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FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes - World Mothers
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Norway, Best Country to Be a Mother (9th May, 2012)

The charity Save The Children has said Norway is the best country for new mothers. The charity released its annual report called "State of the World's Mothers" on Tuesday. The report is full of information about which countries are best and worst for women and their newborn babies. The study looks at things like healthcare for mums, education, nutrition for babies, maternity leave, maternity death, and how rich or poor mothers are. The report looked at 165 countries, of which 122 were in the developing world.

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The worst country to be a mother was Niger. Women there will probably lose a child at some point in their life. The Save The Children website explained that this year it wanted to make sure women were healthy enough to feed their children over the first 1,000 days of their life. "The focus is on the 171 million children globally who do not have the opportunity to reach their full potential due to the physical and mental effects of poor nutrition in the earliest months of life," it said.

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PHRASE MATCH

Match the following phrases from the article.

Paragraph 1

1.	annual	a.	leave
2	The report is full	b.	babies
3.	newborn	c.	developing world
4.	The study looks at things	d.	report
5.	maternity	e.	like healthcare
6.	122 were in the	f.	of information

Paragraph 2

1.	The worst country	a.	a child
2	lose	b.	feed their children
3.	at some point	c.	months of life
4.	healthy enough to	d.	in their life
5.	the opportunity to reach	e.	to be a mother
6.	in the earliest	f.	their full potential

LISTENING GAP FILL

____________________ The Children has said Norway is the best country for new mothers. The ____________________ annual report called "State of the World's Mothers" on Tuesday. The report is ____________________ about which countries are best and worst for women and their newborn babies. The study looks at ____________________ for mums, education, nutrition for babies, ____________________, maternity death, and how rich or poor mothers are. The report looked at 165 countries, of which 122 were in ____________________ .

The worst country ____________________ was Niger. Women there will probably lose a child at some ____________________ . The Save The Children website explained that this year it wanted to make sure women were ____________________ to feed their children over the first 1,000 ____________________. "The focus is on the 171 million children globally who do not have the ____________________ their full potential due to the physical and mental effects of ____________________ in the earliest months of life," it said.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

The (1) ____ Save The Children has said Norway is the best country for new mothers. The charity released its (2) ____ report called "State of the World's Mothers" on Tuesday. The report is (3) ____ of information about which countries are best and worst for women and their newborn babies. The study looks at things (4) ____ healthcare for mums, education, nutrition for babies, maternity leave, maternity death, and (5) ____ rich or poor mothers are. The report looked at 165 countries, of which 122 were in the (6) ____ world.

The worst country to be a mother was Niger. Women there will probably (7) ____ a child at some (8) ____ in their life. The Save The Children website explained that this year it wanted to make (9) ____ women were healthy enough to feed their children over the first 1,000 days of their life. "The (10) ____ is on the 171 million children globally who do not have the opportunity to reach their (11) ____ potential due (12) ____ the physical and mental effects of poor nutrition in the earliest months of life," it said.

Put the correct words from this table into the article.

1.	(a)	charity	(b)	charitable	(c)	charities
2.	(a)	year	(b)	every 12 months	(c)	annual
3.	(a)	file	(b)	full	(c)	feel
4.	(a)	like	(b)	care	(c)	enjoy
5.	(a)	which	(b)	why	(c)	how
6.	(a)	changing	(b)	developing	(c)	growing
7.	(a)	lose	(b)	die	(c)	give
8.	(a)	dot	(b)	place	(c)	point
9.	(a)	surely	(b)	sure	(c)	ensure
10.	(a)	focus	(b)	energy	(c)	efforts
11.	(a)	half	(b)	empty	(c)	full
12	(a)	of	(b)	to	(c)	as

SPELLING

Spell the jumbled words (from the text) correctly.

Paragraph 1
1.	The haycitr Save The Children
2.	released its naunla report
3.	full of ifnraioomtn
4.	benwnro babies
5.	ymntrtaie leave
6.	the eogenipldv world
Paragraph 2
7.	The owtrs country
8.	at some ontpi in their life
9.	heyalht enough
10.	reach their full tapnleoti
11.	poor roiintnut
12.	in the iltrseea months

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	released its annual report called "State of the World's Mothers" on Tuesday. The report is full
( )	a child at some point in their life. The Save The Children website explained that
( )	at 165 countries, of which 122 were in the developing world.
( )	babies, maternity leave, maternity death, and how rich or poor mothers are. The report looked
( )	children globally who do not have the opportunity to reach their full potential due
( )	to the physical and mental effects of poor nutrition in the earliest months of life," it said.
( )	The charity Save The Children has said Norway is the best country for new mothers. The charity
( )	this year it wanted to make sure women were healthy enough to feed their children
( 1 )	The worst country to be a mother was Niger. Women there will probably lose
( )	babies. The study looks at things like healthcare for mums, education, nutrition for
( )	of information about which countries are best and worst for women and their newborn
( )	over the first 1,000 days of their life. "The focus is on the 171 million

THE READING / TAPESCRIPT

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

1.	the mothers best country Norway for is new.
2.	charity its report The released annual.
3.	is of report full information The.
4.	mums study things for The at healthcare looks like.
5.	countries The looked 165 report at.
6.	child point life a some their Lose at in.
7.	were enough Make women healthy sure.
8.	first 1,000 days Feed their children over the.
9.	to opportunity The potential full their reach.
10.	the earliest Poor months nutrition of in life.

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 motherhood 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. MOTHERHOOD: Search the Internet and find more information about motherhood. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about mothers around the world. Include an imaginary interview with one mother in a rich country and one in a poor country. 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 a motherhood expert. Ask her three questions about motherhood. Give her three of your opinions on motherhood. 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 - World Mothers (11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)