Year 9 lesson based on a creating a debate

1. Celebrity
Billionaires
Guess who…?
Followed by a Debate

2. I am the
world’s richest
man, valued at
$56 billion

3. Now aged 51,
I am involved
with tackling
AIDS in Africa
and set up my
own charity to
help them
So far, I have
given away
nearly $30bn
of my fortune
to good
causes

4. I made my
money as the
inventor of
Microsoft
Windows

5. My
name
is Bill
Gates

6. My name is Joanne
and I am a 42 year
old writer
I have sold over
325 million books -
the last four have
been the fastest
selling books in
history

7. I have a fortune
of £545 million
which makes me
the thirteenth
richest woman
in Britain
I have donated
£22 million to
Comic Relief

8. I am the author of
the Harry Potter
books

9. My
name is
JK
Rowling

10. I am the
third richest
man in the
world, worth
$52 billion
I made my
money
through
investing in
insurance
companies

11. Recently I
gave $30
billion of my
fortune to
the Bill and
Melinda
Gates
Foundation -
the largest
single
donation
ever made in
the USA

12. I only earn
$100,000 a
year and still
live in the
same house
that I bought
in 1958 for
$31,500

13. My
Name
is
Warren
Buffet

14. I am 53 and the
world's only black
billionaire for
three years in a
row
I am also,
according to
many
assessments, the
most influential
woman in the
world

15. I am an influential
book critic, an
Oscar nominated
actress, and a
magazine
publisher, as well
as an award
winning chat show
host
In 2005 alone I
donated $303
million to charity

16. My chat show is
called The
Oprah Winfrey
Show

17. My
name is
Oprah
Winfrey

18. I am a Russian oil
billionaire worth
$18.2 billion

19. In Russia, I am
well known as the
governor of
Chukotka in the far
northeast of the
country

20. I am best known
in the UK as the
owner of Chelsea
Football Club

21. My name is
Roman
Abramovich

22. Is it ok for the rich to keep
getting richer?
You may have heard the phrase: “The rich are getting richer and the
poor are getting poorer”
Is this true? Where’
s bulging with wealth over time? And is the wealth gap widening?

23. Today’s aims
To understand that global inequalities of wealth are getting worse
To identify ways in which the trickle-down of wealth can occur from
the rich to the poor
To appreciate why this problem could need tackling

25. Debate
In pairs, sort the cards into ‘the problems with
billionaires’ or ‘why billionaires are great’
Now plan why:
‘STATEMENT 1 – Trickle down – Billionaires already do
enough to help the poor as their wealth trickles down to
the poor and benefits a lot of people’
OR
‘STATEMENT 2 – Tackle problem – Billionaires need to
do more to help the poor, they hold on to too much of
their wealth and they don’t need it all’

26. Whole class debate
In pairs you will be given one of the two different viewpoints.
You will then need to write a 2-3 minute speech. (I will time this and stop you
if you exceed the time limit.)
Both people need to speak – so 1 minute 30 seconds each.
The class will be divided into the two viewpoints and after each speech you
will be able to ask 1 question to try and point out the weaknesses in their
speech.

27. Winning the debate
This actually counts!
The group at wins the debate will receive a 5 mark
extra credit score added to their marks.

28. Facts you should know
If the earth’s population was shrunk to exactly 100 people, and all
proportions were kept the same, there would be:
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be
from the United States
8 would have money in the bank
The wealth of the world’s three richest people is more than the combined
wealth of all less developed countries.
The wealth of the world’s 200 richest people is more than the combined
incomes of 41% of the world’s people. By making an annual contribution of
just 1% of their wealth, those 200 people could provide primary education
for every child on the world (currently 72 million children of primary school
age do not go to school).
The gap between the world’s richest countries and the world’s poorest
countries is widening rapidly.