UPPER-INTERMEDIATE 2

A RIGHT
TO LEARN

In the news
What stories have you
heard or read recently
about schools or
education?
Are there any problems
with education in your
country? If so, what are
they?

INSIDE PROJECT
Learn how to Discuss the causes and Practise Use compound Launch a crowdfunding
write effective consequences of unequal different ways nouns related campaign to improve
crowdfunding letters. access to education. to take notes. to education. access to education for
young people.

OUR WORLD
A B
In April 2016, Ana was helping her
mum in the family corner shop
when a huge earthquake hit the
coast of Ecuador. She and her
family escaped the two-storey
building just before it collapsed, but
they lost everything they owned.
Over 670 people in Ecuador were
killed and 16,600 were injured.
Nowadays, Ana and her family live
in a tent. Their house and shop lie
on the ground where they fell and
Ana can’t study because her school
building collapsed. She badly
misses having lessons.
I first met Ana in 2017. She and the
other 15-year-old students were
studying outdoors in the pouring
rain. It was a desperate situation.
They had no shelter. The teacher
had no books. It wasn’t right – going
to school isn’t a privilege. So we
decided to construct a bamboo
building with the help of local
people. Ana’s father, a carpenter,
made furniture and bookcases for
the school.
We’re happy to tell you that the
school is going to open in six
months! The schoolbooks, desks
and blackboards will be provided by
the Ecuadorian government.
However, by September, we need to
supply school uniforms, a
playground with swings and a
climbing frame, and maybe a laptop.
Every child has a right to education,
so we’re asking you to help Ana and
her classmates!
Quito
Ecuador
2 © British Council | B2.2 06 | v1.2
Aims
Read and evaluate the effectiveness of
crowdfunding statements.
Discuss unequal access to education in different
countries.
Identify the causes and effects of a problem.
Increase my vocabulary with compound nouns.
Recently, I’ve been volunteering in a
refugee camp in Greece, which has
been a deeply moving experience.
Half of the refugees are under 18
and most haven’t been to school for
several years as a result of the war
in Syria. They’ve seen things that
you and I can’t imagine. Although
they’ve escaped the horrors of war,
they face uncertain futures and
months of waiting. Despite this,
their strength is remarkable.
Working in the camp has been a
powerful learning experience for
me!
I’m asking you to help me create a
learning centre in the camp. We’ll
hold evening classes there. It’ll also
be a place where the refugees can
read, teach each other and study
English during the day. The money
we raise will be spent on providing
schoolbooks (so that children can
catch up on their studies), reference
books (e.g. English dictionaries and
grammar books), novels and
children’s books.
We should never forget the power
of education. That’s what I want to
bring to these wonderful children
who have been left behind by war.
Refugees know that learning English
is the key to their future, so let’s
help them fulfil their goal. Please
donate your next cup of coffee to
them! Thank you.
Thessaloniki
Greece
C
My name’s Peter. I’m 16 years old
and passionate about watching
wheelchair sports! Right now, my
dream is to play a wheelchair sport.
The most interesting is boccia, a
precision sport which is similar to
bowling. My long-term goal is to
take part in the Paralympic Games
one day!
Playing sport is a lifeline for people
like me who have cerebral palsy.
Unfortunately, we often can’t take
part in sports activities because our
schools don’t have the equipment
or teachers who know about
wheelchair sports. But there are
huge advantages. Sports like boccia
are good for our motor coordination
as well as our mental and physical
health. In addition, we can have a
better social life. (Anyone can play
boccia, not just wheelchair users.)
The challenge for me is to find a
teacher and the necessary
equipment. At school, the sports
teacher has been incredibly
supportive, agreeing to help me
form a club and to teach us boccia
in his free time. However, we still
need equipment. Therefore, I’m
asking you to support me. I need
leather balls (£30 each) and boccia
ramps (£100 each).
Please help me and other disabled
people to play sports! We deserve
the same opportunities as everyone
else. We really appreciate your help.
Thank you!
Peter
Manchester, UK
 1. READ THE CROWDFUNDING 4. EXPLORE VOCABULARY
STATEMENTS Answer the questions.
Match each heading to a crowdfunding statement.
Write A, B or C. 1. Study this list of compound nouns. What kind of specific
information does the first word provide? What do you
1. Please help me achieve my personal dream. notice about grammar and punctuation?

