Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Haiti Earthquake

Television pictures are slowly beginning to show how great the damage is in Haiti following the huge earthquake on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.3 quake, just 16km from the capital, hit the Caribbean nation as people were going home after work. It was the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in more than two centuries. Much of the country has been devastated. Many major buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed, including the Presidential Palace and the UN headquarters. Haiti's President Rene Preval described the scene in the capital as "unimaginable". The Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been affected. Mr. Preval fears "well over 100,000 people" may have died.

Haiti's ambassador to the USA, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way of estimating" how many casualties there were. Countries around the world are acting quickly to send whatever help they can to Haiti. US President Barack Obama has promised America will do all it can to help. He vowed "unwavering support" following a “particularly cruel” disaster. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than half its people live below the poverty line on less than two dollars a day. It is one of the poorest-equipped countries on Earth to deal with such a catastrophe. The nation was still trying to recover from being hit by four deadly hurricanes in 30 days in 2008. Its economy is in ruins and it has a long history of corruption and coups.

WARM-UPS

1. EARTHQUAKES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about earthquakes. 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.

Haiti / damage / earthquakes / devastation / collapsed buildings / capital city / fears / ambassadors / casualties / promises / cruel / the poverty line / catastrophes / coups

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

3. DISASTERS: What would you do? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and talk about what you wrote. Change again and share what you heard.

Disaster	Biggest dangers	How to deal with them
Earthquake
Bushfires
Famine
Tsunami
Hurricane/Typhoon
Floods

4. PREPARED: Students A strongly believe we will be prepared against natural disasters in the future; Students B strongly believe this will never happen. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. AID FOR HAITI: What do Haitians need most right now? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Change partners and share your rankings again.

your help
blankets
electricity generators
Internet access

strong leaders
good weather
water
doctors

6. EARTHQUAKE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘earthquake’. 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.	The earthquake that hit Haiti was a magnitude 16 in strength.	T / F
b.	Most Haitians were having their breakfast when the earthquake hit.	T / F
c.	The President’s palace was in ruins after the earthquake.	T / F
d.	The article says Haiti’s president believes 3 million people are suffering.	T / F
e.	Haiti’s ambassador to the US has a good idea of casualty figures.	T / F
f.	President Obama spoke of the cruel nature of the earthquake.	T / F
g.	Most Haitians are so poor they live on less than two dollars a day.	T / F
h.	Haiti was hit by four different hurricanes in 2008.	T / F

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

1.	show	a.	fallen down
2	hit	b.	lethal
3.	devastated	c.	guessing
4.	collapsed	d.	reveal
5.	unimaginable	e.	dead and injured
6.	estimating	f.	help
7.	casualties	g.	struck
8.	support	h.	indescribable
9.	deal with	i.	ruined
10.	deadly	j.	cope with

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

1.	show how great the	a.	capital as unimaginable
2	A magnitude	b.	in ruins
3.	Much of the country has	c.	damage is in Haiti
4.	Preval described the scene in the	d.	have died
5.	well over 100,000 people may	e.	acting quickly
6.	no way of estimating how	f.	disaster
7.	Countries around the world are	g.	7.3 quake
8.	a “particularly cruel”	h.	poverty line
9.	people live below the	i.	been devastated
10.	Its economy is	j.	many casualties

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Television pictures are ____________ beginning to show how great the damage is in Haiti following the ____________ earthquake on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.3 ____________, just 16km from the capital, hit the Caribbean nation as people were going home after work. It was the worst earthquake to ____________ Haiti in more than two centuries. Much of the country has been devastated. Many ____________ buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed, including the Presidential Palace and the UN headquarters. Haiti's President Rene Preval described the ____________ in the capital as "unimaginable". The Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been ____________. Mr. Preval fears “____________ over 100,000 people” may have died.

quake
scene
slowly
well
major
huge
strike
affected

Haiti's ambassador to the USA, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way of ____________ " how many ____________ there were. Countries around the world are acting quickly to send ____________ help they can to Haiti. US President Barack Obama has promised America will do all it can to help. He ____________ "unwavering support" following a “particularly ____________” disaster. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than half its people live below the ____________ line on less than two dollars a day. It is one of the poorest-equipped countries on Earth to ____________ with such a catastrophe. The nation was still trying to recover from being hit by four deadly hurricanes in 30 days in 2008. Its economy is in ____________ and it has a long history of corruption and coups.

vowed
casualties
ruins
poverty
estimating
whatever
deal
cruel

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Television pictures are slowly beginning ________________ the damage is in Haiti following the huge earthquake on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.3 quake, ________________ capital, hit the Caribbean nation as people were going home after work. It was the worst earthquake ________________ more than two centuries. Much of the country ________________. Many major buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed, including the Presidential Palace and the UN headquarters. Haiti's President Rene Preval described the scene in the capital ________________. The Red Cross says up to 3 million people __________________. Mr. Preval fears “well over 100,000 people” may have died.

Haiti's ambassador to the USA, Raymond Joseph, said there was “__________________" how many casualties there were. Countries around the world are acting quickly ________________ help they can to Haiti. US President Barack Obama has promised America will do all it can to help. He vowed "unwavering support" following a “________________” disaster. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than half its people live below ________________ on less than two dollars a day. It is one of the poorest-equipped countries on Earth ________________ a catastrophe. The nation was still trying to recover from being hit by four deadly hurricanes in 30 days in 2008. Its economy ________________ it has a long history of corruption and coups.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

huge

earthquake

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:

slowly
magnitude
worst
major
scene
fears

way
acting
vowed
cruel
recover
history

STUDENT EARTHQUAKE SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about earthquakes 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.

