Date: April 18, 2005
Level: Easier (Try the harder lesson.)
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

Listening (1:39 - 193.9 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

A report from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) organization has said that the world’s richest countries have broken their promises to send the world’s poorest children to school. Five years ago, 22 rich nations decided to give $5.4 billion to developing countries for primary school education. GCE has written “school report cards” on these countries and their performance - most score badly. They graded the quantity and quality of education aid programmes. The USA and Austria received an “F” grade; Norway and Holland are top of the class with “A’s”. There are still millions of children who have no schools to go to. The report says that: “For about the cost of four Stealth bombers, we could get 100 million more children into school.” A GCE spokesperson said: “Put simply…[rich] countries are preventing children in poor countries from going to school.” The report ended with a warning of what might happen if children have no education: We are…throwing away…the best chance we have to put an end to world poverty, and secure a more peaceful and stable future for us all.”

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: rich countries / poor countries / primary schools (UK) / elementary schools (USA) / school reports / world poverty / a stable future… For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. SCHOOL BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with school. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY EDUCATION: In pairs / groups, talk about your own education. Was it good quality? Were (Are) you happy with it? Do you feel lucky to have received it? How could it have been better? How will it make your life better? / What were you best at? Who was your favorite teacher and why?
Change partners / groups and tell your new partner(s) about what you previously heard.

4. SCHOOL REPORT: Talk about your school reports. How did you do in the following (if you can’t remember, you can assess yourself)?

• enthusiasm
• effort
• homework
• exams / tests
• participation in class
• physical education
• mathematics
• English
• History
• art

5. GCE REPORT: Read the following quotes taken from the Global Campaign for Education’s report, “Missing the Mark: A School Report on rich countries’ contribution to Universal Primary Education by 2015”. Write down one reason why you agree or disagree with each quote. Tell your reasons to your partner / group and discuss:

1. At this…moment in history, we must be ambitious. Our action must be…urgent. - UN General Secretary Kofi Annan
2. You have always [said]…boys and girls, are the future. You said it with a lot of enthusiasm, but as soon as you got elected, you forgot about your words. We are not the future, we are the present. -  Dante Fernandez Aguilhar, 13, Peru
3. To do enough to reach the…education goal[s], 10 rich countries must meet the target of giving 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income to assist developing countries
4. Books and teachers, not consultants and red tape, are the priority for poor countries
5. In 77 of 79 low-income countries, according to a World Bank survey, primary education is not free. Parents have to pay a range of fees and charges to send a child to school, and for the poor these costs are often [too much].
6. Staying in school offers HIV/AIDS orphans the best chance of escaping extreme poverty and keeping themselves safe from infection.
7. In our community we have no toilets and we have to drink dirty water. There isn’t a clinic. We have to work all the time, even us children, and there is never enough to eat. Those are very hard things. But not getting a chance to go to school: that’s the worst. It makes you feel like your future has already been thrown away. - Priti, 12, Nepal

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘primary’ and ‘education’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. School grades around the world are getting worse.  T / F
2. The world’s richest countries have broken promises to poor children.  T / F
3. Rich nations promised $5.4 billion to developing countries for primary school education.  T / F
4. The USA did best in a school report and got an “A” grade.  T / F
5. An NGO wants to get 100 million more children into primary school.  T / F
6. A report says we are throwing away our best chance of ending poverty.  T / F

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

(a)	global	need
(b)	promises	got
(c)	nations	actions
(d)	performance	war planes
(e)	quantity	international
(f)	received	guarantees
(g)	bombers	amount
(h)	poverty	countries

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	the world’s	report cards
(b)	broken their	poverty
(c)	primary	promises
(d)	school	with a warning
(e)	aid	richest countries
(f)	top of the	class
(g)	The report ended	school education
(h)	world	programmes

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL: Fill the gaps with the words in the column on the right.

World education missing the mark

A __________ from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) organization has said that the world’s richest countries have broken their __________ to send the world’s poorest children to school. Five years ago, 22 rich nations decided to give $5.4 billion to developing countries for primary school education. GCE has written “school report cards” on these countries and their __________ - most score badly. They graded the quantity and quality of education aid programmes. The USA and Austria received an “F” __________; Norway and Holland are top of the class with “A’s”. There are still millions of children who have no schools to go to. The report says that: “For about the __________ of four Stealth bombers, we could get 100 million more children into school.” A GCE spokesperson said: “Put simply…[rich] countries are __________ children in poor countries from going to school.” The report ended with a __________ of what might happen if children have no education: We are…throwing away…the best chance we have to put an end to world poverty, and secure a more peaceful and __________ future for us all.”

preventing promises stable grade report warning cost performance

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS: Check your answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP FILL: Check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Each student surveys class members independently and reports back to their original partner/  group to compare their findings.

