Breaking News English

        

1. BEING DISABLED: Walk around the class and talk to other students about being disabled. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

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

new report / estimates / disability / figure / greater concern / older people / diabetes / worrying / conclusions / authors / healthcare / clear message / permanently / barriers

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

3. DISABILITY: How to make life easier. Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	How to achieve this	Difficulties in achieving this
Healthcare
Careers
Schooling
Transport
Computers
Equality

4. EQUALITY: Students A strongly believe the disabled will not face discrimination in the future; Students B strongly believe this won’t happen.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. RANKING: Which of these would you least like? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the one you’d least like at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

diabetes cardiovascular disease cancer mental health disorder

blindness limb loss deafness loss of speech

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	The number of disabled in the world has fallen to one billion.	T / F
b.	The percentage of disabled in the world has fallen since the 1970s.	T / F
c.	Less than 200 million people have a really bad disability.	T / F
d.	A WHO doctor said the number of disabled will rise in the future.	T / F
e.	Disabled people will face less discrimination in the future.	T / F
f.	The disabled have bigger problems finding work in developed countries.	T / F
g.	The WHO says no country has dealt with the disabled properly.	T / F
h.	A doctor says half of us will have a disability at some stage in our life.	T / F

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

1.	proportion	a.	worry
2	rising	b.	disturbing
3.	estimates	c.	really bad
4.	severe	d.	edges
5.	concern	e.	percentage
6.	worrying	f.	obstacles
7.	accessing	g.	forecasts
8.	likely	h.	getting
9.	barriers	i.	increasing
10.	margins	j.	probable

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	the proportion of disabled people	a.	as diabetes
2	It estimates	b.	of society
3.	increased from 10	c.	worrying conclusions
4.	In the years	d.	to be denied
5.	chronic health conditions such	e.	face discrimination
6.	One of the most	f.	in the world
7.	more likely to	g.	finding work
8.	have greater problems	h.	around 15 per cent
9.	three times more likely	i.	per cent in the 1970s
10.	forcing them to the margins	j.	ahead

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says the (1) ____________ of disabled people in the world is (2) ____________. It estimates around 15 per cent of the global population has some (3) ____________ of disability – that’s one billion people. This figure has increased from 10 per cent in the 1970s. The World Report on Disability says about (4) ____________ in five of the 15 per cent, nearly 200 million, suffer from a (5) ____________ disability. WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan warned: "In the years ahead, disability will be an (6) ____________ greater concern…due to ageing populations and the higher risk of disability in older people as well as the global increase in (7) ____________ health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and (8) ____________ health disorders."		even one rising mental chronic proportion severe form
One of the (9) ____________ worrying conclusions of the report is that the disabled are more likely to (10) ____________ discrimination in the future. The WHO says the disabled will have greater problems finding work and (11) ____________ healthcare. The report authors say disabled people are three times more (12) ____________ to be denied healthcare than other people in (13) ____________ countries. The WHO’s Tom Shakespeare said: "The (14) ____________ message from the report is that there is no country that has got it right.” Dr Chan said: “Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled at some (15) ____________ in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the (16) ____________ of society."		developed face likely margins most clear accessing point

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) ______________________ disabled people in the world is rising. It estimates around 15 per cent of the global population has some form of disability – that’s one billion people. This ______________________ from 10 per cent in the 1970s. The World Report on Disability says about one in five of the 15 per cent, nearly 200 million, ______________________ disability. WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan warned: "In the years ahead, disability will be ______________________ …due to ageing populations and _______________________ in older people as well as the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and ______________________."

One of the most ______________________ worrying conclusions of the report is that the disabled are more likely to face discrimination in the future. The WHO says the disabled will have ______________________ work and accessing healthcare. The report authors say disabled people are three times more ______________________ healthcare than other people in developed countries. The WHO’s Tom Shakespeare said: "The clear message from the report is that there is no country ______________________.” Dr Chan said: “Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled ______________________. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing ______________________ of society."

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

mental

health

• 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 how they were used in the text:

says form five ahead well mental

face greater denied clear point society

STUDENT BEING DISABLED SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about being disabled 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.

