Edmonton Weekly Newscasts Lesson Plan November 2, 2015 Newscasts are current news stories read at a slower pace than you might hear on the radio. These are prepared by CBC news editor Don Bell. Objectives: ● To develop listening skills ● To increase vocabulary ● To increase awareness of grammatical structures and functional language ● To increase knowledge of current events ● To provide a user-friendly, self-study tool for learners, as well as an ESL classroom resource for instructors Contents: Three news stories are featured in each weekly lesson plan. Each lesson contains vocabulary and listening comprehension activities. At the end of each lesson, you will find a complete transcript and an answer key. This lesson plan is aimed towards learners at an intermediate language level (i.e. Canadian Language Benchmarks 4-5 or equivalent). Learning English with CBC is a joint project with CBC Calgary, CBC Edmonton, and the Government oF Alberta. Lesson Plan prepared by Kathleen Hall and Deidre Lake, Communication4Integration Inc. © CBC 2015 Permission is granted to reproduce these pages For educational purposes only. For more inFormation on copyright, please click: http://www.cbc.ca/permissions 1 NEWS STORY 1 JUSTIN TRUDEAU WILL NOT MOVE INTO 24 SUSSEX DRIVE Photo Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-24-sussex-1.3289102 GENERAL WARM-UP ACTIVITY Where does the leader of your old country live? Describe a typical house from your country. How are houses similar or different in Canada? What kind of house do you live in now? LISTENING ACTIVITY 1: LISTENING FOR SPECIFIC VOCABULARY Before you listen to the news story, look at the words/expressions below. Listen carefully for these words in the newscast. Make a checkmark when you hear the word or expression (Note: you will hear one word twice): Word /Expression traditional grounds residence storey serve until further notice 2 LISTENING ACTIVITY 2: LISTENING FOR COMPREHENSION. Listen to the news story again. Listen for overall comprehension. See the questions below to assist you. 1. Where does the Prime Minister of Canada usually live? 2. Why won’t the Trudeau family live there? 3. Where will the Trudeau family live instead? 4. When was Rideau Hall built? 5. How long will the Prime Minister’s family live in Rideau Hall? (See the answer key for answers) VOCABULARY ACTIVITY 1 Now that you have heard how these words and expressions are used in the news story, choose the best synonyms or definitions for these terms as they are used in the story. Answer Word/Expression Synonyms/DeFinitions traditional A. old-style B. out-of-date C. customary, time-honoured grounds A. sediments B. estate, lands C. reason, bases residence A. house, home B. university or college dormitory C. the official house of an government or official figure storey A. floor, level B. untruth, falsehood C. report account serve A. help, aid B. act, function C. supply, provide until further A. indefinitely, open-ended notice B. forever, for life C. without letting up (See the answer key for answers) 3 LANGUAGE FOCUS: TYPES OF CANADIAN HOMES 24 Sussex Drive is a 34-room mansion. There are many more typical homes where most Canadians live. These are categorized according to how many levels they contain as low- rise, mid-rise and high-rise. • Examples of low-rise homes are: townhouses, semi-detached, detached, single storey, and two storey houses. • Condominiums, apartment towers, and office towers are examples of high-rise buildings Mid-rise are in between low and high-rise. • Many department stores and apartment buildings are mid-rise. LANGUAGE FOCUS: ACTIVITY 1 Look at the definitions of homes found in Canada. Match the definition to the picture provided. An example is done for you. 2. Mansion a very large, expensive, impressive house. 1. 2 1. 2. Castle a large building fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and in many cases a moat. There are more than 60 castles in 1. 2. Canada. Many of them are hotels such as the Banff Springs Hotel, and the Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton. Mid-rise apartment house is intermediate in height between a low- rise and a high-rise building with a number of residential suites. 3. A two- storey house has 2 levels above grade [the ground]. 4. 4 2. High-rise Apartments are large buildings containing a number of residential suites. 1. 5. 1. A Bungalow is a low house with no upper floor. 6. 2. A Duplex is a house divided into two residents, with a separate entrance for 1. 7. each. Semi-detached houses are built side-by- side and share a “party” wall. 8. Townhouses, are usually identical houses that share side walls. 9. Detached houses are separate and free- standing. 10. A Ranch Style home is a single level home that is long in the front, but not deep. There are also some homes with 11. an L or U-Shape. 5 A farm house is attached to a farm, especially the main house in which the farmer lives. 