Weekly newscast October 17 th, 2014

Transcription

1 Learning English with CBC Edmonton Weekly newscast October 17 th, 2014 Lessons prepared by Barbara Edmondson & Justine Light Objectives of the weekly newscast lesson - to develop listening skills at the CLB 4 level - to increase vocabulary among learners - to increase knowledge of news stories - to provide a self- study tool, as well as, an ESL classroom resource english/ 1

2 News story #1 Ebola is Spreading Discuss what you know about the Ebola virus a partner. Where is the disease affecting people? This story discusses how the disease is continuing to spread and people are worried. Before you listen to the first news story, complete this vocabulary activity. It will help you to understand the listening more easily. Use one of the vocabulary words below to complete the sentences. Answers are in the appendix. case doubling expressing dissatisfaction measures care for treated raising situation, one occurrence of something to increase in size or amount by two times to show or say what one is feeling or thinking unhappiness actions done to accomplish a goal to look after, to give care to someone medical attention to help heal an illness to bring up; to start to discuss 1. Canadians were very worried when there was a of Ebola in the U.S.. 2. People are questions about whether Ebola will spread to Canada or not. 3. Governments are trying to create to control the spread of the disease. 4. Health care workers who people with the disease are especially at risk. 5. Infected people who are not will spread the disease quickly. 6. People have been exclaiming with how the disease is being controlled. 7. If you are upset, your feelings will help others know how you feel. 8. By the amount we spend on health care, maybe we can avoid getting ill. Now listen to the first news story from the audio file. Listening Activity: Listening for details What is the latest update on Ebola from the WHO and in the following places? Word Health Organization West Africa U.S. Congress members Alberta Re- tell the news story: Can you re- tell the story you have just heard in your own words. Use your notes above to help you. Try it out with your partner. 2

3 News story #2 Survivor of an Avalanche Do you enjoy hiking in the mountains? What safety precautions do you need to take when exploring in the mountains in the summer and in the winter? This story tells us about avalanche survivors in Nepal. Before you listen to the second news story, complete this vocabulary activity. It will help you to understand the listening more easily. Match the words with their definitions. Answers are in the appendix. Answer Word Definition 1. survivor a) story; an explanation of events that occurred 2. avalanche b) to be covered in something up to your waist 3. blizzard c) a person who remains alive or uninjured after an accident 4. terrible d) a terrible situation or a bad dream 5. tale e) people hiking or walking through the mountains 6. buried f) when lots of snow slides down a mountain 7. waist- high g) very bad or serious 8. trekkers h) friend 9. fellow i) a snow storm 10. nightmare j) to be completely covered with dirt or snow Extra definitions to help you understand the reading: Quebecer someone from the province of Quebec Now listen to the second news story from the audio file. Listening activity: Multiple Choice Choose the best answer to complete the sentences. Answers are in the appendix. 1. There was a Canadian survivor of the in Nepal. a) avalanche and blizzard b) snowstorm and terrible weather 2. Quebecer Sonia Leveque told CBC a terrible tale of a) trekking in waist- high heavy snow. b) being buried waist- high in 3. She said thought she was going to die and that she a) happy to be alive. and her fellow trekkers were. b) lucky to survive. 4. Leveque said the nobody in her group saw coming. 5. At least 27 people were killed in Nepal, including at least. a) avalanche was a nightmare b) blizzard was in her nightmare a) 14 Canadians. b) 4 Canadians. Discussion Question Have you been to the Rocky Mountains? What did you see or do there? If you have not been, talk about what you know about the Canadian mountains. 3

4 News story #3 Possible Smoking Ban What are the rules for smoking in public where you live? What are the laws in your home country? This is a story about the idea of banning smoking in Churchill Square, downtown Edmonton. Before you listen to the third news story, complete this vocabulary activity. It will help you to understand the listening more easily. Choose the group of synonyms (words with similar meaning) that best match each of the vocabulary words. Answers are in the appendix. Answer Word from the story Related words 1) debate a) forbid a law against something 2) proposed b) express unhappiness voiced problem 3) ban c) suggested to be considered 4) standstill d) used practiced 5) complaint e) idea feeling 6) applied f) discussion disagreement 7) opinion g) to stop moving pause Extra definitions to help you understand the reading: blanket ban a ban that is effective all the time or on all things being discussed skeptical don t believe it will work taking a sledgehammer to a fly an action far too strong for the small problem Now listen to the third news story from the audio file. Listening Activity: True/False Decide whether the statements below are true or false. Write your answer in the blanks. Answers are in the appendix. 1. There was a debate about banning smoking in Sir Winston Churchill Square. 2. The debate continued on Wednesday until councilors came to an agreement. 3. Councilor Walters brought up the idea after getting complaints in July. 4. Other councilors agree that smoking in the square is a problem. 5. Henderson supports the smoking ban even if it s applied only to major events. 6. Nickel says a blanket ban is too strong of an action for a few complaints. 7. At the next council meeting all councilors can give their opinion. Discussion Question Do you think smoking should be allowed in downtown Edmonton? Why or Why not? 4