2. For the price of a hot drink, you can provide an

evening class corner shop
educational opportunity for others.
bamboo building climbing frame
3. Help us open in time for the next school year!
wheelchair classmate
15-year-old students sports teacher

2. READ FOR MORE DETAIL

2. Find some more examples of compound nouns in each
Read the statements again. What causes of unequal statement. What kind of information does the first noun
access to education are mentioned? Copy and complete give in each case?
the chart.
3. Work in pairs. Take turns to choose a compound noun
Unequal access to education: causes and effects and paraphrase it without using the noun itself. Can
your partner guess the compound noun?
causes
My Practice 3
natural war
disaster effects
5. TALK ABOUT YOUR WORLD
Discuss the questions. Report your ideas to the class.

1. What opportunities do you think young people miss if

they don’t get an education? How does a society lose
out if people don’t go to school?

special 2. Do you think everyone in your school has equal access

needs to education? Is there anyone who needs to be included
more? If so, why? How can this be achieved?

My Practice 1
6. REWRITE A CROWDFUNDING
STATEMENT
Choose one of the crowdfunding statements and
3. SHARE IDEAS rewrite it more effectively. Use the ideas in activity 3
Discuss how the crowdfunding statements could be to help you.
improved. Use these ideas to help you:

• tone (polite, friendly, etc.)

• clear goals (what, how, by when)

• list of total and individual costs

• convincing arguments

• eye-catching beginning and ending

• connection to the readers’ emotions

• use of examples, facts, and photos

My Practice 2
Reflect
What have you learned about writing crowdfunding
letters? Write some tips you’d give someone who

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needed to write a crowdfunding letter.
3
 Aims

LANGUAGE
Listen to and understand two students discussing
a school exchange.

IN ACTION
Use gerunds (-ing forms) to talk about experiences
and opinions.
Practise different forms of note-taking using
charts and diagrams.

1. PREPARE TO LISTEN
You’re going to listen to an interview about a school exchange. Look at the photos and discuss the questions.

1. What countries do you think the two schools are in?

2. How do you think the schools and cultures might be different?

1 2. LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW (PART 1)

Listen to the first part of the interview. Choose one student, Matt or Hana, and make notes on his or her
experiences under these headings. Compare your notes with your partner’s.

• Discovering new things about a place • Living with a host family

• Finding their way around a new place • Making friends

• Fitting into a new culture • Taking part in a school exchange

My Practice 4

4 © British Council | B2.2 06 | v1.2

 2 3. LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW (PART 2)
Listen to the second part of the interview. Complete the Venn diagram with Matt’s and Hana’s opinions on these
topics:
Matt Hana

• school sports
and art
activities

• long school
days

• project work

• strict teachers
and discipline

• pressure to
succeed.

My Practice 5

4. GIVE YOUR VIEWS 6. PRACTISE

Discuss the questions. Rewrite the sentences using gerunds as subjects.
Make sure the meaning stays the same.
1. What are your opinions on the issues in the list in
activity 3? 1. It’s important to have respect for teachers.

2. What advice would you give someone who was coming
to your school on an exchange visit?
My Practice 6
5. LOOK AT LANGUAGE
Read the sentences. Circle the subjects and underline
the verbs. What do you notice about the subjects in
each sentence?
1. Finding my way around new cities is always hard for me.
2. Fitting into a new culture is hard and not knowing the
language makes it even harder.
2. I don’t think that it’s right to study for 15 hours a day.
3. It’s a basic human right to go to school.
4. It’s easy to get lost if you don’t have a good sense of
direction.
My Practice 7
7. TALK ABOUT YOUR WORLD
Think of some problems facing your school. What could
different people do to solve these problems? Think
about students, teachers, parents and the government.

