1. Conversation:
Talk about the following questions with your partner for about 3 minutes. The
pictures are there to help you.
1. Do you think the majority
of languages around the world will eventually die out?
2. Do you think that governments should have programmes to protect minority languages, or should we accept that they will die out? Do you like the way your mother tongue is changing? What do you think the future of your mother tongue is?
2. Do you think that governments should have programmes to protect minority languages, or should we accept that they will die out? Do you like the way your mother tongue is changing? What do you think the future of your mother tongue is?
3. Can you think of any
advantages and disadvantages of using English as a lingua franca? Is Globish
the Future of English?
4. Why do you think the use of
emojis in written communication is witnessing such a huge
growth? Is an emoji worth a thousand words? To what extent do you
think technology influences how people communicate with each other?
5. What images spring to mind when you hear the word
‘media’? Do you think the media have too much power? Is the media of your
country biased?
6. Do you try to keep abreast of the latest developments in the world? How do you
usually get the news? Has your way of keeping
up to date changed over the years? How reliable
are newspapers, television news and the Internet as news sources, do you think?
7. Which would you prefer (a)
TV channels without advertising paid for by a licence fee (b) Free TV channels paid for by advertising or (c) Pay-as-you-view TV where you only pay
for what you watch?
8. In Britain, there are
restrictions on what can be screened
on TV before 9 p.m. Do you think that TV programme content should be censored? How much freedom should the
press/media be allowed by law?
2. Partner A/B: Below there are some issues related to the topic. You must talk about at least two of them for 3 minutes. You may be asked further questions about the topic when you have finished.
1. In Britain, tabloid newspapers, which contain
mostly gossip and pin-ups of good-looking women and men,
sell many more copies than serious newspapers. Do readers in your country have
the same interests?
2. How has technology affected
the way we communicate? Has it changed? How?
3. What criteria
do you think that newspapers and television use to decide on what news to
present: what is really important or what sells newspapers? Explain your answer.
4. Film and music celebrities are accused of using the
media to advance their careers until they become famous, and afterwards
complain about media intrusion. What
is your opinion?
5. Have you ever used the Internet? What did you
use it for? Should governments act to control the Internet or should it be uncensored?
6. Are you satisfied with the way languages are taught in your country?
"Every child should learn to speak a second
language." Do you agree?
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
post-truth: /ˌpəʊst ˈtruːθ/ relating to circumstances in which people respond more to feelings and beliefs than to facts. Relating to a situation in which people are more likely to accept an argument based on their emotions and beliefs, rather than one based on facts. E.g. In this era of post-truth politics, it's easy to cherry-pick data and reach any conclusion you like. The referendum was the first major vote in the era of post-truth politics. He dubs the current administration a " post-truth" White House. In this post-truth era, science is needed more than ever. The world has entered an era of post-truth politics. His lecture was entitled "Fake News in a Post-truth World".
spoon-feed: /ˈspuːn fiːd/ to teach people something in a way that gives them too much help and does not make them think for themselves. E.g. spoon-feed somebody (with something) The students here do not expect to be spoon-fed. spoon-feed something to somebody They had information spoon-fed to them.
spoon-feed: /ˈspuːn fiːd/ to teach people something in a way that gives them too much help and does not make them think for themselves. E.g. spoon-feed somebody (with something) The students here do not expect to be spoon-fed. spoon-feed something to somebody They had information spoon-fed to them.
die out: to stop existint.
This species has nearly died out because its habitat is being destroyed.
minority
language: is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory.
Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities.
endangered
language: An endangered language, or moribund
language, is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking
another language. Language loss
occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead
language".
mother
tongue: A first language, native language or mother/father/parent tongue (also
known as arterial language or L1), is a language that a person has been exposed
to from birth[1] or within the critical period.
second
language: A person’s second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native
language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later (usually
as a foreign language, but it can be another language used in the speaker's
home country).
global
language: A world language is spoken internationally and is learned and spoken by
a large number of people as a second language. A world language is
characterized not only by the total number of speakers (native and second
language speakers), but also by its geographical distribution, as well as use
in international organizations and diplomatic relations. One of the most widely
spoken and fastest spreading world languages today is English, which has over
1.1 billion first- and second-language users worldwide.
lingua
franca: shared language of communication used between people whose main
languages are different.
Globish:
Globish
is a simplified version of Anglo-American English used as a worldwide lingua
franca. (See Panglish.) The trademarked term Globish, a blend of the words
global and English, was coined by French businessman Jean-Paul Nerrière in the
mid-1990s.
emojis: /ɪˈməʊdʒi/ a small
digital image used to express an idea or emotion in emails, on the Internet,
etc.
witness: [transitive] witness something to be the place, period, organization, etc. in which particular events take place. [transitive] witness something to see something happen (typically a crime or an accident).
witness: [transitive] witness something to be the place, period, organization, etc. in which particular events take place. [transitive] witness something to see something happen (typically a crime or an accident).
growth: (of people, animals
or plants) the process of growing physically, mentally or emotionally.
a picture is worth a thousand
words: It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a
single picture, this picture conveys its meaning or essence more effectively
than a description does.
spring
to mind: if something comes/springs to mind, you suddenly remember or think of
it. When discussing influential modern artists, three names immediately come to
mind.
biased:
biased
(toward(s)/against/in favour of somebody/something) having a tendency to show
favour towards or against one group of people or one opinion for personal
reasons; making unfair judgements
keep abreast of something: to make sure that
you know all the most recent facts about a subject. It is almost impossible to
keep abreast of all the latest developments in computing.
up to date: having or including
the most recent information.
reliable: /rɪˈlaɪəbl/ that
can be trusted to do something well; that you can rely on, that is likely to be
correct or true.
source: a place, person or
thing that you get something from.
fee: an amount of money
that you pay for professional advice or services.
pay-as-you-view:
is
a system in which a person or organization pays for the costs of something when
they occur rather than before or afterwards.
screen:
[usually
passive] screen something to show a film/movie, etc. in a cinema/movie theater
or on television
censored: censor something to
remove the parts of a book, film/movie, etc. that are considered to be offensive,
immoral or a political threat.
tabloid:
/ˈtæblɔɪd/
(sometimes disapproving) tabloid newspapers have small pages and short articles
with a lot of pictures and stories about famous people, and are often thought
of as less serious than other newspapers
gossip: [uncountable]
(disapproving) informal talk or stories about other people’s private lives,
that may be unkind or not true
pin-ups: a picture of an
attractive person, especially one who is not wearing many clothes, that is put
on a wall for people to look at.
celebrity: (also informal
celeb, informal sleb) [countable] a famous person.
intrusion: something that
affects a situation or people’s lives in a way that they do not want.
meme:
/miːm/
n image, a video, a piece of text, etc. that is passed very quickly from one
Internet user to another, often with slight changes that make it humorous
social media: interactive
computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of
information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual
communities and networks.
viral: used to describe a
piece of information, a video, an image, etc. that is sent rapidly over the
Internet from one person to another.
face-to-face: involving people
who are close together and looking at each other.
interfere: get involved in/try
to influence a situation that doesn’t concern you, in a way that annoys others
fake news: news or pseudo-news
is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate
disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media
or online social media.
