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com

Speaking Activity for Upper- Intermediate Level Students

• Where would you see this kind of advert? How does it make you feel? Have
you ever given money to a charity? Why or why not?

PETPAWS

Please give €10 a month and help us save these innocent
animals.

This beautiful kitten is Monty. Monty’s owners left her outside in the rain to starve.
When we found Monty she was suffering from sever malnutrition and ticks. Now
she has been re-homed and is with a loving family.

Lucy was found tied to a pole. She was so nervous it took her ages before she could
trust anyone properly again. Lucy was one of the lucky ones. She was adopted by
the vet who looked after her, Mary.

Don’t turn away. Your €10 a month can make a huge difference to
animals who don’t have a voice.

Call 0800222314 and make a donation today. Thank you!

PetPaws is a registered charity.

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You are a member of a local animal shelter/rescue committee. You have just been
awarded €2 million by the E.U. to address the problem of stray cats and dogs in Malta.

Discuss with a partner how you could best utilise the money. Try to think of some long-
term solutions to the problem.

Ideas to consider:

• Animal cruelty

• Building/ Housing strays/ kennels/ neutering programmes/foster care

• Social vs owners responsibility/ micro-chipping

• training scholarships

• Medication/ vet services/fundraising activities/

• Education campaign/posters/billboards/leaflets/television spots/celebrity

endorsements

Useful phrases to pre-teach include language functions for expressing strong or mild
opinion/agreement/disagreement/ clarification such as the phrases found in the box
below.

‘I can see your point but’

‘ I completely/partly/somewhat agree with you’ ,
‘ I think that’s a ridiculous/brilliant idea’
‘ I don’t think I can see you point’
‘ do you mean…?’
‘Personally, I feel that…’

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Handout 2- taken from: http://www.spayusa.org/main_directory/02-

facts_and_education/stats_surveys/graphs.asp

Look at the following article take form the website above. Did you come up with any
similar ideas mentioned in the article below?

• Feral in this text means wild or not domesticated animals.

The San Francisco SPCA and The San Francisco County Animal Care & Control
City & County of San Francisco

In 1994, The San Francisco SPCA & Animal Care & Control City & County of San
Francisco joined forces to pursue an ambitious aim: eliminate euthanasia as the common
fate of homeless cats and dogs. The program “Partnerships For Life - Saving Homeless
Dogs & Cats in San Francisco,” is now in its 10th year. This unique partnership between
SF/SPCA, a non-profit and SF/ACC, a city agency has become a model for communities
worldwide.

San Francisco has fundamentally reversed the pattern that prevails at many animal
shelters, where healthy adoptable dogs and cats are routinely killed to make room for
incoming animals.

San Francisco's success is based on several key elements:

• High-volume spay/neuter surgery to reduce pet overpopulation and cut shelter
intake. The SFSPCA spends between $1 million and $2 million a year to
subsidize surgery at its spay/neuter clinic, with free surgery for San Francisco's
feral cats and animals adopted from the SFSPCA, and public fees that are about
60 percent below the city average. The clinic performs approximately 7,000
surgeries a year and has altered more than 100,000 dogs and cats (including more
than 12,000 feral cats) since it began keeping records in 1988.
• Foster care and treatment to prepare dogs and cats for adoption
• Adoption programs to place shelter animals in loving homes
• Partnerships between The SF/SFCA and SF/ACC, and with other shelters, rescue
groups, volunteers and the entire community

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The result: between 1990 and 2002, the number of dogs and cats entering the San
Francisco shelter system dropped by 41 percent, from 13,189 to 7,836. The chart below
illustrates the drop in euthanasias from 2,163 in 2002 to 1,606 in 2003. At the same time,
the adoption rate has increased from 4,975 in 2002 to 5,218 in 2003.

Source:
Tracy Pore
San Francisco SPCA

Ed Sayres
Former Pres. of SF/SPCA

Look at the graph on the next page. What does the data show? The words below are used
to talk about numbers going up or down slowly or quickly. Have a look at them with your
partner. Are there any words you don’t know or are unsure of?

Slight/Marginal increase/decrease
Substantial increase/decrease
Overall increase/decrease
Minor/Major increase or decrease
Figures plummeted/jumped

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