HAITI EARTHQUAKE 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 ‘earthquake’?
c)	What do you imagine it’s like to experience an earthquake?
d)	If you lived in an area hit by earthquakes, would you move?
e)	Have you been watching pictures of the Haiti earthquake on the news?
f)	What are your thoughts when you see pictures of the victims?
g)	Why are the poorest countries always hit by such terrible natural disasters?
h)	What would you do if your town was hit by a huge earthquake?
i)	Do you think governments around the world are acting quickly enough?
j)	Why do governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars on wars but only millions to help save the lives of earthquake victims?

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

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What should Haiti’s president be doing right now to help his people?
c)	What should you be doing right now to help Haiti’s people?
d)	Do you blame people for looting and stealing after an earthquake?
e)	Why, in the 21^st century, does the world let over half of Haiti’s population live in such terrible poverty?
f)	Is your government doing all it can to help Haiti?
g)	Do you think Haiti will recover from this catastrophe?
h)	Would you like to go to Haiti to help the people?
i)	What project could you start today to help the people of Haiti?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Haiti’s president?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Television pictures are slowly beginning to show how (1) ____ the damage is in Haiti following the huge earthquake on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.3 quake, just 16km from the capital, (2) ____ the Caribbean nation as people were going home after work. It was the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in more than two centuries. (3) ____ of the country has been devastated. Many major buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed, (4) ____ the Presidential Palace and the UN headquarters. Haiti's President Rene Preval described the scene in the capital as "(5) ____ ". The Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been affected. Mr. Preval (6) ____ “well over 100,000 people” may have died.

Haiti's ambassador to the USA, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way of (7) ____ " how many casualties there were. Countries around the world are acting quickly to send (8) ____ help they can to Haiti. US President Barack Obama has promised America will do all it can to help. He (9) ____ "unwavering support" following a “particularly cruel” disaster. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than half its people live below the (10) ____ line on less than two dollars a day. It is one of the poorest-equipped countries on Earth to deal (11) ____ such a catastrophe. The nation was still trying to recover from being hit by four deadly hurricanes in 30 days in 2008. Its economy is in (12) ____ and it has a long history of corruption and coups.

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

1.	(a)	much	(b)	shocked	(c)	many	(d)	great
2.	(a)	hit	(b)	hits	(c)	hitting	(d)	hitter
3.	(a)	Many	(b)	Much	(c)	Great	(d)	Huge
4.	(a)	included	(b)	inclusive	(c)	including	(d)	includes
5.	(a)	imagination	(b)	imaginative	(c)	unimaginable	(d)	imagines
6.	(a)	worry	(b)	fears	(c)	afraid	(d)	frightened
7.	(a)	estimates	(b)	estimated	(c)	estimate	(d)	estimating
8.	(a)	whatever	(b)	whichever	(c)	whenever	(d)	ever
9.	(a)	viewed	(b)	vowed	(c)	wowed	(d)	towed
10.	(a)	poor	(b)	property	(c)	poorly	(d)	poverty
11.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	with	(d)	to
12.	(a)	ruins	(b)	reins	(c)	rains	(d)	reigns

WRITING

Write about earthquakes 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 the Haiti earthquake. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

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

4. CATASTROPHE: Write a magazine article about the hours after an earthquake. Include imaginary interviews with survivors and the leader of the country.

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 the leader of a country hit by an earthquake. Ask him/her three questions about earthquakes. Give him/her three pieces of advice on what they should do. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	show	a.	reveal
2	hit	b.	struck
3.	devastated	c.	ruined
4.	collapsed	d.	fallen down
5.	unimaginable	e.	indescribable
6.	estimating	f.	guessing
7.	casualties	g.	dead and injured
8.	support	h.	help
9.	deal with	i.	cope with
10.	deadly	j.	lethal

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	show how great the	a.	damage is in Haiti
2	A magnitude	b.	7.3 quake
3.	Much of the country has	c.	been devastated
4.	Preval described the scene in the	d.	capital as unimaginable
5.	well over 100,000 people may	e.	have died
6.	no way of estimating how	f.	many casualties
7.	Countries around the world are	g.	acting quickly
8.	a “particularly cruel”	h.	disaster
9.	people live below the	i.	poverty line
10.	Its economy is	j.	in ruins

GAP FILL:

Haiti in ruins after huge earthquake

Television pictures are slowly beginning to show how great the damage is in Haiti following the huge earthquake on Tuesday. A magnitude 7.3 quake, just 16km from the capital, hit the Caribbean nation as people were going home after work. It was the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in more than two centuries. Much of the country has been devastated. Many major buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed, including the Presidential Palace and the UN headquarters. Haiti's President Rene Preval described the scene in the capital as "unimaginable". The Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been affected. Mr. Preval fears “well over 100,000 people” may have died.

Haiti's ambassador to the USA, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way of estimating" how many casualties there were. Countries around the world are acting quickly to send whatever help they can to Haiti. US President Barack Obama has promised America will do all it can to help. He vowed "unwavering support" following a “particularly cruel” disaster. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than half its people live below the poverty line on less than two dollars a day. It is one of the poorest-equipped countries on Earth to deal with such a catastrophe. The nation was still trying to recover from being hit by four deadly hurricanes in 30 days in 2008. Its economy is in ruins and it has a long history of corruption and coups.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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Breaking News English

January 14, 2010

Haiti in Ruins After Huge Earthquake