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Thursday December 30 Intermediate + THE ARTICLEUS 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 DOWNS1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about charity / relief efforts / donations / natural disasters / stinginess / generosity… 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: 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 IDEAS1. 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: 3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:
4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES1. GAP-FILL: Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps. Bush creates core tsunami aid coalition
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 IDEAS1. 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: 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. HOMEWORK1. 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. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE: SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
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