English: President Barack Obama talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron before the start of the working G8 dinner at Le Ciro’s Barriere Restaurant in Deauville, France, May 25, 2011. (Official White House Photo) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Buying gifts can be tricky at the best of times, but what do you buy when the U.S. president comes to visit? Barack Obama has released a list of gifts received by his family from World Leaders in 2011. The list includes a description of each gift, an estimate of its value and the reason for accepting, which was usually to avoid causing embarrassment. The most expensive present was a blue mask sculpture in a red box, given by the president of the tiny West Afrian country, Gabon. It is worth over $52,000. Other gifts include rare football jerseys from Australia and Brazil, a Maori weapon from New Zealand, golf clubs given by Angela Merkel and loads of French designer gear from French president Sarkozy. British prime minister, David Cameron even threw in a Union Jack chew toy for the Obamas’ dog.
What gift would you give the president?
Listen below
Read by Laura Harradine (Australian accent).
Study the words
Tricky– difficult Reason– explanation Avoid– to try not to Worth– has a value of Weapon– device used to harm people Loads of– a lot of Gear– clothing and accessories Threw in– included, added Chew toy– a play thing that a dog can bite on
Listen on audioboo (and subscribe to i-tunes podcast) here
Do the takeaway test: Presents for the President
Related articles
- Why Did Gabon Give President Obama a Gift Worth $52,695? (theatlantic.com)
Tiny Texts 
Marie-Danielle
I really love your short stories and your vocabulary. Thank you !
Ike Madi
Excellent!
Christmas Gifts For Her
Howdy from Texas! The ideas in this list are
cool, and I can see a lot of thought was used to write
this piece. It was so easy and lol… I think I found my cousins
gift!. My boy is hard to buy for because his tastes is a little koocky, but there are several prodcuts here that
im sure he will love. So thanks for this list. This listing was really convenient as my boy way to much
of a collector. By the way it will be awesome if a 2014 march edition
of this article posted? I’d be something i’d share.
high 5 to this blog 😀