English Media - DV4A

English Media - DV4A

Media

Intro

Media
In this theme we are looking at The Media.
We look at different forms of media and a popular theme at the moment, the concept of fake news.
We look at some measures that are being taken to ensure that young people are able to identify the difference between real and fake news.
The final article is about the effect that media has on brain development.
So let’s begin!

Have fun!

Content

The theme The Media contains an introduction, three sections and a final project. In the schedule below, you can see the titles of the sections and an estimate of the time required for each part.

Activity Time
A Introduction 0,5 hour
B1 What is fake news? 3-4 hours
B2 Fake news as fact? 3-4 hours
B3 Impact of media 3-4 hours
C Final Project: Create you own fake news! 3 hours
Total less than 20 hours


*hour = lesuur. Eén lesuur komt ongeveer overeen met 2 SLU.

Final project

The Media - Final project
In the final project you will write a news report.
You will discover whether or not your classmates believe you can write fake news!

Can do

In this theme you will focus on the following 'can do' statements.

Reading C1

  • Can understand in detail lengthy, complex texts, whether or not they relate to his/her own area of specialty, provided he/she can reread difficult sections.

Speaking B2

  • Can express himself/herself fluently and spontaneously, almost effortlessly. Has a good lexical repertoire. There is little obvious searching or expressions of avoidance strategies.

Writing B2

  • Can express him/herself with clarify and precision, relating to the addressee flexibly and effectively.

Listening C1

  • Can follow extended speech and complex lines of argument provided the topic is reasonably familiar and the direction of the talk is sign-posted by explicit markers.

What is fake news?

Introduction

Introduction
In this first section we look at what the media actually means, and aspects that it includes. We reflect upon our own interaction with media (including social media) and how important, or not these interactions are.

This first section contains 4 steps. Work them through step by step.

Step Activity
1. Speaking and writing Make a list with your partner about The Media. Answer questions. Watch a TED talk video. Before that, indicate whether sentences are true or false. Explain, considering some points, the speaker's concluding sentence.
2. Reading Indicate how confident or true news stories are. Read and watch situations and indicate fake or real. Check your answers on the sites. Read the text 'What is fake news?'. Answer questions in your own words.
3. Words Match the word and description in one exercise. In the other you complete the sentences with the words from Exercise 1.
4. Writing Task Write a letter of complaint to the BBC in 150-200 words. Read some tips.

 

Difficult words? Search these on Cambridge Dictionaries

 

Step 1 - Speaking

Speaking & Writing: Define the media
What is The Media? What does it include? Make a list with your partner.

With your partner, answer these questions.

  1. Have you read any news stories today? Why did you read those particular items?
    (interesting headline/photo.. other?)
  2. What were they were about?
  3. Where did you read them?
  4. Can you name any large news agencies?
  5. If you commented on them, how did you do it? (e.g. repost on social media/comment to friend?)
  6. How many of those news items will actually matter in the next 50 years or so?


You’re going to watch a TED talk video about news. Before you watch, read these sentences and decide if they are True (T) or False (F).

 

  True False
A Reuters reports on over 3.5 million news stories a year. ... ...
B Some stories will not matter in the future. ... ...
C The top story from the past year was about the economy. ... ...
D The speaker says that stories about the economy will always be important news. ... ...
E There are over 2 billion hungry people in the world. ... ...
F GMO crops are essential for some developed countries to survive. ... ...
G The USA is the world’s biggest car market. ... ...
H A microbe can wake up after 120,000 years. ... ...


Now watch the video and check your answers.

To what extent do you agree with the speaker’s concluding sentence, ‘In the long run, some news stories are more important than others’? Consider the following points:
- What is the story about?
- Who is involved in the story?
- Which country is involved?
- Is the story about science? Does that make a difference? Why/why not?

Step 2 - Reading

Reading
You are going to read an article about fake news.
First, thinking about where you read news stories, how confident are you that the stories actually are true?

1 not at all confident
3 not really sure
5 they may or may not be true
7 pretty sure they’re true
10 100% sure they are true

Do you generally believe what you read?
Can you think of something you read and thought to be true, and then you discovered that it wasn’t true?

Read the following situations and decide whether or not you think they are true or fake.
What are the implications of these news stories being accurate?
 

Situation 1
The following sign displayed on a London underground station after the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017.

True or fake?

 

Situation 2
In the run-up to the US presidential elections in 2017, it was claimed that a paedophile ring involving high-profile members of the Democratic Party was operating out of the basement of a pizza restaurant in Washington DC.

True or fake?

 

Situation 3
This image shows a man rescuing a cat from London docks.

True or fake?

Now follow the links below to find out whether these situations are real news or fake news.

Read the article entitled ‘What is fake news?’. Answer the questions in your own words.