5. ‘PRIMARY’ / ‘EDUCATION’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. What did you think about this article?
2. Did anything in this article surprise you?
3. Did anything in this article make you angry?
4. What do you think of rich countries?
5. What do you think of the Global Campaign for Education?
6. How important is education?
7. How was your primary / elementary education?
8. How would you feel if your children couldn’t go to school?
9. Is education a human right?
10. Are you surprised many countries broke their promises to help poor countries?
11. Would you (Do you) give money to help educate the world’s poor children?
12. What grade (A to F) would you give to your country’s school system?
13. Should rich countries help poor children more?
14. Why do countries spend lots of money on war planes and not world education?
15. What problems are there if children in poor countries do not go to school?
16. Will world poverty ever be ended?
17. Did you like this discussion?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. WORLD EDUCATION ROLE PLAY: Use the following role play cards in a discussion about aid for education in developing countries. Team up with partners to discuss your roles and “strategy” before the role play begins. After the role play, discuss whether you really believed what you were saying.

THE ROLES:

Student A
You are George W. Bush, President of the USA. You have an expensive war on terror to fight around the world – especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. You need lots of money for war planes. You don’t want to spend money on schools in other countries. You say “no” to the other role players if they ask for your help. If someone says something bad about you or your country, say the opposite is true.

Student B
You are Kofi Annan, boss of the United Nations. For many, many years you have been very polite with the US President. It is now time to stop being quiet. Attack the President for his broken promises and the money he spends on the war on terror. Try to make him understand that the best way of winning the war on terror is by sending the world’s poorest children to school.

Student C
You are Priti, a 12-year-old girl in a very poor family. Your house has no toilets and you have to drink dirty water. There is no doctor in your town. You have to work every day and there is never enough to eat. These things are very difficult. But, not getting a chance to go to school is the worst. It makes you feel like you have no future. You have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask the President of the USA for an education and a better future.

Student D
Your job in this role play is very simple. Agree with everything the person on your left says and disagree with everything the person on your right says.

After the role plays, talk about what you said. Do you agree with the opinions you were expressing in your roles? Now that you have some experience of this role play, repeat it. Change roles to see if the role play moves in a different direction.

 

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 information on the Global Campaign for Education. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LOCAL CAMPAIGN: Imagine you are leader of your “Local Campaign for Education” – an organization that helps children in poor countries. Create a list of ideas that you could do in your area to help schoolchildren in poor countries.

4. LETTER: Write a letter to your president / prime minister explaining the importance of providing aid for education.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. School grades around the world are getting worse.  F
2. The world’s richest countries have broken promises to poor children.  T
3. Rich nations promised $5.4 billion to developing countries for primary school education.  T
4. The USA did best in a school report and got an “A” grade.  F
5. An NGO wants to get 100 million more children into primary school.  T
6. A report says we are throwing away our best chance of ending poverty.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	global	international
(b)	promises	guarantees
(c)	nations	countries
(d)	performance	actions
(e)	quantity	amount
(f)	received	got
(g)	bombers	war planes
(h)	poverty	need

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	the world’s	richest countries
(b)	broken their	promises
(c)	primary	school education
(d)	school	report cards
(e)	aid	programmes
(f)	top of the	class
(g)	The report ended	with a warning
(h)	world	poverty

 

GAP FILL:

World education missing the mark

A report from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) organization has said that the world’s richest countries have broken their promises to send the world’s poorest children to school. Five years ago, 22 rich nations decided to give $5.4 billion to developing countries for primary school education. GCE has written “school report cards” on these countries and their performance - most score badly. They graded the quantity and quality of education aid programmes. The USA and Austria received an “F” grade; Norway and Holland are top of the class with “A’s”. There are still millions of children who have no schools to go to. The report says that: “For about the cost of four Stealth bombers, we could get 100 million more children into school.” A GCE spokesperson said: “Put simply…[rich] countries are preventing children in poor countries from going to school.” The report ended with a warning of what might happen if children have no education: We are…throwing away…the best chance we have to put an end to world poverty, and secure a more peaceful and stable future for us all.”