The Soft War on the Internet (English Listening Practice)

I am very lucky because I live in Britain and our Internet connection is relatively free of censorship. Do you know this word, ‘censorship’? It is the action of a government or organization that limits information.

Last year, I wrote about how much I hated the censorship of the Internet in Turkey. I think this is a very important issue so I wanted to show you a short video about it. Here are a few questions for you to read before you watch the video:

1. How many countries did Freedom House include in their ‘Internet Freedom’ report? 
2. When was this report released? 
3. How were the countries categorized? 
4. There were 3 categories for scoring ‘Internet Freedom’, what were they? 
5. What was the worst scoring country? 
6. What is the population of that country and how many people have broadband access there? 
7. What is the general speed of internet there? 
8. What is the ‘Soft War’? 
9. The Iranian Government wants to unplug its country from the internet... by when? 
10. What is a ‘dual internet structure’?

Okay, now here is the video:

Did you get all the answers? If not, try listening again. Answers are below but try listening at least one more time before you scroll down to read them.

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Okay, here are the answers:

1. 37 Countries
2. April 2011
3. Free, Partly Free, Not Free
4. Obstacles to Access, Limits on Content, Violation of User Rights
5. Iran
6. 73.2 Million & 560,000 Broadband Subscribers
7. 56K
8. ‘The Soft War’ is the Iranian government’s attack on the connection of government protestors, Internet users and international media.
9. Within the next two years (2013)
10. A ‘dual Internet structure’ is a system where a country has unrestricted access to the Internet, for tourists and government officials, and restricted access to the Internet for the normal citizens of the country.

Some of those answers were probably a bit difficult.  Here is a small activity to improve your listening.

Watch the video again and try to fill in these gaps.

• Many governments ____________ are locked in a fight with their citizens. 
• ...on a _________ of 0 to 100. 
• Most private ____________ only have 56k connections. 
• In June 2009, Iranians _____ __ the streets in protest of presidential election results. 
• Protestors relied ________ on the Internet... 
• With social media proving to be such a powerful revolutionary tool, it’s ___ ________ that the Iranian government... 
• ... only about 1000 individuals have direct access to the Internet, ___ _______ ___ the population has access to filtered content 
• Burma recently launched a intranet-like web portal that ____ ___ wean the public off popular websites... 
• With all this ____________, it’s hard to dispute that the war for Internet access is _____ __________. 

Here are the answers and a little bit of explanation about how you can use these phrases.

Enjoy!

Improve Your English, Edit a Wikipedia Page!

A few months ago I gave my students in Argentina a project and I think it worked very well.  We took the English Wikipedia page of the local city, Gualeguaychú, and we improved it.

How did the students do this?

My students looked at the Wikipedia article in the original language (Spanish) and then used this information to improve the English version.  Here is a comparison between the original Spanish and the English article before the students started the project.  As you can see the English article is MUCH smaller.

We copied the English article into Google Docs, shared the document with everybody and then the students started to work on building and improving the article.

Here is what they achieved.

As you can see, the English article is still shorter than the Spanish but it has significantly more information than it had.  This is okay, the English article doesn’t need to be as big as the original Spanish.

Click here to get higher resolution pictures of the Spanish, the old English article and the new English article.

What has this project done?

• The students worked together, learning from each other and improving each other’s English.
• The students have improved their vocabulary and their translation skills.
• The students have helped to advertise their home town.

See the Wikipedia pages here: Gualeguaychú (English) and Gualeguaychú (Spanish)

The Rules

If you want to improve your English with some friends or classmates then I think this type of project is a great way to do it.  However, if you want a project to succeed then you need to have rules.  These are the rules that we had.

1. Try to use the original Wikipedia article (if it exists) as a guide to help you build the English article but don’t worry if they are not exact translations.  Remember, good translations are often not exact translations.
2. Very Important - Don’t be afraid to make corrections of paragraphs that other people have written.  This is a collaborative piece of work.
3. Don’t invent information - everything in the article must be fact, not fiction.
4. You are not allowed to talk about personal opinions - these will be removed by Wikipedia.
5. Only do as much work as you want to do.  When it stops being fun, take a break!
6. If you are going to add photos, they need to be your photos or photos which are not copyright.  Copyrighted images cannot be used on Wikipedia.
7. Set a deadline and stick to it!  Give the project a week or a month.  Any more time than this will cause people to lose motivation.  At the end of the project deadline, take your work in Google Docs and update the Wikipedia page.  The article doesn't need to be perfect at the end - you can always continue to edit and improve it on Wikipedia.

