Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 12 April 2011
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World Bank Wants to Refocus Aid
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- refocus: to change the direction or emphasis
- resolve: to end the problem
- justice: fairness
- global action plan: a set of steps that an international group agrees to take part in to achieve a goal
- poverty: the state of being poor; not having enough food, money, and supplies for life
Comprehension Questions
- What main conclusion did the World Bank make after its study?
- Why does the report mention civil war?
- What is the UN’s Millennium Development Goals initiative?
Discussion Question: Do you agree that financial aid should be spent on policing before education and health? Why or why not?
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World Bank wants to Refocus Aid
The World Bank has released a new report suggesting that aid money be refocused on conflict prevention rather than health, education, and military support. Much more money is spent on resolving conflict in war torn countries than preventing the conflict in the first place. The author of the report stated that financial aid should focus on police, justice systems, and government institutions. Approximately 1.5 billion people are threatened by political and criminal violence. Most of these people live in areas that have a long history of civil war. The report also concluded that conflict-affected countries have not achieved any of the eight goals set out in the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The UN backed global action plan was adopted at the 2010 Summit to reduce poverty among women and children over the next five years.
- The World Bank concluded that aid should be refocused on preventing crime and war, rather than on military struggles and health and wellness.
- Most of the countries living in conflict today have been dealing with civil war for many years. There is a cycle of violence that needs to be ended in these countries.
- The UN’s Millennium Development Goals is a global action plan that was adopted in 2010 to reduce poverty among women and children over the next five years.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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