| June 27, 2016 NEWSCAST 1 EDMONTON CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD WANTS THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE Source: http://www.cbc.ca/1.3646743 LANGUAGE LEVEL: Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 4/5 or equivalent WARM UP Do you know what the role of a School Board is? Did you hear the recent announcement that the Alberta Government is updating the school curriculum? VOCABULARY ACTIVITY Review the vocabulary below before listening to the audio clip. VOCABULARY DEFINITION school board a group of elected people who are in charge of local schools curriculum the courses that are taught by a school sexual abuse forced, unwanted, and inappropriate sexual touching or activities trustees the members of the school board motion a formal suggestion or proposal prevention stopping something bad from happening review carefully looking at or examining the quality of something board chairperson the person responsible for leading the school board raise awareness increase knowledge of something safety net something that helps someone who is in a difficult situation disclose make something known; say; report LISTENING ACTIVITY 1 (Audio Clip 0:11) Listen to the newscast once for overall comprehension. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 2 LISTENING ACTIVITY 2 (Audio Clip 0:11) Listen to the newscast again. Follow along with the script below. While you listen, underline words you do not understand. The Edmonton Catholic School Board wants the Alberta government to develop curriculum to teach students about sexual abuse. School Board trustees voted seven to one on a motion pushing the Alberta government to include sexual abuse prevention in its recently announced curriculum review. The board chairperson, Marilyn Bergstra believes it is important to raise awareness among students and to provide them with a safety net to come forward to say someone is hurting them. Bergstra worked with the Zebra Child Protection Centre, an organization that helps children who disclose sexual abuse. The centre reports that one in six boys, and one in three girls don't report sexual abuse. And 95 percent of all sexual abuse cases go unreported. The board hopes their motion will be considered in the new curriculum. READING ACTIVITY Respond to the questions below using the script above. 1. What does the Edmonton Catholic School Board want the Government of Alberta to do? 2. How many of the trustees disagreed with the motion (suggestion or proposal) to include sexual abuse prevention in its recently announced curriculum review? 3. Why does the Marilyn Bergstra, the board chairperson, think it is important to raise awareness among students? 4. Where did Marilyn Bergstra work before? 5. What does the board hope? (See answer key)
LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 3 NEWSCAST 2 PLEASE VACCINATE YOUR KIDS SAYS THE MOTHER OF A BABY WHO IS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH WHOOPING COUGH Source: http://www.cbc.ca/1.3646421 LANGUAGE LEVEL: Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 4/5 or equivalent WARM UP Do you know what vaccinations are? Do you know what whooping cough is? Can you think of examples of vaccine-­‐preventable diseases? What is the intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital? LISTENING ACTIVITY 1 (Audio Clip 1:22) Listen to the newscast for overall comprehension. Take notes below. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 4 VOCABULARY ACTIVITY 1 Review the vocabulary below. VOCABULARY DEFINITION OR SYNONYM hospitalized to be in the hospital; to be admitted to a hospital for treatment whooping cough a contagious bacterial disease that mostly affects children proof evidence; verification vaccines a substance used to provide immunity against several diseases contract catch or develop a disease ventilator a respirator; a machine for breathing infectious a disease that is easily spread to other people pediatrician a medical doctor that specializes in children and their diseases immunization making a person safe from infections by injections benefit advantage risk danger LISTENING ACTIVITY 2 (Audio Clip 1:22) Listen to the newscast again. This time indicate the order of statements made in the story. The first one is done for you. Read the statements before listening to the newscast. Bishop says he has Isabelle has been in Research shows the Annie Mae noticed an increase the pediatric benefits of Braiden’s Facebook over the last year of intensive care unit vaccinations far post has been children with for more than a outweigh the risks. shared over 20,000 whooping cough. month. times. 