Poverty Part 3: Thinking About Solutions

We are finally ending our comprehensive unit on Poverty. I have a more detailed ppt and corresponding handout.

I. Support girls’ education in poor countries

++What is the link between girls’ education and poverty?

1.

2.

3.

SCHOOL SUBJECTS: Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• literature  • English  • maths  • art

• geography  • science  • history  • sports

Reading 1: Illiteracy, Poverty and Girls' Education (A, B)

Vocabulary (A /B): Write the Chinese meaning, use your dictionary.

II. Trade Justice and Globalization

What does Globalization mean?

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is a worldwide movement. Over a million small-scale producers and workers in 500 certified producer groups in 60 countries are actively involved in this system. Their products are sold in thousands of “world shops”, Fair Trade shops and supermarkets, and online.

Fair Trade unites producers in developing countries with millions of consumers in developed countries. These goods often carry an information label that explains how they benefit poor people. This helps to raise awareness about the conditions under which many people in developing countries live. By buying Fair Trade products, people show that they want fair globalization. Consumers have the power to demand trade justice. Trade justice means a fair international trading system, based on rules that ensure that everybody benefits.

No matter how hard poorer people in developing countries may work, trade rules often  benefit the rich world most. The result is exploitation for hundreds of millions of people. Trade justice is about changing the rules that keep people in poverty.

7 Reasons To Buy Fair Trade (Group Presentations)

Reading 2: End Debt Crisis, Case Study: S. Korea

(A, B)

Vocabulary: (A/ B)

Reading 3: Universal Basic Income, Case Study: Finland

Universal Basic Income: A Utopian Idea Whose Time May Finally Have Arrived

Universal basic income (UBI), is simple enough: the government would pay every adult citizen a salary, regardless if they worked or not. Doing so, might solve many endemic economic problems, from poverty to chronic joblessness, which will only get worse in the near future.

Martin Luther King Jr. endorsed the idea, as did conservative economists Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.  Today, thinkers on the left see the UBI as a way to fight poverty and inequality. To the right, the idea is a simple alternative to a bloated social-welfare system.

Critics come from all sides too: they say the UBI is just a decoy to starve government help that boosts universal child care or free college tuition. Or it’s one more bad program bound to make workers lazy,making a large numbers of people dependent on the government.

Finland became the first European country to pay unemployed citizens an unconditional monthly wage. The two-year national pilot program, gives 2,000 unemployed Finns ages 25 to 58 a guaranteed €560 (around $590), money that would keep coming even if they find work. The test is intended to alleviate poverty and reduce unemployment.

The Finns aren’t alone: similar experiments are moving forward in Canada, the Netherlands and Italy. The Indian government is also thinking about having a small UBI as a strategy to cut the country’s most extreme poverty.

Resources

https://schools.fairtrade.org.uk/resource/can-trade-lift-people-poverty-2/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2010/feb/22/fair-trade-conflict-poverty

https://eslholidaylessons.com/05/world_fair_trade_day.html

Poverty in Taiwan

By many accounts, Taiwan has all but eradicated poverty, but this is misleading. Taiwan's poverty line is just too low. Local culture and the government assume family will take care of its own, and that's not always the case. Also if a household has a home, the government considers this an asset that may hurt their ability to receive welfare benefits.

BUDGET IN TAIWAN

Taipei Poverty Line   15, 544 NT a month

minimum wage salary (2018) 22,000 a month

average rent     10,000 NT

average mortgage   20,000

electricity and water  500 NT

cable/internet   800 NT

phone  800

food 16% of salary (2012)

school fees ?

car maintenance/public transportation 13% of salary (2012)

leisure 10% of salary (2012)

healthcare 14.5% of salary (2012)

“Meeting Dr. Sun行動代號：孫中山” (2014) Read WSJ article.

I. Intro Questions

• What does poverty look like in Taiwan? 
• Who in Taiwan is most vulnerable to poverty? 
• Who are some of the stakeholders and what are they doing for low income and vulnerable people?

1. Compare the poverty level with the cost of meeting basic needs in Taipei vs. Yilan
2. Compare the cost of meeting basic needs with the federally mandated minimum wage

Poverty in Taiwan, Index Mundi, Poor People's Taipei, Video, Jobless Dies of Starvation in Tainan

Taiwan's poor increasingly rely on state welfare.

Taiwan struggling to afford social services

In this Taiwan focused unit, the students will present the articles to the class. Each group has to teach the class 5 vocabulary words, the main idea of the article and provide a group solution to one of the problems in the article. This will be the same as a test.