BEING DISABLED DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘disabled’?
c)	How does your government treat disabled people?
d)	Are towns in your country made accessible to the disabled?
e)	What do you know about being disabled?
f)	What do you think of the WHO figure of one billion disabled people?
g)	Why do you think this number has increased since the 1970s?
h)	What do you know about diabetes and cardiovascular diseases?
i)	Why are disabled people less likely to receive healthcare in developed countries?
j)	What can we do to help older people with disabilities?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Why do disabled people face discrimination?
c)	What does it say about societies that discriminate against disabled people?
d)	What does it say about the world that not one country is sufficiently catering to the needs of the disabled?
e)	Dr Chan said most of us will have a disability. What do you think?
f)	What do you think of the word ‘disabled’?
g)	What barriers exist in society for disabled people?
h)	How can we break down barriers so disabled people aren’t forced to the margins of society?
i)	What three adjectives describe this article and why?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Dr Margaret Chan?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says the (1) ____ of disabled people in the world is (2) ____. It estimates around 15 per cent of the global population has some form of disability – that’s one billion people. This figure has increased from 10 per cent in the 1970s. The World Report on Disability says about one in five of the 15 per cent, nearly 200 million, suffer from a (3) ____ disability. WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan warned: "In the years (4) ____, disability will be an even greater concern…due (5) ____ ageing populations and the higher risk of disability in older people as well as the global increase in chronic health conditions such (6) ____ diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health disorders."

One of the most worrying conclusions of the report is that the disabled are more  (7) ____ to face discrimination in the future. The WHO says the disabled will have greater problems (8) ____ work and accessing healthcare. The report authors say disabled people are three times more likely to be (9) ____ healthcare than other people in developed countries. The WHO’s Tom Shakespeare said: "The clear message from the report is that there is no country that has (10) ____ it right.” Dr Chan said: “Almost every one of us will be permanently or (11) ____ disabled at some point in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the (12) ____ of society."

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	proposition	(b)	proportion	(c)	preposition	(d)	propping
2.	(a)	risen	(b)	arisen	(c)	rising	(d)	rose
3.	(a)	severe	(b)	really	(c)	healthy	(d)	acceptable
4.	(a)	now	(b)	forward	(c)	opposite	(d)	ahead
5.	(a)	by	(b)	on	(c)	to	(d)	with
6.	(a)	as	(b)	has	(c)	was	(d)	is
7.	(a)	likelihood	(b)	liked	(c)	liking	(d)	likely
8.	(a)	looking	(b)	finding	(c)	working	(d)	being
9.	(a)	denial	(b)	deny	(c)	denies	(d)	denied
10.	(a)	have	(b)	taken	(c)	got	(d)	been
11.	(a)	tempted	(b)	temporarily	(c)	temping	(d)	temperature
12.	(a)	margins	(b)	marginal	(c)	margarine	(d)	merging

 
 

WRITING

Write about being disabled for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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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 out more about the WHO report. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. BEING DISABLED: Make a poster about being disabled. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. WHO REPORT: Write a magazine article about the WHO report. Include imaginary interviews with disabled people and world leaders.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to your country’s leader. Ask him/her three questions about being disabled. Give him/her three opinions on what your country needs to do to help disabled people. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

T

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	proportion	a.	percentage
2	rising	b.	increasing
3.	estimates	c.	forecasts
4.	severe	d.	really bad
5.	concern	e.	worry
6.	worrying	f.	disturbing
7.	accessing	g.	getting
8.	likely	h.	probable
9.	barriers	i.	obstacles
10.	margins	j.	edges

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	the proportion of disabled people	a.	in the world
2	It estimates	b.	around 15 per cent
3.	increased from 10	c.	per cent in the 1970s
4.	In the years	d.	ahead
5.	chronic health conditions such	e.	as diabetes
6.	One of the most	f.	worrying conclusions
7.	more likely to	g.	face discrimination
8.	have greater problems	h.	finding work
9.	three times more likely	i.	to be denied
10.	forcing them to the margins	j.	of society

GAP FILL:

WHO says one billion people disabled

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says the (1) proportion of disabled people in the world is (2) rising. It estimates around 15 per cent of the global population has some (3) form of disability – that’s one billion people. This figure has increased from 10 per cent in the 1970s. The World Report on Disability says about (4) one in five of the 15 per cent, nearly 200 million, suffer from a (5) severe disability. WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan warned: "In the years ahead, disability will be an (6) even greater concern…due to ageing populations and the higher risk of disability in older people as well as the global increase in (7) chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and (8) mental health disorders."

One of the (9) most worrying conclusions of the report is that the disabled are more likely to (10) face discrimination in the future. The WHO says the disabled will have greater problems finding work and (11) accessing healthcare. The report authors say disabled people are three times more (12) likely to be denied healthcare than other people in (13) developed countries. The WHO’s Tom Shakespeare said: "The (14) clear message from the report is that there is no country that has got it right.” Dr Chan said: “Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled at some (15) point in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the (16) margins of society."

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - b

2 - c

3 - a

4 - d

5 - c

6 - a

7 - d

8 - b

9 - d

10 - c

11 - b

12 - a

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