1 Isabelle is proof that Some children have A mother’s baby The pediatrician, children who are died from whooping named Isabelle is in Jeff Bishop, says not vaccinated can cough in the past the hospital with whooping cough is harm others. five years. whooping cough. incredibly infectious and spreads easily. (See answer key) CONCLUSION What do you think of this story? Do you think parents should be forced to vaccinate their children? LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 5 NEWSCAST 3 VENEZUELA’S ECOMOMIC CRISIS WORSENS Source: http://www.cbc.ca/1.3643216 LANGUAGE LEVEL: Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 5 or equivalent WARM UP What do you know about Venezuela? Describe the photograph. What do you see? What is the reason for Venezuela’s economic crisis? LISTENING ACTIVITY 1 (Audio Clip 2:59) Listen to the newscast once for overall comprehension. Take notes below so you can describe the situation in Venezuela afterwards. Discuss the situation and the details you understood with a colleague or friend. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 6 READING ACTIVITY Read the script below. While you read it, underline the words you do not understand. The outlook for Venezuela appears to be getting worse every day and it’s not just because of the country's daily four-­‐hour mandatory blackouts. The oil-­‐exporting South American country is caught in a perfect storm of droughts, food and power shortages, and devastating inflation and recession caused by plummeting crude prices. Becky Jordan, a private school teacher in Caracas, told CBC "We're not at war and we're living worse than in a war situation. I really have no idea how much longer people can take this." President Nicolas Maduro, who took over following the death of longtime leader Hugo Chavez in 2013, faces increasing criticism and opposition. The floundering economy has resulted in a shortage of basic supplies like food and medicine. The government only allows people to shop one day a week at state-­‐run supermarkets. Food shortages have also contributed to a decline in the education system. Until recently, Venezuela's schools were among the best in South America. But now people are skipping school to wait in food lines. Also, teachers are fleeing the country. The annual dropout rate has doubled and more than a quarter of teenagers are not enrolled in school. LISTENING ACTIVITY 2 (Audio Clip 2:59) After reading the script, listen to the newscast again. While you listen pay attention to how the words you underlined are pronounced.
LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 7 VOCABULARY ACTIVITY 1 Look at the definitions provided for vocabulary used in the story. Put a check mark beside the words you underlined while reading the script. VOCABULARY DEFINITION OR SYNONYM outlook view mandatory required by law; compulsory blackouts power outages oil-­‐exporting country a country that sells oil to other countries perfect storm a particularly violent storm or bad situation droughts long periods of low rainfall and shortage of water as a result inflation an increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money recession a period of economic decline during which trade is reduced plummeting falling; dropping crude prices the value of oil from the ground, before refining criticism disapproval opposition resistance; hostility floundering struggling state-­‐run controlled by the government decline decrease skipping school missing school; leaving school fleeing escaping dropout rate the rate at which people are abandoning their studies enrolled registered OTHER WORDS DEFINITION OR SYNONYM LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 8 ANSWER KEY FOR NEWSCAST 1 EDMONTON CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD WANTS THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE READING ACTIVITY 1. What does the Edmonton Catholic School Board want the Government of Alberta to do? The Edmonton Catholic School Board want the Government of Alberta to teach students about sexual abuse 2. How many of the trustees disagreed with the motion (suggestion or proposal) to include sexual abuse prevention in its recently announced curriculum review? 1 / Of the trustees, one did not agree with the motion and voted against it (7:1). 3. Why does the Marilyn Bergstra, the board chairperson, think it is important to raise awareness among students? She thinks it is important to provide children with a safety net to come forward to say someone is hurting them. 4. Where did Marilyn Bergstra work before? She worked with the Zebra Child Protection Centre, an organization that helps children who disclose sexual abuse. 5. What does the board hope? The board hopes their motion will be considered in the new curriculum. