A New NGO

In this unit we are going to found an NGO and we are going to design a digital poster to
make it known.
You will be able to design oral and written texts about NGOs, paying attention to
register, vocabulary, structures and some coherent and cohesive elements.
In order to be able to found it, we are going to
* think about what an NGO is.
* try and place ourselves in the others feet
* become aware that other languages can help us understand and develop a
foreign language

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE TOPIC?

I.- What is an NGO?
1.- What do you know about NGOs? Read these definitions and try to make a list of its
characteristics. What are the differences between an NGO such as Greenpeace and an
organization such as consumer association?
Una organitzaci no governamental (ONG), s una organitzaci privada independent de
governs i organismes internacionals que no s creada pels estats. Encara que la definici
d'ONG tcnicament pot incloure a les corporacions amb nim de lucre, el terme sovint
s'utilitza de manera restringida als grups de defensa o protecci social, cultural, legal i
ambiental les metes dels quals no sn comercials. Les ONG usualment sn organitzacions
sense nim de lucre que obtenen una porci dels seus recursos de fonts privades.
http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/ONG

Una organizacin no gubernamental (mejor conocida por su siglas ONG), es una entidad
de carcter privado con fines y objetivos definidos por sus integrantes creada
independientemente de los gobiernos locales, regionales y nacionales, as como tambin
de los organismos internacionales.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/ONG

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

2.- In two minutes, name as many NGOs as you can.

NGO

International / national /
local

Objectives

Are they international, national or local? What are their objectives? Fill in the table above.
How do you get to know about their actions and campaigns?

GETTING TO THE POINT

I.- Images
1) Look at these images. What do you think the campaign they are advertising is?
How do you know?

image 1

image 3

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

image 2

image 4

image 5
2) Match the pictures with the most appropriate slogan. There are more than one
correct answer so youll have to explain the reason for your choice.

Playing with arms

Avoid silence: Dont dirty
your hands.

Talla amb els mal rotllos

Dont hang up your eyes.

Fight for them

Stop violence

Deforestation & Desolation.

II.- Slogans
1.- Join the two parts of these slogans.
a) If you close your eyes
b) If children become soldiers
c) If forests are destroyed
d) If a woman is hurt
e) If you dont do something

1) the Earth temperature will go up.

2) everybody will be hurt
3) youll dirty your hands.
4) the death penalty will be silenced.
5) they will lose their childhood

2.- Match them with one of the previous images.

a
b
C
Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

e
3

III.- The language we need

1) Look at the slogans in activity II. They all have the same language structure. Complete
the table and the rules.
Fist conditional
Consequence

condition

the death penalty will be silenced

if you close your eyes

will / wont Inf

__________

We use the first conditional to talk about

A the present
B the future
The action happens first
A present simple
B will/ wont
We use the first conditional to talk about future events.
A impossible
B possible
These events a condition.
A depend on
B dont depend on
2) Does it work in the same way in Spanish or in Catalan?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

IV.- Ranking.
Imagine that you have won a lot money at the lottery and want to donate 10.000 to
NGOs. Decide with your partner what amount you would give to each of the four NGOs
in activity I: Amnesty International against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International
against domestic violence, Greenpeace and People against Child Soldiers. You cannot give
the same amount of money to the 4 NGOs and your donation must respond to a preestablished ranking in terms of how important you consider their work.

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

V.- The Death Penalty

1) Think about it:
Do you think the death penalty should be abolished everywhere?
When should the death penalty be accepted?
Did Spain abolish the death penalty? If so, when?
What about the United Kingdom or the United States?

http://cv.uoc.edu/~amnistia/educa/carpeta1/c1-2-pm.pdf

2) The death penalty in the United States has always been a controversial issue, and
recent developments concerning the death penalty have once again returned the issue to
the public sphere. Michigan State University in their Death Penalty Information Centre
have designed a Web site to assist both teachers and students in an exploration of capital
punishment. Go to the website
http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/c/about/arguments/contents.htm and read both the
reasons for and against the death penalty.
Write down the main ideas here:
Reasons for
Deterrence

Reasons against

Retribution

Innocence

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

Arbitrariness
and
discrimination

3) Have you seen Dead Man Walking?