3. Making friends was easy due to my friendly personality.

4. Taking part in a school exchange has so many

advantages.

5. Taking education seriously is good, Matt!

6. Punishing students really works, though.

Reflect
To what extent did your listening and note-taking skills
improve during this lesson? What other kinds of chart or
diagram can you use to make notes? How can you apply
these skills to future listening activities?

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PROJECT
1. SHARE IDEAS
Look at the photos and decide why these young people might have limited or no access to education.
2. READ THE ARTICLE
Read and take notes on the main causes and effects. Complete a diagram like the one on page 3.
Why children around the world still lack access to education
T
oday, 570 million children worldwide live in extreme poverty.
When children grow up poor, it can affect their education
in many ways. For example, they may stop attending school
because their parents need them to help on the family farm or
work for money. Other problems associated with poverty include
poor diet and no access to clean water, with the result that
children regularly fall asleep in class or get sick and have to miss
school.
ChildFund India started a literacy campaign in places where few
homes had any books and discovered another major problem:
many homes didn’t have electricity, so the children couldn’t read
or study after dark. In response, the charity distributed almost
40,000 solar-powered lamps.
Education also plays an important
role in girls’ rights. The UNESCO 2017
Global Education Monitoring Report
states that 264 million of the world’s
children have no access to education
and many more have limited access to
learning. Most are girls. In developing
countries, girls often can’t go to school
at all. There are many reasons for this,
including child marriage and religious
6 © British Council | B2.2 06 | v1.2
Aims
Understand an article about access to education
around the world.
Describe problems and solutions in detail, using
my own words.
Research ideas to solve educational problems.
Write a crowdfunding letter to raise money for
our idea.
practices, and in sub-Saharan Africa, one in ten girls miss school
during menstruation. In other countries, girls’ education is
considered less important than boys’. In Ethiopia, a female TV
producer has created an educational show called Tibeb Girls for
girls to watch at home. This is a good solution, but we urgently
need to solve the international problem of unequal access to
education for girls.
Another reason for education inequality is documentation.
Children without a birth certificate can’t receive free education
or healthcare in Kenya, for example. The problem occurs in richer
countries too. In some US states, undocumented immigrants
can’t attend state colleges.
Finally, millions of children miss school due to abuse. Some are
abused at school; others prefer not to go to school because
people will see the bruises they have acquired at home. Children
feel scared and can’t concentrate, so they fall behind in class and
produce poor work. Some even become bullies themselves.
Every person under the age of 18 has the right to learn. Studying
makes a significant difference to society and to individual
families. If people study, the chances are that their children will
study too. In turn, this affects nutrition, healthcare, lifestyle,
income and gender equality.
My Practice 8
 3. SHARE AND DISCUSS
Discuss the questions.

1. How do these issues affect access to education? Take turns to explain an issue in your own words. Use your notes
from activity 2 to help you.
• poverty • sex and gender • documentation • abuse

2. To what extent do the problems affect richer countries? Give examples from the article and from your own
knowledge.
3. Describe some solutions that you read about in the article using your own words. Which do you think are most likely
to be effective? Why?
4. What education problems are there where you live, in your opinion? What do you think are the causes of these
problems? What are some possible solutions? Listen to your partner’s ideas and take notes.

4. RESEARCH
Identify and agree on a problem from the article that you’d like to solve. Research the problem and some
solutions that have been tried. Can you think of any solutions of your own?

5. PREPARE YOUR PRESENTATION 6. PRESENT YOUR SOLUTION

Follow the steps to prepare a presentation for the Give your presentation to your classmates. Then
class. answer their questions. Listen to other groups’
presentations and take notes. Ask follow-up questions
STEP 1: Plan your introduction. and give feedback.

