The iconic Charging Bull statue in New York's Financial District got some company Wednesday, just in time for International Women's Day.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1. What is the most famous statue in New York?
2. What is the message Fearless Girl is defending?
3. What is the idea State Street Global Advisors wanted to transmit?
4. How long ago did Charging Bull appear?
5. According to Eliza France, what does the girl show that it is not important?
Finally, tonight. There are hundreds of statues in New York. The most famous, Lady Liberty, and the newest, a much younger lady with a message on this International Women’s Day. Alex Wagner checked it out.
A young girl, head held high, hands firmly planted on her waist, stares down an icon of Wall Street, an arena long dominated by men. She’s called Fearless Girl and she’s taking a stand for women’s equality by facing off with the Charging Bull. People young and old are flocking to her. A group of school children stopped by.
I think that it’s really a symbol of power.
I think it’s cool that they’ve actually put a girl standing up to the bull there.
She’s become an internet sensation. The idea was hatched by one of the financial world’s biggest firms, State Street Global Advisors, as a call to action for more women to serve on corporate boards. Lori Heinel is an executive with the firm.
She’s pushing back, but she’s also engaging and she’s engaging in a powerful way. So this isn’t about pushing men aside. This is about claiming the space that 50 percent of the occupation rightfully should lay claim to.
Fearless Girl was installed in the middle of the night two days ago, a tribute to the resilience of women. Charging Bull appeared 28 years ago as a sign of Wall Street resilience after the 87 stock market crash. Eliza France works on Wall Street.
She’s great. She’s amazing. She’s powerful and I think just opposite the bull it just shows that in this little girl, it doesn’t matter your size, you have that power in you.
It’s part of a movement that’s grown since President Trump’s inauguration. Miriam Mejia has been on the march.
It’s our moment. The little girls is just with an attitude. I’m empowered.
Empowered with a message to the titans of Wall Street. Alex Wagner CBS News, New York.
A girl with true medal. From the Evening News to all of you and all of us all around the world. We wish you a very good night.
KEY:
1 Lady Liberty
2 Women’s equality
3 More women should serve in corporate boards
4 28 yeas ago
5 size
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta US. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta US. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, 30 de marzo de 2017
jueves, 16 de marzo de 2017
Baltimore: This is what poverty in the US looks like
Ian Pannell reports from the city of Baltimore, where 25% of the population lives in poverty.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1. The poor of Baltimore are given shelter at Manor House.
2. There is a lot of business activity in Baltimore.
3. The crime rate in Baltimore is very high.
4. America became a richer country with President Obama and poverty diminished.
5. Marcus Allsop repairs the city's homes.
6. Marcus Allsop says some families have been living in poverty for two or three generations.
7. The Stewards have $30 a day to live on.
8. The Stewards argue and fight all the time.
Say hello to Jackson, a citizen of the wealthiest country the world has ever known, and yet he's clothed in handouts. His parents can’t find work. They have no home of their own and every morning they come to the Manor House charity where the poor of Baltimore meet for a little food, warmth and compassion.
What is your message to President Trump?
Come and help us. Instead of critiquing us, come help us and you will see we need help… bad.
Like much of America, this is a story of two worlds. Baltimore is actually something of a boom town these days, but it doesn't feel like it in many parts of the city. In this economy, there is no trickle down.
Gun crime is surging here. Baltimore was even more violent than Chicago last year, driven by gang tuft wars. For some of its residents, this is a city where selling your body or selling drugs is the only job available.
If you want to know what poverty in America looks like, well, this is it. Incredibly, this entire block here is pretty much made up of dilapidated, abandoned houses. Incredibly, some people are still living in between this, though. Under President Obama poverty grew in America and President Trump says he’s going to fix it. He's going to deal what he calls the carnage in America of crime, of drugs, of gangs, of violence and of poverty. Well, there are few places better to try and do that than Baltimore.
Marcus Allsop has lived here for 40 years, he repairs the city's homes, an eyewitness to the worst Baltimore has to offer.
