Breaking News English ESL Lesson on Africa Malaria

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

The United Nations has reported that great progress is being made in the fight against malaria in Africa. The UNICEF website says the area that is making the most dramatic improvement is sub-Saharan Africa. This is the region hardest hit by the disease. One of the biggest reasons for these gains against the killer infection is the increased use of special insect nets. This simple solution can reduce child deaths by as much as 20 percent. The report says the number of children using the insecticide-treated nets has tripled since 2000. UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman said: “Controlling malaria is vital to improving child health and economic development in affected countries…Studies show that malaria [unfairly] affects the poorest people in these countries, and…contributes to their [poorer living conditions].”

UNICEF prepared the report together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. This organisation is a collaboration of aid agencies launched in 1998 to help fight malaria. Its vision is that by 2015, malaria “is no longer a major cause of mortality and no longer a barrier to social and economic development”. The report also provides a healthy picture of the use of drugs in reducing the number of malaria cases. Since 2003, national health programmes have invested heavily in buying anti-malarial drugs called ACTs. UNICEF’s health chief Pater Salama is optimistic and says the future looks bright. He reports: “With the strong backing of some of the international donors and the price of ACTs starting to be reduced, I think governments are becoming more confident now that this will be a sustainable strategy for anti-malaria treatment.”

WARM-UPS

1. UNICEF: Walk around the class and talk to other students about UNICEF. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out.

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

United Nations / progress / malaria / improvement / infections / child health / collaborations / visions / mortality / investing heavily / donors / sustainability

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

3. HEADLINES: Do you think thee headlines will come true one day? When? How will they change the world? Discuss this with your partner(s).

Malaria now everywhere in USA/Europe - Millions dying
Our cancer-free world – Scientists find cure for all cancers
Alien disease affects whole world population
Computer viruses cross to humans – Millions of Internet users hospitalized
Perfect genes – Humans now protected against all diseases
Killer 21^st Century – Technology now leading cause of disease

4. DEADLY DISEASES: Talk with your partner(s) about what you know about these fatal diseases. Do they exist in your country?

malaria
cholera
HIV/AIDS
Tuberculosis

diarrhoea
heart disease
cancer
other ____________________

5. MALARIA: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘catastrophe’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think countries should spend more money on fighting diseases than on fighting other countries. Students B think this is a ridiculous idea. Debate this with your partners. Change partners often.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

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

a.	Malaria is being reduced fastest in the very north of Africa.	T / F
b.	A key weapon in the fight against malaria is the mosquito net.	T / F
c.	The use of these insect nets has increased by 30% since 2000.	T / F
d.	Malaria hits the poorest people and worsens their living standards.	T / F
e.	UNICEF’s vision is to wipe out malaria by 2015.	T / F
f.	A UNICEF report says anti-malarial drugs are proving ineffective.	T / F
g.	Governments in Africa are refusing to buy anti-malarial drugs.	T / F
h.	UNICEF’s health chief paints a rosy picture for Africa’s future.	T / F

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

1.	progress	a.	essential
2	dramatic	b.	support
3.	hit	c.	loss of life
4.	vital	d.	headway
5.	contributes	e.	affected
6.	collaboration	f.	full of hope
7.	mortality	g.	plays a part in
8.	optimistic	h.	significant
9.	backing	i.	master plan
10.	strategy	j.	alliance

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

1.	great progress is being made in the	a.	treated nets has tripled
2	the area that is making the most	b.	buying anti-malarial drugs
3.	One of the biggest reasons for these gains	c.	fight against malaria
4.	the number of children using the insecticide-	d.	of aid agencies
5.	contributes to their poorer	e.	of mortality
6.	This organisation is a collaboration	f.	dramatic improvement
7.	no longer a major cause	g.	strategy
8.	health programmes have invested heavily in	h.	living conditions
9.	With the strong backing of some of	i.	against the killer infection
10.	this will be a sustainable	j.	the international donors

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

The United Nations has reported that __________ progress is being made in the fight against malaria in Africa. The UNICEF website says the area that is __________ the most dramatic improvement is sub-Saharan Africa. This is the region __________ hit by the disease. One of the biggest reasons for these gains against the killer infection is the increased use of special insect nets. This __________ solution can reduce child deaths by as much as 20 percent. The report says the number of children using the insecticide-treated nets has __________ since 2000. UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman said: “Controlling malaria is __________ to improving child health and economic development in __________ countries…Studies show that malaria [unfairly] affects the poorest people in these countries, and…__________ to their [poorer living conditions].”

