LISTENING AND VOCABULARY: MEDIA


TASK 1:

Read the short text about the history of media and fill each gap with a suitable expression from
below. There is one word that you do not need to use.

cultures, directly, expensive, first, huge, press, printed, structures, technologies, transformed



HISTORY

Types of drama in numerous _____________ were probably the first mass-media, going back into the
Ancient World. The first dated _____________ book known is the "Diamond Sutra", printed in China.
Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book on a printing ______________ with movable type in 1453.
This invention ________________ the way the world received printed materials, although books
remained too ____________ really to be called a mass-medium for at least a century after that.

Newspapers developed around from 1605, with the ________________ example in English in 1620; but
they took until the nineteenth century to reach a mass-audience ______________.

During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology that allowed the massive
duplication of material. Physical duplication ________________ such as printing, record pressing
and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to
_______________ audiences. Radio and television allowed the electronic duplication of information
for the first time.

TASK 2:

Match the dates to the events:
  * 1876:
  * 1895:
  * 1912:
  * 1922:
  * 1948:
  * 1963:
  * 1976:
  * 1982:
  * 1983:
  * 1991:
  * 1996:
  * 1999:

  * JVC introduces VHS videotape
  * Napster contributes to the popularization of MP3.
  * Cinematograph invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere
  * First DVD players and discs are available in Japan.
  * BBC is formed and broadcasting to London
  * Philips and Sony put the Compact Disc on the Japanese market.
  * First telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell
  * Cellular phones begin to appear.
  * World Wide Web (WWW) publicly released by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN.
  * Audio cassette is invented in the Netherlands.
  * Cable television becomes available in the US.
  * Air mail begins.



TASK 3:

Work in pairs, ask your partner the following questions, and then present briefly your partner´s
opinion on the media below:

RADIO AND TELEVISION

Types of TV programmes: documentaries, news broadcasts, current affairs programmes, soap operas,
quizzes, sitcoms, drama, chat shows, detective stories/crime series, sports programmes, weather
forecasts, music programmes, game shows, commercials, educational programmes, nature programmes,
reality shows, cartoons.
 1. Put the above types of TV programmes into one of these categories:

A)     I usually enjoy watching:

B)      I never watch:

C)      I sometimes watch :
 2. Which channel do you watch most?
 3. How many hours do you watch TV per week?

RADIO:
 1. Do you prefer watching TV or listening to the radio?  Why?
 2. Which programmes on the radio do you like most? Which programmes may be heard on the radio and
seen on TV as well?
 3. Do you ever listen to BBC World Service or any other stations in English?

FILM:
 1. Which do you prefer: seeing films at the cinema or on video or on TV? Why?
 2. Is it better for American or English films to have subtitles or be dubbed into your language?
Explain your reasons.
 3. What kind of films do you enjoy most –  historical, science fiction, sports, war, westerns,
crime, action, adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, mystery, horror, romance, thrillers, biography,
documentary, musical?
 4. What kind of films do you avoid, or hate seeing?
 5. Who are your favourite international film stars?
 6. Who are your favourite directors?
 7. What was the last film you saw?
 8. What was the best film you have ever seen? Why was it so good?
 9. What was the worst film you have ever seen? Why was it so bad?
10. What influences you when deciding on a film to see – stars, reviews, advertisements, director,
personal recommendation, others?

TASK 4: SPORTS AND MEDIA – discuss the influence of media on sports, give examples of positive and
negative effects of media on sports.

POSITIVE
EFFECTS
             NEGATIVE EFFECTS





Task 5: LITENING

You will hear three people talking about the films they enjoy. Put a tick in the appropriate column
to show the films they like or a cross to show the films they dislike:


                                     Joan

                                         Chris

                                              Bob

Action films




Old black and white films




Cartoons




Horror films




Romantic comedies




Thrillers




Westerns




Dubbed foreign films




Foreign-language films with subtitles




NEWSPAPER AND PUBLISHING:

Parts of newspaper: headlines, news reports, the editorial, feature articles /e.g. about fashion or
social trends/, horoscope, cartoons, crosswords, small ads, business news, sports reports, scandal,
the letter page.

·         A popular or tabloid newspaper focuses more on sensation than real news.

·         A quality newspaper is more interested in real news than in sensation.

·         A journal is the name usually given to an academic magazine.

·         A colour supplement is a magazine which comes out once a week as an addition to a
newspaper.

1.        Can you give any names of Czech and English quality and tabloid newspapers?

2.        Which parts of newspapers interest you most and why?

3.        Do you prefer reading news and gossips in newspapers or on the internet, why?