Ideas

Writing about your hometown is a good topic.  Other topics you could work on might be famous local people (actors, authors, poets) or famous local people from history (inventors, military people, authors, etc.), maybe events in local history, or local buildings of historic significance.  If you don’t like history then you could important areas in the area (parks, theatres, museums, etc.).  Wikipedia doesn’t need to be your only source of information for your English article, if you do start doing some research you might learn something new about where you live.

Let me know how it goes!

Why Do I Like English? - A Guest Post by Maru Talavera

This is a very special post and the first of many, I hope. This is a guest post - this article has not been written by me but by one of my students, Maru Talavera. Maru has been a student of English for a number of years now and recently got the opportunity to use her language skills on a trip to England this summer. I was very interested to know her story about what motivates her in her English studies, so I asked her to write this article to share with all of you. I was very happy when she said yes and this is what she provided. Thank you very much, Maru!

Anyway, here are her opinions and her analysis on her passion and enjoyment of English. There are a couple of her ideas that I thought were so good that I highlighted them!  Please feel free to give Maru your comments.

Why I like English

While being a student you find many people that ask you “Why do you like English?” However, I think the answer to this question only gets complicated when you ask yourself, “Why do I like English?” As an advanced student I guess I should have figured it out much earlier but considering I’m seventeen it (kind of) makes sense that I haven’t yet.

I took up English because my parents thought I would need it at some point in my life.  They were aware of the importance of knowing another language to not only broaden your mind but also push your limits.  However difficult the start was I instantly felt comfortable.  The atmosphere was wonderful, and by atmosphere I mean the warmth of teachers who – I bet – knew how difficult it can be for a little child to start something new.  They made English look like an easy game to play since, as we all know, if you enjoy what you do you give your best.

English also has opened my mind to new perspectives because by reading books or listening to music I realize distances are nothing, we’re all part of the world which turns out to be pretty small as we can feel something similar no matter where we are.  For me, English is that bridge that can lead you to see that there are a lot of people who have felt or are feeling in the same way you feel.

Further to the points I highlighted before, English is considered to be the lingua franca (language people use to communicate when they have different first languages) and companies which are trying to make it to worldwide success are looking for people that have English among their various skills since it’s a great way to enter other markets.

Photo from Wikipedia

Nowadays, English doesn't belong to one place, it’s everybody’s world language.  And I think it would be great if it were taught to children as they’re little because it’s the best time to learn as it’s easy.

Having English as a lingua franca doesn’t mean we have to have an English lifestyle as well.  This is the best of it, we can have a mixture... making our culture evolve in a different way, acquiring new things but preserving out essence.  It’s all about opening our minds and trying to see that others are not that different and that we can get to know them better if we share a common language.

Other ways of learning English

As I grow up (Yes! I’m still at it!) I discover that it’s not always easy to keep on working on my English as I have less time to study but in a way this has helped me realize there are fantastic ways to learn, improve and use your English.

• Watching series or films online: the Internet can be something more than just a way to gossip or keep up with Hollywood trends, it can also be a place to catch up with your favourite series or movie.  At times it’s hard to understand the dialogues so I suggest starting with series you are familiar with, and it’s great when you add the subtitles so that you know exactly what they’re saying.  Free online films and series are available online and you don’t need to be registered.  (Gordon's Note: I agree with this idea and I know there are some free films online but also remember that iTunes is a great and legal way to do this get movies and TV shows.)

• Reading from books to magazines, you will find a wide range of useful vocabulary and phrases.  Although sometimes it seems difficult to get an English book in a country like Argentina it is not impossible, indeed there are several bookshops where you can get them.  There’s also the possibility to download the book you want from the net. (Gordon's Note: I love my Amazon Kindle and you can also get Kindle apps for computers and smartphones.)

