Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Chocolate Drought

Chocoholics of the world had better start stocking up on their favourite chocolate bars, if we are to believe experts who say the world is facing a chocolate drought. They warn that the world's supply of sustainable cocoa could run out by 2014. Political unrest in the Ivory Coast has prompted these fears. Many cocoa farmers have fled to neighbouring countries because of fears for their security. This has greatly reduced the number of growers. The West African country grows 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans and fears of another civil war have sent the price of cocoa up. Prices have jumped by 10 per cent in this month alone and are set to reach their highest levels for 30 years.

Angus Kennedy, a leading British chocolatier and editor of a trade journal, told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “Chocolate producers are facing one of the biggest challenges to hit the industry in recent history. Supplies of sustainable cocoa are set to run out, it's that simple." He commented on the political situation, saying: "The Ivory Coast is a complete no-go area for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems in the region is now, mostly impossible.” On reports of record price increases, he said: “Prices can't go up as it's reported because there basically isn't enough certified cocoa left to sell.” He added that:"Things could get nasty now as producers start to fight over the last stocks.”

WARM-UPS

1. CHOCOLATE: Walk around the class and talk to other students about chocolate. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

chocoholic / stocking up / chocolate bars / drought / cocoa / security / civil war / chocolatiers / trade journals / challenges / sustainable / record prices / get nasty

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. CHOCOLATE: Complete this table and share what you wrote with your partner(s). Change partners and share again.

Chocolate…	Early memories	And now
The smell
The taste
Fave bar
Fave dessert
In cooking
As a drink

4. DROUGHT: Students A strongly believe chocoholics will survive; Students B strongly believe there’ll be big problems. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. GOING WITHOUT: Which of these things do you absolutely need? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the one you cannot do without at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

chocolate
alcohol/cigarettes
mobile phone
your pillow

walking in the countryside
books
your computer
holidays

6. NASTY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘nasty’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	People are emergency-buying bars of chocolate all over the world.	T / F
b.	There will be almost no chocolate bars on sale in the world in 2014.	T / F
c.	A chocolate drought is coming because of tensions in Ivory Coast.	T / F
d.	Cocoa prices will soon reach their highest prices for three decades.	T / F
e.	An expert said this is the biggest crisis ever in the chocolate industry.	T / F
f.	Many cocoa growers think Ivory Coast is too dangerous to farm cocoa.	T / F
g.	The expert said prices can’t go much higher as there’s nothing to buy.	T / F
h.	Producers will sit down and have a friendly chat about the last stocks.	T / F

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

1.	stocking up on	a.	unpleasant
2	experts	b.	considerably
3.	run out	c.	total
4.	greatly	d.	experiencing
5.	jumped	e.	finish
6.	leading	f.	collecting
7.	facing	g.	specialists
8.	complete	h.	area
9.	region	i.	soared
10.	nasty	j.	top

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	start stocking up on their	a.	chocolate drought
2	the world is facing a	b.	price increases
3.	cocoa could run	c.	levels for 30 years
4.	fears for	d.	go area
5.	reach their highest	e.	biggest challenges
6.	editor of a	f.	favourite chocolate bars
7.	facing one of the	g.	nasty
8.	a complete no-	h.	out by 2014
9.	reports of record	i.	trade journal
10.	Things could get	j.	their security

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Chocoholics of the world had (1) ____________ start stocking up on their favourite chocolate bars, if we are to believe experts who say the world is (2) ____________ a chocolate drought. They warn that the world's supply of sustainable cocoa could run (3) ____________ by 2014. Political unrest in the Ivory Coast has (4) ____________ these fears. Many cocoa farmers have fled to neighbouring countries because of (5) ____________ for their security. This has (6) ____________ reduced the number of growers. The West African country grows 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans and fears of another civil war have sent the price of cocoa up. Prices have (7) ____________ by 10 per cent in this month alone and are set to (8) ____________ their highest levels for 30 years.

