Level II

Chapter 5
Reading

English | Vietnamese

IC3, IT, TOEFL, Best Answer
English | Vietnamese
Assessment

Giảm đói nghèo

Who is an expert in poverty reduction?
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Ai là chuyên gia trong công cuộc giảm đói nghèo?

English Language Lesson

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Introductory Motivation and Focus

Quang Nam Province has given ethnic minority issues considerable attention. Twenty-five percent of the total provincial budget has been given to work related to these issues. As a result, the infrastructure of the mountainous areas in this province has had great improvement. Of the 62 mountainous communes, 43 have car-accessible roads and 12 have access to the national electricity grid. Almost all communes have schools and health centers.

Despite the better facilities, the life of ethnic minorities does not seem to be improving. The question of food security remains unanswered. The average food consumption per capita is continuously decreasing. In 1976, consumption per person per year was 375 kilograms; in 1998, it was 272; and in 2001, it was 180. Hunger is a regular phenomenon in the area. Another dilemma is that although the information facilities are all in place in the ethnic areas, cultural life is stagnant and traditional practices are fading away. The number of people attending schools increases while the literacy rate remains unchanged. (paraphrased from Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, June 2002, on-line version, p. 17 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Indigenous_Peoples/VIE/default.asp)

Answer the following questions either in class discussion or by writing your answers:

1. In your opinion, why are there more ethnic minority people in poverty than the rest of the Vietnamese population?
2. According to the paragraphs, what has been done for the region in order to eradicate poverty?
3. What problems continue despite the efforts of Quang Nam Province?
4. Why do you think this continues to be a problem?
5. What should be the focus on bridging the gap between the mountains and the lowlands in terms of poverty elimination/reduction?
6. Who should be concerned about this problem?

Vocabulary Words & Exercises. Look at the list of words and expressions of the next reading selection. You can learn them later.

Nouns		Adjectives
challenges	elimination	crucial
rate	*ethnic minorities	diverse
population	background	captive
commission	chairman	satisfactory
fault	focus	central
potential	gap	universal
subsistence	settlements	environmental
consequences	illiteracy	extravagant
commodity	calamities	*stagnant
*infrastructure	*access
*facilities	*phenomenon
*dilemma

 

Verbs	Phrases
face	set priorities
blame	poverty stricken
utilize	living standards
shrink	socio-economic
suffer	market economy
reduce	electricity grid
compliment	health care
promote	high-risk regions
*increase	*food security
*decrease	*cultural life
	*fading away
	*literacy rate

*words marked with an asterisk (*) come from the paragraphs above and not from Reading 1.

Building vocabulary: Recognizing parts of speech

It is useful to know the parts of speech of a word in order to figure out the meaning of a new word. In Chapter 4 you have learned some common suffixes that help you to recognize words by their parts of speech. Here are more suffixes:

Nouns		adjectives		adverbs
suffixes	examples	suffixes	examples	suffixes	examples
- ance -ence	importance difference	-ant -ent -ient	important different convenient	-ly	importantly differently
Meaning: action, state or quality of process		Meaning: kind of agent, indication		Meaning: the manner of
-ty -ity	loyalty responsibility	-able -ible	probable responsible	-al+ly -ial+ly -ical+ly	structurally commercially catagorically
Meaning: state or quality		Meaning: worth, ability		Meaning: “-al” quality, relation

Explanation of Reading Study Skill A (Academic Reading Skill):

Scanning for information

Scan for keywords. When you read you sometimes don’t need to understand everything. You just focus on what you want to look for. To scan is to look quickly for specific information. Scanning is an important study tool.

For example, read the following questions. Notice that keywords are highlighted. These are the words you scan for.

• Only three ethnic minority groups live where?
• The majority of the ethnic minority groups live where?
• What have mountainous areas suffered?
• What interventions have caused environmental degradation?
• What is the significance of these numbers? 57%, 8-9%

Only three of the 53 ethnic minority groups, the Cham, the Khmer, and the Hoa, live along the central coast and the Mekong Delta. Some other groups with higher populations and lowland rice cultivation skills (e.g., Tay, Thai, and Muong) live in low areas or valleys, along rivers and streams, where they can grow rice and have access to water resources and transportation. The majority of the ethnic minority population in Viet Nam inhabits remote or mountainous areas. Over the past half century, the mountainous areas have suffered from serious environmental degradation because of such interventions as war, migration, and development programs. In 1943, the forest cover was 57%; by 1979, it was 39% and in 1990 was 26%. In some provinces, forest cover is now only 8–9%. It is estimated that in these areas, 3 to 235 metric tons of soil wash away per hectare of land every year. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 18

By scanning for the keywords, the answers to the questions will be quickly found. If the questions, however, expect you to answer questions beyond the text, then scanning may not be the strategy to use.

