W 22 - Int 2


 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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