5 Grammar activity Word families When studying new vocabulary it is helpful to study word families. Word families are all the different words that share the same root word. If you understand what the root word means then you should be able to understand the rest of the words in the word family. We use suffixes (endings) and prefixes (beginning letters) to change a word s meaning or part of speech. Let s look at an example from the second story: A Canadian survivor of the Nepal avalanche she and her fellow trekkers were lucky to survive. The verb survive is the root work. We can add the suffix or to create the noun survivor or the suffix al to make the noun survival. By adding the suffix - able we form the adjective survivable; and by adding the prefix un- we form another adjective, unsurvivable. Using the root word survive we can easily learn 4 new words! This is how we can expand our vocabulary efficiently. Here are the most common prefixes and suffixes we can use to expand our vocabulary: Suffixes to make a noun: - acy, - ance/- ence, - er/- or, - ism, - ist, - ity, - ment, - ness, - sion, - tion Suffixes to make a verb: - ate, - en, - ify, ize Suffixes to make an adjective: - able/- ible, - al,- ful, - ic/- ical, - ious, - ish, - ive, - less, - y Suffixes to make an adverb: - ly Prefix to be again: re- Prefixes to mean against or opposite: anti-, de-, dis- Prefixes that mean not: in-, im-. il-, ir-, non-, un- Prefixes that mean under (not enough): under-, sub- Prefixes that mean before: fore-, pre- How you do you know which suffixes and prefixes can go on a word? You need to use a dictionary and then remember the new word as part of the word family. Look at these words from the stories this week. Write down their word families. There are some blanks. Answers are in the appendix. luck Noun Verb Adjective Adverb dead satisfy worryingly treatment proposed complain 5

6 Transcripts of Weekly news stories Introduction Story 1 Story 2 Story 3 OCTOBER 18 TH WEEKLY NEWS STORIES Hi, this is Don Bell. You re listening to Learning English with CBC October 18 th. The World Health Organization says the number of cases of Ebola is now doubling every two weeks. More than 45 hundred people have died of the disease in west Africa. And there are Ebola worries in North America as well. Some members of the U- S congress are expressing dissatisfaction with Ebola control measures in the states after two nurses who cared for a man who died from Ebola in Dallas him are now being treated for the infection. And in Alberta, health workers are raising questions about how ready hospitals here are for the disease. A Canadian survivor of the Nepal avalanche and blizzard that have killed at least 27 people is telling a terrible tale of survival and being buried waist- high in thick, heavy snow. Quebecer Sonia Leveque told CBC she thought she was going to die and that she and her fellow trekkers were lucky to survive. She said the avalanche was a "nightmare" that nobody in her small group saw coming. At least four Canadians are among the dead. Debate over a proposed smoking ban in Sir Winston Churchill Square came to a standstill Wednesday because councillors could not come to an agreement. Councillor Michael Walters brought up the idea of a ban in July after getting complaints about smoking in the square during the festival season. But other councillors are skeptical. Ben Henderson said he could not support a smoking ban in the square unless it applied only to major events. Mike Nickel said a blanket ban would be like taking a sledgehammer to a fly. The discussion will take place again at the next council meeting, when all councillors can give their opinion. TIME 0:00 0:11 1:01 1:44 6

7 Answer keys News story 1 1. Canadians were very worried when there was a case of Ebola in the U.S.. 2. People are raising questions about whether Ebola will spread to Canada or not. 3. Governments are trying to create measures to control the spread of the disease. 4. Health care workers who care for people with the disease are especially at risk. 5. Infected people who are not treated will spread the disease quickly. 6. People have been exclaiming dissatisfaction with how the disease is being controlled. 7. If you are upset, expressing your feelings will help others know how you feel. 8. By doubling the amount we spend on health care, maybe we can avoid getting ill. Listening Word Health Organization West Africa U.S. Congress members Alberta Says the number of cases of Ebola is now doubling every two weeks. More than 45 thousand people have died from Ebola Expressing dissatisfaction with Ebola control measures in the States. Two nurses are being treated for Ebola in Dallas Health workers are raising questions about how ready hospitals here are ready for the disease. News story 2 Answer Word Definition c 1. survivor a) story; an explanation of events that occurred f 2. avalanche b) to be covered in something up to your waist i 3. blizzard c) a person who remains alive or uninjured after an accident g 4. terrible d) a terrible situation or a bad dream a 5. tale e) people hiking or walking through the mountains j 6. buried f) when lots of snow slides down a mountain b 7. waist- high g) very bad or serious e 8. trekkers h) friend h 9. fellow i) a snow storm d 10. nightmare j) to be completely covered with dirt or snow 7

8 Listening 1. There was a Canadian survivor of the in Nepal. a) avalanche and blizzard b) snowstorm and terrible weather 2. Quebecer Sonia Leveque told CBC a terrible tale of a) trekking in waist- high heavy snow. b) being buried waist- high in 3. She said thought she was going to die and that she a) happy to be alive. and her fellow trekkers were. 4. Leveque said the nobody in her group saw coming. 5. At least 27 people were killed in Nepal, including at least. b) lucky to survive. a) avalanche was a nightmare b) blizzard was in her nightmare a) 14 Canadians. b) 4 Canadians. News story 3 Answer Word from the story Related words f 1) debate a) forbid a law against something c 2) proposed b) express unhappiness voiced problem a 3) ban c) suggested to be considered g 4) standstill d) used practiced b 5) complaint e) idea feeling d 6) applied f) discussion disagreement e 7) opinion g) to stop moving pause Listening 1. T There was a debate about banning smoking in Sir Winston Churchill Square. 2. F The debate continued on Wednesday until councilors came to an agreement. 3. T Councilor Walters brought up the idea after getting complaints in July. 4. F Other councilors agree that smoking in the square is a problem. 5. F Henderson supports the smoking ban even if it s applied only to major events. 6. T Nickel says a blanket ban is too strong of an action for a few complaints. 7. T At the next council meeting all councilors can give their opinion. 8

9 Noun Verb Adjective Adverb die dead deadly luck lucky luckily worrier worry worrying worryingly satisfaction / dissatisfaction Satisfy satisfactory / unsatisfactory treatment treat treated/ ill- treated proposal propose Proposed complaint complain complainer 9