Scan for vocabulary words. As students of the English language, you are often asked to find meaning in context. In fact, you are encouraged not to rely on dictionaries all the time. You have been given vocabulary words towards the beginning of the chapter. It is good practice to go over that vocabulary by using the words as keywords with which to scan the reading material. Here scan for sustainable ecosystems:

A number of studies have pointed out that in these areas, ethnic minority groups now have limited access to timber to build their houses, have to travel far to collect firewood, and have dwindling natural resources (fish, wild animals, and other forest products) for their daily needs. Agricultural land and forest, the basic components of sustainable ecosystems of the indigenous communities for thousands of years, have been seriously depleted, leaving the ethnic communities a barren landscape. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 18

When we locate this phrase in the paragraph, we can quickly guess that its meaning has to do with “fish, wild animals” and the forest (found in the preceding sentence in parenthesis). We can quickly see that the paragraph is about ethnic minorities and how they use the forest (wood) and animals “for their daily needs.” Therefore, we can get an idea that sustainable ecosystems has something to do with living off the land or finding all the needs in the forest where they live. Now, this is not a completely accurate definition. Nor would we be able to locate the phrase in the dictionary, but you have quickly grasped the idea of the meaning of the phrase.

Scanning for the Main Idea. From the previous chapters, students understand the importance of the main idea in Western writing. The main idea in a reading includes the topics and ideas of all the paragraphs in an essay, article, or academic piece of writing. As pre-reading activities, we often introduce questions pertaining to the main idea. This is to find out what students already know about the topic. It also stimulates curiosity about the topic. Understanding what students already know and stimulating students to think further enables them to read with more comprehension.

The main idea is often found in the thesis sentence (of an essay) or topic sentence (of a paragraph). In this curriculum students learn where the thesis and topic sentences are located. By now, students should know that in most essays and academic writing the thesis sentence and/or main idea is found at the beginning or end of the first paragraph. To prepare oneself to read, therefore, a person can scan the paragraph for the main idea by reading the first and last sentence of the first paragraph. For example, the following passage is the first paragraph of a chapter on poverty and Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. Read the first and last sentence.

There is a discrepancy between the poverty of the ethnic minority people and the overall population living in mountainous areas. The increasing investment in infrastructure has resulted in better facilities in mountainous areas. However, while some aspects of material life of the ethnic minorities have improved, the social gap in mountainous areas has expanded. Resources intended for ethnic minorities have not effectively reached them. The beneficiaries are mainly the people living in small towns, government staff, and Kinh living in mountainous areas. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 17

By scanning, we can determine that the first sentence is the main idea. We can quickly see that it is an idea that can be expanded. By contrasts, the last sentence is dependent on other parts of the paragraph. So it cannot be the main idea.

Skimming. Skimming is a skill we will focus on in the next and later chapters. For now, we will simply say that skimming is taking a quick glance at the whole essay to get an idea of what is to come in the essay.

Exercises and Activities for Skill A:

Activity 1: Recognizing parts of speech . Are the following words nouns, adjectives, or adverbs? On each line, write n (noun) adj (adjective), or adv (adverb). The first one is done as an example for you.

1. _ n___ occurrence 2. _____ permanent 3. _____ captivity 4. _____ unsuitable 5. _____ productivity 6. _____ directly

7. _____ sustainable 8. _____ teachable 9. _____ community 10. _____ productivity 11. _____ traditionally 12. _____ minority

13. _____ irreversible 14. _____ performance 15. _____ interference 16. _____ extravagant 17. _____ availability 18. _____ notably

Fill in the chart with the missing parts of speech. You can use a dictionary if you wish. You will use some of the suffixes from Chapter Four. The first one is done for you.

nouns	adjectives	adverb
extravagance	extravagant	extravagantly
incidence	incidental
possibility		possible
	patient	patiently
importance	important
sustenance		sustainably
	humane	humanely
preference	preferable	preferably

Activity 2: Pre-Reading. You have been given a list of vocabulary words towards the beginning of the chapter. Scan the paragraphs below to locate your vocabulary words and phrases. Try to find meaning in context. Those words marked with an asterisk (*) are from the two paragraphs at the beginning of the chapter. Scan for those words there.

