Date: Jun 1, 2005

Irish rock musician Sir Bob Geldof has announced plans for five superstar-studded charity concerts to be held around the world on July 2. The free “Live 8” events are follow-ups to the Live Aid famine relief shows held in 1985. They will take place simultaneously in Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Rome. Sir Bob said he wants to focus attention on the need for “political justice”. This means he wants rich countries to reduce global poverty and the debt of developing nations.

The “8” from “Live 8” refers to the Group of Eight (G8) nations. They are among the world’s wealthiest countries. The Live 8 concerts will be held days before the annual G8 summit, which takes place in Scotland between July 6–8. Geldof also wants a million people to take part in a protest in Edinburgh to coincide with the G8 summit. He said: “The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough.”

WARM-UPS

1. STARS: Here is a list of some of the stars that will sing at the Live 8 concerts. Talk about the ones you know and like. Which ones would you pay to go and see?

Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Duran Duran, Jamiroquai, Lauren Hill, Madonna, P. Diddy, Paul McCartney, Placebo, REM, Robbie Williams, Spice Girls, Stevie Wonder, U2, Will Smith and Youssou N'Dour.

2. ROCK STAR: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “rock star”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them.

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Irish people / Sir Bob Geldof / Live Aid 1985 / Live 8 2005 / rock concerts / poverty / G8 countries / debt / enough is enough

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. FAMOUS PEOPLE: In pairs / groups, Write down the names of some world famous people. Talk about how they can raise awareness of problems in the world. What could famous people do to change the world?

Here are some people you could add to your list:

J.K. Rowling George W. Bush Nelson Mandela Ichiro Suzuki

Your country’s leader Koffi Anan Ronaldo Pope Benedict

5. LIVE 8 OPINIONS: In pairs/ groups, talk about if you agree with these opinions.

1. Sir Bob Geldof should become a saint.
2. The Live 8 concerts will not help the world’s poor.
3. The leaders of the G8 countries will never listen to rock musicians.
4. It’s great that rock music has a caring side, instead of stories of sex and drugs.
5. I will give a lot of money to help Sir Bob.
6. There should be a charity concert every year, not every 20 years.
7. I would give all of my savings to get a Live 8 ticket.
8. I think the G8 leaders know best how to help the world’s poor.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Musician Sir Bob Geldof is going on an 8-country world tour.	T / F
b.	Eight superstar-studded concerts are to be held worldwide.	T / F
c.	Musicians will sing to increase knowledge of political justice.	T / F
d.	Bob Geldof wants to increase the debt of poor countries.	T / F
e.	Live 8 is the name of a group of eight rich countries.	T / F
f.	The Live 8 concerts are 4 days before an important world meeting.	T / F
g.	Sir Bob wants one million people to go to Edinburgh, Scotland.	T / F
h.	Sir Bob said world leaders can never alter history.	T / F

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

a.	announced	necessity
b.	be held	points
c.	simultaneously	change
d.	need	take place
e.	justice	co-occur
f.	refers	revealed
g.	wealthiest	desire
h.	coincide	fairness
i.	alter	richest
j.	will	at the same time

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

a.	announced	protest
b.	concerts to be held	is enough
c.	They will take	nations
d.	focus	G8 summit
e.	developing	attention on
f.	They are among	plans
g.	annual	thousands of people
h.	take part in a	the world’s wealthiest countries
i.	tens of	place simultaneously
j.	enough	around the world

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct spaces.

Geldof announces “Live 8” concerts

Irish rock musician Sir Bob Geldof has announced ________ for five superstar-studded charity concerts to be ________ around the world on July 2. The free “Live 8” events are ________ to the Live Aid famine ________ shows held in 1985. They will take place ________ in Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Rome. Sir Bob said he wants to ________ attention on the need for “political justice”. This ________ he wants rich countries to reduce ________ poverty and the debt of developing nations.		simultaneously relief global means plans held follow-ups focus
The “8” from “Live 8” ________ to the Group of Eight (G8) nations. They are ________ the world’s wealthiest countries. The Live 8 concerts will be held days before the annual G8 summit, which takes ________ in Scotland between July 6–8. Geldof also wants a million people to take ________ in a protest in Edinburgh to ________ with the G8 summit. He said: “The G8 leaders have it ________ their power to ________ history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is ________.”		coincide refers place enough alter part within among

