Choose the correct definition (a or b) for the following highlighted words from Ben’s blog.
odd a strange b occasional
rag a piece of cloth b magazine
cast a broadcast b the actors in a film
couple a two b two people in a relationship
feed a food for animals b updated content link
guts a courage b intestines
paid off a paid back money b brought good results
Complete the following statements about Ben’s blog by underlining the correct alternative.
1 He speaks to his audience as if they are / are not friends.
2 He uses the first person pronouns I and we a lot / a little.
3 He uses / doesn’t use interjections like hey and wow.
4 He uses / doesn’t use dashes (-) and exclamation marks (!).
5 He joins / doesn’t join sentences with and rather than moreover, however and therefore.
6 He uses some / no slang words.
7 He rarely / usually uses contractions.
8 As a result of the above points, his style is formal / informal.
A. Complete the following tips for successful blogging, using the words in the box.
knowledgeable, main, mistakes, entries, titles, useful, write space |
Readers only have a short attention span so keep your blog ___________ short.
Blogs must be ____________; for example, they should provide the reader with entertainment, news, debate, etc.
Use short, descriptive, interesting ___________ for blog entries.
Use heading, sub – headings, lists, ____________, photos, images, underlining, etc. to help readers navigate your block more quickly.
Blog about something you are ___________ or passionate about.
Include your ___________ point in the first couple of sentences so readers can decide if they want to continue reading your post.
Check your blog for ___________. A well – written blog is easier to read than a blog with confused content and language errors.
In pairs, discuss whether you agree with statements 1 – 7 above.
Discuss what kind of blog you would write. Explain why.
Write a brief entry for the blog you talked about. Use the guidelines in Exercise 3.5.
Unit 13. Education
Lead-in: Education and mass media
Listen and speak: Creating a podcast
Focus on reading: Reconciling education and mass media.
Language Focus: Who’s a clever boy then?
Lead-in
Education and mass media
Discuss the following questions.
What do you think about the relationship between media and education?
Do the media not teach anything or do they “educate too much”?
Do you agree with thinking about the school and the media as formation and entertainment?
Read the article and complete it with the titles
1. Formation and entertainment
2. The media society
3. Reconciling education and mass media
4. In education
Gustavo Villamizar
A __________ When it comes to dislike of the media, there are two extremes that almost touch: those who consider them alienating and those who consider them as corrupters of the common good. In the face of these radical approaches, it is difficult to see what media bring or could bring to education.
Some condemned the media for being alien to the people, others for being soft on morality and for distorting values; some held them responsible for unwitting growth, others linked them to excess and vice; some chided them for promoting consumerism, others for excessive materialism; some loathed them for promoting transculturalisation, and others for promoting a lack of ethics.
B __________ Gianni Vattimo writes: ‘The society we live in is a society of widespread communication, the mass media society.’ So that we find ourselves confronted by circumstances that call for a different look at the media and a fresh consideration of their relationship with education.
In the first place, we have to admit that the effect of the media and their undeniable influence have demonstrated that today the school no longer has a monopoly over education and it is wrong to consider the classroom as the only space for learning.
Secondly, we have to break with the belief that the media, especially television, do not teach anything and accept the contrary, that ‘they educate too much’. As Savater informs us: The problem does not lie in the fact that television does not sufficiently educate, but in the fact that it educates too much and with irresistible force; what’s bad about it is not that the media broadcast false mythologies and other fripperies but that they vigorously demystify and inconsiderately dispel the protective fogs of ignorance that used to envelop children so that they remained children.’
C __________ To think about the school and the media as formation and entertainment, as being distinct, with their own particular dynamics and logics of planning and performance, must lead us to establishing a basic goal: let’s not try to assimilate the media into the school system, or convert them into schools or even less, award responsibility for education solely to media.
This clarify about their difference allows us to understand why experiments to turn the media into schools failed, attempts to use them as schoolchildren ‘loudspeakers’. Equally, it helps to clarify the failure of attempts supposedly to modernise school practice by incorporating sophisticated film, projection, recording, and editing equipment into work in the classroom.
In short, education and communication are not irreconcilable. On the contrary, they need each other, except that this need has particular demands to ensure a lasting union, which are based on respect for particular conditions. It is worth detailing those corresponding to each practice.
D __________ It is necessary to move beyond the concept of teaching as mere presentation of information to one that understands it as a specialised practice so that the person being educated learns and, above all, reasons, confronts and/or disagrees. With regard to learning we have to take it on as a life process, by which we can understand the transit through school as a cycle or a stage in that process.
If learning is a life process, we shall see that, contrary to what the school system thinks, there is no specific time and space in which to learn. So that neither the lecture hall nor the classroom are the only spaces in which one learns; one also learns in the home, through the media, in the street, on the games field, in the workplace. We learn throughout life, for which reason such learning is not limited or determined by time, and takes place in short bursts or demands prolonged effort.
Finally, the possibility of a fruitful relationship between media and education requires media of a new type, but above all, and this lies at the heart of this transformation, it demands communications professionals who go beyond announcing records and advertisements, handling a camera or recording machine, and take steps towards reconceptualising their role in society.
consumerism - protection for people against unfair prices, bad products, advertising claims that are not true etc.
fripperies - something useless but attractive or enjoyable.
sophisticated - knowing and understanding a lot about a subject
irreconcilable – incompatible, mutually and implacably hostile