3.1. What do you know about this film from 1995 directed by Tim Robins? Your teacher is
going to explain the plot of the movie. Listen and try to understand what it is about.
3.2. Read this summary of the film and correct the three pieces of information that are
wrong
Dead Man Walking is inspired by the true story of a nuns relationship with a
condemned man. It is a provocative examination of crime, punishment and
redemption.
Mathew Poncelet (Sean Penn) is a vicious and angry murderer who is waiting
execution for the murder of a man. Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is a nun
who is his spiritual advisor. She must fight against her own despair because Poncelet
does not play. She must also face the happiness of the victims' families, who believed
that their pain could only be cured if they see Poncelet's execution

3.3. Watch the trailer of the film http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=6140.

Even if it is difficult to understand what they are saying you can understand the main
ideas by concentrating on the images and the words you do understand.
a) Pay attention to Matthews attitude at the beginning and at the end of the trailer.
In what way is it different?
b) Sister Helen says that she wants him to die with

1.- dignity
2.- love
3.- a smile

c) One of the victims father says Matthew is not a man but 1. a criminal
2. an animal
3. a savage

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

d) Sister Helen begs the governor not to

1.- execute that man

2.- cure that man
3.- hurt that man.

3.4 Invent a dialogue in English between two of these three people: Mathew Poncelet,
Sister Helen Prejean and a victims parent. What may they talk about?

4) Role play:
On April 19, 1995 a homemade bomb blew up in a Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The
bomb killed 168 people employees, people who went by and 19 children under the age
of 5 who were in the day-care center on the buildings second floor. After an exhaustive
search, the FBI identified Timothy McVeigh as the man who did it. His motive was anger at
the government. He did not know any of the victims. He was found guilty by a jury in
Denver, June, 1997. Many family members of those killed wanted him to die but others
thought he should be allowed to live.

In pairs, choose one of the two roles. If youre in favour of the death penalty, be the
terrorists lawyer. If youre against the death penalty, be the mother / father. Read your
role and exchange your opinions. Spend two minutes thinking about your arguments and
how to express them and then talk to your classmate for about five minutes.
The lawyer:
Think of arguments against the death penalty and try to convince the father / mother that
Timothy should live.
The mother / father
Think of arguments in favour of the death penalty and try to convince the lawyer that
Timothy should die.

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

LETS GET ON WITH IT!

Have you heard of the NGO Doctors without Border? What do they do?
Read this leaflet and underline what Doctors Without Borders do.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

seeks an exceptional individual to
head the newly created hospital in
Somalia. The medical centre has
been
established
to
bring
emergency help to children in the
area.
The candidate should have a PhD or
MD degree in medicine and be
fluent in English. No experience is
required but enthusiasm fort he
task carried out by Doctors without
borders is essential. The salary will
depend on the qualifications of the
candidate.

Study what the leaflet looks like:

1.- What is there on the top?
2.- What is the slogan of the NGO?

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

3.- What is the aim of the text on the left column?

4.- What is the main objective of Doctors Without Borders?
5.- What is the aim of the text on the right column?
6.- What kind of doctors are they looking for?

Apart from the things mentioned in the leaflet, what other things would you include in a
poster? List them.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
If we are going to design a digital poster, what other things can we add in our poster?
Can we make some of the things we mentioned above more digital?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

II.- Reconciliation
What do you understand by reconciliation?
1) In South Africa, after the apartheid was abolished, the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (www.doj.gov.za/trc/) was founded to help black and white people to live
together in peace without looking back in history.

2) Look at these two surveys

Montse Irun English task 4th ESO

Puede pagarse algn precio por el fin del terrorismo de ETA?

24-02-2006 - 5546 respuestas
RESULTADOS

Esta encuesta no es cientfica, responde tan slo a las respuestas voluntarias de los
lectores que desean exponer su opinin.

S
No
No s

www.elpais.es

La Vanguardia

23rd March 2006

www.lavanguardia.es
Do you think negotiating with ETA shows disrespect to victims of terrorism?
Yes (18,3 %)

No (80,9 %)

Dont know (0,8 %)

Whats your opinion? Do you think that reconciliation is possible between ETA terrorist
and the victims of terrorism?