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 9 ANSWER KEY FOR NEWSCAST 2 PLEASE VACCINATE YOUR KIDS SAYS THE MOTHER OF A BABY WHO IS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH WHOOPING COUGH LISTENING ACTIVITY 2 (Audio Clip 1:22) Listen to the newscast again. This time indicate the order of statements made in the story. The first one is done for you. 6 3 8 4 Bishop says he has Isabelle has been in Research shows the Annie Mae noticed an increase the pediatric benefits of Braiden’s Facebook over the last year of intensive care unit vaccinations far post has been children with for more than a outweigh the risks. shared over 20,000 whooping cough. month. times. 2 7 1 5 The mother says her Some children have A mother’s baby The pediatrician, sick daughter is died from whooping named Isabelle is in Jeff Bishop, says proof that children cough in the past the hospital with whooping cough is who are not five years. whooping cough. incredibly infectious vaccinated can and spreads easily. harm others. ANSWER KEY FOR NEWSCAST 3 VENEZUELA’S ECOMOMIC CRISIS WORSENS N/A LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 10 TRANSCRIPTS OF WEEKLY NEWSCASTS WEEKLY NEWS STORIES INTRODUCTION Hi. This is Don Bell. You’re listening to Learning English with CBC for the week of June 27th. NEWSCAST 1 The Edmonton Catholic School Board wants the Alberta government to develop curriculum to teach students about EDMONTON sexual abuse. CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD School Board Trustees voted seven to one on a motion WANTS THE pushing the Alberta government to include sexual abuse ALBERTA prevention in its recently announced curriculum review. GOVERNMENT TO TEACH STUDENTS The Board chairperson, Marilyn Bergstra believes it is ABOUT SEXUAL important to raise awareness among students and to ABUSE provide them with a safety net to come forward to say someone is hurting them. Source: http://www.cbc.ca/ Bergstra worked with the Zebra Child Protection Centre, an 1.3646743 organization that helps children who disclose sexual abuse. The centre reports that one in six boys, and one in three girls don't report sexual abuse. And 95 percent of all sexual CLB: 4/5 abuse cases go unreported. The board hopes their motion will be considered in the new curriculum. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english TIME 0:00 0:11 11 NEWSCAST 2 PLEASE VACCINATE YOUR KIDS SAYS THE MOTHER OF A BABY WHO IS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH WHOOPING COUGH Source: http://www.cbc.ca/
1.3646421 CLB: 4/5 A mother whose baby is hospitalized with whooping cough 1:22 says her sick daughter is proof that children who are not vaccinated can harm others. Annie Mae Braiden says her 10-­‐week-­‐old girl, Isabelle, has been in the pediatric intensive care unit for more than a month after contracting the disease and needed to be on a ventilator for weeks. "What you do with your kids is your choice, but do not tell me that not vaccinating your kids isn't hurting anyone but your own kids," Braiden wrote in a Facebook post that has been shared over 20,000 times. "Isabelle is proof that it harms the other little babies who aren't old enough to get their vaccines yet." Jeff Bishop, a pediatrician who is treating Isabelle at the hospital, says whooping cough is incredibly infectious and spreads easily through contact with anyone who is inadequately vaccinated. Bishop says he has noticed an increase over the last year of children with whooping cough including some deaths during the past five years. He says immunization can be an emotional topic for parents but extensive research shows the benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the risks. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 12 NEWSCAST 3 VENEZUELA’S ECOMOMIC CRISIS WORSENS Source: http://www.cbc.ca
/1.3643216 CLB: 5 The outlook for Venezuela appears to be getting worse 2:59 every day and it’s not just because of the country's daily four-­‐hour mandatory blackouts. The oil-­‐exporting South American country is caught in a perfect storm of droughts, food and power shortages, and devastating inflation and recession caused by plummeting crude prices. Becky Jordan, a private school teacher in Caracas, told CBC "We're not at war and we're living worse than in a war situation. I really have no idea how much longer people can take this." President Nicolas Maduro, who took over following the death of longtime leader Hugo Chavez in 2013, faces increasing criticism and opposition. The floundering economy has resulted in a shortage of basic supplies like food and medicine. The government only allows people to shop one day a week at state-­‐run supermarkets. Food shortages have also contributed to a decline in the education system. Until recently, Venezuela's schools were among the best in South America. But now people are skipping school to wait in food lines. Also, teachers are fleeing the country. The annual dropout rate has doubled and more than a quarter of teenagers are not enrolled in school. Thank you for using Learning English with CBC. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected] LEARNING ENGLISH WITH CBC – www.cbc.ca/learning-­‐english 13