United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked world leaders to agree on actions to make the world a safer place. Government heads from 170 countries are meeting in New York for the 60^th anniversary of the UN. Mr. Annan urged them to pass urgent reforms and to take bold steps to fight poverty and strengthen world security. He said: “I urge you, as world leaders…to persevere and find the vision needed to forge a real consensus.” He was disappointed that many countries watered down his proposals for reform.

Mr. Annan said his biggest disappointment is the failure of the world to find agreement over nuclear weapons. He told the meeting: “Our biggest challenge, and our biggest failing, is on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” He continued: “This is inexcusable. Weapons of mass destruction pose a grave danger to us all, particularly in a world threatened by terrorists with global ambitions.” He also said he was saddened because leaders could not agree on a definition of terrorism.

WARM-UPS

1. UNITED NATIONS: You have a new nationality. Choose your new country. Walk around the class and talk to other students, who also have new nationalities. Tell each other about your new country and the kind of lifestyle you have in that country.

2. UN REFORM: Look at the issues below. These are being discussed at the three-day summit at the UN. In pairs / groups, talk about what the UN should agree on. Do you think the UN will ever succeed with these issues?

1. World poverty
2. Human rights
3. Peace-keeping
4. Genocide and ethnic cleansing
5. Terrorism
6. UN internal reform
7. Nuclear non-proliferation / disarmament

3. UNITED NATIONS SEARCH: Speak to as many students as you can, collecting information about the United Nations. Join a partner / group and share your information. Make presentations to other groups. Vote on the best presentation.

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

United Nations / Kofi Annan / world leaders / New York / reforms / world security / poverty / nuclear weapons / disarmament / grave dangers / terrorists

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

5. KOFI ANNAN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Kofi Annan. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. OPINIONS: Do agree with these opinions on the United Nations? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. The world would be poorer and more dangerous without the UN.
2. The UN cannot doesn’t work well because the USA does not like it.
3. Japan, Brazil and India should join the UN Security Council.
4. The UN helps countries to talk to each other.
5. The UN has succeeded in its main aim of preventing world war.
6. It’s impossible to get 190 countries to agree with each other.
7. The UN is full of corruption and poor management.
8. The UN must have more power.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Kofi Annan wants the UN to be reformed.	T / F
b.	Government heads from 170 countries are meeting in New York.	T / F
c.	Mr. Annan wants countries to take bald steps to frighten poverty.	T / F
d.	Many countries have diluted Mr. Annan’s ideas for reform.	T / F
e.	The world has found agreement over nuclear disarmament.	T / F
f.	Weapons of mass destruction pose a grave danger.	T / F
g.	Mr. Annan said terrorists with global ambitions threaten the world.	T / F
h.	Countries agreed on a definition for terrorism.	T / F

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

a.	asked	diluted
b.	actions	brave
c.	bold	serious
d.	persevere	requested
e.	watered down	present
f.	disappointment	understanding
g.	agreement	measures
h.	pose	description
i.	grave	letdown
j.	definition	keep going

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

a.	agree	steps to fight poverty
b.	make the world	and disarmament
c.	take bold	disappointment
d.	and find the vision needed to	danger
e.	proposals	forge a real consensus
f.	his biggest	on actions
g.	nuclear non-proliferation	by terrorists
h.	pose a grave	a definition of terrorism
i.	a world threatened	a safer place
j.	leaders could not agree on	for reform

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Annan pleads for United Nations reform

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked _______ leaders to _______ on actions to make the world a safer place. Government _______ from 170 countries are meeting in New York for the 60th anniversary of the UN. Mr. Annan urged them to _______ urgent reforms and to take _______ steps to fight poverty and strengthen world security. He said: “I urge you, as world leaders…to _______ and find the _______ needed to forge a real consensus.” He was disappointed that many countries _______ down his proposals for reform.		pass persevere agree watered bold world vision heads
Mr. Annan said his _______ disappointment is the failure of the world to find agreement _______ nuclear weapons. He told the meeting: “Our biggest challenge, and our biggest _______, is on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” He continued: “This is _______. Weapons of mass destruction _______ a grave danger to us all, particularly in a world threatened by _______ with global ambitions.” He also said he was _______ because leaders could not agree on a _______ of terrorism.		failing definition over terrorists biggest pose saddened inexcusable