What is fake news? Its origins and how it grew in 2016
by James Carson

It was at Donald Trump’s first press conference as President-elect when the term "fake news" broke out of media discussions and into the mainstream. "You are fake news!" he pointed at CNN’s Jim Acosta while refusing to listen to his question.
Since then, the now President of the USA has been calling out major media outlets several times a week for being ‘FAKE NEWS’ via his Twitter feed - particularly CNN and the New York Times. But why is Donald Trump using the term ‘fake news’ so frequently and where did it come from?
Bending the truth for political gain is certainly nothing new. In the Second World War, the propaganda machine was used relentlessly by all sides across the media spectrum. This sort of propaganda was largely funded and controlled by governments, but the blatant bias it carried waned as the ideological struggles became less apparent. Added to that, as populations became more used to mass communication, they could more easily see through it.
The rising trend of fake news during 2016 was very different to largely state controlled analogue modes of 20th century propaganda. What we saw oftener here were small groups of people taking advantage of social media interaction and algorithms through creative hyperbolic articles around a major political event: the US presidential election.
Propaganda and Internet fake news do, however, hold similarities: both are methods of distorting the truth for emotional persuasion, seeking to drive action. Although this action appears to be political, the motivation in the 2016 US election was not necessarily. Many creators of it were moreover looking for a path to quick dollars by distributing content and gaining an audience that would view advertising. Before the Internet, publishing fake news and gaining an audience that could be monetised was nearly impossible for three reasons:
  1. Distribution and cost: Distributing information on any kind of scale needed a prohibitively expensive logistics operation.
  2. Audiences and trust: Building a large audience took much longer, and because it was expensive to acquire and built on trust of information, publishing fake news would be damaging to reputation and thus have economic consequences.
  3. Law and regulation: Because it was expensive to distribute information, there were far fewer players. These abided by media law and could be regulated. Publishing fake news would likely end up with the publisher being sued. But this gate of information exchange was unlocked around 2007, with the beginnings of the social media revolution. The creation of social networks like Facebook and Twitter allowed people to exchange information on a much greater scale than ever before, while publishing platforms like WordPress allowed anyone to create a dynamic website with ease.

In short, the barriers to creating fake news were undone:

The five types of fake news
Stories classified as fake news can generally be put into five categories, as experts try to develop a way of warning readers what they may be encountering.
  1. Intentionally deceptive
    These are news stories created entirely to deceive readers. The 2016 US election was rife with examples claiming that “x celebrity has endorsed Donald Trump”, when that was not the case.
  2. Jokes taken at face value
    Humour sites such as the Onion or Daily Mash present fake news stories in order to satirise the media. Issues can arise when readers see the story out of context and share it with others.
  3. Large-scale hoaxes
    Deceptions that are then reported in good faith by reputable news sources. A recent example would be the story that the founder of Corona beer made everyone in his home village a millionaire in his will.
  4. Slanted reporting of real facts
    Selectively-chosen but truthful elements of a story put together to serve an agenda. One of the most prevalent examples of this is the PR-driven science or nutrition story, such as 'x thing you thought was unhealthy is actually good for you'.
  5. Stories where the ‘truth’ is contentious
On issues where ideologies or opinions clash - for example, territorial conflicts - there is sometimes no established baseline for truth. Reporters may be unconsciously partisan, or perceived as such.

Is fake news actually influential?
While often used statistics - 62 per cent of Americans using social networks as a source of news, and 44 per cent primarily using Facebook - could be used to reinforce that fake news has real influence, they are really quite general figures. We simply don't know what the large interaction numbers that are attributed to fake news really mean in an "influence" sense: what does a Facebook Like mean in this context, for example.
Fake news as we have come to know it on Facebook is more of a menace than a game changing influencer. However, the term has now jumped from the referral of a small scale menace into one often used to refer to the established mainstream media, accounting for thousands of professional journalists.

What is happening now?
Some claim that the term has now been co-opted by politicians and commentators to mean anything they disagree with - making the term essentially meaningless and more of a stick to beat the mainstream press with than a phenomenon in itself. Donald Trump said recently that "any negative polls are fake news".

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

 

  1. When was the term ‘fake news’ first used?
  2. In what ways are propaganda and fake news different?
  3. One of the keys characteristics of fake news is the ability to monetise the audience.
    What does this mean and why has it only just become possible?
  4. What are the five different types of fake news?
  5. How influential is fake news?
  6. Why does the author say ‘(fake news) is more of a menace than a game changing influencer?
  7. How is the term fake news now being used?


Looking again at the five categories of fake news in the text, how would you classify the situations (on page 1) that were ‘fake’?
Do you think that one category is worse than any other? Is there any situation in which fake news is OK? Describe it.

Step 3 - Words

Words
Drag the word to its definition.

