Up to two hundred thousand placard-carrying people converged on the streets of the Scottish capital Edinburgh on July 2 to protest at poverty in Africa. The mass march was part of the Make Poverty History campaign organized by rock musician and human rights activist Sir Bob Geldoff. The rally was orchestrated to coincide with the G8 Summit, to be held in nearby Gleneagles on July 6-8. The number of demonstrators was twice that expected. The campaigners formed a human ring of solidarity around the city centre and held hands in a minute’s silence. The demonstration passed off peacefully, much to the relief of local police, who had mounted a massive anti-riot operation in anticipation of flare-ups.

Ten Live 8 rock extravaganzas were also staged around the world in support of the Make Poverty History appeal. International rock superstars volunteered their time and vocal efforts to apply pressure on G8 leaders to help Africa. The free concerts all took place in G8 countries, bar one in Johannesburg, South Africa. They kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, although concertgoers there seemed to have little idea what the political message of Live 8 was all about. The showpiece concert was in London and was attended by 200,000 music lovers. The message being sent to G8 leaders is to end extreme poverty in Africa by doubling aid, canceling debt and creating fairer trading conditions for African nations.

WARM-UPS

1. CONTINENTAL SHIFT: Change continents for this activity. If you are not from Africa, you are now African. If you are from Africa, you are now from a different continent. Walk around the class and meet your fellow “Africans” or “non-Africans”. Talk about your continents and your daily lives.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Scotland / Edinburgh / capital cities / protests / the Make Poverty History campaign / Sir Bob Geldoff / G8 / Live 8 / Africa / debt / aid / trade

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. SCOTLAND: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Scotland. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

4. MAKE ‘EM HISTORY: In pairs / groups, talk about whether the issues below will ever disappear from our world. Rank them in order of most important to be assigned to the history books. Make sure you all agree.

1. Poverty in Africa.
2. Nuclear weapons.
3. AIDS.
4. Terrorism.
5. Globalization.
6. Drugs.
7. Global warming.
8. Child labor.

5. JULY 2, 2005: In pairs / groups, talk about what you did on the day that started the Make Poverty History campaign.

6. MAKE POVERTY HISTORY: In pairs / groups, talk about how effective these things are at making poverty history in Africa.

Marching and holding hands in Edinburgh Writing a letter to a G8 leader Giving money to a charity Sponsoring an African child

Buying products made in Africa Taking vacations in Africa Writing a letter to an African leader Other

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A campaign against world poverty started in Scotland.	T / F
b.	An Irish rock musician organized the Make Poverty History campaign.	T / F
c.	The campaign is to get G8 leaders to visit Africa.	T / F
d.	There were massive riots in Scotland after the marches.	T / F
e.	Rock stars charged high fees to appear in ten worldwide concerts.	T / F
f.	Japanese concertgoers seemed the most politically aware.	T / F
g.	The showpiece concert was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.	T / F
h.	The message for G8 leaders is to end aid and increase trade barriers.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	placard	forgiving
b.	converged	arranged
c.	orchestrated	spectaculars
d.	passed off	started
e.	flare-ups	descended
f.	extravaganzas	took place
g.	bar	meaning
h.	kicked off	except
i.	connotation	poster
j.	canceling	violence

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	placard-carrying	was twice that expected
b.	orchestrated to	poverty
c.	The number of demonstrators	anti-riot operation
d.	held hands	one
e.	mounted a massive	coincide with the G8 Summit
f.	staged	debt
g.	bar	connotation of Live 8
h.	political	people
i.	extreme	around the world
j.	canceling	in a minute’s silence

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Campaign against poverty begins

Up to two hundred thousand _______-carrying people _______ on the streets of the Scottish capital Edinburgh on July 2 to protest at poverty in Africa. The _______ march was part of the Make Poverty History campaign organized by rock musician and human rights activist Sir Bob Geldoff. The _______ was orchestrated to _______ with the G8 Summit, to be held in nearby Gleneagles on July 6-8. The number of demonstrators was twice that expected. The campaigners formed a human ring of _______ around the city centre and held hands in a minute’s silence. The demonstration passed off peacefully, much to the _______ of local police, who had mounted a massive anti-riot operation in _______ of flare-ups.		rally relief converged anticipation placard coincide solidarity mass
Ten Live 8 rock _______ were also staged around the world in support of the Make Poverty History _______. International rock superstars volunteered their time and _______ efforts to apply pressure on G8 leaders to help Africa. The free concerts all took place in G8 countries, _______ one in Johannesburg, South Africa. They kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, although _______ there seemed to have little idea what the political _______ of Live 8 was all about. The showpiece concert was in London and was attended by 200,000 music lovers. The message being sent to G8 leaders is to end _______ poverty in Africa by _______ aid, canceling debt and creating fairer trading conditions for African nations.		extreme vocal connotation appeal concertgoers doubling extravaganzas bar

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘mass’ and ‘march’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