Activity 3: Scan the following paragraphs and underline the topic statement. That is, read the first and last sentences of the paragraph. Underline the topic sentence. Then, in your own words, paraphrase the main idea.

Paragraph A:

The poverty situation and trends among ethnic minorities need to be viewed in the context of overall strategies for poverty reduction in Viet Nam and their implementation. Viet Nam’s record in reducing poverty has been impressive, in particular during the 1990s. Poverty incidence declined by more than 20% during 1993–1998, from 58% in 1992–93 to 37% in 1998, and the country has by now exceeded some of its international targets in such important areas of poverty reduction as primary school enrolment. Poverty reduction nevertheless remains a serious challenge: almost 40% of the population remain below the poverty line, and many are only marginally above it. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 27

Paraphrase: ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

---

Paragraph B:

Development interventions have dramatically changed the social structure and the traditional cultures of ethnic minority communities. Many positive cultural changes have taken place. For instance, the suppression during the feudal period has been eliminated (mainly in more developed ethnic groups such as the Tay, Thai, and Hmong) and some customs that were proven to be harmful to human health have been eliminated. However, development activities have broken down or weakened the traditional social and cultural structure including systems of values, religious beliefs, standards (customary laws), languages, and local knowledge; also affected are village intellectuals, the traditional family form, and village organization. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 19

Paraphrase: ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

---

Paragraph C:

Poor people in the communes tend to have rice fields near the forest, which increases the risk of encroachment by animals. In Dak Xu commune, some of these households have lost most of their crops because of wild pigs. Hunting and trapping are prohibited. Despite this rule, however, wild pigs and fowls are often hunted to protect the crops and for food. The massive loss of forest area during the development process has had various consequences including soil erosion, drought, and flood, and a dramatic decrease in soil fertility. These problems are all clearly observed by villagers and were pointed out as a cause of poverty. Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam , p. 31

Paraphrase: ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

---

Activity 4: Pre-Reading. Scan Reading 1 below for the main idea of the article. That is, read the first and last sentences of the first paragraph. Circle the number of the one main idea of the reading

1. Ethnic groups face many challenges; therefore, they cannot escape from poverty.
2. Because of Đổi mới policies, ethnic minorities have been able to make economic progress.
3. The Quang Nam Government has given top priorities to improving ethnic groups’ living conditions.
4. Although ethnic groups have overcome poverty, disease, and other environmental problems, more things should be done to bridge the gap between their economic growth and that of the country.

Do you think the main idea is found in the first or last sentence? Why? ___________________________

Reading 1

The Elimination of Poverty Among Minorities is Crucial for Viet Nam

Nationalities Commission Chairman Ksor Phuoc discusses the drive to eliminate poverty in ethnic minority households with Dai Doan Ket (Great Unity) newspaper. ( May 22, 2003)

A. How are Viet Nam’s ethnic groups faring?

Ethnic minorities face many challenges. Their poverty rate is 30 per cent – 14 percent higher than the rest of the population. Their history and diverse backgrounds mean that their economic development has been uneven. President Ho Chi Minh said: "If the people are hungry, the Party and Government are to blame; if the people are uneducated, it’s the Party and Government’s fault." It means that the Party and Government have responsibility for the way people live. As a result, we must design and properly encourage policies that apply to the different ethnic groups. The focus should be on utilizing the economic potential of each ethnic region, improving education and eliminating poverty so as to gradually shrink the gap between the mountains and the lowlands and between minor and major groups throughout the country.

B. What is the cause of poverty in the mountains?

It can be attributed to subsistence farming where the farmers eat all that they grow without thinking of selling their surplus or raising cash crops. Further, because they lack education, they do not utilize the advances in technology that are available and are captive to extravagant customs. Their re-organization into permanent settlements has not been satisfactory. Unskilled officials in mountain communes have made their difficulties worse.

