News Story Activity
The following seven paragraphs are the beginning of the September 12,
2001 report written by Jerry Schwarta of the Associated Press and carried on the front
page of the English The Moscow Times. The students’ task is to sequence the news
story in a logical way, then retell the key events in five sentences.
___ Thousands could be dead or injured, a high-ranking New York
City police official said.
___ American Airlines initially said the Trade Center was hit by two of
its planes, both hijacked, carrying a total of 156 people. But the airline later said that
was unconfirmed. Two United airliners with a total of 110 aboard also crashed – one
outside Pittsburgh, the other in a location not immediately identified. Altogether, the
planes had 266 people aboard.
___ A plane also slammed into the Defense Department as the government
itself came under attack.
___ “This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that’s
ever taken place in the world,” said Chris Tales, an aviation expert at Jane’s
Transport in London. “It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that
is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ...I would
name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.”
___ About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands
visit each day.
___ In one of the most horrifying attacks ever against the United
States, terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in a deadly series of
blows Tuesday that brought down the twin 110-story towers.
___ Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin
towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90
minutes after the crashes, which took place minute a apart around 9 a.m. But many people
were thought to have been trapped.
Key: 6, 3, 1, 7, 5, 2, 4
The original Headline read:
“Terrorists Destroy World Trade Center
Planes Ram Towers, Thousands Feared Dead”
Have students write their own headlines.
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