The poor living are in the single houses, the real houses in Baltimore city where they're generally rat-infested regardless of what you do as a person living there. Roaches, mice, I mean, an epidemic in bed bugs. I mean, the neighbourhoods are falling apart, not because the people are bad people, we're underpaid, undereducated and so many of us have been living like this for the second and third generation until we don't even know how to change. Despair is the way of living.
And this is where it resides, on a bleak row of abandoned homes. This is the end of the line for Americans gripped by poverty. Here we met the last family living on the block. Three generations of the Stewart family are crammed in here. They're months behind on the rent, unpaid bills are piling up. Not surprising, when they have just $30 a day to survive.
I love you, be careful. Have a good day.
They've been evicted before, forced to live in one of Baltimore's many abandoned homes.
It hurts, it hurts that they have to stay wrapped up in blankets every day because they are cold. They don't want to get out of bed because there's no heating to keep them warm. People talk about us. They get bullied in school because of it. It hurts. They got to where they didn't even want to show their faces outside, but we had no choice but to live there because of the economy.
I'm struggling for seven years, seven, hard years.
What pressure does that put on your relationship together?
Oh, we argue and fight all the time, all the time. I love this woman to death, she's my best friend, but to see her go through the things she goes through, it hurts me, it hurts me.
For so many people, this is no longer a land of opportunity. Hope has given way to despair. And the children who clamour for charity handouts have no American dream. It will be perhaps the greatest
challenge for the new President.
Ian Pannell, BBC News, Baltimore.
KEY:
1F 2T 3T 4F 5T 6T 7T 8T
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1. The poor of Baltimore are given shelter at Manor House.
2. There is a lot of business activity in Baltimore.
3. The crime rate in Baltimore is very high.
4. America became a richer country with President Obama and poverty diminished.
5. Marcus Allsop repairs the city's homes.
6. Marcus Allsop says some families have been living in poverty for two or three generations.
7. The Stewards have $30 a day to live on.
8. The Stewards argue and fight all the time.
Say hello to Jackson, a citizen of the wealthiest country the world has ever known, and yet he's clothed in handouts. His parents can’t find work. They have no home of their own and every morning they come to the Manor House charity where the poor of Baltimore meet for a little food, warmth and compassion.
What is your message to President Trump?
Come and help us. Instead of critiquing us, come help us and you will see we need help… bad.
Like much of America, this is a story of two worlds. Baltimore is actually something of a boom town these days, but it doesn't feel like it in many parts of the city. In this economy, there is no trickle down.
Gun crime is surging here. Baltimore was even more violent than Chicago last year, driven by gang tuft wars. For some of its residents, this is a city where selling your body or selling drugs is the only job available.
If you want to know what poverty in America looks like, well, this is it. Incredibly, this entire block here is pretty much made up of dilapidated, abandoned houses. Incredibly, some people are still living in between this, though. Under President Obama poverty grew in America and President Trump says he’s going to fix it. He's going to deal what he calls the carnage in America of crime, of drugs, of gangs, of violence and of poverty. Well, there are few places better to try and do that than Baltimore.
Marcus Allsop has lived here for 40 years, he repairs the city's homes, an eyewitness to the worst Baltimore has to offer.
The poor living are in the single houses, the real houses in Baltimore city where they're generally rat-infested regardless of what you do as a person living there. Roaches, mice, I mean, an epidemic in bed bugs. I mean, the neighbourhoods are falling apart, not because the people are bad people, we're underpaid, undereducated and so many of us have been living like this for the second and third generation until we don't even know how to change. Despair is the way of living.
And this is where it resides, on a bleak row of abandoned homes. This is the end of the line for Americans gripped by poverty. Here we met the last family living on the block. Three generations of the Stewart family are crammed in here. They're months behind on the rent, unpaid bills are piling up. Not surprising, when they have just $30 a day to survive.
I love you, be careful. Have a good day.
They've been evicted before, forced to live in one of Baltimore's many abandoned homes.
It hurts, it hurts that they have to stay wrapped up in blankets every day because they are cold. They don't want to get out of bed because there's no heating to keep them warm. People talk about us. They get bullied in school because of it. It hurts. They got to where they didn't even want to show their faces outside, but we had no choice but to live there because of the economy.
