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My 1,000
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Thursday December 30

Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

US President George W. Bush earlier promised to help countries affected by the tsunami disaster “in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead.” He sent his condolences to those affected and said the American people are “saddened by the terrible loss of life”. He reacted to earlier accusations of American stinginess by increasing American aid to $35 million, reminding the UN that “In the year 2004, our government provided $2.4 billion in food, in cash, in humanitarian relief … 40 percent of all the relief aid given in the world last year, was provided by us. …We're a very generous, kindhearted nation.” However, taken on a per capita basis, among the world’s 30 richest countries, the USA comes last with just 0.14 per cent.

President Bush said the United States is part of a core group that is heading relief efforts. India, Japan and Australia are the other countries. While the US can use its huge military presence in the region to help the tsunami victims, the other nations are geographically well placed to co-ordinate the clean-up and reconstruction. The death toll now stands at 80,000 people and is still rising, with the figure expected to exceed 100,000. “We're facing a disaster of unprecedented proportion,” said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The United Nations say five million people are at risk from disease. Bush offered some optimism, saying, “together the world will cope with their loss. We will prevail over this destruction.”


 
 

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about charity / relief efforts / donations  / natural disasters / stinginess / generosity…
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. HOW TO HELP: Students talk to each other about the best way to raise money quickly for the tsunami victims. What kind of things happen in each of their countries – garage sales, sponsored walks, street collections … Vote on the best idea.

3. DON’T FORGET: Here is a list of natural disasters in the past year. Students talk about them and the reasons why people forget, and the disaster becomes just another familiar news item:
- Bam earthquake in Iran was destroyed by a powerful earthquake that killed more than 43,000 people.
- Four fierce hurricanes hit the Florida coast in quick succession.
- Plagues of locusts destroyed the farmland of Mauritania.
- The refugee crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
- Typhoons and earthquake kills hundreds in Japan
- Typhoon kills over 1,000 people in the Philippines.
- Thousands of homeless and destitute in Fallujah, Iraq.

4. INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS: Brainstorm a list of ideas how the international community should help. In pairs discuss the ideas and choose the best one. Talk about the likelihood of any ideas being implemented and reasons for the inertia of many national leaders.

PRE-READING IDEAS


 
 

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘promise’, and ‘help’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  US President George W. Bush earlier promised to donate $1 million of his own money to tsunami victims.  T / F
(b)  He sent his condolences to those affected.  T / F
(c)  He didn’t like accusations that America was a stingy country.  T / F
(d)  On a per capita basis, America tops the list of the wealthiest countries.  T / F
(e)  The United States is part of a core group that is heading relief efforts.  T / F
(f)  The U S can use its huge military presence in the region to help the tsunami victims. T / F
(g)  The death toll is not expected to exceed 100,000.  T / F
(h)  The United Nations say five million people are at risk from disease.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)

promised

leading

(b)

condolences

aid

(c)

stinginess

sympathies

(d)

relief

manage

(e)

generous

pledged

(f)

core

center

(g)

heading

unheard-of

(h)

unprecedented

tightfistedness

(i)

cope

succeed

(j)

prevail

giving

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)

promised

basis

(b)

weeks and months

to help

(c)

sent

proportion

(d)

terrible

to exceed 100,000

(e)

per capita

that lie ahead

(f)

core

stands at 80,000

(g)

huge military

his condolences to those affected

(h)

The death toll now

group

(i)

the figure is expected

loss of life

(j)

unprecedented

presence

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Bush creates core tsunami aid coalition

US President George W. Bush earlier __________ to help countries affected by the tsunami disaster “in the difficult weeks and months that __________ ahead.” He sent his condolences to those affected and said the American people are “saddened by the terrible __________ of life”. He reacted to earlier accusations of American stinginess by increasing American aid to $35 million, reminding the UN that “In the year 2004, our government provided $2.4 billion in food, in cash, in humanitarian relief … 40 percent of all the __________ aid given in the world last year, was provided by us. …We're a very generous, __________ nation.” However, taken on a per capita basis, among the world’s 30 richest countries, the USA comes __________ with just 0.14 per cent.
 

 

kindhearted
loss
last
promised
relief
lie

President Bush said the United States is part of a core group that is __________ relief efforts. India, Japan and Australia are the other countries. While the US can use its huge military __________ in the region to help the tsunami victims, the other nations are geographically well placed to __________ the clean-up and reconstruction. The death toll now stands at 80,000 people and is still rising, with the figure expected to exceed 100,000. “We're facing a disaster of __________ proportion,” said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The United Nations say five million people are at __________ from disease. Bush offered some optimism, saying, “together the world will cope with their loss. We will __________ over this destruction.”

 

heading
unprecedented
prevail
presence
co-ordinate
risk

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘PROMISE’/ ‘HELP’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  Are you stingy or generous?
(b)  Have you ever given money to charity?
(c)  Have you ever donated other things to charity?
(d)  Is it enough to give money and then do nothing else, or should you keep helping?
(e)  What do you think of the fact that George Bush says America provides most of the world’s aid, but figures show America’s per capita contributions are incredibly low?
(f)  How generous should America be?
(g)  One analyst said America’s contribution is equal to the cost of a toilet on a B1 bomber. Thinking about this, is America, and all other countries, really so generous?
(h)  Is the core group a good idea?
(i)  How unprecedented is this catastrophe?
(j)  What is the most striking image you have of the tsunamis?
(k)  Other teacher’s questions???

7. AID NOW:  In pairs / groups, students create plans to help people affected by the tsunamis. The plans must be implementable (and implemented!) in the next 24 hours. Students present their plans (including asking for real help) to the class. A vote is taken on the best plan of action. The plan is homework.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on George Bush. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. AID NOW: Implement your plans to collect money for the tsunami victims and send the cash quickly to one of the organizations in the Internet links above.

4. INTERNATIONAL BUDGET: You are the leader of the world. Design a budget detailing how much different countries should contribute – you must give reasons for your numbers.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  US President George W. Bush earlier promised to donate $1 million of his own money to tsunami victims.  F
(b)  He sent his condolences to those affected.  T
(c)  He didn’t like accusations that America was a stingy country.  T
(d)  On a per capita basis, America tops the list of the wealthiest countries.  F
(e)  The United States is part of a core group that is heading relief efforts.  T
(f)  The US can use its huge military presence in the region to help the tsunami victims. T
(g)  The death toll is not expected to exceed 100,000.  F
(h)  The United Nations say five million people are at risk from disease.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)

promised

pledged

(b)

condolences

sympathies

(c)

stinginess

tightfistedness

(d)

relief

aid

(e)

generous

giving

(f)

core

center

(g)

heading

leading

(h)

unprecedented

unheard-of

(i)

cope

manage

(j)

prevail

succeed

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

promised

to help

(b)

weeks and months

that lie ahead

(c)

sent

his condolences to those affected

(d)

terrible

loss of life

(e)

per capita

basis

(f)

core

group

(g)

huge military

presence

(h)

The death toll now

stands at 80,000

(i)

the figure is expected

to exceed 100,000

(j)

unprecedented

proportion

 

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