Exercise:Words

Complete the sentences with the correct word from Exercise 1
 

Exercise:Sentences

Step 4 - Task

Writing Task
You are going to write a letter of complaint to the BBC.
You saw the item about the underground and you believed it to be true.
You now know that it isn’t and you are very disappointed.
You feel that you don’t have enough time to be constantly fact checking and that is why you subscribe to ‘quality’ news channels.

Write a letter to the company outlining these problems and the action that you want them to take. Here are some tips for writing a letter of complaint:

  • Begin: Dear Sir or Madam
  • End: Yours faithfully
  • Divide your work into paragraphs.
  • Begin by saying why you are writing.
  • Give details about what happened.
  • Explain how you feel.
  • Next outline the action that you would like the company to take.
  • End your letter politely.


Write your letter of complaint in about 150-200 words.

 

Answers

Section B1: What is fake news?

Speaking & Writing
What is the media?:
[The media is defined as any communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional messages are reported.
The media includes every broadcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet.]

Answer to the questions:
[Students own answers but answer to question 4. could include Reuters/AP]

True or false?
  True False
A Reuters reports on over 3.5 million news stories a year. x  
B Some stories will not matter in the future. x  
C The top story from the past year was about the economy. x  
D The speaker says that stories about the economy will always be important news.   x (one of last year's story was about the economy)
E There are over 2 billion hungry people in the world.   x (1.2 billion)
F GMO crops are essential for some developed countries to survive. x  
G The USA is the world’s biggest car market.   x (China)
H A microbe can wake up after 120,000 years. x  

 

 Reading

  1. By Donald Trump when he was nominated as the president in 2016.
  2. Propaganda was generally put out, and paid for, by governments especially in times of war.
    As people became aware of mass communications, they realised that it was incorrect.
    Fake news on the hand generally takes place on social media and so is not controlled, or put out by governments.
  3. It means that it generates money through publicity. It happens on social media.
    Thus the three points: distribution and cost, audiences and trust and law and regulation were largely opened up on social media.
  4. Intentionally deceptive, jokes taken at face value, large –scale hoaxes, slanted reporting of real facts, stories where the truth is contentious.
  5. Hugely influential as many people (62%Anericans) consult social media for their news.
  6. It was small, but now the concept of fake news is huge and this questions the work of 1000s of serious journalists.
  7. By some people, when they disagree with something they claim that it is fake news.

Suggested answers:
The tube sign = large scale hoax
The idea that a paedophile ring was operating out of a pizza restaurant = intentionally deceptive.]

 

Writing Task
Example answer:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about the incorrect news item after the Westminster bridge incident.
Your news channel reported that beautiful messages had been written on a billboard in London. Whilst I loved the message, and although it might be fake, it certainly mirrored my sentiments.

However, it actually turned out to be completely incorrect. I had already reposted it to all my social media channels. Thus it made me look rather foolish, and many others too as I have now read the item in fact went viral.
I find it very worrying that a quality news channel such as yours did not, on this occasion take the time to check the facts. In this instance, it didn’t really matter however, a more serious news item that is actually untrue may have more serious repercussions.

Nowadays we are all very aware of the concept of fake news, as I’m sure your journalists are.
I would suggest that you provide training for your journalists in spotting fake news items so that this situation will not be repeated.

Yours faithfully
JK
 

 

 

Fake news as fact?

Introduction

Introduction

Continuing the topic of the news, let’s now turn our attention to the newspapers. Does anyone still read the newspapers? Do your parents or grandparents read a daily newspaper on printed paper? Or do they subscribe to a paper and read it on a tablet? Do you read newspapers? Let’s find out what we know about newspapers nowadays.

This second section contains 6 steps. Work them through step by step.

Step Activity
1 Speaking & watching Name as much UK national newspapers as you know. Watch a video and write down the names of newspapers you hear. Name other sources of media. Explain whether you think a story is fake or not.
2 Reading Name the title of the article. Tick the topics you think will appear. Read the article and do the exercises. Answer questions in your own words.
3 Words Find verbs in the text and match with the meaning. Complete sentences.
4 Grammar About mixed conditionals. Read theory and do the exercises.
5 Listening Look at the picture. Answer questions about photojournalism. Listen to the audio and answer questions.
6 Writing Task To provide a guide for younger pupils on spotting fake news, present your ideas in words and pictures.

 

Difficult words? Search these on Cambridge Dictionaries

 

Step 1 - Speaking&Watching

Speaking and watching
How many UK national newspapers can you name? Find out what their political bias is.

Watch this clip from a satirical sitcom, 'Yes Minister' that ran in the UK in the early 1980s. The characters are talking about who reads the papers, and what they think. Make a list of the papers mentioned and what the readers think, according to the Minister.

 

Humphrey states that ‘[the press] pander to their readers prejudices'. To what extent do you think this is true? Is it true in The Netherlands? Give at least two examples.