C. Have the ethnic minorities been able to benefit from Đổi mới(renovation) process?

Many have made economic progress because of Đổi mới; many have escaped poverty and disease. The Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands), where the people suffered 80 years of French colonialism and 20 years of American interference so that they were suffering from not only the consequence of battle but poverty, disease, and the consequences of battles, is now free of illiteracy and approaching universal secondary education. People are adapting to commodity agriculture and if the region had not suffered from natural calamities, their living standards would be much higher. Many ethnic groups such as the Gia Lai, Bana and Ede in the Tay Nguyen, the HRe in central Quang Ngai Province, the Cor and Ktu in central Quang Nam Province and Hmong in the north are applying new technology to their farming. Across the country, the State has set priorities and applied the proper socio-economic policies in the ethnic regions. But still we have 2,362 poor communes where living is difficult and more than two million households are poverty stricken. Yet each of these communes has infrastructure and 97 per cent have sealed roads and 80 per cent have access to the electricity grid. All have elementary and secondary schools. It means that the number of households living in poverty throughout Viet Nam has now been reduced to 14 per cent.

D. But how can members of ethnic groups match the country’s pace of development?

Economic development should be based on the potential of each region with a strategy that enables agriculture to compliment the processing industry and trade. Economic growth in these regions needs to be higher than elsewhere so that the people can catch and matchthe pace of the country’s general development. In the meantime, the State will spend more on infrastructure, irrigation, clean water and health care with special attention given to education and training. An important task is to organize a healthy society within ethnic communities that allows the people to maintain and preserve their traditional cultures but eliminates unsuitable customs. In addition, work to promote environmental protection will be done in these high-risk regions. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2003-05/21/Stories/17.htm

Exercises and Activities for Skill A:

After you read:

Activity 5: Getting the main ideas. Write T (true) or F (false) on the lines.

1. _____The poverty rate of ethnic groups is 35 per cent.
2. _____Education can help reduce poverty of ethnic regions.
3. _____Lack of education can be the reason of poverty.
4. _____Universal secondary education results in freedom from illiteracy for Tay Nguyen people.
5. _____Living standards will be higher if ethnic groups have good education.

In the reading selection, there is a capital letter next to each of the four paragraphs. Match each paragraph with its topic. Write the correct letter on the line.

1. _____How Vietnam’s ethnic groups are faring compared to others in the whole country.
2. _____Better living standards resulted from Đổi mới policies.
3. _____Some ways that ethnic groups take to keep up with the national development.
4. _____Reasons of poverty in some mountain communities.

­­­

Explanation of Reading Study Skill B:

Learning to Increase Reading Speed. Because students have to read a lot of material, increasing reading skills are greatly needed. To learn to read quickly, students must practice the skill of reading.

 

Slow readers usually read one word at a time, like this:

Only	three	of	the	53	ethnic	minority	groups
live	along	the	central	coast	and	Mekong	Delta.

 

Average readers usually read short phrases or they put a few words together, like this:

Only three	of the 53	ethnic minority groups	live along
the central coast	and Mekong Delta.

 

Fast readers usually read longer phrases putting several words together.

Only three of 53 ethnic minority groups

live along the central coast

and Mekong Delta.

 
To be a faster reader, practice seeing phases all at once. One can only increase the reading speed with practice. The types of phrases you should be putting together are noun phrases, verb phrases and prepositional phrases:

• noun phrase: adjectives and other words are found before and after a noun.
• verb phrase: noun objects, adjectives and adverbs are connected to a verb.
• prepositional phrase: includes an object after a preposition.

For example:

noun phrases	verb phrase	prepositional phrase
ethnic minority groups poor people in communes the central coast	live along the coast have escaped poverty increases the risk	because of Đổi mới among ethnic minorities with each other

Exercises and Activities for Reading Study Skill B (comprehension):

Activity 1: Circle the noun, verb and prepositional phrases that you can catch with your eyes as you are reading. The first one is done for you:

 

• When a credit program reaches our village, the entrepreneurs can smell it.

• But two years later, when we have to return the loan, our buffaloes are little.

• We always become indebted after a credit program.

• We are encouraged to grow paddy rice but the Government is not interested in buying our

harvest.

• Entrepreneurs manipulate the prices however they want.

Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam , p. 25

Activity 2: Circle the noun, verb and prepositional phrases below:

Coffee plantations began in Kon Tum several years ago, following the example of Dak Lak and Gia Lai. As well as the plantations and commercial farms (mainly belonging to Kinh), many ethnic minority households also have a hectare under coffee. Most of the trees have not been harvested yet, and the price now has fallen by 450%. Many households cannot keep up with the investment any longer and have decided to cut down the coffee trees in order to grow short-term food crops for food security. This suggests a lesson for future projects. (also from Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction— Vietnam, p. 25)

Activity 3: Read the following paragraph as quickly as you can by catching with your eyes the phrases described above.

Another project where a marketing problem can be predicted is the agricultural diversification project, the main activity of which is rubber plantations. No thought has been given to marketing the project output. A similar problem already happens in the northern mountainous region, where large quantities of fruits such as plums and peaches, grown by the local Hmong community, have nowhere to go after harvest.

Exercises and Practice of Past Reading Skills:

Activity 1: Scan Reading 2 below for the following vocabulary words. Find meaning in context.

nouns	verbs	adjectives
eradiation	(to) instruct	immense
figures	(to) formulate	existing
rate	(to) connect	flood-prone
agronomists	(to) log on-line
technicians	(to) call for
	(to) exempt
	(to) boast

 

adverbs	phrases
jointly	reduce ….by/to
approximately	the service sector
	the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs
	ministry experts

Activity 2: Scan Reading 2 for the answers to the following questions.

1. How many provinces in the Mekong delta are there?
2. How many agencies are there?
3. Who is Pham Quoc Trieu?
4. List all the numbers related to sums of money.
5. List all the numbers related to households.
6. List all the percentage numbers.
7. List all the numbers related to land use.
8. What are the numbers related to inhabitants (residents)?
9. What are the numbers related to jobs?
10. List all the years and explain them.

Reading 2

Cuu Long Aims at Poverty Eradication

(Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2003-06/24/Stories/03.htm)

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs says authorities in the Cuu Long ( Mekong) Delta plan to reduce the number of households living in poverty by 1.7 per cent annually from now to 2005, ultimately reducing the region’s poverty rate to 5.3 per cent.

The delta provinces’ goals call for an average annual economic growth rate of 9.8 per cent and for some 60,000 households to improve their circumstances each year. The plan also aims for annual growth of 6 per cent in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, 13 per cent in manufacturing and 10 per cent in the service sector.

Average per capita gross income should reach US$470-500 by 2005 and $700-730 by 2010. The plan sets export targets of $3 billion by 2005 and $5 billion by 2010.

The latest population data indicates the delta has 3.5 million households with 17 million people. Authorities estimate some 2.2 million inhabitants, or 10.3 per cent of the total population, live in poverty.

Provincial figures indicate the poverty rate is less than 10 per cent in six of the delta’s 12 provinces: Tien Giang, Long An, An Giang, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Ben Tre. In four provinces, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, between 10 and 15 per cent of households live in poverty. Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces have poverty rates of more than 15 per cent. However, poverty is often concentrated in certain areas. For example, in some districts in Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces, authorities estimate that nearly 40 per cent of households live in poverty.

As for the cause of the region’s poverty, ministry experts point to the delta’s annual floods, which come at great cost to property and the lives of the eight million residents who live in flood-prone areas. Moreover, some 12 per cent of local farmers don’t have land to farm. The delta also suffers from a shortage of agronomists, fishery experts and skilled technicians.

In the last two years, the National Fund for Job Promotion has loaned more than VND310 billion (US$20 million) to delta residents and created more than 130,000 jobs. Authorities said more than 396,000 poor households have been given State loans worth a combined VND846 billion ($56 million) to invest in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and small businesses. The Government has given 1.7 million people in the region free health insurance, exempted hundreds of thousands of students from university and school tuition and provided school supplies worth tens of billions of dong.

Thanks to such assistance, authorities estimate nearly 150,000 households have improved their living standards in the last two years. The region boasts the highest nationwide rate of poverty alleviation.

Director of Can Tho Province’s Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department Pham Quoc Trieu said the province grants loans worth VND50 billion ($3.2 million) each year and many poor families also benefit from free medical care, housing and business instruction. Some 7,000 households in Can Tho improved their finances last year.

An Giang Province has earmarked VND150 billion ($10 million) to buy more than 2,300ha of farm land for poor Khmer farmers while Tra Vinh Province has given 2,087 houses to needy residents and helped Khmer people reclaim some 200ha of land that had been mortgaged or sold.

 

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