Unit: MediaTopic: News

•What is the news about?

•Where did the news take place?

Question

Vocabulary

treasure (n.)

Vocabulary

performance (n.)

Vocabulary

cast (n.)

Vocabulary

attack (v.)

Vocabulary

device (n.)

Vocabulary

Structure

Passive Voice

Subject auxiliary verb (be)

main verb (past participle)

We use the passive voice when the receiver of the action is more important in communication than the one who did it (the actor of the verb)

To from a passive sentence from an active sentence

1. Move the receiver of the action from the direct object position of the sentence to the subject position of the sentence.

2. Insert the verb BE in agreement in number with the new subject and in the appropriate tense.

3. Change the verb to its past participle from.4. Optionally place the actor of the verb in the

object position after the preposition by.

The main verb is always in its past participle from

Look at these examples:

subject auxiliary verb Main verb (past participle)Percy was FiredHe was taught

For Example

1. A parrot named Percy was fired from the cast of a children’s play.

Subject auxiliary verb

main verb (past participle)

2. He was taught and he used bad language on stage.

Subject

auxiliary verb main verb

(past participle)

Different Types of News

• General news is news that appeals to the general population. General news articles appeal to the general population because the effects of these general news events will have wide or deep impact on the lives of average people.

• Political news is about people, and the how those people make decisions that affect the lives of everyone else.

• Entertainment news is also for any news writer who likes to write features, profiles and interview celebrities.

1. What kind of snake did attack the boy?

2. What did Percy do wrong?

3. What was the grandson doing when the snake appeared?

Activity 1 Chronological Sequencing

Listen to the news, and then sequence each event into the correct chronological order.

1. A parrot named Percy was from the cast of a children’s play.

2. He didn’t say the lines he was taught and he used bad language on stage.

3. The parrot was performing in the play Pirates on Treasure Island at Blandon Forum in England.

4. Percy shocked the cast and the audience when he shrieked out improper language.

5. The theater company decided not to risk a repeat performance in front of children and kicked Percy out of the cast.

1. A 76-year-old grandfather saved his 8-year-old grandson from a 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) anaconda.

2. The boy was playing with friends near a small river in Cosmorama, Brazil, when the snake attacked him.

3. The boy’s grandfather was working nearby. When the grandfather heard the boy’s screams, he ran to the riverside and was able to get the animal off the boy.

4. The fight between the snake and the man continued. Finally, someone managed to give the grandfather a big knife, and the grandfather killed the snake.

5. Our hero was very lucky, because it normally takes five men to overpower and get control of a snake that size.

1. The last thing 17-year-old Ricardo Gordon remembers was that a storm was coming, and he was rushing to get inside.

2. Next thing he knew, he was lying in a hospital bed. Here is what happened. Ricardo was walking into his house when lighting hit him.

3. As a result, his hair and ears were burned, and he had dark spots all over his body.

4. The wounds on his body followed the wire of his MP3 player, from his ears down to his hip, where he was carrying the device.

5. The electric current traveled from his MP3 player to his headphones. Ricardo is lucky to be alive!

Activity 4Analyzing News

 Listen to the news and analyze what kind of the news is.

“A Parrot named Percy” is entertainment news because it concerns about………………………….

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