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Anti-tobacco treaty begins

The world's first anti-tobacco __________, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, went into effect yesterday with 167 countries signed up to it and 57 countries ratifying it. The United States and China are still yet to ratify it, which __________ fears the overall effectiveness of the treaty may be weakened. Ratifying it means the Framework is legally binding and countries must follow __________ regulations for tobacco products, including banning advertising and controlling smoking in public places. It is hoped that the treaty will greatly reduce the number of deaths from smoking worldwide. Adults will be __________ to kick the habit and children will be __________ from starting it. The World Health Organization believes smoking accounts for five million deaths a year. It is the second leading cause of __________ deaths. The WHO's coordinator of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Douglas Bettcher, says the treaty could do much to reduce global passion for smoking, "It is an historical moment and we are very confident that this treaty is going to save lives. ... It has already started off a __________ process globally and we are very confident that it is going to continue to do so and it is going to prove itself as a very effective public health tool to really __________ this unacceptable burden of disease and death." strict dissuaded powerful raises treaty curb preventable persuaded

Ex.11. TRUE/FALSE:Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

Ex.12. SYNONYMS:Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

Ex.13. PHRASE MATCH:Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

Ex.14. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

Ex.15. VOCABULARY: Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

Ex.16. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

Ex.17. QUESTIONS:Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

Ex.18. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

Ex.19. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3

questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners

to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

Ex.20. ‘ANTI’/ ‘TOBACCO’: Students make questions based on their findings from the article.

Ex.21. DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions:

a. What do you think of this article?

b. Will the treaty work?

c. Why haven’t the United States and China ratified the treaty?

d. Should tobacco be classed as an illegal drug?

e. What thing do you hate most about smoking?

f. What do you do / think when your friends smoke?

g. Does smoking look cool?

h. Why are tobacco ads full of sexy, healthy-looking people doing exercise?

i. Are tobacco companies killers?



j. Where is the worst place to smell cigarette smoke?

k. Are there any people you really want to persuade to kick the habit?

l. How would you feel if a younger brother / sister started to smoke?

m. Teacher / Student additional questions.

Ex.22. WHY SMOKE?: Students talk in pairs/groups about the following quotes relating smoking:

Knowledge and education:

"The less educated you are, the more likely you are to smoke"

Professor Richard Peto, researcher for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund

Advertising and the media:

The tobacco industry has been accused of targeting groups like young people, women, and ethnic minorities:

"We don't smoke that shit. We just sell it. We just reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and the stupid."

Tobacco company executive in 1990, quoted in a BBC documentary

"We try to tap the emerging independence and self-fulfillment of women, to make smoking a badge to express that.

"Advertiser working for a 'feminine' cigarette brand in the 1980s

Stress and lifestyle:

"Lung cancer rates are 5 times higher among the unemployed than professionals. It's not because stress causes lung cancer, it's because stress causes smoking"

Professor Richard Peto, researcher for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund

Other: Role models and peer group? Money? Self-confidence? Family attitudes to

smoking?

Ex.23. FLYER: Design and make a handout for parents to read on smoking trends. Here you can mix words, pictures and graphic information.

Ex.24. SMOKE OPERA: Improvise a scene from a soap opera. First decide on a cast of characters, including a variety of people (age, sex, work, personality, religion etc) as you would get in a soap opera. Use the smoke opera character sheet below to help you prepare what they are like. (Explain what a soap opera is). Then act out a scene from an episode where the owner of the local meeting place (e.g. a café) decides on a smoking ban. Role play the arguments which develop between your characters

(SMOKE OPERA CHARACTER FILE)

  • Name:
  • Age:
  • Job, or school/college details:
  • Personality type:
  • Any scandal or gossip on my character:
  • Likes and dislikes:
  • Hobbies and interests:
  • Who I get on with/argue with in the soap:
  • Love life:
  • Who I live with:
  • Health profile:
  • Non-smoker?:
  • Never or ex-smoker?
  • Attitudes to smoking?
  • Smoking :
  • How many ?
  • Why and when started?
  • Attitude to cigarettes?
  • Quit attempts?

