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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support. FOR THE WEEK OF DEC. 13, 2021 U.S. and a few allies plan partial boycott of Winter Olympics in China as a protest![]() ![]() Share a newsmaker's quote about China or any rights issue.
![]() Read other international news and share two facts.
![]() Now pick a sports article and tell why it interests you.
American officials will skip the Beijing Olympics in February to show disapproval of China's human-rights record, the White House announced last week. Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom soon joined in, with other democracies likely to follow. It's just a diplomatic boycott, with athletes from those countries still competing Feb. 4-20. A spokesman at China's foreign ministry said it "doesn't matter if their officials come or not. . . . Sports has nothing to do with politics. It is they who have written, directed and performed this farce." A government-run newspaper mocked allies following the Biden administration’s lead: "Countries with rationality would think of the interests of their own people instead of cooperating with the U.S.' futile stunt." The Chinese government denies accounts of brutality against its Uyghur (pronounced WEE-gurr) minority in the northwest Xinjiang region, as well as against Kazakhs and other mostly Muslim groups there. There are claims of forced labor, religious oppression, mass jailing and separation of children from their families. Several democratic nations, including the United States, labeled China’s Xinjiang policy as "genocide" (elimination of an ethnic group). Critics also point to disappearances of rights activists and lawyers elsewhere, as well as Beijing's sweeping crackdown on democratic protests in Hong Kong. The symbolic Olympic protest is undercut by UN Secretary-General António Guterres' acceptance of an invitation to attend. Back in 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush went to Beijing for the opening of the Summer Games – China's first time as host. And in coming years, China will have a chance to return the diplomatic snub when Los Angeles is the Summer Games site in 2028 and when Australia hosts the Olympics in 2032 in Brisbane.
Front Page Talking Points is written by
Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024
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