greatly
out
better
reach
fears
facing
jumped
prompted

Angus Kennedy, a (9) ____________ British chocolatier and editor of a trade (10) ____________, told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “Chocolate producers are facing one of the biggest challenges to (11) ____________ the industry in recent history. Supplies of sustainable cocoa are set to run out, it's that (12) ____________." He commented on the political situation, saying: “The Ivory Coast is a complete no-(13) ____________ area for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems in the region is now, (14) ____________ impossible.” On reports of record price increases, he said: “Prices can't go up as it's reported because there basically isn't enough certified cocoa (15) ____________ to sell.” He added that: “Things could get (16) ____________ now as producers start to fight over the last stocks.”

go
left
journal
nasty
hit
leading
mostly
simple

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Chocoholics of the ______________________ stocking up on their favourite chocolate bars, if we are to believe experts ______________________ facing a chocolate drought. They warn that the world's supply of sustainable cocoa ______________________ 2014. Political unrest in the Ivory Coast has prompted these fears. Many cocoa farmers have fled to neighbouring countries ______________________ their security. This has greatly reduced the number of growers. The West African country grows 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans ______________________ war have sent the price of cocoa up. Prices have jumped by 10 per cent in this month alone and ______________________ highest levels for 30 years.

Angus Kennedy, a leading British chocolatier ______________________ journal, told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “Chocolate producers are facing one of the biggest challenges ______________________ in recent history. Supplies of sustainable cocoa are set to run out, it's that simple." He commented on the political situation, saying: “The Ivory Coast ______________________ for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems ______________________, mostly impossible.” On reports of record price increases, he said: “Prices can't go up as it's reported because ______________________ enough certified cocoa left to sell.” He added that: “Things ______________________ as producers start to fight over the last stocks.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

civil

war

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

stocking
warn
fears
greatly
civil
levels

trade
hit
no-go
cut
basically
nasty

STUDENT CHOCOLATE SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about chocolate in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

CHOCOLATE DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘chocolate’?
c)	How important is chocolate to you?
d)	What is it about chocolate that people love?
e)	Describe a week in your life with chocolate?
f)	What do you think of the upcoming chocolate drought?
g)	What’s the maximum you’d pay for a bar of chocolate?
h)	Why don’t other countries fill the gap and grow cocoa?
i)	What are your early memories of chocolate?
j)	White, milk or dark chocolate?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Would you like to be a chocolatier?
c)	Which country produces the best chocolate?
d)	What happens when cocoa supplies run out?
e)	What is a good alternative to chocolate?
f)	How could things get nasty between producers?
g)	What would you do without chocolate?
h)	Is chocolate healthy?
i)	Describe the sensation of eating chocolate?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Angus Kennedy?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Chocoholics of the world (1) ____ better start stocking up on their favourite chocolate bars, if we are to believe experts who say the world is facing a chocolate drought. They warn that the world's (2) ____ of sustainable cocoa could run out by 2014. Political unrest in the Ivory Coast has (3) ____ these fears. Many cocoa farmers have fled to neighbouring countries because of fears (4) ____ their security. This has greatly reduced the number of growers. The West African country grows 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans and fears (5) ____ another civil war have sent the price of cocoa up. Prices have jumped by 10 per cent in this month (6) ____ and are set to reach their highest levels for 30 years.