I'm struggling for seven years, seven, hard years.
What pressure does that put on your relationship together?
Oh, we argue and fight all the time, all the time. I love this woman to death, she's my best friend, but to see her go through the things she goes through, it hurts me, it hurts me.
For so many people, this is no longer a land of opportunity. Hope has given way to despair. And the children who clamour for charity handouts have no American dream. It will be perhaps the greatest
challenge for the new President.
Ian Pannell, BBC News, Baltimore.
KEY:
1F 2T 3T 4F 5T 6T 7T 8T
martes, 14 de febrero de 2017
Melania Trump on her life, marriage and 2016
Mika Brzezinski sits for a one-on-one interview with wife of Donald Trump, Melania Trump, to discuss growing up in Slovenia, her marriage and her husband's campaign.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1. When did Melania Trump first arrive in the US?
2. What did Melania study in Slovenia?
3. How many languages does she speak?
4. What did her father do?
5. What did she see in Donald Trump when they met?
6. What does she think when she hears her husband being insulted?
7. Has Donald Trump insulted Mexicans?
8. What’s the difference between Melania’s immigration story and that of the immigrants her husband talks about?
9. Why does Donald Trump want to ban Muslims into US?
10. Do Melania and Donald always agree?
11. How does she communicate with her husband?
12. How does Donal Trump treat women?
Melania Trump first arrived in the United States from her native Slovenia back in 1996 and now, two decades later, she is facing the prospect of becoming First Lady. Yesterday I sat down with Melania Trump and got her to weigh in on everything, from her husband's rhetoric surrounding immigration to his propensity for profanity on the stump to his treatment of women. I began by asking her how the entire experience has been so far.
Well, it's amazing what's going on, and we’re having fun. I like to keep life as normal as possible for my son better Baron and I'm a full-time mom and I love it, so I decided not to be in the campaign so much but I support my husband hundred percent.
We want to understand who Melania is.
I grew up in Slovenia and I went to school there. I studied design and architecture and then I moved to Milan and Paris to live there. And I had a successful modelling career. I came to New York 1996.
How many languages do you speak?
I speak a few languages.
A few?
Yeah.
English…
English, Italian, French, German.
Tell me about your mother.
Really special. She's with a lot of elegance and style. She was in fashion industry for a long time. What did your father do?
He was a sales person and then he was a manager of the company, and once the Slovenia separated, it was possible to have his own business, he opened his own business.
What was it that you saw in Donald when you met him or fell in love with him?
His mind, amazing mind, and very smart, very charming, a great energy. We have a great relationship. We are, we are our own people. I'm my own person. He's his own person, and I think that's very important. I don't want to change him, he doesn't want to change me.
I got a list of terms that have been used to describe your husband from the left, the right and the center, and they're not pretty, from stupid to demagogue, jerk, idiot, racist, sexist, race-baiting, xenophobic, vulgarian-in-chief, textbook narcissist. It goes on. What do you make of all this when you hear it?
It's normal that it will come up it's… we are prepared for that, we have a thick skin and we know that people will judge him and people will call names, and they don't give him enough credit from June that he announced, they don't give him enough credit.
What about people who feel he is let's just go down the list because the campaign started and many felt he had insulted Mexicans no I don't feel he insulted the Mexicans.
No I don’t feel he insulted the Mexicans, he said illegal immigrants, he didn't talk about everybody. He talked about illegal immigrants and after a few weeks, like after two weeks giving him a hard time and bashing him in the in the media, they turned around and said, you know what, he's right, he's right what he's talking about, and he open conversation that nobody did.
But you're an immigrant?
Yes.
Do you ever think he's gone too far?
I follow the law. I follow a lot of the way is supposed to be. I never thought to stay here without papers. I had visa. I travelled every few months back to the country, to Slovenia, to stamp the visa. I came back, I applied for the green card. I applied for the citizenship later on after many years of Green Card, so I went by system, I went by the law, and you should do that, you should not just say, okay let me just stay here, and whatever happens, happens.