II. Readings:

Office Workers Under 40 Can't Afford homes (Taipei Times, April 2017)

Young Workers Salaries (Taipei Times. April 2017)
Elder Subsidies Not the Way to Handle Rich-Poor Gap (Taipei Times, November 2017)

Lin Raises Hourly Minimum (Keoni Everington, Taiwan News. Sept. 2017)
Who is poor?:  New Poverty Line (Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, December 2016)

I made a simplified version of the articles here.
EXTRA: Hong Kong (November 2017)

The students have 3 classes to prepare:

• Class 1: Use their dictionaries to translate the article.
• Class 2: Complete Worksheet that breaks down their article.
• Class 3: Create visual aids視覺輔助工具 (charts, graphs), decide who is saying which part of the presentation and practice their presentation
• Class 4: PRESENTATIONS (Grading rubric for presentations here.)
• Class 5: Review and Test 

B Class recommendations to solve some of the financial problems in Taiwan:

• Increase minimum wage 法定最低工資
• Give internships實習期 and training classes to students to gain job experience and skills
• Give job training to low income and middle-income workers
• Subsidize資助 housing and mortgages for young workers under 40
• Raise the poverty threshold 貧窮線
• Force companies to hire low-income workers
• Raise taxes on the rich

Resources:

http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/issues-poverty

http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/what-poverty

http://www.wfp.org/students-and-teachers/classroom-activities

https://www.imagine-action.ca/Documents/KTP/Poverty-Discussion-Booklet.pdf

http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/january-february2012/teaching_about_global_and_us_poverty_using_internet

https://povertyresolutions.org/povertyweek/education.php

https://www.seattleu.edu/poverty-education/resources/lesson-plans/

Unit 6: Poverty Part 1

Introduction Activity: Students roll up a piece of paper into a ball and throw into teacher's basket. The students closest make it, this is representative of privilege.

What is poverty? What is "the poverty line 貧窮界線" ?

Readings 1 and 2 will not be divided according to English proficiency. The handout includes more writing exercises then whats given on this blog page. There will be a test after the 2nd reading to determine who the new A and B class will be.

Reading 1: Child Poverty Grows as Cities Expands (2012)

VULNERABLE:

Vulnerable: able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt,influenced, or attacked

易受傷的；易受影響（或攻擊）的；脆弱的

How do we protect vulnerable children? Complete this table with your partner.

Protect from…	How	Problems / Barriers 障礙，阻礙，隔閡
disease 疾病	EX: vaccinations 給…接種疫苗	EX: who pays for it?
violence 暴力
child labor
gangs 一幫,幫派, 團夥，集團
crime 違法行爲，犯罪活動
drugs 非法毒品

Word Cloud of our first reading

Vocabulary: Instead of using Quizlet, which is great, but they are getting bored, I am going to use a visual Thesaurus and see if they can guess the Chinese meaning.

1. UNICEF (n.) 聯合國兒童基金會
2. staggering (adj.)
3. proportion (n.) countable part
4.  basic services (pl. n.) life's essentials EX: clean water, housing
5. urbanization (n.)
6. vital (adj.)
7. disadvantaged (adj.)
8. exploitation (n.)
9. slums (pl. n)
10. thrive (v.)
11. settlements (pl. n)
12. Basic vs Basis: basic (adj.)基礎的，基本的；根本的 vs. basis (n.)基礎，根據 

EX: I really need to get some basic financial advice.我的確需要一些有關金融的基本建議。This document will form the basis for our discussion. 這份文件將是我們討論的基礎

Slumdog Millionaire 貧民百萬富翁 (2008 India)

Child Poverty Grows as Cities Expands (2012)

A new report from the United Nations Children's Fund warns that hundreds of millions of children in the world’s cities are living in poverty[貧困]. UNICEF’s "State of the World’s Children Report" says a staggering proportion of children lack [don't have] the most basic [most important]of services, including clean water, education, health, proper toilets. "Urbanization leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded [outside] from vital services," the Children's Fund said. The Fund also says these children are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world because they live in fear of violence and exploitation on a daily basis. Millions of children are forced into child labor (work) and the sex industry.

The report explains how the slums where children live have diseases such as pneumonia [肺炎] and diarrhea [腹瀉], two of the biggest killers of children under five in the world. UNICEF spokeswoman, Marixie Mercado, says many children are disadvantaged from birth and are excluded [不包括] from “normal” society [社會] in which richer children can thrive. She says: “One-third of children in urban [city] areas are not registered[登記] at birth [and that] makes them much more vulnerable to exploitation throughout their lives.” UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake added: "Children are vulnerable to.…the injuries[傷害], illnesses [生病] and death that result from [因…發生] living in crowded settlements atop hazardous [dangerous] rubbish [garbage] dumps or alongside railroad tracks."

Write 3 questions on the reading. Write 3 questions about the reading and apply to your life. If you could ask a child slum dweller 3 questions, what would they be?

