- What is implied by the term “mass media”? (Press, radio, TV and the Internet)
- What is the role of mass media in the life of contemporary society? (Mass media report about various aspects of life, form and affect public opinion.)
- What is implied by the term “press”?
- What role do newspapers play today?
- In what way do quality newspapers differ from popular ones in the UK? (Quality newspapers are serious daily issues. They appeal mainly to the upper and middle classes. Popular newspapers are not so serious and their stories tend to be sensational. They appeal mainly to the working and middle classes.)
- What are quality and popular newspapers in the UK? (Quality newspapers are: “Financial Times”, “The Times”, “The Guardian”, “The Daily Telegraph”. Popular newspapers are: “The Daily Express”, “The Daily Mirror”, “The Daily Mail”, “The Daily Star”, “The Sun”)
- Is it possible to classify Russian newspapers into quality and popular? (Now it is almost impossible because newspapers can combine different articles. It is possible to name the newspapers to illustrate the variety of the modern Russian press. “Moskovsky Komsomolets” is a social and political newspaper of the Russian youth; “Arguments and Facts” is an independent newspaper, “The Red Star” is the newspaper of the Defence Ministry.)
- What kinds of newspapers are there in Russia? (National and local, official and private, quality and popular, newspapers issued for children, teenagers, people of different trends, for fans: sport fans, car fans, etc., professional newspapers)
- Are there many magazines in Russia today?
- What issues do you like to read? Why?
- When did radio appear? (It was invented by Popov in 1895)
- Has radio lost its importance with the appearance of TV and the Internet?
- When was TV invented? (TV experiments began in the late 19th century by Paul Nipkow, a German scientist)
- Does radio and TV affect their audience differently?
- Does the audience of TV and radio differ?
- What was its main purpose when it first appeared? (to give official information to people)
- What are the advantages of television? (It gives people a possibility to be well informed, provides great opportunities for education, teaches the ideals of democracy and political argument. It brought ballet, opera, and theatre to big masses of people. It can keep noisy children quiet. If people don’t like TV they do not buy it or switch it off)
- What are the disadvantages of TV? (People forget how to spend their free time without television. TV prevents children from creating their abilities. TV is damaging for health, it has bad effect on the eyes, particularly of children. People begin to depend upon television, it cuts them from the real world.)
- How important is TV for you?
- Do you like to watch TV?
- Do you watch TV selectively?
- What programmes do members of your family like to watch?
- What programmes broaden our outlook?
- Can you agree with the statement, that if millions of people watch the same programmes, the whole world becomes a “global village”?
- What’s your attitude to serials?
- Do you think advertising on TV is useful?
- There is an opinion that the media are now out of control. They don’t just report the news – they create it too. They make everything seem too dramatic. Do you share this point of view?
- The people who run the newspapers and TV stations need to make profit. So they print stories and make programmes which will be popular, not original or honest, but popular. Is there anything wrong with it?
- Comment on this: TV provides models for imitation, forces certain ideal on people.
- Comment: The issue of violence, and the right of TV to broadcast controversial news programmes are very serious problems.
- Comment: Parents have become increasingly concerned about TV viewing habits of their children so much that they are beginning to censor the programmes that enter their homes.
- Do you agree that families with TVs are not so close as families without TVs?
- What does the expression “TV generation” mean?
- What do you know about the Internet?
- Do you agree that children spend hours in front of computers and some of them even become sick: they don’t want to live a real life, they are sunk in virtual life, in computer games?
- Do you think the possibilities of the advanced technologies will bring people together or isolate them?
Student card
Task 1 (3 – 4 minutes)
Give a talk on the topic: Mass media in the life of modern people.
Remember to speak about:
- what people mean when they say “mass media”
- the role of mass media in the life of contemporary society
- the advantages and disadvantages of TV
- new informational technologies
- the role of mass media in your life
You have to talk for 2 – 2.5 minutes. The teacher will listen until you have finished. Then s/he will ask you some questions.
Task 2 (1.5 – 2 minutes)
You want to buy a magazine about home design to use it for making a stand. You need illustrations and some articles of different designers concerning kitchen design. You can spend 70 roubles only. Ask the shop-assistant about the following:
- what magazines about home design are available
- if they contain the information you need
- about the price
The teacher will play the role of the shop-assistant and will begin the conversation.