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

• 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 “UNITED NATIONS” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about the United Nations.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups 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:

asked heads anniversary poverty persevere watered down

failure challenge inexcusable grave ambitions definition

DISCUSSION

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

1. What did you think when you first read this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think about the United Nations?
4. What would the world be like without the United Nations?
5. What problems does the UN have to deal with?
6. Kind of reforms does the UN need?
7. Is Kofi Annan a good leader of the UN?
8. Do you think working for the UN would be interesting?
9. What successes has the UN had?
10. What are the biggest obstacles facing the UN?

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

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. What kind of power does your country have in the UN?
4. How difficult do you think it is for 190 countries to agree on issues of world importance?
5. Do you think some countries have too much power in the UN?
6. Do you think Japan, Brazil, Germany and India should become UN Security Council members?
7. Do you think countries should be punished for not following UN resolutions?
8. Why do you think countries can’t agree on a definition of terrorism?
9. What would you do first if you were head of the UN?
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

UNITED NATIONS: Imagine you are the boss of the UN. Look at the areas below and think of the changes you want to happen.

AREAS FOR ACTION	CHANGES
Development (Millennium Development goals) and making poverty disappear
Human Rights
Peace-building and peace-keeping
Responsibility to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing
Terrorism
UN management (internal) reform
Nuclear non-proliferation / disarmament

Change partners and show each other what you agreed. Give each other feedback on how to make your changes better.

Present your changes to other groups. Ask and answer questions.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Annan pleads for United Nations reform

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan ____ _______ world leaders ___ ______ ____ actions to make the world a safer place. Government heads from 170 countries are meeting in New York for the 60^th anniversary of the UN. Mr. Annan urged them __ ______ urgent reforms and to take bold steps to fight poverty and strengthen world security. He said: “I urge you, as world leaders…to persevere and find ____ _______ needed to forge a real consensus.” He was disappointed that many countries watered down his __________ for reform.

Mr. Annan said his biggest disappointment is the __________ of the world to find agreement over nuclear weapons. He told the meeting: “Our biggest __________, and our biggest __________, is on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” He continued: “This is inexcusable. Weapons of mass destruction pose a __________ danger to us all, particularly in a world threatened by terrorists with global __________.” He also said he was saddened because leaders could not agree on a __________ of terrorism.

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 United Nations. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. TERRORISM: Create a definition for the word “terrorism. Show your definition to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all have similar ideas?

4. LETTER TO KOFI ANNAN: Write a letter to the UN Secretary General. Tell him what you think of him and his performance as head of the UN. Tell him your worries concerns for the world. Read your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar concerns?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	asked	requested
b.	actions	measures
c.	bold	brave
d.	persevere	keep going
e.	watered down	diluted
f.	disappointment	letdown
g.	agreement	understanding
h.	pose	present
i.	grave	serious
j.	definition	description

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	agree	on actions
b.	make the world	a safer place
c.	take bold	steps to fight poverty
d.	and find the vision needed to	forge a real consensus
e.	proposals	for reform
f.	his biggest	disappointment
g.	nuclear non-proliferation	and disarmament
h.	pose a grave	danger
i.	a world threatened	by terrorists
j.	leaders could not agree on	a definition of terrorism

GAP FILL:

Annan pleads for United Nations reform

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked world leaders to agree on actions to make the world a safer place. Government heads from 170 countries are meeting in New York for the 60^th anniversary of the UN. Mr. Annan urged them to pass urgent reforms and to take bold steps to fight poverty and strengthen world security. He said: “I urge you, as world leaders…to persevere and find the vision needed to forge a real consensus.” He was disappointed that many countries watered down his proposals for reform.

Mr. Annan said his biggest disappointment is the failure of the world to find agreement over nuclear weapons. He told the meeting: “Our biggest challenge, and our biggest failing, is on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” He continued: “This is inexcusable. Weapons of mass destruction pose a grave danger to us all, particularly in a world threatened by terrorists with global ambitions.” He also said he was saddened because leaders could not agree on a definition of terrorism.

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