• Music: I think this is my favourite way of learning English.  There’s nothing better than listening to a good album with meaningful lyrics.

To sum up, I would say English has a very important place in my life.  Indeed, I can’t imagine my life without it and I think the world helps that.  I like having it in my life since I have developed a kind of love for English because it has made me discover a whole new world that has always been there but I didn’t have the key to enter.  This tool also leads me to independence and sharing my knowledge, feelings and ideas with people from all over the world.  When I went to London this July,  English also helped me to make friends with people who were foreigners just like me, who were also still unsure and adjusting in a different country and we ended up creating a bond which I hope will continue to grow day by day.

During my life I’ve encountered people who encourage me every day to go on in this way, learning around the things I enjoy is certainly the easiest way to progress.  On the other hand, I also find people who try to bring me down, saying that no matter how hard I try it is pointless to try to acquire another culture that’s not mine.  However, as with many things in life, it is important to follow the way you think will make you happy, because none of the people who discouraged you will come to repair the damage of having made a bad choice.  People that think English is boring, unnecessary or just a waste of time is because they don’t know, they have no idea of the vast world that hides beyond their ignorance.

People you should be following, pt 1 (Twitter)

This is the first of a few posts I will make to give you some recommendations about sites and people on the Internet that can help you to improve your English.

If you are learning English I'm sure you know there is a LOT of information on the internet to help you.  Unfortunately there is usually too much information on the internet and it is difficult to know what to follow.

These are some recommendations for learners who use Twitter.  I think these people produce useful and interesting things for English language learners which can really help you to improve your English.

@EFLintermediate & @EFLadvanced – Two great feeds for a wide variety of useful content, depending on your level.

@englishwithjo – I’ve got to thank a former student of mine, Bengü, for telling me about this resource.  This tweeter provides simple explanations and gapfills on Twitter.  Jo looks like an excellent resource to follow.

@eslpod - ESL Podcast's Twitter feed.  Lots of free material for listening and they will tell you when there is something new to listen to.  I’ve talked about ESLPod before, read my previous post to learn more.

@InglesenLomas – A great person to follow who provides lots of useful links for learning English, especially around songs and singing.

@LearnEnglish_BC – A great person to follow for new information and activities from the British Council for all learners of English.

@ListenandWrite – Improve your listening skills with this website.  By following the feed, you will not miss anything new.

@myenglishexam – This is the twitter account for a brilliant website for Cambridge exam preparation, Flo-Joe.  You will receive daily tweets that often give links to short 2 or 3 minute exercises to help you prepare for your big exams.

@SpotlightRadio – Spotlight Radio is a great listening resource for lower-level learners.  Here they will tell you when there is something new to listen to.  (To learn more about Spotlight, read my previous post)

@SuccEng – I’ve recommended Warren Ediger’s website in a previous post and this is another opportunity to stay connected with his clear explanations and practical suggestions for better English.

@VOALearnEnglish – Thanks to Marcelo for recommending this tweet account.  It connects to the Voice Of America Facebook page as well as the website.  Lots of good reading and listening materials.

@ykarabatov - Yuri Karabatov has tweeted on lots of useful websites and gives a lot of useful, sensible information about learning a language.  Take a look through his tweets and I'm sure you will find something useful for you!

If you follow any of these or you already follow some of them, then please leave a comment with your opinions.  If you have any more suggestions, please give them below.

Next: FACEBOOK.  Everybody uses is, so who can you “like” on Facebook to help you with your English? Well first of all, you could click 'Like' below to start following me. :-)

RSS, Blogs and My 'New' Internet

Ok, this isn't about learning.  Well, it kind of is.  This is about how my internet experience has changed radically in the last month.  What do I mean by radically... I mean a LOT and in a BIG way.

You have probably seen this little icon (or picture) many, many, many times.

What is it?
Well it is an RSS feed.

What's that?
I don't know... but I know what it can do.

I think I am pretty good at using computers but I have only just started using this facility and now I understand more about the learning opportunities of the internet.

