Speaking and listening - group

Preparation and Planning

The materials and activities provided could easily span two or even three lessons, depending on student ability and the amount of time you would like to allow for discussion. It would be worthwhile looking at the suggested timings in the lesson plan grid and deciding whether to break the content across multiple sessions.

Some of the activities for this lesson involve multi-media. If you are able, ensure you have access to a laptop and overhead or whiteboard projector. This hardware is not imperative for lesson delivery, but will certainly aid students in their understanding of the defence context.

Ensure that you photocopy enough Student Worksheets for the whole class. All Worksheets are designed to be used in groups. You may however, want to supply more than one copy per group. Students might like to accompany their presentations with some visual aids so you may want to supply flipcharts and pens for them.

About the MOD Topic

On 8th October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan-administered Kashmir. As of the 8th of November 2005, the Pakistani Government's official death toll was 73,276, with many more casualties and an estimated 3.3 million homeless. Relief efforts in many remote villages were troubled, as most of the affected people lived in mountainous regions where roads were buried in rubble and a lot of the worst hit areas were inaccessible. In most of the affected areas there was no power, or sufficient food or water.

The distribution of relief supplies was particularly urgent due to the onset of winter, during which some of the region can reach minus 18 degrees. '... a second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now', Kofi Annan said on the 20th of October with reference to the thousands of survivors that had not been reached.

The MOD deployed Royal Navy, Army and RAF personnel and resources to assist with the humanitarian crisis. These individuals, in conjunction with the Department for International Development (DfID) and civilian aid organisations were integral to the operation, transporting food, medical equipment and shelter materials. They were also instrumental in evacuating victims, providing medical care and constructing shelters for the many victims, both immediately after the earthquake and longer term. Diplomatic efforts by the British Government were essential because of the location of the earthquake near the politically sensitive border between Pakistan and India. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) worked closely with the MOD to ensure safe access and cooperation for MOD, Civilian and UK Armed Forces working in the area.

UK military contribution included:
Army Commando Engineers from North Devon and Royal Marine Commandos from Plymouth built 73 shelters to replace schools and health centres before the arrival of the harsh winter. All the shelters were built at high altitude and in isolated areas.

Three Chinook helicopters of 27 (EM) Squadron Royal Air Force delivered almost 1,600 tonnes of aid to the more remote parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A team of British Army and Royal Navy Logistics Officers worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre, helping to plan the co-ordinated delivery of aid to people located in the affected areas of earthquake-hit Pakistan.

Three RAF C-130 Hercules were involved in a six week life-saving mission to take essential aid from Europe into Pakistan. They had carried out 22 trips, delivering 292 tonnes of aid via the NATO airbridge.

A Joint Media Operations Team (JMOT) provided coverage of the UK response in order to heighten overall public awareness of the positive contributions that the UK made to the relief effort and to help reassure the Pakistan, Indian and Kashmiri communities in Britain.

Three medics provided supervision of casualties carried on return CH47 Chinook helicopter sorties, transferring them from landing zones to Islamabad.

A two-man Mobile Air Operations Team (MAOT) was deployed in response to a UN request to survey landing zones to the north of Islamabad, in order to assess the possibility of using a new operating base to ease the aviation congestion difficulties.

Over 23,000 ration packs were sent to Pakistan, including vegetarian and halal packs. All of the ration packs and water were provided to the World Food Programme for distribution.

Further Opportunities for Learning

As a class, create a living graph, ranking aid issues during humanitarian aid crises in order of perceived importance. To create a living graph, draw a line on the floor, or lay a tape measure on the floor, with one end of the line representing lowest priority and the other highest. Students should stand at various points in the line to reflect levels of importance for each item as they perceive them.

If students have responded well to this lesson, you may like to hold further class discussions on the following topic: why does the UK Government spend so much money on humanitarian aid in other countries when it should be spending it fixing problems within the UK?

Ask students to use humanitarian aid as a topic for their extended oral contribution, researching the subject further and using PowerPoint to present their ideas back to the class.

Ask students to write an advertisement for inclusion in a magazine, appealing for more funding for the earthquake crisis. They can do this using the lesson materials, or they may like to use the internet to conuct their own research online.

Students may like to extend their Citizenship learning by involving themselves in charity campaigning, appealing for funds within the school using the techniques of persuasion that they have learnt.

Student worksheet answers

Download the teachers notes PDF to access the answers for this lesson.