When he talked about a ban on Muslims, which can't happen for so many reasons, I mean do you ever think he's going too far with some of this, do you ever worry about it?
What he said is it would be temporary and it's not for all the Muslims. It's the one… we need to screen them who is coming to the country, he wants to protect America, he wants to protect people of America so we have a country and keep our country safe. That's very important to him, and what's going on in the world, it's very dangerous. You have people coming in the country you don't know who they are, you don't know what they will do, and that's why he was talking about that. It's temporary, we need to figure it out how and what we will do that we know who is in this country.
What about some of the language he uses, he curses.
Well, do I agree all the time, we team? No, I don't, And I tell him that. I tell him my opinions. I tell him what I think. Sometimes he listens, sometimes he don't.
In what areas do you advise him?
I follow the news from A to Z and I know what's going on. I’m on the phone with my husband few times a day. He calls me, I call him. I tell him what's going on, he's on the road. I give him my opinions.
Let me ask about women. He's taken a lot of criticism, kerfuffle, of course, during the debate with Megyn Kelly. In the Trump Organization, how are women treated compared to men?
They’re treated equal. I see him in life. He treats women the same as men. He will tell you what is in his heart, what he thinks, he will not hold it back if you're a woman. You’re human, you're human, you're not… it's a woman or a man, it's no difference, you’re human.
So I asked Melania if there are any specific issues she hopes to take on if her husband wins the White House. She said she has ideas but wouldn't reveal yet what they are, she wants to focus on their son.
Yeah.
Well, I've met her on many occasions before and so I was not surprised she's extremely cultured and articulate. She speaks many languages and thought that, you know, she put it out there and explained exactly who she is and where she's come from, and people can make their own decisions. She seems quite lovely, though, and they were very welcoming last night.
Up next, we'll head to the New York Stock Exchange for oil is once again pulling Wall Street into negative territory. Stay with us.
Key:
1 1996
2 design and architecture
3 four (English, Italian, French, German)
4 He was a sales person and then he was a manager of the company
5 His mind, and very smart, very charming, a great energy
6 She feels it’s normal, but doesn’t mind
7 No, he only spoke about illegal immigrants
8 She went by the law. She did everything legally
9 To protect America
10 No
11 On the phone several times a day
12 The same as men
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1. When did Melania Trump first arrive in the US?
2. What did Melania study in Slovenia?
3. How many languages does she speak?
4. What did her father do?
5. What did she see in Donald Trump when they met?
6. What does she think when she hears her husband being insulted?
7. Has Donald Trump insulted Mexicans?
8. What’s the difference between Melania’s immigration story and that of the immigrants her husband talks about?
9. Why does Donald Trump want to ban Muslims into US?
10. Do Melania and Donald always agree?
11. How does she communicate with her husband?
12. How does Donal Trump treat women?
Melania Trump first arrived in the United States from her native Slovenia back in 1996 and now, two decades later, she is facing the prospect of becoming First Lady. Yesterday I sat down with Melania Trump and got her to weigh in on everything, from her husband's rhetoric surrounding immigration to his propensity for profanity on the stump to his treatment of women. I began by asking her how the entire experience has been so far.
Well, it's amazing what's going on, and we’re having fun. I like to keep life as normal as possible for my son better Baron and I'm a full-time mom and I love it, so I decided not to be in the campaign so much but I support my husband hundred percent.
We want to understand who Melania is.
I grew up in Slovenia and I went to school there. I studied design and architecture and then I moved to Milan and Paris to live there. And I had a successful modelling career. I came to New York 1996.
How many languages do you speak?
I speak a few languages.
A few?
Yeah.
English…
English, Italian, French, German.
Tell me about your mother.
Really special. She's with a lot of elegance and style. She was in fashion industry for a long time. What did your father do?
He was a sales person and then he was a manager of the company, and once the Slovenia separated, it was possible to have his own business, he opened his own business.
What was it that you saw in Donald when you met him or fell in love with him?
His mind, amazing mind, and very smart, very charming, a great energy. We have a great relationship. We are, we are our own people. I'm my own person. He's his own person, and I think that's very important. I don't want to change him, he doesn't want to change me.