• Consider how to open your presentation. My Practice 9

Say which problem you plan to solve and
why. Provide some background information
about the problem.
7. SHARE AND EVALUATE
STEP 2: Plan the main section. Discuss the questions.

1. Whose solutions were effective, in your opinion? Why?

• Explain the solution you would try. Give
What did you learn from other presentations that you
examples of where and when it’s been tried
could use in the future?
and how successful it was. Explain why you
think it’d work. 2. What would be the most effective online platform for
promoting your solution as part of a campaign?

STEP 3: Think of a title.

8. WRITE A CROWDFUNDING
STATEMENT
• Think of a short title that’ll make an impact on
your audience.
Choose an interesting solution. Write a crowdfunding
statement to raise money for it.
STEP 4: Write an outline.

• Write the outline of your presentation in

the form of basic notes. Then practise
giving your presentation.

Reflect
How fluently were you able to speak in your own
words? How often did you need to look at your notes to
help you?

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 MY CHOICE
CHOOSE YOUR NEXT STEPS
TEENS CHANGING THE WORLD SCHOOL DISCIPLINE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

In this module, you’ve learned about
how different organisations are
helping children and teenagers
access education around the world.
But what about teenagers
themselves? Do you know about
any young people who have helped
change the world?
Watch a video about a famous
young activist, then find out
about other young people who
are taking action.
Schools around the world have
very different attitudes to
discipline. Is your school strict or
easygoing? What rules does your
school have? Are there any rules
you disagree with?
Read about discipline in schools
in the UK, and compare the rules
to those at your school.
Article 28 of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
says that every child has a right to
an education. But unfortunately, as
you’ve learned in this module, this
right isn’t always respected. Do you
know about the other rights which
are in the UNCRC?
Learn about the UNCRC and find
out how children around the
world are fighting for their
rights.

REVIEW YOUR LEARNING

How well did I do?

I evaluated crowdfunding letters and shared I used compound nouns related to education.
ideas about how to improve them.

I explored and practised different forms of I used my paraphrasing skills to talk fluently
note-taking. with a few notes to help me.

= I did this well. = I did this quite well. = I can’t do this yet.

What do I need to do next?