Also on Netflix with Traditional Subtitles

Reading 1 Ending Discussion:

1. What are other names for slums? shantytowns, squatters, barrios, favelas, 
2. Where are the world's 200,000 slums? See UN-habitat 聯合國人居署
3. Why are most slums located on the outskirts of big cities?
4. Does Taiwan have or had slums?  Treasure Hill寶藏巖 Taipei
5. What are squatters 非法佔屋? Does Taiwan have squatters?
6. Why doesn't the government do more to help people in slums?( Many governments don't count slum dwellers in their censuses, let alone measure their sense of security.)
7. How can slum dwellers help themselves? Akhter Hameed Khan, who in 1980 began mobilizing the community of Orangi, the largest squatter settlement in Karachi, Pakistan. He started a research institute called the Orangi Pilot Project to help residents organize and build a sewer system. Each block collected money and began construction of their own sewers, which served some 90 percent of Orangi's residents by the late 1990s. Between 1982 and 1991, infant mortality rates in the settlement dropped from 130 per thousand to 37 per thousand.

In the slums of Nairobi, communities long neglected by the government are just beginning to gain some level of political effectiveness. In Mtumba, for instance, residents have begun to organize. "On our own," says Tom Werunga, "we have built a school." Four teachers juggle morning and afternoon shifts to teach more than 400 children in three classrooms.

Crossword Review + Quiz on Reading 1

EXTRA: The world’s invisible children — millions lack a record of their birth (September 2017) 
EXTRA: Poor Kids (2012) Frontline, video, transcripts
EXTRA: Poor America, Child Trafficking in Cambodia

Reading 2: Girls and Women Worst Hit (2013)

Word Cloud of Reading 2

October 11- International Day of the Girl (Taiwan Gov't,

GIRLS: What are they up against? Complete this table with your partner.

Girls	Inequalities 性別不平等	How to prevent 阻止, 妨礙,預防 inequalities
Birth 出生	EX: female infantcide 殺害女嬰
Education
Marriage
Career職業
Violence
Business商業

Discussion

READING 2 Vocabulary:

1. recession (n.) economy going down EX: Demand for new cars has fallen due to the recession.由於經濟衰退，人們對新車的需求減少了
2. think tank 智庫
3. international development: the improvement of developing countries (former colonies) to become freer, richer
4. humanitarian(adj.) devoted to human welfare
5. marginalized (adj.) excluded from normal society
6. entrenched (adj.) firmly established, dug in
7. inequality (n.) lack of equality
8. economy (n.) the system of buying, selling, distributing resources /  economic (adj.) 經濟的
9. domestic abuse (n.) mistreatment in the home, usually by a man to the woman or children
10. rates (pl. n.) amount of time something happens, EX: mortality rate 死亡率 Infant mortality is much higher in the poorest areas of the city. 在這個城市最貧困的地區，嬰兒的死亡率要高得多。 Taiwan Death rate 
11. shrank (past of shrink) to become reduced
12. domestic chores (pl. n.) housework, EX: cleaning, cooking
13. hit (v.) to have a negative effect on a person or thing 產生不良影響；打擊
    EX: Production has been badly hit by the strike.罷工嚴重影響生產。
14. paint a black/bleak picture of something (Idiom) to describe a situation or person as extremely bad
    把（形勢）描繪得很嚴峻；把（某人）說得很壞
15. sucked into something (phrasal verb) 將…捲入（不快處境或壞事中）
    I really don't to get involved in this argument, but I can feel myself being sucked into it.我根本就不想與整件爭論有任何瓜葛，不過我能感覺到自己被牽扯了進去。

Girls and Women Worst Hit (2013)

It is hardly surprising news, but a new report shows that girls and women are those hit hardest by the global recession. The study is from the organizations Plan International, which is working to reduce [減用] child poverty, and the Overseas Development Institute - the UK's leading [#1] independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. They state that: "The world is failing [辜負] girls and women." The report's author Nigel Chapman said: "Girls are the largest marginalized group in the world." Mr Chapman added: "Much of the problem lies with 'entrenched gender inequality'." Chapman found that a worsening [惡化] economy results [發生] in females of all ages having to work harder and suffering [受折磨] more domestic abuse.

Mr Chapman's report highlights a tragic [悲慘的] increase in mortality [death] rates for female infants [babies]. He told the BBC: "The proportion of baby girls who died when the economy shrank rose five times faster than the proportion of baby boys who died….Hence [因此], a 1% fall in economic 經濟的 output 產 量increases infant mortality by 7.4 deaths per 1,000 girls against 1.5 for boys." He paints an equally bleak picture for girls not being able to complete (finish) their education. He reports that the global recession saw a fall in primary [elementary] school completion for girls of 29% compared to 22% for boys. "Girls get sucked into domestic chores," he said. "Once they stop going to school it's very hard to get back into the rhythm of things."