Here is a video that explains it very clearly in a much better way than I can.



So now I can follow many different blogs, websites, podcasts, news sites, etc. Now I can follow all these different places on the internet and I know that I will not miss anything.  Try it and see how much more you can enjoy and learn from the internet... and in less time!

Digital Literacy a.k.a. English Skills for the Internet

First of all, “a.k.a.” means “Also Known As”. So, for example, my father’s name is Geoffrey a.k.a. Geoff. Or my father’s name is Geoff a.k.a. Dad.

Okay, so I was watching a lecture about useful websites for teachers to use in class with young learners. The lecturer, Nik Peachey, talked about “Digital Literacy”, which means the English reading skills we need to use the Internet.

I immediately thought about all of you. Do you feel that you have the skills needed to use the Internet effectively in English? Did you learn these skills in a classroom, or by yourself? How easy is it for you to use the internet in English?

What do I mean by “effectively”? Well, let’s think of a Google search; “teaching” for example. There are 267 million results! How do you decide what is a useful “hit” and what is useless? (A “hit” is like a result.) It should need only a few seconds to skim read the list of results and decide if any might be useful. Can you do this in English?

If you click on a link and go to a page, you need to look at what the subject of the webpage is and decide if it will be useful. Again, this should only take you a few seconds. Can you do this in English?

These are specific skills to skim read a LOT of different summaries and make a quick decision about what is useful to you and what is not. If you spend a lot of time on websites which don’t have the information you want then you are wasting time and you probably lack some good English digital literacy skills.

If you are reading a big article, like on Wikipedia, then it is important to know which links might give you more important information, and which links will give you more useless information.

We spend so many hours on the internet (probably too many). Nevertheless, this is an important part of English reading in today’s world.

What do you think? As always, I look forward to your opinions.

Gordon

P.S. Why am I looking at things for teaching young learners? Well, my new position in Argentina is completely with teenagers. I’m not teaching ANY adults at the moment.

Favourite Websites for English Practice, pt 1 (Listening)

So this week, I think we should start sharing more.  Sharing is good!  I have started with ‘listening’ because it is probably the easiest to give examples for – there are LOTS of podcasts and youtube videos to listen to and watch.

Nowadays there is almost TOO much and it is difficult to know where to go for GOOD listening material.  Of course, what is good depends on you, the learner.  What are your favourite subjects?  This is important because if you are interested in what you are listening to, then you will be more engaged and less bored.

I didn't have so much energy at the end!

One site which I know some of you use is BBC Learning – 6 Minute English.  I like this because it is short (only six minutes, obviously) and the topics change every week.  A friend sent me the link for one about marathon running last April just before I did the Brighton Marathon.  Then two weeks later the topic was punk music.  You see, there is a lot of variety.  There are also a lot of supporting activities if you have more time.

In general, I think that the BBC has a lot of really good material to improve you English with their Learning English site.  Some of it is more useful that other parts.  Explore it, see what you find and don’t forget to tell us on the blog what you find. J

Another BBC website which is very useful (especially if you are living/staying in Britain) is “RAW – Skills for Everyday Life”.  These are videos which clearly show and explain normal, common things like credit cards or shopping online.  You can watch them with or without subtitles and they explain things basically.  The good thing about this is that the language is authentic and it the topics are useful.
UPDATE (25/06/11):  Unfortunately it looks like this website has been terminated by the BBC.  What a pity!

For something a bit different and useful for ‘instruction English’ you might want to look at www.videojug.com.  This has everything and it is growing!  EVERYBODY should be on this site!  (I hope that with this site, I might actually learn how to cook!)  Some of these videos are serious and some of them are funny but they are all about 4 minutes long.  Be careful, a few of these videos are NSFW (Not Suitable For Work) which means that they have some ‘adult’ content that children shouldn’t see and some adults might find offensive.)  But, you can also learn magic tricks while improving your English!

I have a few more suggestions but I want to know what websites you use to improve your listening.  Just listening at the moment (remember, this is only part 1). ;-)

Thanks for all of your support.  Let’s keep this going and growing.  As always, I look forward to your opinions. J

Gordon