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 gap fill. 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. STUDENT “LIVE 8” SURVEY: In pairs / groups write down questions about Live 8 and rock concerts.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make a mini-presentation to another group / the class on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

announced follow-ups simultaneously focus rich debt

“8” wealthiest summit coincide alter enough

 DISCUSSION

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

1. Did you understand the headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you know about Sir Bob Geldof?
4. Do you think Sir Bob should be made a saint?
5. Do you remember or know about the 1985 Live Aid concerts?
6. Shouldn’t presidents and prime ministers be fighting world poverty?
7. Would you like to join the protest at the G8 summit?
8. Will this event change the world?
9. Do you agree that “enough is enough”?
10. Will Sir Bob “alter history”?

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

1. Did you like reading the article?
2. What did you think of this news?
3. Would you like to go to one of the concerts?
4. Do you think Live 8 will change the minds of the leaders of G8 nations?
5. Do G8 nations care about world poverty?
6. What do you think about people dying from hunger in today’s world?
7. Do rich nations have the will to end hunger and poverty?
8. Shouldn’t the Live 8 concerts also be held in Africa and Asia?
9. Do you understand by the term “political justice”?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

LIVE 8: Imagine you are the boss of a “side event” to the Live 8 concerts. Five world famous people have volunteered to help you. In pairs / groups, decide who they are and what you think each of these people could do. Your aim is to increase awareness of world poverty or other global concerns.

Famous person	What they can do (The basic idea)	How it will work (The plan)	Chances of success
A sports star
George W. Bush
Pope Benedict
A movie star
Person X (Decide on one other famous person.)

After you have finished, change partners / groups. Tell your new partner(s) about the famous people and your plans for them. Give advice on how the plans could be made better.

Change partner(s) again. Discuss which plan is likely to be most successful.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Geldof announces “Live 8” concerts

Irish rock musician Sir Bob Geldof ___ __________ ____ for five superstar-studded charity concerts to be held around the world on July 2. The free “Live 8” events are ______-__ __ the Live Aid famine relief shows held in 1985. They will take _____ ____________ in Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Rome. Sir Bob said he wants to _____ ________ __ the need for “political justice”. This means he wants rich countries to reduce ______ _______ and the debt of developing nations.

The “8” from “Live 8” ______ __ the Group of Eight (G8) nations. They are among the world’s wealthiest countries. The Live 8 concerts ____ __ ____ days before the annual G8 summit, which _____ _____ in Scotland between July 6–8. Geldof also wants a million people to take part in a protest in Edinburgh __ ________ ____ the G8 summit. He said: “The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have ___ ____ __ __ __ if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough.”

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 more information on the Live 8 concerts. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. GLOBAL POVERTY: Write down three reasons why world poverty should not exist in the 21^st Century. Write a few sentences after each idea to make three short paragraphs. Read your essay to your classmates (or tell them the main points) in your next lesson. Discuss your ideas.

4. LETTER TO SIR BOB: Write a letter to Live 8 organizer Sir Bob Geldof telling him what you think of him and his ideas. Read your letters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did your classmates have similar thoughts?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. F

c. T

d. Ff

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	announced	revealed
b.	be held	take place
c.	simultaneously	at the same time
d.	need	necessity
e.	justice	fairness
f.	refers	points
g.	wealthiest	richest
h.	coincide	co-occur
i.	alter	change
j.	will	desire

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	announced	plans
b.	concerts to be held	around the world
c.	They will take	place simultaneously
d.	focus	attention on
e.	developing	nations
f.	They are among	the world’s wealthiest countries
g.	annual	G8 summit
h.	take part in a	protest
i.	tens of	thousands of people
j.	enough	is enough

GAP FILL:

Geldof announces “Live 8” concerts

Irish rock musician Sir Bob Geldof has announced plans for five superstar-studded charity concerts to be held around the world on July 2. The free “Live 8” events are follow-ups to the Live Aid famine relief shows held in 1985. They will take place simultaneously in Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Rome. Sir Bob said he wants to focus attention on the need for “political justice”. This means he wants rich countries to reduce global poverty and the debt of developing nations.

The “8” from “Live 8” refers to the Group of Eight (G8) nations. They are among the world’s wealthiest countries. The Live 8 concerts will be held days before the annual G8 summit, which takes place in Scotland between July 6–8. Geldof also wants a million people to take part in a protest in Edinburgh to coincide with the G8 summit. He said: “The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough.”

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