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 AFRICA SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about poverty and Africa.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

placard mass activist twice solidarity relief

staged apply bar kicked connotation extreme

 DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What was your initial reaction to this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the story?
3. Did you watch or listen to any of the Live 8 concerts?
4. Have you ever taken part in a march or protest?
5. Do you think the Make Poverty History campaign will have any effect on G8 leaders?
6. Do you think the G8 leaders watched any of the concerts?
7. Does holding hands in solidarity do anything to make world leaders change their minds?
8. Is the Make Poverty History campaign a pivotal historical event?
9. Do you think the G8 leaders will discuss the campaign?
10. Do you think there should be a similar campaign with free rock concerts every year?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. What do you think about the Make Poverty History campaign?
4. Do you think it is possible to make poverty history?
5. Why do you think it is only rock musicians who are helping to highlight poverty in Africa?
6. Would you like to see a Make Poverty History movie, full of top Hollywood actors?
7. How much do you know about poverty in Africa?
8. Is there poverty in your own country?
9. Do you think Africa will ever become part of the developed world?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

OTHER ISSUES: Try to find out as much as you can about other problems in the world that campaigners are trying to eradicate. Ask as many other students as you can for information on the following four topics, plus one of your own. Ask for ideas on how to eliminate these problems.

ISSUE	INFORMATION	ELIMINATING THE PROBLEM
Poverty in Africa
Nuclear weapons
AIDS
Terrorism
Your choice

In pairs / groups, share and talk about the information you gathered. Decide on the best solutions or ways of eliminating the problems.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Campaign against poverty begins

Up to two hundred thousand _______-________ ______ converged on the streets of the Scottish capital Edinburgh on July 2 to _______ __ _______ in Africa. The ____ _____ was part of the Make Poverty History campaign organized by rock musician and human rights activist Sir Bob Geldoff. The rally was ____________ __ _________ with the G8 Summit, to be held in nearby Gleneagles on July 6-8. The number of demonstrators ___ _____ ____ expected. The campaigners formed a human ring of solidarity around the city centre and held hands __ __ _______ _______. The demonstration passed off peacefully, much to the relief of local police, who had _______ __ _______ ____-____ operation in anticipation of flare-ups.

Ten Live 8 ____ ____________ were also staged around the world in support of the Make Poverty History appeal. International rock superstars volunteered their time ___ _____ _______ to apply pressure on G8 leaders to help Africa. The free concerts all took place in G8 countries, ___ ___ __ Johannesburg, South Africa. They kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, ________ ____________ _____ seemed to have little idea what the _________ ____________ of Live 8 was all about. The showpiece concert was in London and was attended by 200,000 music lovers. The message being sent to G8 leaders is __ ___ _______ ________ in Africa by ________ ___, canceling debt and creating fairer trading conditions for African nations.

HOMEWORK

1. 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 the Live 8 concerts. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. POVERTY IN AFRICA: Create a fact sheet about one African country. Show how far poverty affects the lives of the citizens in that country. Show your fact sheets to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to the leader of a G8 country. Give him advice on what he should do to make poverty history in Africa. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all give similar advice?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. F

f. F

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	placard	poster
b.	converged	descended
c.	orchestrated	arranged
d.	passed off	took place
e.	flare-ups	violence
f.	extravaganzas	spectaculars
g.	bar	except
h.	kicked off	started
i.	connotation	meaning
j.	canceling	forgiving

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	placard-carrying	people
b.	orchestrated to	coincide with the G8 Summit
c.	The number of demonstrators	was twice that expected
d.	held hands	in a minute’s silence
e.	mounted a massive	anti-riot operation
f.	staged	around the world
g.	bar	one
h.	political	connotation of Live 8
i.	extreme	poverty
j.	canceling	debt

GAP FILL:

Campaign against poverty begins

Up to two hundred thousand placard-carrying people converged on the streets of the Scottish capital Edinburgh on July 2 to protest at poverty in Africa. The mass march was part of the Make Poverty History campaign organized by rock musician and human rights activist Sir Bob Geldoff. The rally was orchestrated to coincide with the G8 Summit, to be held in nearby Gleneagles on July 6-8. The number of demonstrators was twice that expected. The campaigners formed a human ring of solidarity around the city centre and held hands in a minute’s silence. The demonstration passed off peacefully, much to the relief of local police, who had mounted a massive anti-riot operation in anticipation of flare-ups.

Ten Live 8 rock extravaganzas were also staged around the world in support of the Make Poverty History appeal. International rock superstars volunteered their time and vocal efforts to apply pressure on G8 leaders to help Africa. The free concerts all took place in G8 countries, bar one in Johannesburg, South Africa. They kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, although concertgoers there seemed to have little idea what the political connotation of Live 8 was all about. The showpiece concert was in London and was attended by 200,000 music lovers. The message being sent to G8 leaders is to end extreme poverty in Africa by doubling aid, canceling debt and creating fairer trading conditions for African nations.

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