Saturday, 19 May 2018

A Need to 'Think Globally'

An article by Raymond Van Neste from his blog: 'Learn English by Thinking Globally'.   In the article he refers to the United Nations instigation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and their purpose to today's world. 

The UN has instigated a global education programme which includes not only SDGs but also core 'global skills' one of which is the learning and teaching of language.  






A need to 'think globally' in today's world

During the last few years and after several years of research the United Nations have called for today's young people to start to 'think globally'.  Education, particularly in schools around the world as well as business requirements globally are related to a new world economy where the needs are now intercultural and based on sustainability and human need.  



English language and core skills

Similarly, the learning and teaching of English language has become not only a part of the instigation of the goals around the world but also as one of the actual skills that the UN has called for in terms of communication (core skills) especially in relation to culture, education and new business requirements.  

In the past the learning of core skills which includes the learning of a language, has not been seen as a necessary requirement of learning.  For example, in the United Kingdom such skills have been pretty much ignored.  World business leaders, in a recent report, stated that new requirements in the world's economy in terms of humanity's needs means that change is inevitable and is already underway at a fast pace.  



British Council

As a consequence, recently, since the Global Goals were finally agreed by the member states of the United Nations in 2016, the British Council have very successfully taken-this-up and become a major contributor to the needs of education and business.  



17 United Nations Global Goals


There is a total of 17 United Nations Global Goals and each has its own name relating to its own purpose such as to end poverty or to work towards ending inequality or global warming (these are shortened versions of the full titles).  In Raymond Van Neste's blog all of the Global Goals are looked at one by one so that they can all be reviewed and put into the perspective of one or more English language lessons which covers both grammar and skills.   

In addition, the blog includes articles and information which might go toward in some way the educational need for change especially in terms of thinking globally.   Finally, the blog has as its intention the hope that it will help students and teachers or anybody interested in how to go about change in terms of sustainability and need.  



Resource:

Raymond Van Neste's blog: 'Learn English by Thinking Globally'





Raymond Van Neste

Copyright.  A Need to 'Think Globally'.  Raymond Van Neste.19/5/2018 ©

Sunday, 8 April 2018

Global Goals - ESL Lesson 2: End Poverty


Teachers, please refer to these notes: Teacher notes (2)



Lesson type


Grammar and Vocabulary


* SubsidiaryReceptive skills: Reading / Listening


Productive skills (sub skills): Speaking



Lesson aims: 


Clarify and use in context: Present Simple Tense and related vocabulary


To continue to look at the first United Nations Global Goal: End Poverty in all its forms everywhere  and to look at one specific country's suffering and poverty: South Sudan.



Level:
Level: A2 - B1.   The content of the lesson is adaptable for all levels from beginners to advanced.  For lower or higher levels the template and procedure remains the same but the content would be changed.  Also, I have simplified the lesson a little by not including more than one exercise during the production part of the lesson (second half of the lesson).



Abbreviations used in this lesson:  
1.  ss (students). 
2.  TL (target language)






Resources: 



What are Global Development Goals?


How to teach the UN's Development Goals and why


Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to Transform Our World - 

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere


Raymond Van Neste's blog: Learn English by Thinking Globally





Task 1 - Warm-up


The warmer chosen for lesson 2, needs no preparation and is entirely student centred.  It puts the ss into a situation where they need to work together, show creativity, imagination, inquisitiveness, persistence and possibly understanding.  These are all good qualities which will help later on in these lessons when the ss look in detail at particularly difficult subject material such as: life and death situations, victims of war, people starving, people suffering, severe poverty.


The full sequence for the warmer is in: Teacher notes (2)



Task 2



Put a picture on the board (or give out handouts of the picture) about poverty in South Sudan and the terrible situation of life and death in this country.
With the person next to you discuss: What is the main theme in the picture?

Length of time to carry out this task: 2 minutes

Student feedback: Students and teacher discuss what they think the picture is about.  The ss and teacher begin to look at the context of the lesson.  

Length of time: 3 minutes




Task 3 - Reading for gist


Tell the ss that in a moment you want them to read a text which is taken from a news report (article) about South Sudan (handouts).  Hold up the page that you want the ss to read so that all of the ss can see it and tell them that you would like them to read it while thinking about one question: 


Why is there such terrible suffering in South Sudan?  


