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FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Global Poverty
(11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)

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UN Will Halve Poverty By 2015 (21st September, 2010)

World leaders have promised to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halve global poverty and hunger. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the MDG meeting on September 20th. He asked all countries to try their hardest to help the world’s poor. The promise to halve poverty was made 10 years ago. The goal then was to halve poverty by 2015. Mr Ban urged those at the meeting to focus on providing clean water and basic education. He said that “this is an achievement we can be proud of”.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech about how the world was not keeping its promise. He said many countries were using the global financial crisis as an excuse not to give money, saying: "We have no right to shelter behind the economic crisis…We have so many millions suffering from AIDS…but they could be looked after.” Bolivia’s president Evo Morales asked world leaders to end the unfair global distribution of wealth. He said the biggest cause of poverty was rich countries not helping poor ones.

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PHRASE MATCH

Match the following phrases from the article.

Paragraph 1

1.	World leaders have	a.	hardest
2	halve global poverty	b.	promised
3.	try their	c.	be proud of
4.	help the world’s	d.	education
5.	basic	e.	and hunger
6.	an achievement we can	f.	poor

Paragraph 2

1.	made	a.	crisis
2	not keeping	b.	wealth
3.	the global financial	c.	its promise
4.	millions suffering …	d.	of poverty
5.	distribution of	e.	a speech
6.	the biggest cause	f.	from AIDS

LISTENING GAP FILL

World leaders ___________________ meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halve global ___________________. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the MDG meeting on September 20th. He asked all countries ___________________ help the world’s poor. The promise to halve poverty was made 10 years ago. ___________________ to halve poverty by 2015. Mr Ban ___________________ meeting to focus on providing clean water and basic education. He said that “this ___________________ can be proud of”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy ___________________ how the world was not keeping its promise. He said many countries were using the global financial crisis ___________________ to give money, saying: "We have ___________________ behind the economic crisis…We have so many millions suffering from AIDS…but they could ___________________.” Bolivia’s president Evo Morales asked world ___________________ the unfair global distribution of wealth. He said the biggest cause of poverty was rich ___________________ poor ones.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

World leaders have promised to (1) ____ the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halve global poverty and (2) ____. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the MDG meeting on September 20th. He asked all countries to try their (3) ____ to help the world’s poor. The promise to halve poverty (4) ____ made 10 years ago. The goal then was to halve poverty by 2015. Mr Ban urged those at the meeting (5) ____ focus on providing clean water and basic education. He said that “this is an achievement we can be proud (6) ____”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech about how the world was not (7) ____ its promise. He said many countries were using the global financial crisis as an excuse (8) ____ to give money, saying: "We have no (9) ____ to shelter behind the economic crisis…We have so many millions suffering from AIDS…but they could be looked (10) ____.” Bolivia’s president Evo Morales asked world leaders to end the unfair global distribution of wealth. He said the biggest (11) ____ of poverty was rich countries not helping poor (12) ____.

Put the correct words from this table into the article.

1.	(a)	meet	(b)	meeting	(c)	met
2.	(a)	hungry	(b)	hungers	(c)	hunger
3.	(a)	hardly	(b)	hardest	(c)	hard
4.	(a)	was	(b)	is	(c)	will be
5.	(a)	of	(b)	at	(c)	to
6.	(a)	to	(b)	of	(c)	at
7.	(a)	keeping	(b)	keeps	(c)	kept
8.	(a)	don’t	(b)	non	(c)	not
9.	(a)	wrong	(b)	left	(c)	right
10.	(a)	before	(b)	after	(c)	then
11.	(a)	cause	(b)	because	(c)	case
12	(a)	twos	(b)	ones	(c)	threes

SPELLING

Spell the jumbled words (from the text) correctly.

Paragraph 1
1.	leaders have pormdesi to meet
2.	poverty and rgnueh
3.	help the world’s opro
4.	providing lacne water
5.	cabsi education
6.	we can be rodpu
Paragraph 2
7.	made a hespce
8.	keeping its rmeisop
9.	global financial sciisr
10.	srfgfieun from AIDS
11.	the biggest aeucs
12.	rich countries not pghneil

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	looked after.” Bolivia’s president Evo Morales asked world leaders to end the unfair global distribution of
( )	water and basic education. He said that “this is an achievement we can be proud of”.
( )	then was to halve poverty by 2015. Mr Ban urged those at the meeting to focus on providing clean
( )	poverty and hunger. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the MDG meeting on September 20th. He asked all
( )	to shelter behind the economic crisis…We have so many millions suffering from AIDS…but they could be
( )	many countries were using the global financial crisis as an excuse not to give money, saying: "We have no right
( )	wealth. He said the biggest cause of poverty was rich countries not helping poor ones.
( )	French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech about how the world was not keeping its promise. He said
( 1 )	World leaders have promised to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halve global
( )	countries to try their hardest to help the world’s poor. The promise to halve poverty was made 10 years ago. The goal

THE READING / TAPESCRIPT

With a partner, put the words back into the correct order.

1.	poverty global Halve hunger and.
2.	hardest countries to He try asked their all.
3.	halve 2015 goal to by The was poverty then.
4.	clean providing on Focus water.
5.	proud This achievement be an can of is we.
6.	The promise its keeping not was world.
7.	financial crisis Using as the an global excuse.
8.	from many suffering AIDS So millions.
9.	wealth The global of unfair distribution.
10.	rich cause countries of poverty The was biggest.

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

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

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

WRITING

Write about poverty for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

______________________________________________________________________________

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. POVERTY: Search the Internet and find more information about the Millennium Development Goals. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about poverty. Include imaginary interviews with very poor and very rich people. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

4. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ask him three questions about poverty. Give him three of your ideas on how to end poverty. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Your partner will answer the questions you asked.

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News English Lessons FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Global Poverty (11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)