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Media matters
Unit objectives
• • • • • • •
Reading and Use of English Part 6: paraphrasing key words and phrases, understanding complex sentences, identifying opinions Writing Part 2: writing a proposal, supporting persuasive suggestions with factual information, organising writing clearly Reading and Use of English Part 3: reading the text for gist before doing the task, thinking about the type of word, possible affixes, appropriate form (singular or plural, verb ending) Listening Part 3: identifying main ideas in the questions before listening, listening for ideas rather than specific words or phrases Speaking Part 3: demonstrating good communication skills: turn-taking, listening and responding to your partner, avoiding pauses Grammar: reported speech; transitive verbs Vocabulary: ‘talking’ verbs
Starting off 1 As a warmer Take a newspaper into the classroom, show students the headlines and ask them about the events these refer to. 2 Extension idea Ask students: • How was news reported in the past, when there were no radios, TVs or phones? • How would people’s view of the world have been different from ours today? • Do you think there might have been advantages to having less information? 3 Extension idea If most of your students use smartphones, ask them which apps they find useful.
Listening | Part 3 1 As a warmer Get students to think about ways in which news is gathered, reported and broadcast. The purpose of the questions in Exercise 1 is to familiarise students with some of the key words and phrases from the recording they are going to hear.
Answers 1 when it was still a new medium available to mass audiences – probably in the 1950s 2 a detailed study 3 They enjoy it greatly. 4 Citizen journalism is written by ordinary people rather than trained journalists. 2
Alternative treatment You could ask students to listen initially to find out if any of the ideas they suggested in the Exercise 1 warmer are mentioned by the journalist. Answers 1C 2D 3A
4D
5C 6B
CD 1 Track 12 Interviewer: In today’s On Message I’m joined by Harry Cameron, the veteran journalist, who has witnessed many changes in his profession over the last nearly sixty years. Harry, welcome. Cameron: Thank you. Interviewer: Harry, can you tell me what being a journalist was like when you started as a junior reporter? Cameron: My main memory of those far-off days is the sense of pride I felt at writing for a respected national newspaper. 1It was a real honour. What you have to remember is that in those days people got most of their information about the world from their daily newspapers. Television was in its infancy – something only the rich could afford. The radio broadcast regular news bulletins, but newspapers gave people the pictures to go with the stories. Journalists like me travelled the world and filed reports which kept people up to date with everything important. I remember in the early 1950s reporting from a war zone in East Asia. I wrote my report in my hotel bedroom. I could hear gunfire and see plumes of smoke. I phoned the report through to my editor for publication a day or two later. I was reporting something thousands of miles from home – something they didn’t already know. Interviewer: But people still read newspapers today, don’t they?
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