jueves, 21 de marzo de 2013

Olympic dream of armless Afghan teen

14-year-old Abbas Karimi was born without arms but that hasn’t spoilt his ambition to win a gold medal for swimming in the next Paralympics.

Self-study activity:
Watch this short ITN video clip and fill in the blanks in the transcript with the missing words.

The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.




14-year-old Abbas Karimi was born without arms but that hasn’t dampened his ambition to win a gold medal for swimming in the next Paralympics. If he gets the (1) ... he needs, he’ll be the first Afghan to represent his country as a (2) ... .
I urge the government to support me so I can participate in the world Paralympic Games. I would like to (3) ... a medal for my country. I also want to be a symbol for those who are (4) ... like me. My advice is that they should not be (5) ... about their disability.
Decades of conflict and (6) ... have prevented a large number of disabled Afghans from pursuing sport. They are often (7) ... and face discrimination but Abbas hasn’t hidden away. He’s learnt (8) ... to overcome his problems and wants others to do the same.
At first, I was suffering a lot from being (9) ... . When I started swimming, I found myself capable to do everything well. I’m now (10) ... in my life. By using my feet, I do all my work so I don’t have to really worry about anything.
The next Paralympics takes place in Brazil in (11) ... .

Key:
1) support 2) swimmer 3) achieve 4) disabled 5) depressed 6) poverty 7) unemployed 8) skills 9) armless 10) hopeful 11) 2016