Angus Kennedy, a (7) ____ British chocolatier and editor of a trade journal, told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “Chocolate producers are facing one of the biggest challenges to (8) ____ the industry in recent history. Supplies of sustainable cocoa are (9) ____ to run out, it's that simple." He commented on the political situation, saying: “The Ivory Coast is a complete (10) ____ area for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems in the region is now, mostly impossible.” On reports of record price increases, he said: “Prices can't go up (11) ____ it's reported because there basically isn't enough certified cocoa left to sell.” He added that: “Things could get (12) ____ now as producers start to fight over the last stocks.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	should	(b)	would	(c)	had	(d)	could
2.	(a)	supplied	(b)	supply	(c)	supple	(d)	suppliers
3.	(a)	prompted	(b)	prompt	(c)	prompting	(d)	prompts
4.	(a)	from	(b)	by	(c)	at	(d)	for
5.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	of	(d)	with
6.	(a)	lonely	(b)	lone	(c)	alone	(d)	lonesome
7.	(a)	leader	(b)	leading	(c)	leaded	(d)	leads
8.	(a)	hit	(b)	smack	(c)	punch	(d)	slap
9.	(a)	bet	(b)	set	(c)	get	(d)	let
10.	(a)	no-go	(b)	no-no	(c)	no joy	(d)	no-brainer
11.	(a)	has	(b)	was	(c)	is	(d)	as
12.	(a)	nastily	(b)	nasties	(c)	nastiness	(d)	nasty

WRITING

Write about chocolate for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 out more about chocolate. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CHOCOLATE: Make a poster about chocolate. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. DROUGHT: Write a magazine article about the chocolate drought. Include imaginary interviews with some chocoholics.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to a chocoholic. Ask him/her three questions about chocolate. Give him/her three ideas on how to survive the drought. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	stocking up on	a.	collecting
2	experts	b.	specialists
3.	run out	c.	finish
4.	greatly	d.	considerably
5.	jumped	e.	soared
6.	leading	f.	top
7.	facing	g.	experiencing
8.	complete	h.	total
9.	region	i.	area
10.	nasty	j.	unpleasant

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	start stocking up on their	a.	favourite chocolate bars
2	the world is facing a	b.	chocolate drought
3.	cocoa could run	c.	out by 2014
4.	fears for	d.	their security
5.	reach their highest	e.	levels for 30 years
6.	editor of a	f.	trade journal
7.	facing one of the	g.	biggest challenges
8.	a complete no-	h.	go area
9.	reports of record	i.	price increases
10.	Things could get	j.	nasty

GAP FILL:

Experts predict chocolate drought by 2014

Chocoholics of the world had (1) better start stocking up on their favourite chocolate bars, if we are to believe experts who say the world is (2) facing a chocolate drought. They warn that the world's supply of sustainable cocoa could run (3) out by 2014. Political unrest in the Ivory Coast has (4) prompted these fears. Many cocoa farmers have fled to neighbouring countries because of (5) fears for their security. This has (6) greatly reduced the number of growers. The West African country grows 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans and fears of another civil war have sent the price of cocoa up. Prices have (7) jumped by 10 per cent in this month alone and are set to (8) reach their highest levels for 30 years.

Angus Kennedy, a (9) leading British chocolatier and editor of a trade (10) journal, told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “Chocolate producers are facing one of the biggest challenges to (11) hit the industry in recent history. Supplies of sustainable cocoa are set to run out, it's that (12) simple." He commented on the political situation, saying: “The Ivory Coast is a complete no-(13) go area for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems in the region is now, (14) mostly impossible.” On reports of record price increases, he said: “Prices can't go up as it's reported because there basically isn't enough certified cocoa (15) left to sell.” He added that: “Things could get (16) nasty now as producers start to fight over the last stocks.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - c

2 - b

3 - a

4 - d

5 - c

6 - c

7 - b

8 - a

9 - b

10 - a

11 - d

12 - d

Breaking News English

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13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:02 - 983KB)

Experts Predict Chocolate Drought by 2014 (31st January, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT CHOCOLATE SURVEY

CHOCOLATE DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Experts predict chocolate drought by 2014

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Sean Banville's Book

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My 1,000 Ideas e-Book	Breaking News English HOME \| HELP MY SITE \| 000s MORE FREE LESSONS	My 1,000 Ideas e-Book

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF Handout - with all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:02 - 983KB)

Experts Predict Chocolate Drought by 2014 (31st January, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT CHOCOLATE SURVEY

CHOCOLATE DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Experts predict chocolate drought by 2014

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities