The Reading / Listening - Loneliness - Level 0

Japan has a "minister of loneliness". Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga wants to stop a rise in suicides. More people are taking their own lives in the coronavirus pandemic. Japan's police said over 20,000 people died by suicide in 2020. The minister said he wants to "improve the ties between people".

There is a 70 per cent rise in suicide among women. Mr Suga said: "Women are suffering from isolation more than men are." A 23-year-old designer said she misses not seeing people smile behind their mask. It makes her feel sad and lonely. She said: "I want to see happy faces."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Loneliness - Level 1,  Loneliness - Level 2   or  Loneliness - Level 3

Sources
  • https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/539917-japanese-prime-minister-appoints-minister-of-loneliness-to
  • https://nypost.com/2021/02/22/japan-creates-minister-of-loneliness-to-fight-covid-suicides/
  • https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/12/national/loneliness-isolation-minister/


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Japan has a
  2. Japan's Prime Minister
  3. stop a rise
  4. taking their own
  5. in the coronavirus
  6. 20,000 people died by
  7. The minister said he
  8. improve the ties
  1. in suicides
  2. wants to
  3. pandemic
  4. between people
  5. minister of loneliness
  6. Yoshihide Suga
  7. suicide in 2020
  8. lives

Paragraph 2

  1. There is a 70 per cent
  2. suicide
  3. Women are suffering
  4. more than
  5. she misses not seeing people
  6. behind their
  7. It makes her feel sad
  8. I want to see happy
  1. men are
  2. faces
  3. rise
  4. smile
  5. and lonely
  6. from isolation
  7. among women
  8. mask

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

(1) ___________________ "minister of loneliness". Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (2) ___________________ a rise in suicides. More people (3) ___________________ own lives in the coronavirus pandemic. Japan's (4) ___________________ 20,000 people died (5) ___________________ 2020. The minister said he wants to "improve (6) ___________________ people".

There is a 70 per cent (7) ___________________ among women. Mr Suga said: "Women (8) ___________________ isolation more than men are." A 23-year-old (9) ___________________ misses not seeing (10) ___________________ their mask. It makes (11) ___________________ and lonely. She said: "I want to (12) ___________________."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Japanhasa"ministerofloneliness".Japan'sPrimeMinisterYoshihideSu
gawantstostopariseinsuicides.Morepeoplearetakingtheirownlivesin
thecoronaviruspandemic.Japan'spolicesaidover20,000peoplediedb
ysuicidein2020.Theministersaidhewantsto"improvethetiesbetween
people".Thereisa70percentriseinsuicideamongwomen.MrSugasaid:"
Womenaresufferingfromisolationmorethanmenare."A23-year-
olddesignersaidshemissesnotseeingpeoplesmilebehindtheirmask.It
makesherfeelsadandlonely.Shesaid:"Iwanttoseehappyfaces."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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