Thursday January 6, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Australia announced a package of $1-billion Australian ($764-million U.S.) in aid to help in the global tsunami reconstruction effort, making it the No. 1 single donor. Germany too has increased its pledge to $674-million and is now the second largest contributor, overtaking Japan ($500-million) and the United States ($350-million). The US is providing unprecedented levels of relief in terms of ships and helicopters to distribute aid. Aussie Prime Minister, John Howard, said the aid is in response to the utter devastation in Sumatra’s Banda Aceh province, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of tsunami dead. Mr. Howard wants “to form a partnership for reconstruction and development.” He also declared, “This is a historic step in Indonesian-Australian relations in the wake of this terrible natural disaster." Australia's donation also means the total tsunami aid pledged by world leaders is more than $3 billion. This is significantly higher than the very small sums being offered in the days following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 150,000 people. A further $1 billion dollars have been donated by the public. In Britain the people have contributed more than the government!

In other related news, US Secretary of State, in a tour of Banda Aceh, has said, “The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy everything in its path is amazing. … I’ve been in war and I’ve been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this.”

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Australia / Indonesia / Global Aid / the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami / the destruction / the number of dead / the living / the missing / the homeless …
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 and then put it into action.

3. FEELINGS TIMELINE: Brainstorm the feelings students have had towards the disaster since it happened. Write them on the board. Pairs put the feelings into their own categories and then talk about how far they share each feelings.

4. MY COUNTRY: In pairs students talk about the efforts of their own countries and people in helping in the disaster and what more could / should be done.

5. 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 ‘aid’ and ‘donor’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Australia announced a package of $1-billion U.S. in aid.  T / F
(b)  Australia is now the No. 1 single international donor.  T / F
(c)  The United States is the second largest contributor.  T /F
(d)  The US is providing unprecedented levels of relief in terms of ships and helicopters to distribute aid.  T / F
(e)  Sumatra’s Banda Aceh province accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of tsunami dead.  T / F
(f)  Aussie PM, John Howard, said the aid was a small step in Indonesian-Australian relations. T / F
(g)  In Britain the people have contributed more than the government.  T / F
(h)  Colin Powell went to Banda Aceh and said, "I have never seen anything like this".  T / F 

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

(a)	announced	worldwide
(b)	aid	waste
(c)	global	momentous
(d)	donor	proclaimed
(e)	unprecedented	contributor
(f)	devastation	harvest
(g)	historic	incomparably
(h)	significantly	connected
(i)	related	unheard-of
(j)	crops	help

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

(a)	a package of $1-billion	levels
(b)	tsunami reconstruction	of this terrible natural disaster
(c)	the second largest	by the public
(d)	unprecedented	effort
(e)	utter	contributor
(f)	historic	step
(g)	in the wake	in aid
(h)	donated	related news
(i)	In other	in its path
(j)	destroy everything	devastation

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Australia pledges $1 billion in aid

Australia announced a __________ of $1-billion Australian ($764-million U.S.) in aid to help in the global tsunami reconstruction __________, making it the No. 1 single donor. Germany too has increased its pledge to $674-million and is now the second largest __________, overtaking Japan ($500-million) and the United States ($350-million). The US is providing unprecedented levels of relief in terms of ships and helicopters to distribute aid. Aussie Prime Minister, John Howard, said the aid is in response to the __________ devastation in Sumatra’s Banda Aceh province, which __________ for almost two-thirds of the total number of tsunami dead. Mr. Howard wants “to form a partnership for reconstruction and development.” He also declared, “This is a __________ step in Indonesian-Australian relations in the wake of this terrible natural disaster." Australia's donation also means the total tsunami aid pledged by world leaders is more than $3 billion. This is significantly higher than the very small sums being offered in the days following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 150,000 people. A further $1 billion dollars have been __________ by the public. In Britain the people have contributed more than the government! In other related news, US Secretary of State, in a tour of Banda Aceh, has said, “The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy everything in its path is amazing. … I’ve been in war and I’ve been __________ a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this.”

historic utter effort through accounts package donated contributor

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

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonym 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. ‘AID’/ ‘DONOR’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

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

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

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

5. STUDENT-GENERATED 'AID' 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. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

