clil WORKSHEETS

Politics
Headway
New

The G8 – Tackling today’s issues on a global scale Intermediate FOURTH EDITION

1 Work with a partner. Write the name of the countries under the flags. Which of these countries
is not a member of the G8?

1  ______________ 2  ______________ 3  ______________ 4  ______________ 5  ______________

2 With your partner, underline the correct option.

1 G8 stands for the Group of Eight / Great Eight.
2 The G8 countries make up approximately 65% / 85% of the Gross World Product.
3 The G8 meetings are called conventions / summits.
4 The G8 started in 1975 as the G5 / G6.
5 The original members were France, Germany, Japan, the US, the UK, and Italy / Spain.
6 It became the G7 when Canada / Russia joined in 1976.
7 It became the G8 when Canada / Russia joined in 1997.

3 Read the article. Check your answers.

G8 The Group of Eight, or G8 as it is more commonly known, is an

international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together,
these countries make up approximately 65% of the Gross World Product.

The idea of a forum for the world’s major industrialized Other important countries with fast growing
countries came out of the 1973 oil crisis and global recession. economies are invited to attend the G8 meetings. These
In 1974, the United States created the Library Group, an countries are Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South
informal gathering of senior officials from the Ministries of Africa, and they are known as the Outreach Five (O5) or
Finance of the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, and France. the Plus Five. The O5 make up approximately 11% of the
The next year, the French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Gross World Product, which is relatively small compared
organized a meeting for the heads of government from these to that of the G8. However, they make up approximately
six countries. The six leaders agreed to an annual meeting or 42% of the world’s population, compared to 13% in the
summit, and formed the ‘Group of Six’ (G6). These summits G8 countries, so their involvement is essential when
would allow leaders to talk directly to each other about discussing global issues such as climate change.
shared problems, without all the usual bureaucracy and Every year, the presidency and responsibility of hosting
media attention of a big meeting. In 1976, Canada joined and the G8 summit rotates though the member states. The
the group became the Group of Seven or G7. holder of the presidency sets the agenda, and hosts the
At the 1994 Summit in Naples, Russian officials held summit for that year. The summits are often a target for
meetings with the leaders of the G7 and Russia formally anti-globalization protests and now take place behind
joined the group in 1997, resulting in the Group of Eight or very high security. The G8 members can agree on plans
G8. There is a ninth member of the G8, the European Union. and set objectives. Although these plans and objectives
The aims of the G8 are to boost cooperation over are not legally binding for any of the countries involved,
trade and finance; to strengthen the global economy; governments can, and often do, comply with them.
to promote peace and democracy; and to prevent and
resolve conflict.

New Headway Intermediate  fourth edition   Photocopiable   © Oxford University Press 2009 CLIL Worksheets  1
 politics The G8 The
United Kingdom
4 Match the underlined words and phrases from the text on
p1 with their meaning.
1 the monetary value of the total annual goods and
services in the world _______
2 invites leaders to their country for an important
meeting _______
3 action against corporations which are operating
internationally _______
4 the period when businesses and industry throughout
the world are not successful _______
5 the administration of rules made by the Location Western Europe
government _______
Population 60,975,000
6 a meeting where people from different countries can
discuss ideas _______ Capital London
7 important people in government or Government Constitutional monarchy
organizations _______ Currency British pound (GBP)
8 to agree on a result you try to achieve _______
GDP – real growth rate 3.1% (2007 est.)
5 Read the text again and answer the questions. GDP – per capita (PPP) $35,100 (2007 est.)
1 What was the Library Group ? Public debt 43% of GDP (2007 est.)
2 Who are the G8? Agriculture – products cereals, oilseed, potatoes,
3 Who is the ‘ninth’ member of the G8? vegetables, cattle, sheep,
4 What are the main aims of the G8? poultry, fish
5 Who are the Outreach Five? Industries heavy industry, including
6 Why is security a problem at the G8 summits? shipbuilding, aircraft
and car manufacturing,
7 How important is the G8?
information technology,
6 Look at the profile of the UK, one of the G8 countries. petrochemicals, food
Complete the paragraph about the UK with information processing
from the chart.
The UK is a group of islands off Western Europe. It
What do you think? consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Imagine you are hosting the G8 summit, which of these Ireland. It has a population of (1) __________ , of
topics is the most important: whom over 50,000,000 live in England. The capital
c Peace in the Middle East city is (2) __________ , and it is a parliamentary
c Aid for the developing world – debt relief / initiatives to democracy with a (3) __________ monarchy.
counter disease Although a member of the European Union,
c Reconstructing Iraq the currency is not the euro, it is the British
c Global warming (4) __________ .
c Dealing with international terrorism
In 2007, its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was
(5) __________ in real terms, and in the same year
Project
the average income per capita was (6) __________
Choose another G8 country and write per annum. The public debt was approximately 43% of
a paragraph (150–200 words). Find out the GDP.
more using the Internet, newspaper
articles or magazines. Prepare a poster Its agricultural products are: (7) __________ ,
or PowerPoint presentation of your oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry;
profile. (8) __________ . Its industrial products are heavy
(9) __________ , including shipbuilding, aircraft
and car (10) __________ , information technology,
petrochemicals and food processing.

New Headway Intermediate  fourth edition   Photocopiable   © Oxford University Press 2009 CLIL Worksheets  2