Dealing with the news

Taken and adapted from http://tefltecher.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/in-the-news/

Which are your favourite websites to get informed in Argentina? Have you ever visited the BBC’s website?

You are going to watch the BBC news bulletin called One-minute World News. Ready? Let’s go to http://news.bbc.co.uk and click the video icon. Take notes on the three or four segments.

Let’s discuss these questions:

Do you normally try and watch the news on TV every day?

On which TV channel do you watch the news? Why? Are there

any differences between the news on different channels?

Are there enough news and current affairs programmes on TV compared with other types of

programme?

Is it important to know what is happening in the news? Do you regard yourself as a well-

informed person?

Is there a TV or radio journalist that you particularly like?

What type of news is generally considered newsworthy by news channels?

What type of things do you think most people are interested in? What type of news stories

are you interested in? What are you not interested in?

How important are the visual images which accompany TV news stories?

Do you have a favourite newsreader? Why do you like him or her?

To what extent do you think the media in your country is impartial or biased? Are public TV

channels less biased than private channels?

Do you prefer to watch the news on TV or consult news websites on the internet?

How often do you talk about the news with friends and family?

Do you like watching documentaries about current affairs on TV?

Choose two newspaper articles: one about containing world news, and the other about Argentina. Using www.scoop.it, make a summary and or give your opinion.

Let’s record your news bulletin in one minute using: http://vocaroo.com/ http://www.bubblejoy.com/

These are some of the newspaper articles you finally worked on.

www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - February 13, 9:16 AM

He Raped Her, She Forgave Him, They Got Married, He Murdered Her - Hispanically Speaking News

An Argentine 18-year old was stabbed to death in front of her child by the man who had raped

her, before she forgave him and accepted him as husband.

An 18 year-old Argentine girl was stabbed to death in front of her child by the man who had raped her, she the forgave him and also accepted to marry him.The victim reported that the man had sexually abused her; he was arrested and imprisoned for 8 months, until the same young girl forgave him and she dropped charges.The pair married this past October 28th, while he was still in prison.Last Saturday, the man stabbed his wife to death, in front of their three year-old, as well as his own mother. The police found him in his own home, holding the three year-old with bloody hands.He was arrested and refused to say anything to investigators. Later he tried to hang himself in his cell using his own pants.

Summary made by an low intermediate student

www.guardian.co.uk - February 15, 7:11 PMChina's collapse 'will bring economic crisis to climax in 2012'

Leading City of London analyst says next 12 months will be one of 'pain and disappointment' if Chinese economy crashes...

A City of London's leading analysts has warned that the financial and economic crisis will come to its climax in 2012..Albert Edwards, said the next 12 months would be the "final year of pain and disappointment".Predicting a sharp slowdown in activity in the world's fastest-growing emerging economy,Although China emerged rapidly from the downturn of 2008-09, Edwards said the recovery had been the result of a massive reflationary (reactivador) package by the Chinese government. Edwards said exports were set to slow and a trade deficit was looming.He added that despite the recent run of more upbeat economic news from the United States, the risk of another recession in the world's biggest economy was "very high".

China has grown by around 10% a year on average over the past two decades, but the threat of recession in the west, with signs of over-heating in the Chinese property market, have lead analysts to predict severe problems ahead.

Edwards said China's recent economic measures included an uncritically assumed growth story, easy money and credit expansion, investment booms and the misallocation of capital, and conspicuous consumption.

The World Economic Forum points out that rising youth unemployment, pressure on pensions and a growing gulf between rich and poor were putting at risk the gains from globalisation.

The WEF expressed concern at the possibility of economic and social upheaval caused by the inability of the young to find work and the dependency of elderly people on states deeply in debt.

(HAVE TO FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)Summary made by an intermediate student – first attempt

www.usatoday.com - January 3, 12:44 PMFacebook Timeline: 9 things you need to know

Answering your questions about the new Facebook design before you even have them.With the introduction of the timeline, Facebook users can now easily scroll back to previous years and see what they were saying and what they were doing.Some will be a bit terrified to see posts from the early days of Facebook, when college students shared way too much.Our privacy settings on old posts will remain. A post shared four years ago that was set to be viewable to just friends will continue to be viewable to just friends. The concern here is thta your "friends" might be your "co-workers" now.Facebook has built a very helpful new page called the Activity Log, which can be accessed from a profile page, that shows every single piece of content Facebook has from a user. Each item can be deleted or tweaked from this page.For your eyes only. If there is a post in your Timeline that you don't want to zap completely from Facebook, but don't want anyone to see, you can change the post's visibility to "Only Me."There's no sense in holding out. Facebook Timeline will eventually go live for everyone on Facebook, whether or not the user has taken the time to prune and optimize the Timeline view. It's best to be proactive and make sure what people will see is what should be seen.My comment: I think that privacy is important while sharing is a "must" nowadays, promoted by most working networks. I guess some will feel betrayed, as it's like a contract we have no choice to sign or turn down. Anyway, I'm sure we will all be more careful with what we publish. But I wonder, maybe because I'm not tech expert, why Mark decided to introduce this timeline. What pushed him to do it? Any possible answers, please share ... but be careful!

