1. Magazine – Grameen bank
Introduction
You can listen to a recording of this article at:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/magazine-articles/grameen-bank
This support pack contains the following materials:
• a pre-reading vocabulary activity
• the article that you can listen to
• a comprehension activity based on the article
• an activity that practises 'reference words'
Before you read
Activity 1
At the top are 16 words and phrases from the text. Below are sentences which contain these words and
phrases. Complete the sentences with the correct words and phrases.
a. afford b. allows c. approach d. borrow
e. borrowers f. collateral g. encourages h. lend
i. lent j. loan k. paid l. peer pressure
m. poor n. poverty o. repay p. repayments
It’s difficult for the [.....(1).....] to break free of the cycle of [.....(2).....].
The woman that Yunus met couldn’t [.....(3).....] to buy bamboo to make her stools.
Yunus [.....(4).....] twenty-seven dollars to the people in the village and they [.....(5).....] all of it back.
Conventional banks don’t want to [.....(6).....] money to poor people because they don’t have any
[.....(7).....].
The Grameen bank started a new [.....(8).....] to lending money.
The Grameen bank [.....(9).....] people to make small [.....(10).....] over a year.
People can’t [.....(11).....] more money if they don’t pay back the first [.....(12).....].
The majority of Grameen [.....(13).....] are women.
There is [.....(14).....] from the rest of the group to [.....(15).....] the money.
The Grameen system [.....(16).....] people to make their lives better.
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2. Magazine – Grameen bank
Read the article
Grameen bank
by Linda Baxter
“If we are looking for one single action which will He lent them the money and told them to pay it
enable the poor to overcome their poverty, I back whenever they could. He got all of it back,
would focus on credit”. so he went to other villages and did the same
Dr Muhammad Yunus thing. He always got his money back. The official
banks didn’t want to get involved in what he was
doing, so Yunus started his own bank. The
Grameen bank was born, and with it a new
approach to lending money – ‘micro-credit’.
But what makes the Grameen bank so different?
The conventional banking system is based on the
principle that the more you have, the more you
can borrow. Grameen gives priority to those who
have nothing, particularly the poorest women.
The loans are small and repayments are made in
small amounts spread over a year, with a built-in
insurance scheme so that the family doesn’t
become responsible for the loan if something
happens to the borrower. There is no legal
The beginning contract between the bank and the borrower, and
no danger of legal action if the repayments are
Twenty five years ago, Muhammed Yunus, a not made – the relationship is based on trust and
Bangladeshi economics teacher, was visiting a good faith.
village when he met a woman who made bamboo
stools. She couldn’t afford to buy the bamboo to Repayment rates are very high for two main
make the stools, so she had to borrow the money reasons. Firstly, borrowers know that they
from the bamboo sellers and then pay them a cannot borrow again if they don’t repay the first
large part of the profit from each one she sold. loan. And secondly, they must join a group of
There was so little money left for her to keep that other borrowers who all share some responsibility
she couldn’t afford to buy more bamboo, so she for other members’ loans and are encouraged to
had to borrow more money. And so the cycle make group decisions. So there is considerable
continued with no way out for her. She couldn’t peer pressure and support from the group to
borrow money from friends or family because encourage them to pay it all back.
they were as poor as she was. She couldn’t
borrow from the bank because she had no Another important difference from conventional
collateral (property or land) to guarantee that she banks is that Grameen has a social programme.
would pay back the loan. The system encourages the borrowers to do
Yunus went around the village and found forty- practical things to improve their living conditions,
two people who were in the same situation - health and level of education. These are known
trapped in a cycle of poverty with no escape. as the ‘Sixteen Decisions’ which include, for
When he added up the amount of money that example, not continuing the dowry system,
they needed to break free of the cycle, it came to growing fresh vegetables, organising clean
just twenty-seven dollars. As Yunus says “I felt drinking water and good sanitation, education for
ashamed of myself for being part of a society children, and being ready to help each other
which could not provide even twenty-seven whenever necessary. Conventional banks would
dollars to forty-two hardworking, skilled human not consider this to be any of their business.
beings.”