6. AID DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  What do you think of Australia’s offer of $1- billion Australian?
(b)  What do you think your government should be doing?
(c)  What needs to be done for the people of the affected regions?
(d)  Has this tragedy made us all more charitable?
(e)  Should charity and compassion be elementary school subjects?
(f)  Should charity / voluntary work be part of the high school curriculum?
(g)  Would you donate $100 to tsunami aid or buy a pair of Nike sneakers?
(h)  If you have already given money for tsunami aid, would you give more?
(i)  If you haven't already given money for tsunami aid, why not?
(j)  Is it right that public donations should exceed government donations, as is the case in Britain?
(j)  Colin Powell is currently in Indonesia assessing reconstruction needs. Is this the time to show the world's Muslims America cares about them?
(k)  Would you be willing to go to one of the disaster-stricken countries as a volunteer? Where would you go and what would you do?
(l)  Teacher’s additional questions.

7. OPINIONS: Comment on the following opinions regarding aid
- Australia is the most generous country in the world.
– The global response to the tragedy is great.
- There should be a world citizen’s tax solely to help victims of natural disasters and wars.
- TV stations should put up a list of celebrities and politicians' donations to encourage them to give more.
– There is too much coverage of the tsunami, there are other things going on in the world.
- Why does everyone always blame America?
- If the money is available now, why wasn't it being used before for other world or national disasters? Japan's government gave little earthquake and typhoon relief in October, the US gave little for hurricane damage, Sudan's Darfur region has been virtually neglected, AIDs is still rampant....
- The world is a caring place.

8. 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 tsunamis. 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. LETTER TO JOHN HOWARD.: Write a letter to Aussie PM John Howard telling him what you think of his aid announcement.

5. 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.

6. A DAY IN MY LIFE: Imagine you are an aid worker in Indonesia. Write your diary entry for one day in your work.

7. YOUR PLAN OF ACTION: Create a poster detailing your plan of aid action to help the people of South Asia and South-East Asia.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Australia announced a package of $1-billion U.S. in aid.  F
(b)  Australia is now the No. 1 single international donor.  T
(c)  The United States is the second largest contributor.  F
(d)  The US is providing unprecedented levels of relief in terms of ships and helicopters to distribute aid.  T
(e)  Sumatra’s Banda Aceh province accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of tsunami dead.  T
(f)  Aussie PM, John Howard, said the aid was a small step in Indonesian-Australian relations. F
(g)  In Britain the people have contributed more than the government.  T
(h)  Colin Powell went to Banda Aceh and said, "I have never seen anything like this".  T 

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	announced	proclaimed
(b)	aid	help
(c)	global	worldwide
(d)	donor	contributor
(e)	unprecedented	unheard-of
(f)	devastation	waste
(g)	historic	momentous
(h)	significantly	incomparably
(i)	related	connected
(j)	crops	harvest

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	a package of $1-billion	in aid
(b)	tsunami reconstruction	effort
(c)	the second largest	contributor
(d)	unprecedented	levels
(e)	utter	devastation
(f)	historic	step
(g)	in the wake	of this terrible natural disaster
(h)	donated	by the public
(i)	In other	related news
(j)	destroy everything	in its path

 

FULL TEXT:

Australia pledges $1 billion in aid

Australia announced a package of $1-billion Australian ($764-million U.S.) in aid to help in the global tsunami reconstruction effort, making it the No. 1 single donor. Germany too has increased its pledge to $674-million and is now the second largest contributor, overtaking Japan ($500-million) and the United States ($350-million). The US is providing unprecedented levels of relief in terms of ships and helicopters to distribute aid. Aussie Prime Minister, John Howard, said the aid is in response to the utter devastation in Sumatra’s Banda Aceh province, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the total number of tsunami dead. Mr. Howard wants “to form a partnership for reconstruction and development.” He also declared, “This is a historic step in Indonesian-Australian relations in the wake of this terrible natural disaster." Australia's donation also means the total tsunami aid pledged by world leaders is more than $3 billion. This is significantly higher than the very small sums being offered in the days following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 150,000 people. A further $1 billion dollars have been donated by the public. In Britain the people have contributed more than the government!

In other related news, US Secretary of State, in a tour of Banda Aceh, has said, “The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy everything in its path is amazing. … I’ve been in war and I’ve been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this.”