Skip to content
EFL Ideas EFL Ideas

Creative Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers

  • Home
  • Teacher T-shirts
  • ESL Speaking Topics
  • ESL Questions
  • ESL Discussions
  • TED Talks
  • Download
  • Sponsorship and Advertisement
  • Links
  • Contact
EFL Ideas
EFL Ideas

Creative Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers

Afghanistan

Taliban Take over Afghanistan: Dare to Educate Afghan Women(UPDATED)

Posted on August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 By albacker

If you don’t live in a cave you know what’s happening in Afghanistan right now. If you don’t know, you can find out here.

No matter what your political preferences are, or what do you believe in, I’m sure you agree that education is important. What is happening in Afghanistan right now will have tremendous negative consequences on the education of Afghan girls. Watch the Ted Talk. Discuss it with your students. You can also help here, or here.


This Ted Talk education ESL video lesson is based on a  talk by Shabana Basij-Rasikh. She is an educator from Afghanistan, humanitarian, and women’s rights champion. She grew up under the rule of the Taliban, which banned education for women so she had to dress as a boy to attend a secret school.

This is her story.


Level: Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate

Time: 45min.(video 10min.)

Skills: speaking, listening, reading

Topic: education, human rights

Taliban Take over Afghanistan | Ted Talk Education Lesson Plan | Dare to Educate Afghan Girls | Shabana Basij-Rasikh

WARM-UP

Discuss the questions

1. Do you think education should be free? Why? Use arguments to justify your opinion. 

2. What was your parents position on your education? How do you think it has influenced your life? What is your position on your education? 

3. Can you imagine being denied higher education based on your gender or religion? How would it influence your life?

Write three reasons why education is important.

1.__________________________________________________________________

2.__________________________________________________________________

3.__________________________________________________________________

VOCABULARY

1 Read the sentences and try to work out the meaning of the underlined words/phrases.

1. I dressed as a boy to escort my older sister, who was no longer allowed to be outside alone, to a secret school.

2. A total maverick from a remote province of Afghanistan, he insisted that…

3. …had my family not been so committed to my education…

4. …the one exiled from his home for daring to educate his daughters,

5. And I see their parents and their fathers who, like my own, advocate for them despite and even in the face of daunting opposition.

6. …this is something that is often dismissed in the West…

7. …they’re often the initial and convincing negotiators of a bright future for their daughters…

8. I fear that these changes will not last much beyond the U.S. troops’ withdrawal.

2 Match the words/phrases (a-p) to their explanations(1-16).

a)escort(v.)              1)demand something forcefully, not accepting refusal.       

b)allow                     2)without being influenced or prevented by

c)maverick               3)a person who helps other people to come to agreement

d)remote                  4)difficult to deal with

e)insist                     5)accompany (someone or something) somewhere

f)commit                  6)the process or action of a military force moving out of an area

g)exile(v.)                 7)let (someone) have or do something.

h)dare                      8)of or at the beginning

i)advocate(v.)           9)able to make you believe that something is true or right

j)despite                 10)to think or say that something is not important

k)daunting              11)to send someone away from their own country, village, etc

l)dismiss                12)far away, distant

m)initial                  13)to promise or give your loyalty, time, or money to something

n)convincing          14)an unorthodox or independent-minded person

o)negotiator           15)have the courage to do something

p)withdrawal          16)publicly recommend or support

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Watch the video and answer the questions.

1. Why do you think the Taliban made it illegal for girls to go to school?

2. Why was Shabana’s grandfather special?

3. What would have happened if the Taliban had found out that Shabana and her sister were going to school?

4. How many women in Shabana’s age have made it past high school?

5. What were Shabana’s parents prepared to do in order to pay for her school fees?

6. How many girls went to school in Afganistan under the Taliban, and how many are in school now? 

7. What is SOLA?

Discuss the questions

1. What would you change about your school if you could?

2. Some people say that schools are useless for life. Do you agree?

3. What do you think are the most important life skills?

4. Do you need education if you want to be successful?

5. What are the most useful things that you learned at school?

6. What are the most useless things that you learned at school?

7. Besides school, where and how can you learn something new?

8. What talent or skill would you like to improve?


Download Ted Talk Education Lesson Plan:
Ted Talk Lesson Plan: Dare to Educate Afghan Girls SWDownload
Ted Talk Lesson Plan: Dare to Educate Afghan Girls TNDownload

Other resources:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

Online ESL Video Lesson : Can Sci-fi Predict the Future?

Food and Travel ESL Lesson: Interactive Online Lesson

Improvisation Cards: ESL Speaking Activity

conversation online lesson speaking TED Talk Lessons video vocabulary Worksheets esl video lessonted talk educationted talk lesson planted talks ESL resourcesvideo lesson plans

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Articles

Role play: Making Polite Requests

Posted on April 2, 2017September 27, 2021

Very helpful role plays on polite requests.

Read More
activities improvisation cards esl speaking

Improvisation Cards: ESL Speaking Activity

Posted on October 16, 2019May 21, 2020

This is a very simple improvisation ESL activity that promotes speaking and helps develop improvisation skills and creativity. Print the worksheet and cut the cards. There are two types of cards: unfinished sentences/questions, and crazy/funny/unusual objects. Put the cards into two separate piles. Put the students into pairs or groups…

Read More
Grammar Comics

Second Conditional Comic

Posted on February 24, 2017
Read More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

esl taboo card game
Storytelling Card Game
role plays english
Buy Now
ESL/EFL resources
Speaking Activities
english grammar exercises
Taboo Card Games

Some good ideas, especially with older students who are pretty quiet.

- Anthony

Incredible conversation activities. Thank you very much

- Philippa

Awesome resource, thank you!

- MeanTeacher
©2023 EFL Ideas | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes
Go to mobile version