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3. Magazine – Grameen bank
The success the world, lending to over 16 million of the
poorest people.
The bank now lends over a billion dollars to more
than two million borrowers, 96% of them women, Grameen’s success in Bangladesh has also
and involving more than half of the villages in shown that the developing world has lessons to
Bangladesh. The repayment rate is 99%. The teach richer countries like the USA and Britain.
rural economy of the country has improved Both countries have begun to encourage
greatly since the bank started. And the success microcredit schemes based on the Grameen
has spread. This year it was estimated that there model, in an attempt to deal with their own levels
are now over 7,000 microcredit organizations in of poverty.
After reading
Activity 2
Complete the gaps with a word from the box to make a summary of the text.
a. action b. amounts c. conditions d. loan
e. microcredit f. repayments g. social h. trust
Mohammed Yunus started the Grameen bank in order to lend poor women in Bangladesh small
[.....(1).....] of money. The bank does not take legal [.....(2).....] if the person has difficulties in repaying
and the system is based entirely on [.....(3).....]. It works because those taking the [.....(4).....] know they
must return the money if they want to borrow again in future. They must also join together as a group so
that they are partly responsible for each others’ [.....(5).....]. Only 1% of borrowers have ever defaulted.
The bank’s [.....(6).....] programme encourages borrowers to improve their own and their children’s living
[.....(7).....]. This [.....(8).....] system has spread to 50% of Bangladeshi villages and many other countries,
including those in the so-called ‘developed world’.
Activity 3
In each of the questions below there are words in bold. Decide in each case what these words refer to by
selecting the correct answer.
1. ‘She couldn’t afford to buy the bamboo canes to make the stools, so she had to borrow the money
from the bamboo sellers and then pay them a large part of the profit from each one she sold.’
What does ‘them’ refer to?
a. the stools
b. the bamboo sellers
c. the bamboo canes
2. ‘As Yunus says “I felt ashamed of myself for being part of a society which could not provide even
twenty-seven dollars to forty-two hardworking, skilled human beings.”’
What does ‘which’ refer to?
a. Yunus
b. society
c. feeling ashamed
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4. Magazine – Grameen bank
3. ‘The Grameen bank was born, and with it a new approach to lending money – ‘micro-credit’.’
What does ‘it’ refer to?
a. the new bank
b. microcredit
c. a new approach
4. ‘Grameen gives priority to those who have nothing, particularly the poorest women.’
What does ‘those’ refer to?
a. people
b. women
c. loans
‘The system encourages the borrowers to do practical things to improve their living conditions, health
and level of education. These are known as the ‘Sixteen Decisions’ Decisions’ which include, for
example, not continuing the dowry system, growing fresh vegetables, organising clean drinking water
and good sanitation, education for children, and being ready to help each other whenever necessary.’
5. What does ‘These’ refer to?
a. the borrowers
b. living conditions
c. practical things
6. What does ‘each other’ refer to?
a. the borrowers
b. the sixteen decisions
c. the children
7. ‘The bank now lends over a billion dollars to more than two million borrowers, 96% of them women,
and involving more than half of the villages in Bangladesh.’
What does ‘them’ refer to?
a. women
b. dollars
c. the borrowers
8. ‘Grameen’s success in Bangladesh has also shown that the developing world has lessons to teach
richer countries like the USA and Britain. Both countries have begun to encourage microcredit schemes
based on the Grameen model, in an attempt to deal with their own levels of poverty.’
What does ‘their’ refer to?
a. the developing world
b. microcredit schemes
c. the USA and Britain
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5. Magazine – Grameen bank
Answers:
Activity 1
1. m; 2. n; 3. a; 4. i; 5. k; 6. h; 7. f; 8. c; 9. b; 10. p; 11. d; 12. j; 13. e; 14. l; 15. o; 16. g
Activity 2
1. b; 2. a; 3. h; 4. d; 5. f; 6. g; 7. c; 8. e
Activity 3
1. b; 2. b; 3. a; 4. a; 5. c; 6. a; 7. c; 8. c
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