english

• When a BBC camera crew went to Ethiopia in October 1984, they filmed what was to become one of the tragedies of the twentieth century, the great Ethiopian famine
• The film showed aid workers with very little to offer trying to feed a few of the thousands who were crowding into the hot, dusty refugee camp, desperate for food and shelter
• Seeing the people on television with skeletal limbs, shrunken heads, and huge vacant eyes

  Made Geldof's problems seem very trivial
• Geldof stayed awake full of anger at this human tragedy


  Wondering what he could do to help
• Geldof's plan to help


  Record a song with other pop musicians and give all the profits to Ethiopia
• Geldof's recording company promised to record the song for free, and soon he had many offers and agreements
• Six big record stores agreed not to take a share of the profits and a huge British chemical company contributed the vinyl for making the record
• A studio donated free recording time
• Recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

  A large group of stars assembled at the studio to sing the song, with each star singing a couple of lines from each verse and the rest playing along and joining the catchy chorus
• Geldof pushed the song on TV and radio, telling listeners, "The price of a life this year is a piece of plastic with a hole in the middle. Even if you hate the song, buy it anyway and throw it away"
• The song became the UK's biggest selling single ever with over 8.1 million copies sold around the world
• Some people even bought the records by the box and sent them out as Christmas cards
• By January 1985, the record and associated sales had raised over 8 million pounds
• Geldof's next problem was how best to spend the money

  He went to Ethiopia himself to make direct contact with people he wanted to help, to ensure that governments and aid organizations did not use the money for other purposes but that only the people in need would profit
• Bob Geldof is a singer and musician who achieved success with the group "Boomtown Rats" and has become a leading figurehead in promoting charitable events and debt relief for the developing world and Africa in particular
• Geldof was born in Ireland in 1951 and was educated at a private Catholic school, though he later said he didn't enjoy his time there because of its Catholic ethos and bullying for his lack of rugby prowess
• After leaving school, Geldof gained certain odd jobs but was not inspired by any of them, so he went to Canada to work as a music journalist
• In 1975, Bob Geldof became the lead singer of the "Boomtown Rats" a punk rock band
• British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was so impressed by his charity entrepreneurship following the Band Aid and Live Aid (1985) efforts, she had him knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, which made him the first pop star to receive a knighthood (albeit honorary due to his Irish citizenship)
• Live Aid is the broadcast of the biggest benefit concert in history, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief
• A person may find it hard to go out of his or her way to help the needy but once a person is driven by strong will and passion to be involved, nothing can hinder him or her from helping others
• Bob Geldof, an Irish rock singer and a very unlikely hero who had a dream, a dream that changed the world
• Cause and effect is a common way to organize information in a text
• Cause and effect passages usually focus on explaining the reason why something occurs or occurred, and time will usually not pass in these paragraphs
• Cause and effect can be in two forms or structures: explaining the reasons why something happened, or explaining the results of an action
• When students are allowed to chew gum


  They are more worried about having it, popping it, chewing it, and snapping it than they are in listening, writing, reading, and learning
• This is why the teacher doesn't allow students to chew gum in their class
• Cause and effect passages

  Focus on explaining the reason why something occurs or occurred, and time will usually not pass in these paragraphs
• Cause and effect passages

  May be in two forms or structures, as shown in these graphic organizers
• Driven by his passion to help Ethiopia and its people


  Bob Geldof decided to act
• How Bob Geldof raised funds for Ethiopia

  1. Started ringing his friends in the pop world

  2. Many agreed to help

  3. His recording company promised to record his song for free

  4. Six big record stores agreed to give all their profits to the cause

  5. A British chemical company gave the vinyl for making the record

  6. A studio donated free recording time

  7. On November 25, a large group of stars assembled at the studio to 'sing Bob's song "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

  8. By January 1985, the record sales had raised over 8 million pounds
• Text 1 follows structure A, text 2 follows structure B
• Signal words for cause-effect noted in the text include because, as a result, and leads to
• As a result of what Bob Geldof had seen on television about people with skeletal limbs, shrunken heads, and huge vacant eyes

  His problems seemed trivial
• Trivial means ordinary, of little worth
• Other expressions that signal cause-effect relationship include cause, effect, consequently, since, reasons why
• Cause-effect relationships as context clues

  • Because of the war, camps of refugees were established to take care of homeless victims desperate for food and shelter
  • The strong campaign of Bob Geldof caused a huge profit from the sales of his record, raising over 8 million pounds
  • The great Ethiopian famine became one of the tragedies of the 20th century because aid workers had very little food to feed the thousands of hungry people
  • Because of his promise to directly give every cent of the money to feed starving people, he went to Ethiopia himself to make personal contact with people he wanted to help
• A cause-and-effect text explains reasons and results of phenomena, happenings, situation, or trends
• When an author gives reasons why something happened, he or she is explaining what caused an effect. Reasons are causes and the thing that happens is the effect
• Helping others by volunteering your time, money, passion, talent, blessing or energy to help others doesn't just make the world better it also makes you better. Studies indicate that the very act of giving back to the community boosts your happiness, health, and sense of well-being