Intermediate 2 – Week 22 - Trivial News
I)
Reading & Listening
1) Read
the newspaper article: Newsreader takes a stand
MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski caused a sensation on
live TV when she refused to read out the station's lead story. Hotel heiress Paris
Hilton had just been released from jail after serving twenty-two days for a
driving offence, and the TV station wanted this to be their lead story. An
emotional Brzezinski explained that she didn't want to cover such a trivial
topic when there were much more serious issues in the news to report on that
day. She tried to burn the script but was stopped by co-host Willie Geist.
She then asked Geist to burn it, which he naturally
refused to do. She tore the script up and was almost immediately handed a new
copy of the same script by her producer. Meanwhile, Geist and her other male
co-host, Joe Scarborough, made mocking comments and interrupted her. When she
finally shredded the script, Scarborough commented, 'You've changed the world,
Mika Brzezinski!', to which she replied, 'Yeah, I have. At least my world. I'm
not doing it. I'm not doing the story.' Almost as soon as it happened, people
started calling the station to congratulate her on taking a stand.
2) Decide
which sentence (a, b or c) best summarises the story.
a) A newsreader is sent
to jail for stealing some property from her TV station.
b) A newsreader refuses
to read a news item because she thinks it's too trivial.
c) A female newsreader
accuses her male co-presenters of making sexist comments.
3) Are
the statements true or false?
a) Mika Brzezinski is a
newsreader. T / F
b) She thought the TV
station was wrong in their choice of lead story. T /F
c) She burned her script.
T / F
d) She asked her co-host
to help her destroy the script. T / F
e) Her co-hosts listened
to her respectfully. T / F
f) In the end she agreed
to cover the story. T / F
g) People phoned into the
TV station with messages of support. T / F
4)
Listen to an American radio phone-in show.
Do
most of the callers have a positive or negative reaction towards Mika
Brzezinski's actions?
5) Listen
again and underline the correct option to complete each sentence.
a) Luke thinks Mika's
views represent a minority / most of America's views.
b) Luke criticises /
congratulates Mika's co-hosts.
c) Mika's actions inspired
/ disappointed Maria.
d) Jason thinks Mika was right
/ wrong to refuse to read out the story.
e) Jason agrees /
disagrees with Mika's co-hosts.
f) Cathy feels /
doesn't feel the same way as Jason.
g) Cathy thinks /
doesn't think the paparazzi reflect her opinions about Paris Hilton.
6) What
do you think about Mika Brzezinski's actions? Was she right to refuse, or
should a newsreader always do what the producer asks him or her to do?
II)
Listening:
1)
Listen to some children defining five things
from the list below.
2) Which
things do they talk about and in what order?
a) God
b) a dinosaur
c) an iceberg
d) a vet
e) a robber
f) a museum
g) autumn
h) a desert
i) a jungle
3) Imagine
you are explaining other things from the list to a four-year-old child.
III)
Grammar: defining relative clauses
A relative clause can
define the thing or person introduced in the main clause. It comes immediately
after the person or thing it is describing. You use that (or who) for people
and that (or which) for things.
The man that/ who cuts
my hair is called Jo.
The relative pronoun
(that, which, who) can be the subject of the verb in the relative clause.
People who come from
Paris are called Parisians. A florist’s is a shop that sells flowers.
When the relative
pronoun is the subject of the verb, it can never be omitted.
The relative pronoun
(that, which, who) can be the object of the verb in the relative clause.
The work that you do
is very interesting. The man who I met yesterday is a famous artist.
When the relative
pronoun is the object of the verb, it can be omitted.
The work (that) you do
is very interesting. The man (who) I met yesterday is a famous artist.
Exercise:
Put the words in the correct order to make questions about
your memories of childhood. Then discuss questions 1 and 2.
What can you remember about
...
a) to
/ the school/that / went / you? the school that you went to?
________________________________________________________________
b) played
/ the toys / with / you / that ?
_________________________________________________________________
c) that
/ you / to / invited / the parties / were ?
__________________________________________________________________
d) the
books / were / in / which / interested / you ?
__________________________________________________________________
e) about
/ that / the things / you / worried / were ?
__________________________________________________________________
f) the
things / dream / used to / of / that / you ?
__________________________________________________________________
1 What type of word does
each question end with?
2 Can you leave out the
relative pronouns which and that in these questions?
Why? / Why not?
IV)
Homework: Choose the correct relative pronoun
1.
A
hotel is a place which/ where/ ø people stay when they're on
holiday.
2.
What's
the name of the woman who/ whose/ ø lives in that house?
3.
What
do you call someone that / which/ ø writes computer programs?
4.
A
waiter is a person that/ whose/ ø job is to serve customers in a
restaurant.
5.
Overalls
are clothes where/ which/ ø people wear to protect their clothes
when they are working.
6.
Is
that the shop where/ that/ ø you bought your new laptop?
7.
He's
the man whose/ that/ ø son plays football for Manchester Utd.
8.
Hal
didn't get the job that/ where/ ø he applied for.
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