Ex.25. SMOKER’S VIEW:What do you think of the pro-smoking arguments?:

FOREST (a smokers' rights group funded by the tobacco industry) says employers shouldn't ban smoking at work because:

* it gives the company a bad image if employees smoke outside the door

* workers won't be able to be contacted if they are outside smoking

* fire risks are more likely from sneaky smoking (e.g. in the toilet)

* employees who smoke will feel tense and angry

* it might divide the workforce

An American survey looked at 18,000 employees following smoking bans at work - and found that the number of smokers went down by 5%, and that smokers smoked 10% fewer cigarettes as a result.

A smoker who takes a 10-minute cigarette break, 9 times a day, loses a whole working day per week.

FOREST argues that people like restaurant managers should decide on smoking policies - "according to the needs of their business".

Ex.26. SMOKING LAWS ON TRIAL: Role-play characters in the following

court cases. After the role plays, come out of your roles and discuss the arguments presented.

The Cases:

Case 1 - Lung cancer - who's responsible?

A 60-a-day smoker wants to sue the tobacco company which makes the cigarettes she has been smoking since she was 15 years old. Now she's 52, and has a year to live because she's got lung cancer.

Would you give the smoker compensation?

Would you make the tobacco company pay a punishment fine?

Case 2 - A smoke-free night out - your right?

An asthma sufferer goes to a rock concert. She becomes ill due to people smoking, and is forced to leave.

Who, if anyone, is to blame?

Should the asthma sufferer get compensation?

Case 3 - Cigarette sales to children - who's responsible?

A shop keeper is caught selling cigarettes to an under-16 year old. The child has been sent under-cover to the shop by the local council.

Should the shop keeper be fined?

What should happen to a child under-14 caught buying cigarettes?

ADDITIONAL TASKS

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the treaty. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER: Write a letter to a tobacco company executive explaining your views on cigarettes.

4. PUBLIC POLICY: You are the leader of your country. Create a list of rules

about when and where smokers can smoke, complete with penalties for not following these rules.

5. RUSSIAN ARTICLE TRANSLATION: Translate the Russian language article from the ADDENDUM (Russian articles).

 

Unit III

Topics: 1. The TIR Convention

The CITES

Grammar revision: English verb tenses

Text 1

The TIR CONVENTION

International carriage of cargo by road vehicles involves crossing the borders of one or more countries and passing through customs clearance and control.

To simplify the formalities and to minimize delays at the borders the TIR Convention was signed in 1975 and came into force in 1978.

TIR is the abbreviation for Customs Convention on the International Transportation of Goods. The TIR system allows to replace expensive physical

inspection in the countries of transit for checking seals and the external conditions of the vehicle. It contains four main requirements:

(1) With regard to security it requires that goods must be carried in such road vehicles or compartments of containers that no goods can be removed from or introduced into the sealed part of the vehicle without breaking customs seal.

(2) The second principle is the guarantee system. The system ensures that customs duties and taxes during transit operations are paid at any moment by a National Guaranteeing Association, if the transport operator cannot be held responsible.

(3) The third principle is the TIR Carnet. The goods must be accompanied by an internationally accepted document – Carnet, issued at the check point within the country of departure and serving as a control document at the borders in the countries of departure, transit and destination.

(4) The last principle is the international recognition of customs control measures: when goods are transported under this transit regime, the Customs office of departure checks the goods, seals the vehicle, reports it in the TIR Carnet and the cargo is transported without further unloading and inspection in the countries of departure, transit and destination.

When the cargo arrives at the Customs office of destination, they become responsible for the goods to be transferred to another Customs procedure.

Nowadays the Convention has been signed by more than 50 Contracting Parties. It covers the European Union, North Africa, Near and Middle East, the USA, Canada, Chile and Uruguay. A number of countries in Western and Central Africa and Latin America are also considering the establishment of the TIR system.

Since 1978 the Convention has proved that it is one of the most successful transit systems because it contains provisions for a multi-modal transit regime in line with modern techniques and requirements and offers transport operators and Customs authorities a simple, cost-effective and safe regime for the international transportation of goods across frontiers.


Date: 2016-01-14; view: 471


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