Northern Ireland - Tasks

Account for the different views of the conflict. Make a table like the one below.

Now, consider the Unionists and Nationalists' general attitudes (pro or con) to the following subjects: Protestantism, Catholicism, The Irish Free State (Eire), Northern Ireland (Ulster)'s independence, the London Parliament (Westminster), the Irish Republic's flag, the IRA, the colour Orange as a symbol, the colour Green as a symbol, England, the United Kingdom, Stormont, the Union Jack, British involvement in the war in Afghanistan, Irish culture and language

Try the cloze test provided in the link collection.

Make a multiple choice task related to the text above in mytask.no. Make 10 questions with three alternative answers (one being the correct one) and challenge your classmates.

1. Why it is not correct to see the conflict in Northern Ireland merely as a religious conflict.
2. To what extent this conflict is about cultural identity - an Irish identity or an English identity.
3. How you consider hunger strikes as a way to protest.

1. What is Stormont and which historical and symbolical significance does it have? Why did it create such hatred in the province?
2. More than 3500 people have been killed in Northern Ireland. Find out more about the paramilitary groups operating in the province. As part of your assignment, find out why the IRA launched bomb raids in Britain.

On 12 October 1984, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet stayed at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. The IRA detonated a bomb at 2:54 a.m. You are a reporter staying at the same hotel. Write a newspaper article for your paper. Give your paper a name, make a heading and use a newspaper layout. Use this Newspaper template.

1. Steve McQueen has directed the film Hunger (2008) based on the IRA activist Bobby Sands and his companions' hunger strike in the Maze Prison in 1981. Watch a trailer from the film.
2. With the film trailer and further information found on the web as background material, make multimedia presentations (include audio, slides or video clippings) with the following headings:
   • Bobby Sands - hero or terrorist?
   • The Hunger Strike in the Maze Prison. Make a storyline.
   • The Maze Prison Hunger Strike. Why was it launched? What was accomplished?
   • Bobby Sands - a hunger strike activist.
   • Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her role in the strike.
3. Watch the entire film. After watching the film, you will find some assignments at Film Education on [i]Hunger[/i] .
4. Another film that deals with the conflict in Northern Ireland is [i]In the Name of the Father[/i] .
5. Irish writers such as Roddy Doyle (e.g. in the novel A Star Called Henry), Bernard McLaverty (e.g. in the novel Cal - which is also adapted to film - and the short story Walking the Dog) and Joan Lingard (in the novels Across the Barricades and [i]Into Exile[/i] portray characters that are deeply affected by the conflict in Northern Ireland.