I got a list of terms that have been used to describe your husband from the left, the right and the center, and they're not pretty, from stupid to demagogue, jerk, idiot, racist, sexist, race-baiting, xenophobic, vulgarian-in-chief, textbook narcissist. It goes on. What do you make of all this when you hear it?
It's normal that it will come up it's… we are prepared for that, we have a thick skin and we know that people will judge him and people will call names, and they don't give him enough credit from June that he announced, they don't give him enough credit.
What about people who feel he is let's just go down the list because the campaign started and many felt he had insulted Mexicans no I don't feel he insulted the Mexicans.
No I don’t feel he insulted the Mexicans, he said illegal immigrants, he didn't talk about everybody. He talked about illegal immigrants and after a few weeks, like after two weeks giving him a hard time and bashing him in the in the media, they turned around and said, you know what, he's right, he's right what he's talking about, and he open conversation that nobody did.
But you're an immigrant?
Yes.
Do you ever think he's gone too far?
I follow the law. I follow a lot of the way is supposed to be. I never thought to stay here without papers. I had visa. I travelled every few months back to the country, to Slovenia, to stamp the visa. I came back, I applied for the green card. I applied for the citizenship later on after many years of Green Card, so I went by system, I went by the law, and you should do that, you should not just say, okay let me just stay here, and whatever happens, happens.
When he talked about a ban on Muslims, which can't happen for so many reasons, I mean do you ever think he's going too far with some of this, do you ever worry about it?
What he said is it would be temporary and it's not for all the Muslims. It's the one… we need to screen them who is coming to the country, he wants to protect America, he wants to protect people of America so we have a country and keep our country safe. That's very important to him, and what's going on in the world, it's very dangerous. You have people coming in the country you don't know who they are, you don't know what they will do, and that's why he was talking about that. It's temporary, we need to figure it out how and what we will do that we know who is in this country.
What about some of the language he uses, he curses.
Well, do I agree all the time, we team? No, I don't, And I tell him that. I tell him my opinions. I tell him what I think. Sometimes he listens, sometimes he don't.
In what areas do you advise him?
I follow the news from A to Z and I know what's going on. I’m on the phone with my husband few times a day. He calls me, I call him. I tell him what's going on, he's on the road. I give him my opinions.
Let me ask about women. He's taken a lot of criticism, kerfuffle, of course, during the debate with Megyn Kelly. In the Trump Organization, how are women treated compared to men?
They’re treated equal. I see him in life. He treats women the same as men. He will tell you what is in his heart, what he thinks, he will not hold it back if you're a woman. You’re human, you're human, you're not… it's a woman or a man, it's no difference, you’re human.
So I asked Melania if there are any specific issues she hopes to take on if her husband wins the White House. She said she has ideas but wouldn't reveal yet what they are, she wants to focus on their son.
Yeah.
Well, I've met her on many occasions before and so I was not surprised she's extremely cultured and articulate. She speaks many languages and thought that, you know, she put it out there and explained exactly who she is and where she's come from, and people can make their own decisions. She seems quite lovely, though, and they were very welcoming last night.
Up next, we'll head to the New York Stock Exchange for oil is once again pulling Wall Street into negative territory. Stay with us.
Key:
1 1996
2 design and architecture
3 four (English, Italian, French, German)
4 He was a sales person and then he was a manager of the company
5 His mind, and very smart, very charming, a great energy
6 She feels it’s normal, but doesn’t mind
7 No, he only spoke about illegal immigrants
8 She went by the law. She did everything legally
9 To protect America
10 No
11 On the phone several times a day
12 The same as men
lunes, 15 de agosto de 2016
Listening test: Pets in America
Listen to two friends discussing the topic of pets in US and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence. 0 is an example.
0 Example:
Americans consider pets
A as important as family.
B as important as friends.
C more important than family.
1 In general cats and dogs
A are outdoors most of the time.
B sleep outdoors.
C stay inside at night.
2 In US pet owners
A generally live alone.