Tell the ss that in the text are highlighted words.   Ask the students to just simply look at these and to try to guess their meaning from the context of the whole text?  Give the page of text to each ss. 

The ss have three minutes to read the text and to think about the answer to the question.



Text (with highlighted vocabulary):

'The circumstance in South Sudan is dire; 5 million people don’t know how they’ll find their next meal, and of them, 100,000 are starving and facing death. The WFP is intervening, dropping 33 tons of food at a time from commercial cargo planes.
Each plane load can feed 1,600 people for 30 days, but in the town of Mayom, where the 60 Minutes crew filmed, 50,000 people are in need. It will take 26 more air drops. The WFP estimates they are only feeding about half of those in need each month.

“[The WFP] told us, ‘It’s in South Sudan. We’re fighting famine,’” Kerbstat says. “It’s taking people from the brink of death.”

The people at death’s door are often children. The International Medical Corps has established a clinic in the country’s capital to treat malnourished kids.
“They are bringing children back from a very dangerous place of malnourishment, where their immune systems are so weak that even a common cold could unfortunately kill them,” Kerbstat says. Solid food can be equally deadly. Instead, the clinic has therapeutic milk specially formulated to their needs.'


ArticleReporting from South Sudan, by: Brit McCandless.  CBS News. 17 March 2017.
    The full text / article can be seen at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporting-on-famine-south-sudan/




'Men carry packages of food that have been air dropped by the World Food Programme'  CBS News photo



'South Sudanese people line-up to await a food drop'  CBS News photo

Task 4

Ss are now asked to talk with their partner about what they think is the answer to the question and also the meaning of the highlighted words / text in the article.  


4 minutes allowed for this task.  




Student feedback: Students and teacher discuss what they think is the answer to the question as well as discussing the meanings of the highlighted words in the context of the article and situation in South Sudan.  Here, the teacher will elicit each word (highlighted text) so that the ss can learn the vocabulary in the context of the article (meaning).  Each word is drilled by the teacher several times for the ss.  




Looking at vocabulary and expressions is an important part of these lessons so that the ss can get some idea of the language used in news articles about different parts of the world where there are dramatic circumstances (in this case famine, death, war and terrible suffering). 




Length of time for the feedback:  8 minutes






Vocabulary:

Dire     Intervening     Famine     Death's door      Malnourished

Dire: adjective

Meaning:  This word is used to emphasize how serious a situation or event is


Inter'ven'ing: verb

Meaning:   To 'intervene' is to separate two points in time or two events


Fam'ine: noun

Meaning:  A serious shortage of food in a country, which may cause many deaths


Death's door: informal phrase

Meaning: If you say that someone is at death's door you mean they are very ill indeed

Mal'nour'ished: adjective

Meaning: to be physically weak because of not having enough food to eat or not enough of the right kind of food.




Task 5 - Detailed reading

Ask the ss to read the text again but this time in more detail.  Ask them to answer six questions while reading.  The ss go into groups of three and discuss the answers while they are reading the text.  


8 minutes allowed for this task



Questions

1.  Are all of the people in South Sudan suffering?



2.  Why are they suffering?



3.  What work is the World Food Programme (WFP) doing to help the people in this terrible situation?



4.  Do you think the WFP are doing a good job?




5.  Are many people dying?




6.  Are the children malnourished?



Student feedback:   Length of time for the feedback: 5 minutes




Task 6 - Elicit the TL


The teacher will put on to the board four sentences taken from the earlier article / text.


Ss are now asked to look at the first two sentences from four sentences on the board.  The teacher elicits from the ss the target language (present simple verb) from the first two sentences.


2 minutes for this task



The sentences have a missing verb (present simple) to be elicited from the ss:
1.  5 million people don't ........... how they'll find their next meal              (answer: know)


2.  each plane load can .............1,600 people for 30 days                     (answer: feed)


3.  50,000 people are in ..............                                                            (answer: need)


4.  their immune systems are so weak that even a common cold could unfortunately ..............them.                                                                              (answer: kill)



Task 7

Ask the ss to look for the four sentences from the article / text.  Give the ss a few minutes to look for the sentences. 2 minutes allowed

Task 8

The teacher will put on the board the four sentences one by one and elicit each one with the ss. The teacher will give the correct pronunciations for each word or sentence with a drill.