12. Rural Ranch House is the home of a rancher attached to a large acreage especially in western Canada, where cattle, horses, etc. are raised. 13. (See the answer key for answers) LANGUAGE FOCUS: ACTIVITY 2 Which of these types of home best describes where you live? Complete the following sentences, using the home-types from the table above. 1. I live in a_______________________________________. 2. Most of the homes in my neighborhood are____________________________. 3. I prefer to live a/ an____________________________________________, because____________________________________________________. 6 NEWS STORY 2 PROCESSED MEATS ARE DANGEROUS ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Photo Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/meat-cancer-world-health-organization-1.3288355 GENERAL WARM-UP ACTIVITY Are you careful about what you eat? Do you eat healthy food, or a lot of junk food? VOCABULARY BUILDING ACTIVITY 1: CREATING AWARENESS Look at the words and phrases below. Circle the ones you do not know. processed contributes category asbestos data consumed protested classification involves lifestyle environmental 7 Before you listen to the news story, look at the words/expressions below and their meanings. These will help you to understand the listening more easily. WORD MEANING processed preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or chemical additives contributes to adds to category group, type, kind asbestos a dangerous mineral used in fire-resistant and insulating materials data information consumed eaten, ate protested complained, objected, disputed classification category involves includes, contains lifestyle daily life , routine, way of life, environmental caused by a person's surroundings VOCABULARY BUILDING ACTIVITY 2: CREATING AWARENESS Use the new vocabulary from the table to complete the sentences below: 1. The story ______________ several new Canadian families. 2. A generous donour ________________ the scholarship fund every year. 3. Food is often _______________to keep it useful for a longer time. 4. They have been collecting ____________for their study. 5. She is very fit, and has a healthy ________________. 6. Many older homes have been insolated with _______________. 7. Darwin made a ________________ of species of animals. He put each one in a ______________. 8. _________________ factors contribute to learning. 9. He ______________ 52 hotdogs to win the contest. 10. The students ________________ the tuition hike. (See the answer key for answers) LISTENING ACTIVITY 1: LISTENING FOR COMPREHENSION. Listen to News Story 2. First, listen for overall comprehension. 8 LISTENING ACTIVITY 2: LISTENING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION Listen to the story again. Put a checkmark the box next to what each group said. An example is done for you. Statement World Health Meat Industry Organization (WHO) Processed meats raise the risk of cancers. Lifestyle and environment are important factors. They do not have enough data Cancer isn't caused by a specific food (See the answer key for answers) Listening Activity 3: Listening for specific purposes Listen again. This time fill in the blanks below with what you hear. According to the World Health Organization, hot dogs, bacon, cold cuts and other ________________ meats raise the risk of colon, stomach and other cancers. Red meat probably _____________ to the disease, too. The WHO's cancer agency has put ______________ meats in the same danger ____________ as smoking or ___________ though that doesn't mean salami is as bad as cigarettes. The agency said it did not have enough _________ to define how much _____________meat is too dangerous, but said the risk increases with the amount _____________. The meat industry ______________ the ______________, arguing that cancer isn't caused by a specific food but that it also involves _________________ and _______________ factors. (See the answer key for answers) Discussion Questions: What do you think are the leading causes of serious illnesses such as heart-disease and cancer? Do you believe a type of food could be as harmful as smoking? What else is harmful? 9 NEWS STORY 3 WHALE WATCHING EXCURSION ENDS WITH 6 PEOPLE DEAD Photo Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tofino-whale-watching-accident- investigation-1.3291530 GENERAL WARM-UP ACTIVITY Look at the picture from News Story 3. What do you think has happened? Have you ever been involved in a disaster? VOCABULARY BUILDING ACTIVITY 1: CREATING AWARENESS Look at the words and phrases below. Circle the ones you do not know. overturned Investigators preliminary evidence vessel tilting lopsided rescued hailing the efforts centre of gravity 10 VOCABULARY BUILDING ACTIVITY 2: CREATING AWARENESS Look at the words and phrases in the box below. They are paired with sentences that use synonyms or phrases with the same meaning. Based on the context clues from the sentences, try to understand the meanings of the new vocabulary.