III.- Final task

In pairs, you have to make a digital poster in order to introduce your NGO in society.
1.- You are two sensitive people who have decided to start a campaign for the
reconciliation between ETA terrorists and the victims families. That is why you have
founded your NGO.
These are the steps to follow:

Choose a name for your NGO

Invent a slogan

Choose a picture or image

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Think of a title for your campaign.

Think of its plans and objectives.
Think about how to join.

Think of how you are going to present your ideas. You may use a picture, a podcast, a
document file or a video. Have a look at http://www.glogster.com/ to see the possibilities
you have.
2.- Design your draft poster. Ask for different opinions. Use this checklist.
YES / NO
Is the poster interesting to read?
Is the poster neat and tidy?
Does the poster include the information required?
Is the information of an acceptable level?
Written information: Does each paragraph in the written information
talk about ONE idea?
Written

information

repetitions?

Does

the

written

information

contain

Written and visual information: Are there any spelling mistakes?

Visual information: Is the visual information relevant to the topic?
Oral information: Is the oral information easy to understand?
Oral information: Has the oral information been rehearsed?

3.- Design your final version.

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Teachers guide
Session 1:
Start the lesson by reading the objectives to your students so that they are fully informed
of the aims of the unit.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE TOPIC?

I.- What is an NGO?
This first activity is to be done in lockstep and the idea is to introduce the topic of NGOs by
comparing them with organizations such as the consumer association. The main
differences can be found in the two definitions so ask them to read them and let them tell
you what they think. Try to ask questions but dont provide answers since the aim is to get
to know what their opinions are.
Then ask them to tell you the name of NGOs they know and again ask them questions so
that they give their opinions.
This activity may take about 10 minutes.
GETTING TO THE POINT
I.- Images
The aim of the activity is to look at different NGOs and their campaigns. Let students to
comment on each image in pairs and then check with the whole class.
Answers: Image 1 is Amnesty International in their campaign against domestic violence.
Image 2 and Image 5 are two campaigns against the Death Penalty. Image 3 is from the
campaign against Deforestation by Greenpeace. Image 4 is a campaign against child
soldiers.
Ask students to match pictures and slogans in pairs and then correct the activity with the
whole class. You can comment on the play on words in some of the slogans and how they
relate to the campaign.
Answers: Playing with arms & Fight for them: child soldiers. Avoid silence& dont hang up
your eyes: Death Penalty. Talla amb els mals rotllos and stop violence: Domestic violence.
Deforestation and desolation: deforestation.
This activity may take about 15 minutes.

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II.- Slogans
Ask the match the two sides of the slogans and to match the slogans to the images in
activity I.
Answers: 1.- a- 4 b-5; c-1; d-2; e-3
This activity may take 5 minutes.
III.- The language we need.
Point out the fact that all the slogans in activity II follow the same grammar structure. Ask
students what this is. Then let students do the activity in pairs and go round just checking
that they understand when to use the first conditional. Compare the use of the first
conditional in English and in Catalan and Spanish. This activity can also be finished at
home as homework.
This activity may take 10 minutes.
IV.- Ranking
This activity is to be done in pairs. Read the instructions together to make sure all students
understand what they have to do and then let them discuss with his/her partner.
This activity may take 10 minutes.

Session 2:
This session is to be carried out in the computer room.
V.- The death penalty
1) The aim of the activity is to make students think about the death penalty. This was
abolished in Spain in 1978 but it is still legal in some states in the USA. Try not to give your
opinion but ask them questions so that they think about why it is accepted in some places
but not others.
This activity may take about 5 minutes.
2) Students need to search the website provided to find reasons for and against the death
penalty. Let students do the activity in pairs. Read the instructions together and tell them
they have 20 minutes to complete the table. Go round clarifying doubts and helping them.
The website has a lot of interesting activities that present both sides of the issue. You do
not need to correct their answers since the aim of the activity is to provide students with
arguments in favour or against the death penalty. Stop the activity after 20 minutes.