Remember to:
- be active and polite
- ask all the questions to get the necessary information
- buy a magazine
Task 3 (4 – 5 minutes)
You and your classmate are responsible for the report “The role of television in the life of a contemporary man”. There are 3 options where you can get information for the report. You have to decide on one of them.
- a library
- a special magazine
- the Internet
You begin the conversation. The teacher will play the role of your classmate.
Remember to: discuss all the options take an active part in the conversation and be polite come up with suggestions give reasons invite your partner to come up with suggestions find out your partner’s attitudes and take them into account come to an agreement
Interlocutor card
Task 1 (3 – 4 minutes)
Let the student talk for 2 – 2.5 minutes on the topic “Mass media in the life of modern people”. S/he must mention the following things:
- what people mean when they say mass media
- the role of mass media in the life of contemporary society
- the advantages and disadvantages of TV
- new informational technologies
- the role of mass media in her/his life
You will listen until the student has finished. If s/he hasn’t discussed some of the items from the Student Card ask these questions. Then the teacher must ask each student:
- Does radio and TV affect their audience differently? Why?
- Do you think advertising on TV is useful? Why?
SKILLS TO BE TESTED:
The student is expected to demonstrate his/her ability to:
- speak at length elaborating to the topic
- organize her/his speech using cohesive devices
- show her/his control of grammatical structures and a good range of vocabulary appropriate to the context and function
Interlocutor card
Task 2 (1.5 – 2 minutes)
You are a shop-assistant. You begin the conversation.
Interlocutor |
Student |
| - Hello! Can I help you? | - Yes, please. I’d like to buy a magazine about home design. Are such magazines available? |
| - Yes, today we have such magazines as “The Studio”, “The Home Design” and some magazines dedicated to different aspects of home design. | - I’m interested in information about the kitchen design. In which of these issues can I find articles of different designers and many illustrations? |
| - You can find some articles about kitchen design in “The Studio”, but there are only some illustrations, not very colourful. In “The Home Design” you can find a lot of beautiful illustrations, but I am afraid there are no articles about the kitchen design. There is a special issue “The Kitchens and Bathrooms” where you can find both articles and illustrations. | - Great! And how much does the last mentioned magazine cost? |
| - It costs 80 roubles. | - Oh, what a pity! I can spend only 70 roubles. Is there anything cheaper? |
| - Are you interested in this month’s issue? | - It’s not necessary! I need only the concrete information and illustrations. |
| - Then I can advise you to buy the last month’s issue. It costs 70 roubles. | - It will suit me. I’ll buy it. Here is the money. |
| - Here you are. |
Skills to be tested:
- elicit information by asking questions
- respond in appropriate manner
- make decisions
- initiate, maintain and conclude conversation
Interlocutor card
Task 3 (4 – 5 minutes)
You and your classmate are discussing the source where to get information for the report “The role of television in the life of a contemporary man”. There are 3 options to choose from and you have to come to an agreement on one of them. The student will begin the conversation.
+ |
– |
|
| A library | - There is a wide range of different issues there, we’ll certainly find
what we need. - We can ask to make copies of the issues we need. |
- Our school library doesn’t contain so many books and newspapers. - If we go to the city library we’ll spend all the day there. It’s far away from our school. Besides we’ll have to wait for our turn to make copies in a long queue. |
| A special magazine | - I like it. We can find all the necessary information in one or two issues. We won’t have to go somewhere far away. | - But you can’t buy such special magazines in every news-stand, they are sold in special shops and I don’t know where they are. |
| The Internet | - We can get the information very quickly and we’ll have much time to design our report. Besides the information is up-to-date. | - Won’t it cost too much to spend hours searching the information there? |
Skills to be tested:
The student is expected to demonstrate her/his ability to:
- initiate and maintain the conversation;
- come up with suggestions;
- give good reasons;
- invite the partner to come up with suggestions;
- find out her/his partner attitudes;
- agree or disagree with her/his partner’s opinion;
- reach an agreement by taking into account the partner’s attitudes.