What other sources of media are there? Think of online independent digital companies that deliver news stories to social media e.g. BuzzFeed. Make a list.
Tip! Scroll through your Facebook feeds to find some.

Do you trust these sources? Why/why not? Give at least three reasons.
How do you decide whether a story is true or fake? What could you do if you thought it was false? Make a list of three things you could do.

 

Step 2 - Reading

Reading
You’re going to read an article. The headline has been jumbled. Put the words into the correct order. The last two words have been placed correctly.

Choose the topics that you think will appear in the article.

  • teachers frustration
  • research findings
  • pupils refuse to believe real news
  • a royal opinion
  • laws imposed by a country


Read the full article and check your ideas. Then do the exercise.

[TITLE]
Teachers express frustration at pupils refusing to accept some stories found on social networks are false, as experts call for better education on online dangers
Rachael Pells Education Correspondent
@rachaelpells
Wednesday 12 April 2017 14:30 BST

'Pupils often mistake spoof news sites for real news, or presume anything President Trump has said must be fact,' one teacher said. Pupils are quoting fake news as fact in lessons and written work, teachers have warned.
More than a third of teachers say their students have cited false information found online, according to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union.
Union General Secretary Chris Keates said the finding was “worrying” and shows the power that internet firms have in shaping public opinion, especially among young people. The figures come amid growing concerns from international education experts, who say children should be taught in schools how to recognize fake news.
In one case, a union member said that “some students did not attend school and hysteria ensued because they thought there were killer clowns roaming the streets with weapons”.
Another said pupils “often mistake spoof news sites for real news”. Others expressed frustration over students refusing to believe news they had seen on Facebook and other social sites was not true, even when the problem was explained to them.
“Pupils often mistake spoof news sites for real news, or presume anything President Trump has said must be fact,” one teacher added. Last week, German officials announced they would issue fines of up 50m euros to social networks for not taking down illegal fake news posts.
The new law would give social networks 24 hours to delete or block the content and seven days to address less clear-cut cases. Commenting on the survey findings, Ms Keates said: “It is worrying that over a third of teachers had experienced pupils citing fake news or inaccurate information they had found online as fact in their work or during classroom discussions. “This demonstrates the great power that companies such as Facebook and Google now have in shaping public opinion, particularly among young people who have never known a world without internet and who are less equipped to analyse the information they see presented to them online and assess its plausibility. “It is important for children and young people to be made aware that not everything they see and read online is real.” She said that teachers are trying to help educate pupils when they cite false information, but added that, as with other forms of technology misuse, it is important for online providers to “take responsibility for the material hosted on their platforms and to take steps to tackle those who seek to misuse these sites”.
Last month, Andreas Schleicher, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) director of education and skills, said that in the modern digital age, schools should teach pupils how to think critically and analyse what they read on social media and news sites. “In the past, when you needed information, you went to an encyclopaedia, you looked it up, and you could trust that information to be true,” Mr Schleicher said. “Distinguishing what is true from what is not true is a critical skill today,” he added. “Exposing fake news, even being aware that there is something like fake news, that there is something that is written that is not necessarily true, that you have to question, think critically, that is very important. “This is something that we believe schools can do something about.”

Exercise:Title

Exercise:Fake news

Read the text again and answer the questions in your own words.

  1. To what extent do you agree with the points made in the article? Give two reasons.
  2. Have your teacher taught you to critically evaluate information found on the internet?
  3. Have you ever cited fake information from the internet (either for school or not)? What was the story about? Why did you believe it? What happened?
    Tell your story (100 words).

 

Step 3 - Words

Words
Read the article and find verbs that mean the following:

1 to say that you will not do or accept something .....
2 to examine the details of something carefully in order to understand or explain it .....
3 to believe something to be true because it is very likely, although you are not certain .....
4 to make a judgement about the quality, size or value, etc. of something .....
5 to mention something as proof for a theory or as a reason why something has happened .....
6 to make public something bad or dishonest .....

 

[TITLE]
Teachers express frustration at pupils refusing to accept some stories found on social networks are false, as experts call for better education on online dangers
Rachael Pells Education Correspondent
@rachaelpells
Wednesday 12 April 2017 14:30 BST