8 © British Council | B2.2 06 | v1.2


A RIGHT
TO LEARN
STUDY SKILLS
1. SHARE IDEAS
Discuss the questions with a partner.
1. Read the list of topics. Which of the topics do you already
know something about?
politics fashion the environment architecture
2. Which other topics would you like to know more about?
Why?
READING
2. PREPARE TO READ
Before you read a text, it is useful to activate your existing
knowledge. Consider what you already know about the
topic from other sources such as school, books or the
internet. This existing knowledge acts as a foundation upon
which you will build on as you read a text.
While you read, it helps to connect your existing
knowledge to new knowledge. Look for any new details or
information, and update your existing knowledge. Add new
facts and ideas to the foundation of your existing
knowledge to better understand the text.
Doing these two steps as you read is part of being a good
reader. It is an important skill to use in reading exams when
you cannot refer to external sources to double check your
understanding.
● Text to self
Ask yourself: How is this text relevant to my own life and
experience?
● Text to world
Ask yourself: How does this text connect to other events,
people and things in the world?
● Text to text
Ask yourself: How does this text remind me of other texts,
e.g. books, articles, TV programmes, works of art, etc.?
Imagine that you are going to read a feature article
entitled: Why so many Japanese children refuse to go to
school. Discuss the three questions in the Information Box
with a partner.
© British Council | B2.2 SS 06 | v1.0
Aims
Activate existing knowledge to better
understand a text.
Use paragraph unity to write an
effective internship application.
3. READ A FEATURE ARTICLE
1. You are going to read a feature article about an
architect, Zara Wood. Discuss these questions
with a partner and make notes about your ideas.
● Do you have any personal experience of (a) architects
or (b) Africa?
● What do you know about (a) architects and (b) Africa?
● Have you read or seen other texts about (a) architects
or (b) Africa?
2. Read the feature article. What information can you
find about (a) architects and (b) Africa?
The architect
shaping rural
Africa
1 Zara Wood is late for our interview. ‘I’m so sorry,’
she says, dashing in at 10:45 a.m. – we had agreed
10 o’clock on the phone – ‘but I was on a late flight back
from Chad last night and I have only slept for three
hours. I’m sure I look dreadful.’
2 I tell her she looks well and offer her a coffee.
Apparently, she has already sent her assistant to buy
one. ‘And never mind all that,’ she says. ‘Let’s just get
started. I am keen to tell you about this project I have
been working on. It’s a primary school in Chad and it’s
the most exciting work I have ever done in my whole
career. Honestly, I can’t stop talking about it.’
3 As an interviewer, this is exactly what I want to hear.
Zara speaks to journalists only rarely and I know that I
am lucky to see her today at all. I ask her why she is so
excited about this latest project – after all, she must
STUDY SKILLS
have worked on hundreds over the past 30 years.
4 ‘A lot of the work you do in this profession is not
meaningful, you know? You study for seven years just
to push a pencil around as an architect’s assistant. And
when – if! – you finally make it, you are designing the
new offices of a multinational corporation or whatever.
It is creative enough but who are we really helping?’
Zara asks. ‘Then one day, I read about the condition of
some schools in rural parts of Africa and I thought:
yeah, that is what my firm should do next. Something
that’s actually useful.’
9
 READING continued
5 The primary school designed by Zara’s firm, Zap, has rarely
been out of the architectural press in the last few months.
Nicknamed ‘the UFO’, it looks rather like – well, a flying saucer,
or perhaps a flying bowl – and is made entirely from recycled
materials. Zara has no time for this nickname, however.
6 ‘Reporters always have to come up with a catchy name, don’t
they? I mean, it hardly even looks like a UFO. Appearance was
never a priority for this building. We just wanted to make life
better for the students and teachers in Aberre – that’s the
village where the school is located.’
7 Zara tells me more about Aberre, which sounds like a
challenging place to work. Having never been to rural Africa
before – ‘I was naïve, I was shocked by the poverty’ – she
arrived to find a village school with no running water or
electricity, surrounded by rubbish and with a roof that had
practically collapsed. ‘Chad has a lot of complex issues that I
don’t understand and wouldn’t know how to fix,’ says Zara,
‘but I did have the skills to fix the physical structure of that
school. And I thought the kids deserved the best environment
to learn in.’
4. READ AGAIN
Read the feature article again and decide whether the
statements are true, false or not given. Write T, F or NG.
1. Zara was in Africa the day before the interview.
2. She completed her architectural training only
recently.
3. Zara disapproves of journalists naming buildings.
4. When she first went to Chad, she did not know what
to expect.
5. In Chad, most of the secondary school teachers are
male.
6. The reporter will interview Zara again in a few weeks.
WRITING
6. PREPARE TO WRITE
Paragraphs need to have unity. That means the sentences work together to describe an idea clearly. Paragraphs with unity:
● discuss only one topic.
● contain a topic sentence, supporting details and
(sometimes) a concluding sentence.
STUDY SKILLS
● use connectors to link ideas and sentences.
Paragraphs without unity are hard to understand. Paragraph unity is therefore important for writing essays, reports and
especially applications for courses or internships.
Read paragraph 8 from the article in activity 3 again and highlight the features of paragraph unity. Use the
Information Box to help you.
10
8 It is true that Chad’s education system has some complex
issues. Although school is compulsory, one in five children
never attend; of those who do, only a third finish primary
education. At secondary level, girls are often missing from
classes because they help out their families at home.
Teachers are underqualified and underpaid. It is little wonder
that Chad is struggling to educate its children.
9 ‘Like I said, I was naïve when I first visited,’ Zara says. ‘I made
mistakes because I didn’t know enough about the culture and
politics of the place. I thought I could apply what I knew about
architecture to the African context, but …’
10 At this point Zara’s assistant arrives with a coffee, which Zara
accepts and then fails to drink. I get the impression her mind
is never in the same place or time as her body – that her
thoughts are still in Chad, or several weeks in the future.
11 ‘Look, the main thing is, the kids in Aberre have a safe and
clean school now. I’m really proud of that. I know architecture
won’t save the world’ – Zara frowns, like she doesn’t believe
what she’s just said – ‘but it will always have a part to play.’
5. READ FOR MORE DETAIL
1. Look again at your notes from activity 3. Can you
update them with new information from the article?
2. How did you build on your foundation knowledge?
Discuss with a partner.
Tips
When we connect existing and new information, it is
common to have more questions! For example, before
reading the article, you probably knew where Africa is
on a world map, but you might not have heard of Chad.
After reading the article, why not look at a map of Africa
and locate Chad? We are more likely to remember new
information when it is connected to something we have
read.
My Practice 1
● use lexical cohesion, (e.g. synonyms, word families or
repeated words).
mention points in a logical order, (e.g. from first to last,
or most to least important).
© British Council | B2.2 SS 06 | v1.0
 WRITING continued
7. SHARE AND DISCUSS
Work in pairs and discuss the questions below.
What are the differences between an internship and a job?
●
● Are internships common in your country?
● Would you consider applying for an internship? Why or why
not?
● What does a good internship application look like?
8. ANALYSE APPLICATIONS
1. Read the advertisement for an internship at the
architecture firm, Zap, which was featured in the article in
activity 3. Do you think you would be a suitable candidate?
Internship Opportunity
We are looking for an intern to join our friendly architecture
firm. Applicants should:
have excellent ICT skills.
be organised and responsible.
speak English at B2 level or above.
Please note that candidates do NOT need qualifications in
architecture, as most of the work is office-based. Though
we cannot offer a salary for this post, we will cover your
travel expenses and provide health insurance. This is an
excellent opportunity to gain experience in a well-known
international firm with 30+ years’ experience.
To apply, please email Thomas at thomas@zaparch.com,
outlining your skills and motivation.
2. Your teacher will give you two email applications to the
internship to read. In pairs, answer the following questions,
giving reasons for your answers.
My Practice 2
© British Council | B2.2 SS 06 | v1.0
9. WRITE AN APPLICATION
Write an email application to apply for the
internship at Zap. Remember to make sure your
main paragraphs have unity.
Tips
As well as checking for paragraph unity, follow
these tips to write an effective application email:
● Remember to use the correct tone (formal).
● Use fixed phrases to open and close your
email. In formal emails, these phrases tend to
not change.
● Make sure you address all three requirements
in the advertisement and organise your
application into separate paragraphs.
Remember to make sure your paragraphs
connect correctly.
● Give evidence of your skills. It is not enough to
say you are organised – provide a specific
example that proves it.
10. PEER REVIEW
Exchange your email application with a partner.
Answer the questions below and discuss your
work together.
● Do the main paragraphs have unity?
● Is your partner’s email an effective application?
Why or why not?
11. EDIT YOUR APPLICATION
Improve your application based on your partner’s
feedback.
My Practice 3
STUDY SKILLS
Reflect
Do you think architecture has a part to play in saving
the world, as Zara suggests?
What is one advantage of activating your existing
knowledge before you read?
How does it feel to read a paragraph without unity?
11
 MY NOTES
Write your notes here to review what you have learned.

REVIEW YOUR LEARNING

How well did I do?

I activated existing knowledge to better I used paragraph unity to write an effective

understand a text. internship application.

= I did this well. = I did this quite well. = I can’t do this yet.

What do I need to do next?

STUDY SKILLS

12 © British Council | B2.2 SS 06 | v1.0