Who's Afraid of the Crisis?
It’s important to discuss acute problems during classes of English. It makes studies both interesting and effective. In my classes I introduce some basic economic notions so that my students could discuss current events.
Here are some words and expressions to the topic “Economic crisis”. After the presentation of these expressions students make up dialogues with the words below. Sometimes we render an article from Russian into English using these words.
The crisis evolves:
1. tough year – тяжелый год
Next year is set to be at least as tough as this year.
2. recession – эк. регресс, спад; снижение, падение (производства, спроса на товары, цен и т. п.)
to go into a recession – оказаться в кризисной ситуации
to come out of a recession – выходить из кризиса
3. a full financial meltdown – полный финансовый спад
4. go into decline – идти на спад
The economy is expected to go into decline again.
5. the economy shrinks – экономика идёт на спад
When the economy shrinks, governments need to spend more on benefits while getting less tax income.
6. suffer declines – претерпевать снижение
All non-food sectors, apart from household goods, suffered declines in sales.
7. plummet – резко падать
but, those sales have plummeted
8. costly – дорогой, дорогостоящий
costly research and development of new technologies
Unemployment is inevitable:
9. cut-backs – сокращения
cut-backs elsewhere have been painful
10. redundancy – сокращение штатов (увольнение из-за отсутствия работы, из-за излишка рабочей силы или из-за неспособности нанимателя выплачивать заработную плату)
large-scale redundancies; redundancies everywhere – повсеместное сокращение штатов
11. lay off – увольнять
This would lead to 700,000 workers being laid off.
12. it’s time for a pay cut – время снижать зарплату
13. exceed – превышать, выходить за пределы
Unemployment could well exceed four million.
14. the highest levels of unemployment – высочайший уровень безработицы
15. weed out the weak – избавляться от слабых
Yet the crisis has done little to weed out the weak.
Most people feel the same about the crisis:
16. recession-weary audiences – уставшие от экономического спада
17. cash-strapped – безденежный
Motor shows are expensive affairs, so some cash-strapped carmakers – such as Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu and Cadillac – have opted to stay away.
There are some obvious solutions to the crisis:
18. slash production – сокращать производство
plunging demand for smth – снижающийся спрос на что-л.
…with rivals slashing production in the face of plunging demand for cars.
19. reduce funding – сокращать финансирование
Labour says the Conservatives would reduce funding for projects vital to restoring the economy’s fortunes.
20. cut costs – снижать расходы
21. cut back on smth. – сокращать
Paramount is cutting back on the number of films it makes.
The crisis can not last forever:
22. gain employment – получить работу
Many of them have little chance of gaining similar employment in the future.
23. emerge from – выходить из
To reinforce hopes that the UK was emerging from recession.
24. on the road to recovery – на пути к выздоровлению
But Gordon Brown says the economy is “on the road to recovery.”
It’s interesting to discuss some quotations of eminent people concerning the crisis for deeper understanding of how the crisis evolves. While discussing these quotes, think: what types of crisis can a person experience in their life? which quotes do you find especially interesting and inspiring?
Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.
Anton Chekhov
At every crisis in one’s life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.
Woodrow Wilson
Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
Charles de Gaulle
I understand that it’s hard for everyone, but one cannot give in to emotions...we’ll have to draw lessons from the current crisis and now we’ll have to work on overcoming it.
Boris Yeltsin
I will not let anyone tell me we must spend more money. This crisis did not come about because we issued too little money but because we created economic growth with too much money and it was not sustainable growth.
Angela Merkel
Next week there can’t be any crisis. My schedule is already full.
Henry A. Kissinger
The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.
H.G. Wells
There’s nothing like a family crisis, especially a divorce, to force a person to re-evaluate his life.
Michael Douglas
When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
John F. Kennedy
You can’t relate to a superhero, to a superman, but you can identify with a real man who in times of crisis draws forth some extraordinary quality from within himself and triumphs but only after a struggle.
Timothy Dalton
But there are positive sides to the crisis, too. For those who are not aware of them it would be instructive to sing a song about the lack of money and how it can be gained. ABBA’s song “Money, money, money”.
I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay.
Ain’t it sad,
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me.
That’s too bad.
In my dreams I have a plan,
If I got me a wealthy man,
I wouldn’t have to work at all, I’d fool around and have a ball,
Refrain:
Money, money, money,
Must be funny,
In the rich man’s world,
Money, money, money,
Always sunny,
In the rich man’s world.
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do,
If I had a little money.
It’s a rich man’s world.
A man like that is hard to find but I can’t get him off my mind.
Ain’t it sad,
And if he happens to be free I bet he wouldn’t fancy me.
That’s too bad.
So I must leave, I’ll have to go,
To Las Vegas or Monaco,
And win a fortune in a game, my life will never be the same.
Refrain:
Money, money, money,
Must be funny,
In the rich man’s world.
Money, money, money,
Always sunny,
In the rich man’s world.
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do,
If I had a little money.
It’s a rich man’s world. (2 times)
Here is another creative assignment I give to my students. Each of them takes a piece of plasticine and makes a figure of the crisis as they understand it. And after this, they make something positive out of that very piece of plasticine. It goes without saying that students have to explain the meaning of their works. Here are some examples:
 George Bush’s face, Evil and a hedgehog as personification of the crisis |
 Plasticine dollars as personification of the crisis |
 Bread as personification of the crisis |
Articels used for this publication:
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8253196.stm
Crowded car industry eyes electric future. By Jorn Madslien, Business reporter. BBC News, Frankfurt Sunday, 13 September 2009
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8253331.stm
TUC warns of four million jobless
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8258424.stm
Can Hollywood transform its fortunes? By David Willis. Wednesday, 16 September 2009
4. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/crisis.html