B may keep a pet for therapeutic reasons.
C usually have no friends.
3 Dogs are
A a convenient conversation starter.
B a good excuse to meet people from the other sex.
C usually walked around parks by moms.
4 Designer dogs
A are a mixed breed of dog.
B are a very unusual breed of dog.
C usually cost over $1,000.
5 A teacup is
A a bag to carry a dog.
B a very small breed of dog.
C an accessory for a dog.
6 If a dog owner leads a busy life, they can leave their dog in (…) while they are at work.
A a dog break
B a dog hotel
C a doggie day care
7 In America
A it is not unusual to see wild dogs.
B one of the girls was attacked by a wild dog.
C wild dogs are brought to a shelter by animal control.
Hey, Gabby.
Hey, Lindsay. How’s it going?
All right. I am also wondering today- why is it that Americans are so pet crazy?
Yeah, that’s a great question. And the pet trend in America continues to increase. I think this is a big, growing market in the US. And I think, you know, we’re gonna touch on some points why Americans are so pet crazy but, you know, one of the biggest reasons is that we consider pets our friends and part of our family.
Family member more than friends, absolutely.
Yeah.
How do we know that? Well, most pets live inside at least at night.
Right.
They’ll sleep indoors.
Right.
Sometimes a cat might go out during the day…
Sure, or a dog.
…if it’s an outdoor cat, right.
Yeah.
But most dogs and pet cats stay inside.
All the time, yeah.
Yeah, that’s right. And, you know, my personal opinion is that this might have to do with people feeling lonely and so they enjoy having a pet to keep them company and also for some people who have experienced illness, a pet can be a great treatment, like a therapy ... dog or, or cat or pet.
Yeah, and it’s not just – it’s also in addition to having the company, it’s also a way – I know that for example, for New Yorkers, maybe Bostonians…
Yeah.
…they use it as a way to meet other people. But a lot of people do that. You know, it’s very easy to start a conversation when you have your dog on a leash near – out at the dog park with the other dog moms…
Yeah.
…and dog dads, right.
That’s right. Because it is a very common way to start a conversation around a pet. So it’s a great way to meet people.
And so what about this concept of designer dogs?
Yeah, you know, I, I think you know more about this than I do but, it’s… it’s kind of a – like designer clothes. You look for a specific brand.
Yeah. So my brother has a designer dog and the dog has been bred to be a combination of a pug and a beagle. And our neighbors here in Cambridge have a – that, sorry, my brother’s dog is called a puggle.
That’s so cute.
A pug and a beagle. And my, my neighbors have a labradoodle, which is a lab and a poodle.
I love those names.
I know. But the price tag is pretty – you probably wouldn’t love the price tag.
What, on average, what do people pay for a designer dog?
I can’t back this up with science but I think…
Yeah.
…it’s between $500 and $1000, a grand.
Wow. There’s a type of dog that’s very small, called a, a Teacup …
Lindsay: Very cool.
…type of dog because it fits in a teacup. I think it’s kind of a relative of a, a Chihuahua or, or something like that. But it’s the kind of dog that you can carry around with you.
In your bag.
And, yeah, in your bag, in your purse or in a dog bag. And it’s almost like an accessory.
An accessory, oh my god.
Yeah.
That’s so common.
There’s a lot of, related industries now that are growing for, for pets like Clothes for Pets, what else? Like hotels…
Doggie…
…pet hotels.
Yeah, and doggie day care.
Yeah.
Don’t forget.
Doggie day care.
You can take your dog to day care when you’re at work to do a walk.
Health insurance.
Health insurance.
Of course, veterinary practices. That’s, I think that’s common. And there was something else – the doggie day care, dog insurance, oh, and the tax breaks. There’s an initiative, I don’t think it’s passed but to give a tax discount or break for people who own pets.
Yeah, so…
Isn’t that interesting?
Yeah, that’s super interesting. So here, like you don’t really see wild dogs, do you?
No.
That’s not common at all.
No. I remember when I was in Thailand riding a bike around one of the famous sites I was being chased by wild dogs…
Oh, yeah.