vital
making
contributes
great
tripled
affected
hardest
simple

UNICEF __________ the report together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. This organisation is a collaboration of aid agencies __________ in 1998 to help fight malaria. Its vision is that by 2015, malaria “is no longer a major cause of mortality and no longer a __________ to social and economic development”. The report also provides a __________ picture of the use of drugs in reducing the number of malaria cases. Since 2003, national health programmes have invested __________ in buying anti-malarial drugs called ACTs. UNICEF’s health chief Pater Salama is __________ and says the future looks bright. He reports: “With the strong __________ of some of the international donors and the price of ACTs starting to be reduced, I think governments are becoming more confident now that this will be a __________ strategy for anti-malaria treatment.”

backing heavily
launched
barrier
sustainable
prepared
optimistic
healthy

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

The United Nations has reported that great ________________________ in the fight against malaria in Africa. The UNICEF website says the area that is ________________________ improvement is sub-Saharan Africa. This is the region hardest hit by the disease. One of the biggest reasons for these gains against the killer infection ________________________ special insect nets. This simple solution can reduce child deaths by as much as 20 percent. The report says the number of children using the insecticide-treated nets ________________________. UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman said: “Controlling malaria is ________________________ and economic development in affected countries…Studies show that malaria ________________________ people in these countries, and…contributes to their [poorer living conditions].”

UNICEF prepared the report together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. This organisation is ________________________ launched in 1998 to help fight malaria. Its vision is that by 2015, malaria “is no longer a major cause of mortality and no ________________________ economic development”. The report also provides a healthy ________________________ in reducing the number of malaria cases. Since 2003, national health programmes have invested heavily in buying anti-malarial drugs called ACTs. UNICEF’s health chief Pater Salama is optimistic and ________________________. He reports: “With the strong backing of some of the international donors and the price of ACTs starting to be reduced, I think governments are becoming more confident ________________________ sustainable strategy for anti-malaria treatment.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

aid

agency

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 exactly how these were used in the text:

great
dramatic
infection
tripled
vital
contributes

collaboration
vision
mortality
heavily
backing
treatment

STUDENT MALARIA SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about malaria 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.

DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	Are you surprised that improvements are being made in the fight against malaria?
c)	Why do you think sub-Saharan Africa is so hard hit?
d)	Do you worry about mosquitoes?
e)	Why don’t governments buy more mosquito nets to give to those in Africa who need them?
f)	By how much do you think aid agencies and governments can reduce the cases of malaria?
g)	Why do you think multi-billion dollar global companies do so little to help poor children in Africa?
h)	Why do you think average people continue to buy things they don’t need when children are dying of preventable diseases?
i)	What could you do starting tomorrow to help African children have more mosquito nets?

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

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you know about UNICEF?
c)	Do you think the Roll Back Malaria Partnership will greatly reduce the number of malaria cases by 2015?
d)	Do you think things in Africa are as healthy as the report describes?
e)	Would you like to work in Africa helping poor children?
f)	Do you think Western drug companies should let African companies make cheaper versions of their drugs?
g)	Do you think global warming will spread malaria further north into Europe and North America?
h)	What questions would you like to ask a poor child who needs a mosquito net?
i)	Did you like this discussion?

LANGUAGE

CORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

The United Nations has reported that (1) ____ progress is being made in the fight against malaria in Africa. The UNICEF website says the area that is
(2) ____ the most dramatic improvement is (3) ____ -Saharan Africa. This is the region hardest hit by the disease. One of the biggest reasons for these gains against the killer infection is the increased use of special insect nets. This simple solution can reduce child deaths by as much as 20 percent. The report says the number of children using the (4) ____ -treated nets has tripled since 2000. UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman said: “Controlling malaria is vital (5) ____ improving child health and economic development in affected countries…Studies show that malaria [unfairly]
(6) ____ the poorest people in these countries, and…contributes to their [poorer living conditions].”