'Pupils often mistake spoof news sites for real news, or presume anything President Trump has said must be fact,' one teacher said. Pupils are quoting fake news as fact in lessons and written work, teachers have warned.
More than a third of teachers say their students have cited false information found online, according to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union.
Union General Secretary Chris Keates said the finding was “worrying” and shows the power that internet firms have in shaping public opinion, especially among young people. The figures come amid growing concerns from international education experts, who say children should be taught in schools how to recognize fake news.
In one case, a union member said that “some students did not attend school and hysteria ensued because they thought there were killer clowns roaming the streets with weapons”.
Another said pupils “often mistake spoof news sites for real news”. Others expressed frustration over students refusing to believe news they had seen on Facebook and other social sites was not true, even when the problem was explained to them.
“Pupils often mistake spoof news sites for real news, or presume anything President Trump has said must be fact,” one teacher added. Last week, German officials announced they would issue fines of up 50m euros to social networks for not taking down illegal fake news posts.
The new law would give social networks 24 hours to delete or block the content and seven days to address less clear-cut cases. Commenting on the survey findings, Ms Keates said: “It is worrying that over a third of teachers had experienced pupils citing fake news or inaccurate information they had found online as fact in their work or during classroom discussions. “This demonstrates the great power that companies such as Facebook and Google now have in shaping public opinion, particularly among young people who have never known a world without internet and who are less equipped to analyse the information they see presented to them online and assess its plausibility. “It is important for children and young people to be made aware that not everything they see and read online is real.” She said that teachers are trying to help educate pupils when they cite false information, but added that, as with other forms of technology misuse, it is important for online providers to “take responsibility for the material hosted on their platforms and to take steps to tackle those who seek to misuse these sites”.
Last month, Andreas Schleicher, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) director of education and skills, said that in the modern digital age, schools should teach pupils how to think critically and analyse what they read on social media and news sites. “In the past, when you needed information, you went to an encyclopaedia, you looked it up, and you could trust that information to be true,” Mr Schleicher said. “Distinguishing what is true from what is not true is a critical skill today,” he added. “Exposing fake news, even being aware that there is something like fake news, that there is something that is written that is not necessarily true, that you have to question, think critically, that is very important. “This is something that we believe schools can do something about.”


Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb.

Oefening:Sentences

Step 4 - Grammar

Grammar
Let's look at ... mixed conditionals.
We might imagine a situation in the present (If I didn’t have to finish my homework) or in the future (If I didn’t have to sit an exam next week) that could have had an effect on the past:
Present situation, past consequence: If you weren’t such a kind person, you wouldn’t have helped me. (You are a kind person, you did call me.)

Conditional sentences can be mixed if the time of the if clause is different to the time of the main clause.

1. Past ➨ present If I had read the article correctly, I would have more correct answers now.
I didn’t read the article and I got lots of answers wrong.
2. Past ➨ future If Martin had read the email, he would going to the fancy restaurant with us tomorrow.
He didn’t read the email and he isn’t going to be at the fancy restaurant tomorrow.
3. Present ➨ past If I didn't have to study so much, I would have gone to the party last night.
But I have to study a lot and that is why I didn't go to the party last night.
4. Present ➨ future If Mike weren't so nice, she wouldn't be helping you with French tonight.
But Mike is nice and he is going to help you tonight.
5. Future ➨ past If Rachel wasn’t making us dinner tonight, I would have suggested that we go to that new Indonesian restaurant.
But she is going to make us a dinner tonight, and that is why I didn't suggest that we go to that new Indonesian restaurant.
6. Future ➨ present If Jon were giving a speech tomorrow, he would be very nervous.
But Jon is not going to give a speech tomorrow and that is why he in not nervous.

 

  Situation Consequence/result
Present or future time If + past simple would, could, might + infinitive or be+ -ing
Past time If + past perfect would have, could have, might have+ past participle

 

 

Exercise:Conditionals

Read and choose the correct options.
Complete the sentences so that they are true for you.

  1. If I’d be born in the late 1970s, I would/wouldn’t [..........].
  2. If I had read [..........], I‘d /wouldn’t have [..........].
  3. If I was able to [..........], I ‘d /would n’t have [..........].
  4. If I hadn’t [..........] last weekend, I’d/wouldn’t be [..........] this weekend

Step 5 - Listening

Listening
Look at the picture. What can you see? Who do you think the person is and what are they doing?
What do you know about photojournalism? How important is it? Give at least three reasons.
How do you think that world of photojournalism has changed in recent times? Think about advances in technology.
You will hear a photo journalist, James Petts talking about the industry of photojournalism.


Listen and complete the sentences.

  1. James says that the world of photojournalism is [.....].
  2. Due to digital developments, many people have lost their [.....].
  3. Publishing photos on your own blog or website can [.....] a lot.
  4. James’ book proposal was accepted due to his large [.....].
  5. Pictures nowadays look better when viewed on a [.....].
  6. No longer does the size of the [.....] in the newspaper limit the size of the photograph.
  7. The [.....] of photojournalists today is not the same as in the past.
  8. If you only take [.....], it’s unlikely that you’ll be offered work.

Do you think that photojournalism is ever ‘fake news’? How?
What might motivate a photojournalist to create a fake picture? Is it ever ok?

