WEEK 9

PRESENTING AND DISCUSSING

RESULTS
STUDENTS TASKSHEETS

Activities for students

Tasksheet 1
Illustrations (graphs, tables and charts) are used to make a point in reports so they must
be clear, simple and relevant to the objectives of the report. The commentary must be
accurate and varied.
1.

Look at the following graph and put one of the numbers next to the given words:

( ) trough

( ) a gradual fall

( ) erratic movements

( ) a plateau

( ) a gradual rise

( ) to take a plunge

( ) to level off

( ) a steady increase

( ) a dramatic fall

( ) to leap upwards

( ) fluctuations

( ) a decline

( ) to reach a peak

( ) to slump

( ) a sharp recovery

2. Using the words you have chosen, describe the graph.

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Tasksheet 2
Refuting an Argument
Cutting down rainforests is a necessary evil. In many of the countries where
rainforests are disappearing, the people are very poor. Logging the rainforests
provides many jobs, which help these poor people. The loggers, the truck drivers, and
the shippers all receive work because of the logging industry. As well, once the land is
cleared it can be used for more productive things. Farmers can grow crops on the land
and ranchers can raise cattle. Finally, the wood itself is very useful. People use the
wood for housing, fuel, furniture, and many other everyday items.
Identify the points made in the paragraph above and write a short refutation for each
of them.
Argument(1):

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Counter Argument:

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Argument (2):

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Counter Argument:

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Argument (3):

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Counter Argument:

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Tasksheet 3
Read the following text and identify the cause and effect relationships.
HEADACHES
Headaches, with their characteristic pain or throbbing sensation in the head, are an
extremely common complaint, experienced by almost everyone at some time or other.
Occasionally, they are a symptom of an underlying disorder, but, if they occur on
their own, developing gradually and clearing up with no side-effects, the probability is
that they are totally harmless, apart from the discomfort they cause. Probably the
commonest form of headache is caused by tension, from the contraction of the
muscles of the neck, shoulders and scalp. The second commonest is the result of the
swelling of local blood vessels. There can be many contributing factors. These range
from stress, sleeplessness and drinking and eating too much, to noise and stuffy
rooms, but, insofar as tension headaches are concerned, one of the commonest causes
is poor posture. The muscles of the neck become tense and sore because they have to
support the considerable weight of the head in an awkward position. Another common
cause is eye strain. This can be due to the simple need for glasses. If headaches
persist, it is as well to go to an optician for a check-up, and to work in a good light.

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Tasksheet 4
Based on these three excerpts, comment on the reasons of famine.
World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1 020 million people
going hungry every day, according to new estimates published by FAO today. The
most recent increase in hunger is not the consequence of poor global harvests but is
caused by the world economic crisis that has resulted in lower incomes and increased
unemployment. This has reduced access to food by the poor, the UN agency said.
(Food and agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009)
Famine is the result of a process of "free market" restructuring of the global economy
which has its roots in the debt crisis of the early 1980s. It is not a recent phenomenon
as suggested by several Western media reports. The latter narrowly focus on shortterm supply and demand for agricultural staples, while obfuscating the broader
structural causes of global famine.
Poverty and chronic undernourishment is a pre-existing condition. The recent hikes in
food prices have contributed to exacerbating and aggravating the food crisis. The
price hikes are hitting an impoverished population, which has barely the means to
survive.
(Chossudovsky, 2008)
Why has famine struck Somalia?
The FAO says it is due to a combination of conflict and insecurity, limited access for
humanitarian organisations, successive harvest failures because of drought and a lack
of food assistance. The country has suffered war on and off since 1991, which has
destroyed much of its infrastructure. In some areas, people's ability to cope with
drought has also been undermined by land policies that restrict access to grazing
areas. The FAO says food shortages in Somalia have killed tens of thousands of
people in recent months and this figure will increase unless urgent action is taken.
Famine is classified using a tool called the integrated food security phase
classification, which has three main criteria: severe lack of food access for large
populations, acute malnutrition rates exceeding 30% of the population, and a death
rate exceeding two people per 10,000 per day.
(Tran, 2011)