UNICEF prepared the report together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. This organisation is a collaboration of aid agencies (7) ____ in 1998 to help fight malaria. Its vision is that by 2015, malaria “is no longer a major
(8) ____ of mortality and no longer a barrier to social and economic development”. The report also provides a healthy (9) ____ of the use of drugs in reducing the number of malaria cases. Since 2003, national health programmes have invested heavily (10) ____ buying anti-malarial drugs called ACTs. UNICEF’s health chief Pater Salama is optimistic and says the future looks bright. He reports: “With the strong (11) ____ of some of the international donors and the price of ACTs starting to be reduced, I think governments are becoming more confident now that this will be a sustainable strategy for (12) ____ -malaria treatment.”

1.	(a)	greatness	(b)	greatest	(c)	great	(d)	greatly
2.	(a)	marketing	(b)	marking	(c)	making	(d)	masking
3.	(a)	sub	(b)	hub	(c)	dub	(d)	pub
4.	(a)	fungicide	(b)	herbicide	(c)	pesticide	(d)	insecticide
5.	(a)	thus	(b)	so	(c)	by	(d)	to
6.	(a)	affects	(b)	effects	(c)	defects	(d)	infectious
7.	(a)	blasted off	(b)	rocketed	(c)	launched	(d)	ignited
8.	(a)	effect	(b)	cause	(c)	affect	(d)	case
9.	(a)	picture	(b)	photo	(c)	sketch	(d)	drawing
10.	(a)	to	(b)	out	(c)	in	(d)	for
11.	(a)	heading	(b)	backing	(c)	footing	(d)	handing
12.	(a)	retro	(b)	pro	(c)	ante	(d)	anti

WRITING:

Write about malaria 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 more information about malaria. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MALARIA: Make a poster about malaria and how agencies around the world are trying to tackle it. What are the successes and failures? Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all include similar things?

4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about malaria spreading all over the world with global warming. Include imaginary interviews with an environmentalist and an infected person from a previously safe region.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the boss of UNICEF’s malaria programme. Ask them three questions about malaria. Give them three pieces of advice on how to rid the world of the disease. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	progress	a.	headway
2	dramatic	b.	significant
3.	hit	c.	affected
4.	vital	d.	essential
5.	contributes	e.	plays a part in
6.	collaboration	f.	alliance
7.	mortality	g.	loss of life
8.	optimistic	h.	full of hope
9.	backing	i.	support
10.	strategy	j.	master plan

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	great progress is being made in the	a.	fight against malaria
2	the area that is making the most	b.	dramatic improvement
3.	One of the biggest reasons for these gains	c.	against the killer infection
4.	the number of children using the insecticide-	d.	treated nets has tripled
5.	contributes to their poorer	e.	living conditions
6.	This organisation is a collaboration	f.	of aid agencies
7.	no longer a major cause	g.	of mortality
8.	health programmes have invested heavily in	h.	buying anti-malarial drugs
9.	With the strong backing of some of	i.	the international donors
10.	this will be a sustainable	j.	strategy

GAP FILL:

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

The United Nations has reported that great progress is being made in the fight against malaria in Africa. The UNICEF website says the area that is making the most dramatic improvement is sub-Saharan Africa. This is the region hardest hit by the disease. One of the biggest reasons for these gains against the killer infection is the increased use of special insect nets. This simple solution can reduce child deaths by as much as 20 percent. The report says the number of children using the insecticide-treated nets has tripled since 2000. UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman said: “Controlling malaria is vital to improving child health and economic development in affected countries…Studies show that malaria [unfairly] affects the poorest people in these countries, and…contributes to their [poorer living conditions].”

UNICEF prepared the report together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. This organisation is a collaboration of aid agencies launched in 1998 to help fight malaria. Its vision is that by 2015, malaria “is no longer a major cause of mortality and no longer a barrier to social and economic development”. The report also provides a healthy picture of the use of drugs in reducing the number of malaria cases. Since 2003, national health programmes have invested heavily in buying anti-malarial drugs called ACTs. UNICEF’s health chief Pater Salama is optimistic and says the future looks bright. He reports: “With the strong backing of some of the international donors and the price of ACTs starting to be reduced, I think governments are becoming more confident now that this will be a sustainable strategy for anti-malaria treatment.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - c

2 -b

3 - a

4 - d

5 - d

6 - a

7 -c

8 - b

9 -a

10 - c

11 - b

12 - d

Breaking News English

THE ARTICLE

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

LISTENING

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT MALARIA SURVEY

DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

WRITING:

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Nets help cut malaria in Africa

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