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	What is hardly surprising?
2.	What are the names of the organizations behind the report?
3.	What kind of issues does the Overseas Development Institute deal with?
4.	What, according to the report, is the world doing to girls?
5.	What do women suffer more because of a recession?
6.	What is there a tragic increase in?
7.	What is the ratio of baby girls to boys dying during economic decline?
8.	What kind of picture is painted by Nigel Chapman?
9.	What does the figure of 29% refer to?
10.	What is it hard for girls to do if they stop going to school?

Review Game: Who Wants to be a Millionaire 
TEST
EXTRA: Euronews (2013) 100 Years after Women's Dy struggle Continue

Who Cares: Unpaid care work, poverty and women's / girl's human rights 

Europe/Moldova: Mothers are Illegal workers  (English & Chinese subtitle) documentary

It makes sense to talk about Child Labor after our first two readings as it was briefly mentioned in Reading 1. For the rest of the unit's readings, I will divide them according to English proficiency and use a more detailed ppt in the classroom.

Child Labor: Tobacco Children in Indonesia (2016)

Videos:
Animation: short intro of Child Labour & Poverty剝離童心behind the scenes(English & Chinese)
Uzbek : Child labour in the cotton field, forced by the govt (Chinese & English)

Taiwan 2017 Human trafficking: Vietnamese children were sold to fake parents in Taiwan

越南童工被賣到台灣 (Chinese)
Coal Boy in India (Chinese subtitle)
Syria Child labour  (English & Chinese) 敘利亞童工

Food Scarcity: Food Shortages in Venezuela (2014), Stealing Food Is Not a Crime (2016)
Extra: True Cost of Food
Song: Pearls (Sade)

POVERTY Part 2: Taiwan

Part 3: Solutions

October 17- International Day for Eradication of Poverty 國際消除貧困日
Film: Living on One Dollar (2013) 56 minutes (also on Netflix Taiwan with traditional subs)
EXTRA: Stevie Wonder headlines anti-poverty concert in Central Park

EXTRA: Japan Japan's Rising Child Poverty,

Projects/Extra:

• Use picture books that depict how communities have resisted and grown in poverty.
• Look for opportunities to engage in joint projects instead of community service with students.
• Ask families for input; build home-to-school connections.
• Generate and maintain a dialogue between the student and his family around topics related to wealth and poverty.
• Leverage community resources.
• Offer service-learning that forges partnerships between students and members of the community.
• Identify gaps in resources locally—and then examine economic systems of injustice more broadly.
• Poverty shopping (Teacher Adam). This is to show the student how difficult it really is to live on a low income. The class will form groups and will become a family. They will have 20,000 for their group to live on for one month. They must list everything they will buy and the prices. Everything must be realistic. Once they have completed their list inform them of other cost they may have forgotten. Rent: $5000 Electric: $1000 Cellphone: $400 per person Cable TV: $200 Transpiration: $400 per scooter or car Clothes: $1000 Etc. Once the class has finished explaining their expenses ask then how much money their families would need to earn to comfortably live. Then ask them what kinds of jobs would allow them to earn that much money. Explain to them that these are the kinds of jobs that their parents have and this is the kind of situation their parents go thought every month. Explain that the difference between their lives and poverty is not really that great. All it would take is someone losing the ability to make money or having to accept job that pays much less to upset their lifestyle.

Poverty Sources:

http://www.thepovertyline.net/taiwan/
http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/cycle-poverty
https://www.daraja-academy.org/girls-education-effective-tool-fight-global-poverty/
https://www.one.org/international/blog/10-times-nelson-mandela-was-spot-on-about-ending-extreme-poverty-2/
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-poverty-education-lessons
https://www.malala.org/girls-education
http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/eslclass/poverty.htm
Taiwan Fund for Children and Families
#GlobalPOV Project 
http://www.esletc.com/category/poverty-wealth/
http://www.esletc.com/esl-materials/global-issues-esl-activities/#worldwealth
http://rethinkingschools.aidcvt.com/publication/rg/RGPoverty.shtml

Ethical Issues for Esl Faculty: Social Justice in Practice

Living in Poverty Group Presentation

Polluted Lake Remains Poor's Lifeline

Food Scarcity Sources:
https://kidworldcitizen.org/2013/09/09/great-lessons-teach-kids-about-hunger-food-insecurity/
http://www.henry4school.fr/Food/world-hunger.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/15/alarm-bells-we-cannot-ignore-world-hunger-rising-for-first-time-this-century