ESL / EFL Lesson Plan on Japan's Economic Woes

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Japanese economy hitting record lows
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0812/081223-japanese_economy.html
Contents
The Article
2

Warm-ups
3

Before Reading / Listening
4

While Reading / Listening
5

Listening Gap Fill
6

After Reading / Listening
7

Student Survey
8

Discussion
9

Language Work
10

Writing
11

Homework
12

Answers
13

23rd December, 2008
THE ARTICLE
Japan’s economy is showing signs of slipping into a serious recession. Japanese exports dropped by their largest ever amount in the last quarter. The Japanese Finance Ministry announced on December 22nd that its exports dropped sharply by 27% compared with the previous year. This represents a whopping $60 billion fall in export revenues. Japan is being hit badly by the rising Yen. This is making its cars and electrical goods extremely expensive overseas. Sales in its biggest market, the USA, are really suffering. Toshihiro Nagahama, a chief economist with the Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute said: "Japanese exports are in a state of annihilation." The Japanese government predicts worsening times ahead for the world’s second largest economy.
A key sign that Japan`s economy is in trouble is the recent loss reported by Toyota. Executives from the biggest carmaker in Japan said the company will experience its first loss in 71 years. It expects to lose over $1.6 billion. This is a considerable downturn from 2007, when it made profits of $2.27 billion and overtook General Motors as the world’s largest car maker. Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said worldwide sales were down for 2008, and could not provide a forecast for 2009. The company said the downturn was because of a “faster than expected contraction of the auto market”. Koichi Ogawa of Daiwa Investments said: "This is very, very, very bad. There`s a chance Toyota could also fall into the red in the next business year."

WARM-UPS
1. ECONOMY: Walk around the class and talk to other students about the economy. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your partner(s) and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

signs of slipping /recession / exports / electrical goods / Yen / suffering / annihilation / key sign / losses / executives / downturns / forecasts / very bad / falling into the red

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. VERY, VERY, VERY BAD: How bad is the global recession? With your partner(s), complete the table below. Share what you wrote with other students for more ideas. Decide as a class who has the best ideas to help the world economy.
Industry
Problem
How to help

Cars



Airlines



Banking



Skiing



Housing



4. RECOVERY: Students A strongly believe the world economy will recover soon; Students B strongly believe the world economy will take many years to recover. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
5. 2009: What are your predictions for 2009?. Talk about these things with your partner(s). Change partners and talk again.
Toyota
The global auto industry
Your country’s economy
McDonald’s
The travel industry
English schools
The superpowers
Other _____________________

6. RECESSION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘recession’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
BEFORE READING / LISTENING
1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
a.
Japanese exports sunk to their lowest ever levels.
T / F

b.
Japan’s exports fell by 60% over the period of one year.
T / F

c.
Japanese goods have become ridiculously cheap in overseas markets.
T / F

d.
China is the biggest market for Japanese goods.
T / F

e.
Toyota experienced only its second loss in the past seven decades.
T / F

f.
In 2007, Toyota became the world’s largest car maker.
T / F

g.
Toyota’s president could not make a sales prediction for 2009.
T / F

h.
An analyst said Toyota could also record losses for 2009.
T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match