5 minutes allowed



CELTA procedure / information for eliciting target language.  See: Teacher notes (2)


The Target Language?  A brief summary:

In a lesson the TL is elicited from the ss.  This will take the form of a word or expression or sentence (for example a verb or noun, adjective). The ss are able to see the TL written on the board and can then start to relate more to it, pronounce it and create more similar sentences.  During the second half of a lesson, exercises are created where the ss practice the TL by using one of the four skills: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening. 




Task 9 - Grammar rules


Put the grammar rules / explanations (present simple tense) on to the board.  Go through the rules with the class.    See Teacher notes (2) for Grammar Rules

4 minutes allowed  

Task 10 - Practice 

This involves: controlled practice and semi-controlled practice  See: Procedure, in Teacher notes (2).  In this lesson, this stage is being skipped (for reasons of length and time).  Ss can instead go straight to task 11.

Task 11 - Final Task: Production (sub skill: speaking)

Ask the ss to work with a partner and to discuss while using the TL  (Present simple verb).  Ask the ss to use the verb at least twice during their conversation.   The discussion will be about poverty (globally).  

 
To assist the ss, the teacher will provide handouts (and also on the board) a list of verbs (present simple) for the ss to refer to while they are having the discussion.  


5 minutes


-   End of lesson  -


Well done!  You have completed lesson 2


Next lesson:


The next lesson, lesson 3, will continue to look at the same life and death situation in South Sudan but this time we will look at a grammar point using the Past Simple verb to continue to analyse closely what is happening in this country. 



Wednesday, 4 October 2017

What are Sustainable Development Goals?


Raymond Van Neste writes about Sustainable Development Goals and their urgent need in today's world particularly in relation to teaching....







Answers and future solutions to poverty, inequality and climate change:

Development Goals highlight some of the most vital and urgent needs of today’s world.  They cover a number of urgent issues such as extreme poverty, inequality, education, global warming and climate change pointing to huge needs in countries around the world where urgent needs come up again and again.  Huge continents are currently suffering because of famine, poverty or war.  Millions of people are at the mercy of these terrible occurrences.


A new way of thinking:

It’s as if here in the West, even though I hear on the radio and see images on my television as to what is going on, in fact I have no real idea of what is actually happening in terms of the scale of human loss, injustice, life and death.  It can’t be good to be in an existence where I don’t go hungry and have a bed to sleep and at the same time ignore the plight of millions upon millions of people who need help.  



A better world for the future:

Sustainable Development Goals are able to bring to today’s children and young people a new way of perceiving and thinking about the world that we all live in.  The goals offer  subject material for the English Language Classroom and in this way children will be able to learn directly about global human needs relating to cultures and people from around the world.  In this way too, knowing about and having an in depth knowledge, children will be able to manifest an understanding and outlook that will help them on their life journey better able to address urgent development needs now and in the years ahead. 


Links for teachers: 



Tuesday, 3 October 2017

Global Goals - ESL Lesson 1: End Poverty




Important information:

This blog's purpose is to share all of the United Nations 17 Global Goals while giving ESL English language lessons and information for each goal.   Readers will be able to know which goals are being taught by simply looking at the top part of the lesson page for this information. For example, the first lessons in this blog refer to the global goal entitled: End Poverty in all its Forms Everywhere, therefore this heading will be placed near the top of the lesson page of the blog while looking at that particular goal (please note that the goals may not be taught in any particular order).  Teachers please refer to: Teacher notes (1)   




End Poverty in all its Forms Everywhere


Global Goals - ESL lesson 1: South Sudan's terrible poverty and suffering


Lesson type
Vocabulary

Lesson aims: 
* Main:
To introduce the first United Nations Global Goal: End Poverty in all its forms everywhere and to look at one specific country's suffering and poverty: South Sudan.

* Subsidiary: 
To provide practice / fluency practice in the use of words taken from an article about South Sudan.  Reading practice.

Level:
Level: A2 - B1.   The content of the lesson is adaptable for all levels from beginners to advanced.  For lower or higher levels the template and procedure remains the same but the content would be changed.  Also, I have simplified the lesson a little by not including any additional exercises during the production part of the lesson(second half of the lesson) and want to keep the first few lessons in this blog as simple as possible.  



Put a picture on the board (or give out handouts of the picture) about poverty in South Sudan and the terrible situation of life and death in this country.
With the person next to you discuss: what do you think is happening in the picture? 

