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Date: Oct 18, 2005 Level: Harder (Try the easier lesson.) Downloads: Word Doc | PDF Doc | Listening Audio: (1:56 - 227.1 KB - 16kbps)
THE ARTICLEThe leaders of Zimbabwe and Venezuela have denounced U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being the main causes of world hunger, pollution and war. At an event in Rome on October 17 to mark World Food Day, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez took full advantage of their speeches by turning them into tirades. Mr. Mugabe lambasted Blair and Bush as “two unholy men of our millennium” and likened them to the World War II dictators and allies Hitler and Mussolini. Chavez accused what he termed “the North American empire” as being a “menace” that threatened “all life on the planet”. The verbal outbursts by both Chavez and Mugabe were greeted with applause and standing ovations from many delegates. US ambassador Tony Hall quickly hit back, lamenting that Messrs. Mugabe and Chavez “chose to politicize an event that was meant to be about feeding the hungry people of the world,” according to Associated Press reports. Hall said Mugabe’s presence and “scathing remarks” made a “mockery” of the occasion, especially as Zimbabwe is currently struggling to feed an estimated 3.8 million people and has to import at least 37,000 tons of food a week. “Mugabe, especially, should not have been invited,” Hall said. “He would be the last person, I think, an organization should invite to talk about hunger.” Once Africa’s breadbasket, Zimbabwe’s economy is now crippled and drought stricken. Mr. Mugabe blames Britain’s colonial injustices for his country’s economic malaise. WARM-UPS1. HELLO GEORGE: In pairs / groups, role play a sudden meeting between your country’s leader and either George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Robert Mugabe or Hugo Chavez. You all meet by chance when you sit at the same table in a coffee shop. Repeat the role plays with different partners and roles. Change partners again and talk about what you said and heard while in your roles. 2. THE POPULARITY STAKES: Is the leader of your country very popular? What are his/her successes and failures? Talk about the popularity, successes and failures of the following leaders, or choose others you’d prefer to talk about.
3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently. 4. WORLD FOOD DAY: In pairs / groups, talk about what you know about World Food Day. How should it be celebrated? Outline what you think the aims of this day should be. 5. HUNGER: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “hunger”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 6. MUGABE OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, talk about what you think of these opinions Robert Mugabe expressed on World Food Day:
BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
AFTER READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text. Bush & Blair attacked by Mugabe & Chavez
LISTENINGListen and fill in the spaces. Bush & Blair attacked by Mugabe & ChavezThe leaders of Zimbabwe and Venezuela have __________ U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being the main causes of world hunger, pollution and war. At an event in Rome on October 17 ___ _____ World Food Day, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez _____ _____ advantage ___ their speeches by turning them into tirades. Mr. Mugabe lambasted Blair and Bush as “two ________ men of our millennium” and likened them to the World War II dictators and _______ Hitler and Mussolini. Chavez accused what he termed “the North American empire” as being a “________” that threatened “all life on the planet”. The ________ ___________ by both Chavez and Mugabe were greeted with applause and standing __________ from many delegates. US ambassador Tony Hall quickly hit back, __________ that Messrs. Mugabe and Chavez “chose to __________ an event that was meant to be about feeding the hungry people of the world,” according to Associated Press reports. Hall said Mugabe’s presence and “__________ remarks” made a “__________” of the occasion, especially as Zimbabwe is currently struggling to feed an estimated 3.8 million people and has to import at least ____________ tons of food a week. “Mugabe, especially, should not have been invited,” Hall said. “He would be ____ _____ _______, I think, an organization should invite to talk about hunger.” Once Africa’s breadbasket, Zimbabwe’s economy is now crippled and drought __________. Mr. Mugabe blames Britain’s __________ injustices for his country’s economic __________. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘full’ and ‘advantage’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. STUDENT “WORLD HUNGER” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about world hunger and who might be responsible.
6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.
SPEAKINGWORLD LEADER: The world must choose a leader. There is a shortlist of two George W. Bush and Tony Blair. In pairs / groups, discuss which of the two men should get the job. Talk about the criteria in the left hand column. Put a mark out of ten for the two men in the middle columns and give the reasons for this mark in the right hand column.
Change partners and show each other your scores. Do you agree with each other’s reasons? Discuss what the world would be like with your choice of man as leader. Which country’s leader (except George Bush and Tony Blair) do you think would make the best world leader and why? HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on World Food Day. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. 3. HUNGER: Make a poster outlining the places in the world where people suffer from extreme hunger. Think of some solutions to stop so many of the world’s poor people from dying of hunger. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all think of similar solutions? 4. LETTER: Write a letter to Mr. Mugabe or Mr. Chavez (or both). Tell them what you think of their speeches at the World Food Day event in Rome. Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things? ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Bush & Blair attacked by Mugabe & ChavezThe leaders of Zimbabwe and Venezuela have denounced U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being the main causes of world hunger, pollution and war. At an event in Rome on October 17 to mark World Food Day, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez took full advantage of their speeches by turning them into tirades. Mr. Mugabe lambasted Blair and Bush as “two unholy men of our millennium” and likened them to the World War II dictators and allies Hitler and Mussolini. Chavez accused what he termed “the North American empire” as being a “menace” that threatened “all life on the planet”. The verbal outbursts by both Chavez and Mugabe were greeted with applause and standing ovations from many delegates. US ambassador Tony Hall quickly hit back, lamenting that Messrs. Mugabe and Chavez “chose to politicize an event that was meant to be about feeding the hungry people of the world,” according to Associated Press reports. Hall said Mugabe’s presence and “scathing remarks” made a “mockery” of the occasion, especially as Zimbabwe is currently struggling to feed an estimated 3.8 million people and has to import at least 37,000 tons of food a week. “Mugabe, especially, should not have been invited,” Hall said. “He would be the last person, I think, an organization should invite to talk about hunger.” Once Africa’s breadbasket, Zimbabwe’s economy is now crippled and drought stricken. Mr. Mugabe blames Britain’s colonial injustices for his country’s economic malaise.
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