Step 6 - Task

Writing Task
You have been asked to provide a guide for younger pupils on spotting fake news.

  • Think about how you can spot fake news.
  • Compare your ideas with your partners.
  • Present your ideas in an attractive form. Write your ideas in about 180-250 words and find some pictures.

Answers

Section B2: Fake news as fact?

Speaking & Watching
UK national newspapers:
  • The Daily Telegraph
  • The Sunday Telegraph
  • The Times
  • The Sunday Times
  • The Guardian
  • The Observer
  • Financial Times
  • Daily Mail
  • The Mail on Sunday
  • Daily express
  • Sunday express
  • The Sun
  • The Sun on Sunday
  • Daily Mirror
  • Sunday Mirror
  • Sunday People
  • Daily Star
  • Daily star Sunday
  • Morning Star

The papers mentioned in the video and what the Minister thinks:
  • Daily mirror – people who think they run the country
  • The Guardian – people who think they ought to run the country
  • The Times – people who actually do run the country
  • The Daily Mirror – read by the wives of people who run the country
  • Financial times – read by people who own the country
  • Morning star – read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country
  • Daily Telegraph – read by people who think it is (the country run by another country)
Other sources of media: SlantNews, GigaOm Media, Quartz News]

Points to check when a story seems fake:
  • Check at least three other sources.
  • Check the validity of each source – are they reputable journalism companies?
  • Regularly read ‘good’ news sites so that when fake news appears, you can spot it.
 
Reading
The topics in the text:
  • Pupils refuse to believe real news
  • A royal opinion

Words

1 to say that you will not do or accept something refuse
2 to examine the details of something carefully in order to understand or explain it analyse
3 to believe something to be true because it is very likely, although you are not certain presume
4 to make a judgement about the quality, size or value, etc. of something assess
5 to mention something as proof for a theory or as a reason why something has happened cite
6 to make public something bad or dishonest expose
Listening
The picture: Photojournalism in a war zone

The sentences:
  1. = changing
  2. = jobs
  3. = raise your profile
  4. = built-in audience
  5. = screen
  6. = box
  7. = skillset
  8. = photos

Answer about photojournalism:
[Students own answers but obviously photoshop is one way to ‘create’ a photo.
Maybe if they can’t get the real picture, but they know that it will sell.
Probably not – as it’s a lie] .
 

 

 

Impact of media

Introduction

Introduction
In this section we look at the effect of the media on young people. We read an article which outlines the effect that media can have on psychological development.

This third section contains 4 steps. Work them through step by step.

Step Activity
1 Speaking Answer questions about watching TV. Share your answers with a classmate. Answer the same questions but then about using the internet. Compare answers.
2 Reading Read part 1 of an article about the influcence of the media. Fill in the missing words. Read part 2 and answer questions.
3 Words Complete a table of adjectives, noun, adverbs and verbs.
Read a text and complete the gaps.
4 Writing Task You write a short paragraph about the negative effects of advertsing and nutrition while watching TV. Your partner will check your work.

 

Difficult words? Search these on Cambridge Dictionaries

 

Step 1 - Speaking

Speaking
Read the questions and choose your answers.

  1. How many hours of TV do you watch a week?
    1. Less than 5 hours
    2. Between 5-10 hours
    3. More than 10 hours
  2. How many hours of TV did you watch when you were younger?
    1. Less than 5 hours
    2. Between 5-10 hours
    3. More than 10 hours
  3. How many hours do you think young children (aged 6-12 years) watch nowadays?
    1. Less than 5 hours
    2. Between 5-10 hours
    3. More than 10 hours

Share your answers about TV watching with your partner.
Repeat the above questions but replace TV with internet.

  1. How similar or different are your answers? Does the answer worry you? Why?

Step 2 - Reading

Reading
You are going to read part of an article about the influence of the media on the psychosocial development of children.
It was published by the Canadian Paediatric Society in 2003. You are going to read about the following topics:

  • TV
  • Learning
  • Violence
  • Music Videos
  • Video games

What do you think that the article will say about these topics?
Make notes and compare with your partner. Read the first part of the article.
Some words have been removed. Choose the correct word.

Choose the correct word that best fits the gap.

1 belief potential possible impossible
2 on of in from
3 real actual effective affective
4 lively fun deficient vital
5 alone individual own separate
6 teens young toddlers people
7 from to towards by
8 supervised any unsupervised intense


1 = .....   2 = .....   3 = .....   4 = .....   5 = .....   6 = .....   7 = .....   8 = .....

TELEVISION
Television has the .....[1]..... to generate both positive and negative effects, and many studies have looked at the impact of television on society, particularly .....[2]..... children and adolescents. An individual child’s developmental level is a critical factor in determining whether the medium will have positive or negative effects.
- Canadian children watch excessive amounts of television.
- There is a relationship between watching violent television programmes.
- Excessive television watching contributes to childhood obesity.
- Excessive television watching may have a harmful effect on learning and academic performance.
- Television is an .....[3]..... way of advertising products to children of various ages.

