Students Book

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Usin fame to help
Read and listen
Reduced d relative clauses
Vocabulary: fame
Question tags review Vocabulary: expressing opinions
a Look at the photos. Do you recognise the people?
What do they have in common? Read the text
quickly and find out.
Celebrity
Ambassadors
A Lionel Messi became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
in March 2010. What does that mean, you ask? Read on and find out!
In the 1950s, the United Nations had an idea: why not use celebrities
to help promote children’s rights? So they created the idea of UNICEF
(the UN children’s fund) ambassadors. Ever since then, hundreds of
sports, music and film stars have been seen spreading the word for
the international peace organisation at photo calls all over the world.
B A lot of stars are brought in independently by the various UN
agencies. The UN Development Programme uses Ronaldo, the Brazilian
footballer, to draw people’s attention to poor children. And the refugee
agency UNHCR uses Angelina Jolie to focus on people made homeless
because of war. These days, Angelina is probably as famous for her
humanitarian work as she is for her acting!
C But perhaps the agency most represented by the stars is UNICEF.
There are lots of stars who are Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF: for
example, footballer David Beckham, singer Shakira and actor Susan
Sarandon. There are also celebrities used to promote one-off projects
every now and then: pop singer Robbie Williams has given several
concerts for UNICEF even though he isn’t a Goodwill Ambassador.
The UN has got offices in more than 200 countries, so of course
it’s important that they are represented by an international mix of
celebrities. And some of their most important stars, like West African
singer, Angélique Kidjo, aren’t exactly household names in many parts
of the world.
D They have to be very careful to choose the right people. UNICEF
looks for celebrities who haven’t just made it big, but who are also
probably going to stay famous for quite a few years to come. ‘We can’t
have someone who has just enjoyed success for a few minutes and
then disappeared,’ a spokeswoman said. In the same way, the star
has to want to do more than just look caring in front of the cameras.
‘Our celebrities do it because they really care about children,’ says the
spokeswoman. ‘They should have the power to draw the cameras but
without wanting the attention for themselves.’
So, now you know – that’s what Goodwill Ambassadors do!
Lionel
Messi is …
an internationally
famous footballer.
What he does:
Messi supports access to
education and health care for
vulnerable children.
What he says:
‘I feel grateful to UNICEF for this
chance to give support to children.
I hope that in my role as a global
Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF
I will be able to support children
who need our help.’
Whoopi
Goldberg is …
an international
film star, producer
and TV host.
What she does:
Using her popularity and interest
in children’s issues, Goldberg
promotes health for all children
around the world.
What she says:
‘We have to think about how
health issues affect children in
every country.’
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UNIT 10