Unlocking Word Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
1. scrap (v.) – to throw something away or stop doing an activity because it is no longer useful or effective
Example: My friend decided to scrap her old bicycle after it broke.
2. mismanagement (n.) –
careless or wrong management
Example: The University lost a lot of money
because of the president’s mismanagement.
3. overrun (n.) – to go
beyond the limit such as time or budget
Example: We keep record of company expenses in
order to avoid overruns in the
budget.
4. restore (v.) –
to bring something back to an
earlier and better condition
Example: The city officials restored the old gymnasium by fixing its broken floors.
5. impoverished (adj.)-
lacking wealth or strength
Example: Impoverished
countries which still struggle with their economy suffered the most during
the recession.
Article
Read the text below.
Read the text below.
Famous singer Madonna plans to establish 10
new schools in the African nation of Malawi with the help of buildOn, a non-profit international
organization that builds schools in developing countries.
In 2011, Madonna and the charity she
co-founded, Raising Malawi, planned to build a school capable of educating
400 girls, but the project was scrapped
due to mismanagement and cost overruns. Madonna had to fire the
board members of Raising Malawi, after the charity spent $3.8 million on the
project and produced no results.
Madonna said that this year, Raising Malawi
will keep its promise to educate Malawi’s children thanks to its new partner buildOn. The organization buildOn, founded by Jim Ziolkowski in
1991, has already constructed 54 primary schools in Malawi in the last 19
years.
Madonna hopes the ten schools which will be built by
the two organizations will be able to educate at least 1,000 children every
year, half of which will be girls. This is double the number of children she
planned to help in her earlier project.
The singer also added that constructing
smaller schools with buildOn has restored her belief that she and Raising
Malawi can accomplish the goal of educating children, especially young girls in the impoverished country.
Situated in Southeast Africa, Malawi is ranked
by the United Nations as one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. More
than half a million children in Malawi have lost their parents due to the
rampant spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.
Madonna, who has adopted two children from
Malawi, continues to help children in the country despite her busy schedule.
The pop star has so far lent $11 million to her Raising Malawi charity.
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Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion A
·
How
do you feel about celebrities who are involved in charitable work?
·
If
you can help anyone in the world, who would you choose to support? Why?
Discussion B
·
Why do
you think some countries suffer from poverty?
·
How can education help countries rise above
poverty?