Length of time to carry out this task: 2 minutes

Student feedback: Students and teacher discuss what they think the picture is about
Length of time: 3 minutes



Picture for Task 1

Task 2

Tell the class that you want them to read a text.  But before reading it we will go through some vocabulary which is in the text.   

Explain the meaning of each word (vocabulary) and attempt to put the word into a context / meaning.  Pronounce the new word.  Then, ask the students to ‘say’ the word out loud several times (drill).  

Also, on the board give the form of the word, which is the syllable stress, noun, verb or adjective and also put the word into the context of a sentence:

Take between 5 - 10 minutes for this task


Vocabulary:
declared     destitute     holding off     catastrophe     consumed

De’clared: verb
Meaning: If you declare that something is true, you say that it is true in a firm, deliberate way.

Des’ti’tute: adjective
Meaning: Someone who is destitute has no money or possessions

Hold-off: phrasal verb
Meaning: if you hold-off something you delay doing it or delay making a decision about it

Ca’tas’tro’phe: noun
Meaning: An unexpected event that causes great suffering or damage

Con’sumed: verb
Meaning: If you are consumed with a feeling or idea it affects you very strongly indeed




Task 3

Ask the students to read the text (handouts) and while reading it to think about the answer to this question: What is generally happening in South Sudan? (this is reading for gist). 

The students have 2 minutes to read the text.

Ask your students to share their thoughts with other students.  After this the students will be able to share their answers to the question with the whole class in a feedback for two or three minutes.  During the 'feedbacks' use this time to explain in more detail to the students what is happening in South Sudan but make sure that you do not extend the 'feedback' time (TTT) of two to three minutes.  Also, make sure that each student who wants to share gets the chance to share even if it's only for a few seconds.  



Text for Task 3:

Fighting Famine in War–torn South Sudan
Correspondent of the CBS News, Scott Pelley, writes:


"In South Sudan, 5M people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and, of them, 100,000 are starving and face death.   If not for humanitarian efforts, millions could die.
 
A rare famine emergency has been declared in the youngest nation on Earth.  South Sudan, in East Africa, was brought into the world, in 2011, with the help of the United States.  But it’s one of the world’s least developed countries and civil war has left it destitute.  Five million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and of them, 100,000 are facing death.  Holding off a catastrophe is the mission of the UN’s World Food Programme.  The WFP was an American idea, created in 1961, and the U.S. is still the largest donor.  Now WFP has launched on of its largest rescues ever but in South Sudan too many people are fighting for life. 
 
Josephine is seven and down to 24 pounds.  Hunger left her at the mercy of disease.  And now she’s being consumed by tuberculosis.  This is why TB used to be called consumption.  Josephine’s mother shooed away the 90 degrees, waiting to be seen by Dr Meroni Abraham.

Sudan was Africa’s largest nation, ruled from Khartoum by people of Arab heritage.  In the south, African tribes have rebelled since the 1950s.  And millions have died.  In a quest for peace, the Bush administration started humanitarian and diplomatic campaign.  Eleven billion dollars went into aid, and to train a South Sudanese government and security force.  Five years ago, there was hope.  Khartoum no longer ruled over them, and beneath them, there was oil".  












Task 4

Ask the students to read the text again but this time read it more slowly and while reading share with the person next to you what you think are the answers to these questions:

You have 5 minutes to read the text and answer the questions:

Questions:

1.    Where in the world is South Sudan?

2.    Why are so many people starving and dying in this country?

3.    Why has the World Food Programme become involved?

4.    Do you think the WFP are doing a good job?

5.    In the Bush administration how much money went into aid?


Ss will have an 8 – 10 minute feedback regarding the questions.   The students and teacher share the answers and their thoughts. 




Task 5

The ss have learnt some new words as well as their pronunciation.  They also have some new knowledge about Africa and South Sudan.  

With this knowledge the ss go into groups of three and discuss for five minutes how do you think people can be helped in South Sudan?     Do you think that the West can help?  

Tell the ss: while talking please try to use some of the new learnt vocabulary learnt earlier by putting the vocabulary into the context of a sentence.   Refer the ss to the earlier handouts for vocabulary or put on the board once again the words learnt earlier so that the ss can relate to them first hand.  



Well done!  You have completed lesson 1


Next two lessons:

The next two lessons, lesson 2 - 3, will continue to look at the same life and death situation in South Sudan but this time we will look at a grammar point using the present and past simple verbs to analyse more closely what is happening in this country.