Summary and comment made by an Upper Intermediate Student

www.guardian.co.uk - December 27, 2011 7:49 PMEnvironment world review of the year: '2011 rewrote the record books'

The ecologically tumultuous year saw record greenhouse gas emissions, melting Arctic sea ice, natural disasters and extreme weather – and the world's second worst nuclear disaster...Brazil showing deforestation in the Amazon region had fallen to the lowest level for 23 years. Extremes of heat and cold in the US, droughts heatwaves in Europe and Africa and record numbers of weather-related natural disasters. The world continued to warm throughout 2011. The Arctic sea ice hit a record low. 2011 was described as the "year of the tornado". The worst drought led to the death of thousands of people and millions of animals in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Major earthquakes hit Argentina, Chile, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tonga, Burma, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Sulawesi, Fiji and New Zealand. But by far the most damaging quake was the one that led to Japan's deadly tsunami on 11 March. It killed 15,500 people, caused the meltdowns of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.I feel a huge sad feeling when I read about these records. It's hard to fight against Mother Nature. On the other side, I believe that Governments and Educators together should expand their programmes to raise awareness on the protection of the environment. There are many things we can do as individuals, participate in

events organized by Greenpeace, or as active citizen in everyday life.

Summary and Opinion by an Upper Intermediate student

www.guardian.co.uk - December 27, 2011 7:10 PM

Who's your person of 2011?

Open thread: Protester, politician, celebrity or scientist? Who represents the spirit of 2011 in your eyes?As an independent thinker and a woman, I believe that the Nobel Peace Prize given to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work" clearly represents the spirit of 2011. We might agree or disagree with Government policies but women are taking very important leading roles, like the Presidents of Argentina and Brazil, and the Chancellor of Germany. Organizations like Vital Voices, whose main voice is Hilary Clinton, works towards the empowerment of women. Because I believe in the empowerment of Women, I think these three WOMEN represent the spirit of 2011.

Opinion by an advanced student

www.guardian.co.uk - January 3, 7:05 PM

China's city dwellers to breathe unhealthy air 'for another 20-30 years’

Summary: In China, millions of citizens will continue breathing polluted air for at least 20 years more. This comes out when many Chinese metropolises will begin publicly releasing data on tiny particulates known as PM2.5 that abounds and is the major contaminant in China’s air, carrying on also the most damaging impact on human health.Although the promise of a more transparency has been welcomed as an important step, environment officials say that it’s going to be needed more time to have blue skies in China.Cities have been monitoring the pollution data for many years. In 2006, US embassy noted that China was failing to release data on the PM2.5 and Ozone because the levels were unsafe and politically sensitive. This information was released by Wikileaks when they revealed the US diplomatic cables.Us embassy in Beijing is releasing via Twitter, real-time data on PM2.5 at that Chinese city. It has revealed that pollution is often hazardous, contrary to what the municipality’s claims of “blue sky days” a term which is used for days when the air meets government’s ax standard.For this year, the government has promised to changed the index this year in 5 cities and this system will be implemented nationwide by the year 2016.

Summary made by an advanced student

www.guardian.co.uk - December 27, 2011 6:59 PMGerman manufacturing firms predict good year ahead

Germany manufacturing companies announced that they expect growth for the next year. Car companies had to ask their employees to cut short their holidays to fulfill the number of orders. While in Germany they breath air of economical growth, Britain is leading with a black new year where the unemployment and redundancy are in first lines

Summary made by an advanced student

www.guardian.co.uk - December 27, 2011 7:45 PM

iPad dominated third quarter tablet sales, but Kindle Fire and Nook rising

As the tablet innovator, Apple Inc., continue selling millions of iPad which is the most favorite tablet nowadays. As an Apple consumer I can say that I’m buying quality as well as durable products. For many years Apple has been a tech-reference and anyone who had the opportunity to try any Apple’s product can confirm that. In my opinion Apple is still going to dominate the tablet market as they introduce new features to the following iPadversions. It’s rumored that next year we’re going to have iPad 3 in the Apple Store, which is going to take Apple one step forward.

Summary made by an advanced student

Let’s record your news bulletin in one minute using:

http://vocaroo.com/ http://www.bubblejoy.com/