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3) Dead Man Walking

3.1. Ask students whether they have seen the movie and what they know about it. When
they cannot say anything else about the film, tell them the plot. Here follows a summary.
It is not abridged so you should not read it to your students. It is going to be easier to
understand if you explain the story with your own words:
Inspired by the true story of a nuns relationship with a condemned man, this is a
provocative examination of crime, punishment and redemption.
Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon), a compassionate New Orleans nun, is the spiritual
advisor to Mathew Poncelet (Penn), a vicious, angry and complex murderer awaiting
execution. Her dedication is to help others, like Mathew, find salvation. But as she
attempts to navigate Mathews dark soul, she encounters a depth of evil that makes
her question how far redemption can really go. Can she stave off the fateful day of
execution long enough to save Mathew, or will she discover a truth that will rock the
very foundations by which she lives?
Political activists often cite Dead Man Walking as a film about capital punishment or
the story of one religious person's commitment to end the death penalty. But
beyond politics or ideology, Dead Man Walking is a film about the redemptive
power of love as agape, divine or universal love.
Inspired by the real-life experiences of a Roman Catholic nun, Sister Helen Prejean
(Susan Sarandon), who spent most of her life working among the poor in Louisiana,
Dead Man Walking follows the spiritual journey of two souls whose lives couldn't
have been more different: a religious woman and Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn),
sentenced to die for the murder of a young couple. Sister Helen receives a letter
from Poncelet requesting a visit. She is not quite ready for what the death row
inmate asks of herto be his spiritual adviser. In accepting the challenge, Prejean
must overcome her own despair and feeling of inadequacy in the face of Poncelet's
unrepentant anguish. She must also face the rage and hatred of the victims' families,
who believed that their unbearable loss could only be soothed if they witness
Poncelet's execution.
As Sister Helen seeks to help Poncelet find meaning in the last days of his life, she
hopes that a morsel of her faith and courage will be transmitted to him, that he will
find a measure of honor, grace, and even salvation.
Dead Man Walking was being filmed in the St. Thomas/Irish Channel section of New
Orleans when a group of Unitarian Universalists arrived for an orientation and antiracism walking tour sponsored by the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond. The
film provides an excellent context for discussing the relationship between class and
the criminal justice system.

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This activity may take 10 minutes.

3.2. Ask students to read the summary of the movie and to correct the three pieces of
information that are not accurate. They can do the activity in pairs.
Answers: murder of a couple not a man. Poncelet does not repent not play. the
rage of the victims families not their happiness.
This activity may take 5 minutes.
3.3. The listening in this activity is difficult but the activities are not. Tell students to
concentrate on the images and on the words they do understand. This is a good listening
strategy that will help them understand the main ideas in the trailer.
Ask students to read the questions first and then you can either tell them to go to the
website and do the activities or you can use a data projector to show it to the whole class.
The website is http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=6140
Answers: a) He is proud and brave at the beginning but humble and caring at the end.
b) 1
c) 2
d) 1
This activity may take 10 minutes.
3.4 Homework: The aim of this activity is to work on the different points of view of the
people involved in the movie: the nun, the murderer and the victims families. By asking
them to invent a dialogue between two of these people they will have to place themselves
in the others position.

Session 3:
4) Read the situation with your students and make sure they understand this true story.
This is a role play they have to prepare in pairs but they should try to choose the role
of a person whose opinion does not coincide with their own opinion. The aim is to see
an event from the point of view of someone who does not agree with ones own
opinion. They can use some of the ideas we have been talking about in the unit. Let
them rehearse the dialogue and then ask two or three pairs to volunteer and play it
for the whole class.
This activity may take 20 minutes.

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LETS GET ON WITH IT!

I.- Brochure
Show students a real brochure or leaflet to check understanding. Then ask them to read
this leaflet from Doctors without Borders where they introduce the NGO and they are for
people to join their NGO. Ask students to answer the questions in pairs and then
comment them with the whole class.
This activity may take 10 minutes.
II.- Reconciliation
Ask students what they understand by reconciliation. Tell them that this is what happened
in South Africa after the Apartheid was abolished. The image and slogan on the worksheet
belongs to one of the associations that help white and black people overcome their
differences and start a new life together. You may have more information on the Website
provided.
Ask students if reconciliation is possible with ETA terrorists and the victims families. Let
them talk freely. Then ask students to look at the surveys published. Are they shocking?
What would they have answered?
This activity may take 10 minutes.

II- Final task

Read the instructions with them and make sure they know what they have to do. The aim
is to present how the terrorists view and the view of the victims families can be recon
ciliated; so students should present both sides of the issue. Students should design the
final task in pairs for homework.

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