The average Canadian child watches nearly 14 h of television each week. By his/her high school graduation, the average teen will have spent more time watching television than in the classroom. Television viewing undoubtedly limits children’s time for .....[4]..... activities such as playing, reading, learning to talk, spending time with peers and family, storytelling, participating in regular exercise, and developing other necessary physical, mental and social skills. In addition to the amount of time spent in front of the television, other factors that influence the medium’s effect on children include the child’s developmental level, .....[5]..... susceptibility and whether children watch television alone or with their parents.

Learning
Television can be a powerful teacher. Watching Sesame Street is an example of how .....[6]..... can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational television format. Some public television programs stimulate visits to the zoo, libraries, bookstores, museums and other active recreational settings, and educational videos can certainly serve as powerful prosocial teaching devices. However, watching television takes time away .....[7]..... reading and schoolwork. More recent studies show that even 1 h to 2 h of daily .....[8]..... television viewing has a significant negative effect on academic performance, especially reading.
 

Read the next topics of violence, music videos and video games. Answer the questions.

  1. What is the main point that is made about music videos? Give two examples.
  2. What is another problem with music and how can parents intervene?
  3. What are some positive effects of video games?
  4. Why should violent video games be discouraged? Give two reasons.

Read the topics again, did any information surprise you? Which dangers were you unaware of? Give details.

The final part of the text is about some recommendations for physicians working with families. Read and answer the questions. If your family doesn’t do much TV watching, you can substitute it for internet use.

RECOMMENDATIONS
  • Families should be encouraged to explore media together and discuss their educational value. Children should be encouraged to criticize and analyze what they see in the media. Parents can help children differentiate between fantasy and reality.
  • No child should be allowed to have a television, computer or video game equipment in his or her bedroom. A central location is strongly advised with common access and common passwords.
  • Television watching should be limited to less than 1 h to 2 h per day. Families may want to consider more active and creative ways to spend time together.
  • Older children should be offered an opportunity to make choices by planning the week’s viewing schedule in advance. Ideally, parents should supervise these choices and be good role models by making their own wise choices. Parents should explain why some programs are not suitable and praise children for making good and appropriate choices.
  • Families should limit the use of television, computers or video games as a diversion, substitute teacher or electronic nanny. Parents should also ask alternative caregivers to maintain the same rules for media use in their absence. The rules in divorced parents’ households should be consistent.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
 
  1. How far do you agree with each recommendation? Why/Why not?
  2. How easy/ difficult do you think it is/would be to introduce this recommendation into your house? Why?
  3. Rank the recommendations in order of importance. Compare your list with your partners. How similar or different are they?
  4. These recommendations were made in 2003. How relevant are they still today? What is your opinion?

Step 3 - Words

Words
Complete the table of adjectives, nouns, adverbs and verbs with the correct form of the word.

Adjective Noun Adverb Verb
active activity ..... -
alternative ..... alternatively alternate
critical critic/criticism critically .....
..... doubt doutfully/undoubtedly -
experimental ..... - experiment
intent intent ..... intend
likely/unlikely ..... likely/unlikely -
plastic ..... - -


Read the text and complete with the correct form of the word from the above table.

In a recent study, researchers used a scanner to image the brains of teenagers as they used a social media app similar to Instagram. By watching the ......[1]..... inside different regions of the brain, they discovered that .....[2]..... areas became activated by ‘likes’ and the brain’s reward centre became particularly active. "When teens learn that their own pictures have supposedly received a lot of likes, they show .....[3]..... greater activation in parts of the brain's reward circuitry," says lead author. "This is the same region that responds when we see pictures of a person we love." As part of the experiment, participants were also shown a range of .....[4]..... photos which were mostly neutral showing things like food and friends, and "risky" photos depicting cigarettes and alcohol. But the type of image had no impact on the number of "likes" given by the teens. They were instead more .....[5]..... to 'like' the more popular photos, regardless of what they showed. .....[6]..... this could lead to both a positive and negative influence from peers online.

Social media is affecting our brain, particularly its .....[7]....., which is the way the brain grows and changes after experiencing different things. Whenever you learn something new or you experience something, it becomes encoded in your brain. Time spent on social media could, therefore, also cause the brain to change and grow. Perhaps we are becoming better at monitoring what's going on in a whole group of our friends. These new skills are not a good or bad thing, they are just a way of .....[8]..... to our environment.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/

Step 4 - Task

Writing Task
You have been asked to write about the negative effects of the media (watching TV) on: Nutrition or Advertising.

  • Make a list of points.
  • Write a short paragraph. (150-200 words)
  • Ask your partner to check your work.

