Lesson 22

Television

Aims and objectives:

• developing the topic

• introducing and practicing the vocabulary

• developing basic skills

Equipment: writing paper, handouts

Sequence

I. Warming-up

Answer the questions.

Does your family subscribe to any newspapers or magazines? If yes, which?

Do all the members of your family read newspapers and magazines?

Do they have any preferences?

Do your friends and acquaintances prefer to subscribe to periodicals or buy them in the news-stands / news agents?

If you read a newspaper or a magazine, do you begin reading from the very first page or from your favourite sections?

Do you have a favourite TV channel? What attracts you in it? Does it have any specialisation, like a music channel?

If you. are listening to your favourite radio music channel, are you irritated when the music is interrupted by news?

Do you like to read gossip in the celebrity columns? Do you think that it is an intrusion into privacy?

What is your opinion about advertising in mass media? Do you like it? Is it necessary?

Some people say that they prefer not to watch or listen to the news programmes and not to read newspapers because they feel very many negative emotions afterwards? What is your opinion?

If you were offered a choice to watch TV, to listen to the radio, to read a book or a magazine or newspaper, which would you prefer and why?

II. Main part

1. Vocabulary practice

Match the following media terms with their definitions or descriptions:

In pairs, make sentences using the new vocabulary. Each pair reports a sentence to the class.

2. Listening

Listen to these mini-conversations and monologues. Which speaker do you agree with most? Why?

I

A. I hate watching TV. It’s such a waste of time, and most of the programs are quite boring.

B. Really? I love TV. I watch quite a lot for relaxation — and I’ve learnt quite a lot from TV, too.

II

A. Do you think Jimmy should be watching that program at his age? So much violence canit be good for adults, let alone youngsters.

B. Oh, I don’t know. Even kids can tell the difference between TV and real life.

III

A. I don’t buy a newspaper every day, but I like to read one whenever something important has happened: it’s better than TV or the radio.

B. I never buy them. You can’t believe half of what you read.

IV

I don’t read newspapers at all. They are all biased. They’ve been taken over by companies who have political interests. And in Britain most of the papers are right-wing. There are one or two that I think are a bit more objective, but I’d rather listen to the radio.

V

Actually, I don’t want to know about the details of all the troubles in the world — it’s all so depressing. I like human interest stories — stories about people, not wars and disasters. So my daily newspaper is a tabloid. The other good thing about a tabloid is that you can read it in ten minutes on the way to work. That’s all I want.

VI

I get a so-called quality newspaper on Sundays because it gives me a good Summary of world events, but I also buy tabloids two or three times a week. People are critical of the pictures and stories of the royals and their problems that have been published in the tabloids, but I don’t agree. Why shouldn’t we know how we are spending our money?

They are public figures, and only the tabloids give you the details — the other papers are too respectful.

3. Group work. Speaking

Wlhat is your opinion of the media? Discuss with your partners and mark the appropriate box below. Then report you opinion to the class.

4. Reading

Pre-reading

Match the description on the left with the programs on the right.

Television in Modern Life

How do people usually answer the question like, "What are your plans for tonight?” or "What are you doing at the weekend?” In other words, how do people spend their free time?

Some twenty or thirty years ago the usual answers used to be: "We are going to the theatre (or the cinema) or "We are going to a party” or

"We are having some friends around”. Now you quite often hear, "We are going to stay at home and watch the telly”.

Television (colloquially known as TV or telly) is now so popular in the whole world that it is hard to believe that it appeared only about fifty years ago.

A first-rate colour TV set and a video cassette recorder (VCR) have become an ordinary thing in the household today, and a DVD-player is quickly becoming one.

Modern television offers the viewers several programs on different channels. In addition to regular news programmes, you can see plays and films, operas and ballets, and watch all kinds of contests, quizzes, soap operas, serials and sporting events. You can also get a lot of useful information on the educational channel. A good serial (perhaps, a detective story or a screen version of a classical novel) can keep the whole family in front of the telly for days, and don’t we spend hours and hours watching our favourite football or hockey team in an important international event?

Television most definitely plays an important part in people’s lives. But is it a good thing or a bad one? Haven’t we become lazier because of the television? Don’t we go out less often? Don’t we read less?

And yet a lot of people believe that the telly has made our life more interesting and can’t imagine their everyday life without it.

After-reading

Below is a list of adjectives used for expressing opinions. Sort them out into the two groups and use them to describe a TV channel or programme.

III. Summary

IV. Homework

Imagine that you can choose the programs to go on two TV channels in the evening.

Fill in the chart below with the names of TV programs and say which type they are (news, sports, talk show, etc.)

e. g. "The Field of Wonders” — a quiz show

Put one of the following words in each space in the sentences below:

Down, in, up, off, on

1) I can’t hear the program very well. Could you turn the TV __?

2) Last night there was a very interesting program __ TV.

3) How many TV channels do you have __ your city?

4) 1 don’t want to watch TV any more. I’ll switch it __.

5) __ addition to the news program I’d like to see the film.

6) You can get a lot of useful information __ the education channel.

7) The music is too loud. Could you turn the volume __?

Можливо Вам це буде цікаво