inspire them to book collection? Why/Why not?
(e) against corruption. b Is it good for writers to cover political issues in comic
books? Or does it bring too much doom and gloom to
In two of the stories people the stories?
(f) corruption to the wider c Do you think the collection will make a differ-
world and the collection aims to make others feel ence? Will it encourage people to play a role in fighting
that they can also (g) a against corruption in its different guises?
difference and (h) a role in d Do you agree with Paul Gravett that we suffer from
fighting injustice. information overload? Can reading comics counteract
this?
Choose three of the verb and noun collocations and Notes
write your own sentences eg
Last year I had to grapple with the big question of what
to study at university.
Sentence 1

Sentence 2

2 a set up b engage with c grapple d politicise e fight f expose g make h play They want to create a new generation of young activists.
f general pessimism 2 a They hope to politicise young people and make them angry about corruption.
1 a appearances b destruction c too much information d stay e embarrassing 1 a N (1) b Y (2) c N (3) d Y (5) e Y (6) f N (7) g N (8) h Y (8)
While reading
After reading
f Humour, passion, anger and hope. powerful
e Embarrassing examples of past attempts to engage with serious issues. 2 Possible answers: political, serious, subversive, international, provocative,
d The big questions can lodge in people’s minds better. Before reading
corruption, China – corruption.
c Columbia – brutality/murder, Congo – ravaging of natural resources, Iran – Answers
b Because it has a rich and subversive history.