Read another paragraph from the original article 'Impact of media use on children and youth' (Step 2).

Nutrition
As television takes time away from play and exercise activities, children who watch a lot of television are less physically fit and more likely to eat high fat and high energy snack foods.
Television viewing makes a substantial contribution to obesity because prime time commercials promote unhealthy dietary practices. Television can also contribute to eating disorders in teenage girls, who may emulate the thin role models seen on television. Eating meals while watching television should be discouraged because it may lead to less meaningful communication and, arguably, poorer eating habits.

Advertising
Advertising can have positive effects on children’s behaviour. Although some health care professionals disagree about the health benefits of appropriate milk use, milk consumption has increased as a result of print and broadcast advertisements.
The developmental stage of a child plays a role in the effect of commercials. Young children do not understand the concept of a sales pitch. They tend to believe what they are told and may even assume that they are deprived if they do not have advertised products. Most preschool children do not understand the difference between a program designed to entertain and a commercial designed to sell. A number of studies have documented that children under the age of eight years are developmentally unable to understand the difference between advertising and regular programming.
The average child sees more than 20,000 commercials each year. More than 60% of commercials promote sugared cereals, candy, fatty foods and toys. Cartoon programs based on toy products are especially attractive. The question of whether children are more resilient to the influence of television is debated frequently. Most studies show that the more time children spend watching television, the more they are influenced by it. Earlier studies have shown that boys may be more susceptible than girls to television violence.


How similar or different were your ideas?

 

Answers

Section B3: Impact of media

Speaking
Students own answers.
Question 4: probably they spent more hours watching TV when they were younger than they do now, but now they probably spend too many hours watching TV on the internet.
 
Reading
Part 1 of the text:
  1. = b
  2. = a
  3. = c
  4. = d
  5. = b
  6. = c
  7. = a
  8. = c

Answer to the topics of violence:
  1. stereotyping (race, gender)
  2. Explicit music lyrics – make sure that they know what their children are/aren’t exposed to.
  3. They can help with fine motor skills and coordination.
  4. They have negative effects on children’s mental development. And they are likely to copy what they see.
 

Words

Adjective Noun Adverb Verb
active activity actively -
alternative alternative alternatively alternate
critical critic/criticism critically criticise
doubtful doubt doutfully/undoubtedly -
experimental experiment - experiment
intent intent intentionally/unintentionally intend
likely/unlikely likelihood likely/unlikely -
plastic plastic/plasticity - -

Words in the text:
  1. = activity
  2. = critical
  3. = significantly
  4. = alternative
  5. = likely
  6. = undoubtedly
  7. = plasticity
  8. = adapting

​

Project

Media

Media - Final project: a news report
You are going to write a fake news item but it should be perfectly credible.
Choose from the following topics:

  • Animals and pets
  • Traffic news
  • Famous people
  • An amazing event
  • Your own ideas!

Language tips: try to re-use new words and grammar from this theme.
If you can, you could also include a photo (that you have faked, of course!)
Read your classmates items of fake news.
Which one is the best/most believable?

Good Sufficient Insufficient
Organisation Information is presented in a logical sequence. Information is mostly presented in a logical sequence. Information is not presented in a logical sequence.
Content Interesting, clear information. Information is mostly interesting. Some was already known. There was not much that was of interest in this presentation.
Speaker style Speaks clearly and at an understandable pace. Well-rehearsed. Mostly speaks clearly and a good pace. Has rehearsed a bit. Mostly unintelligible. Has not rehearsed.
Language The vocabulary use is very good and the sentence structure is good. The vocabulary use is fairly good and the sentence structure is good. The vocabulary use is not very good, neither is the sentence structure.

  • Het arrangement English Media - DV4A is gemaakt met Wikiwijs van Kennisnet. Wikiwijs is hét onderwijsplatform waar je leermiddelen zoekt, maakt en deelt.

    Auteur
    Frank Volmerink
    Laatst gewijzigd
    Licentie

    Dit lesmateriaal is gepubliceerd onder de Creative Commons Naamsvermelding-GelijkDelen 4.0 Internationale licentie. Dit houdt in dat je onder de voorwaarde van naamsvermelding en publicatie onder dezelfde licentie vrij bent om:

    • het werk te delen - te kopiëren, te verspreiden en door te geven via elk medium of bestandsformaat
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    Meer informatie over de CC Naamsvermelding-GelijkDelen 4.0 Internationale licentie.

    Het thema 'Media' (v456) is ontwikkeld door auteurs en medewerkers van StudioVO.

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    arrangeerbaar, leerlijn, rearrangeerbare

    Gebruikte Wikiwijs Arrangementen

    VO-content Engels. (2021).

    Media v456

    https://maken.wikiwijs.nl/105979/Media_v456

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