…and I was like, “Oh, my God, what’s going on?”
Yeah.
So you don’t see wild dogs. If there were a wild dog, we’d have animal control, would come out and get the dog…
That’s right.
…and bring the dog to a shelter.
That’s right, yeah. So it’s interesting because when I go travel to a country where there are wild dogs that’s a little scary to me…
Yeah.
…because I’m not used to seeing wild dogs on the streets.
Yeah.
KEY:
1C 2B 3A 4A 5B 6C 7C
0 Example:
Americans consider pets
A as important as family.
B as important as friends.
C more important than family.
1 In general cats and dogs
A are outdoors most of the time.
B sleep outdoors.
C stay inside at night.
2 In US pet owners
A generally live alone.
B may keep a pet for therapeutic reasons.
C usually have no friends.
3 Dogs are
A a convenient conversation starter.
B a good excuse to meet people from the other sex.
C usually walked around parks by moms.
4 Designer dogs
A are a mixed breed of dog.
B are a very unusual breed of dog.
C usually cost over $1,000.
5 A teacup is
A a bag to carry a dog.
B a very small breed of dog.
C an accessory for a dog.
6 If a dog owner leads a busy life, they can leave their dog in (…) while they are at work.
A a dog break
B a dog hotel
C a doggie day care
7 In America
A it is not unusual to see wild dogs.
B one of the girls was attacked by a wild dog.
C wild dogs are brought to a shelter by animal control.
Hey, Gabby.
Hey, Lindsay. How’s it going?
All right. I am also wondering today- why is it that Americans are so pet crazy?
Yeah, that’s a great question. And the pet trend in America continues to increase. I think this is a big, growing market in the US. And I think, you know, we’re gonna touch on some points why Americans are so pet crazy but, you know, one of the biggest reasons is that we consider pets our friends and part of our family.
Family member more than friends, absolutely.
Yeah.
How do we know that? Well, most pets live inside at least at night.
Right.
They’ll sleep indoors.
Right.
Sometimes a cat might go out during the day…
Sure, or a dog.
…if it’s an outdoor cat, right.
Yeah.
But most dogs and pet cats stay inside.
All the time, yeah.
Yeah, that’s right. And, you know, my personal opinion is that this might have to do with people feeling lonely and so they enjoy having a pet to keep them company and also for some people who have experienced illness, a pet can be a great treatment, like a therapy ... dog or, or cat or pet.
Yeah, and it’s not just – it’s also in addition to having the company, it’s also a way – I know that for example, for New Yorkers, maybe Bostonians…
Yeah.
…they use it as a way to meet other people. But a lot of people do that. You know, it’s very easy to start a conversation when you have your dog on a leash near – out at the dog park with the other dog moms…
Yeah.
…and dog dads, right.
That’s right. Because it is a very common way to start a conversation around a pet. So it’s a great way to meet people.
And so what about this concept of designer dogs?
Yeah, you know, I, I think you know more about this than I do but, it’s… it’s kind of a – like designer clothes. You look for a specific brand.
Yeah. So my brother has a designer dog and the dog has been bred to be a combination of a pug and a beagle. And our neighbors here in Cambridge have a – that, sorry, my brother’s dog is called a puggle.
That’s so cute.
A pug and a beagle. And my, my neighbors have a labradoodle, which is a lab and a poodle.
I love those names.
I know. But the price tag is pretty – you probably wouldn’t love the price tag.
What, on average, what do people pay for a designer dog?
I can’t back this up with science but I think…
Yeah.
…it’s between $500 and $1000, a grand.
Wow. There’s a type of dog that’s very small, called a, a Teacup …
Lindsay: Very cool.
…type of dog because it fits in a teacup. I think it’s kind of a relative of a, a Chihuahua or, or something like that. But it’s the kind of dog that you can carry around with you.
In your bag.
And, yeah, in your bag, in your purse or in a dog bag. And it’s almost like an accessory.
An accessory, oh my god.
Yeah.
That’s so common.
There’s a lot of, related industries now that are growing for, for pets like Clothes for Pets, what else? Like hotels…
Doggie…
…pet hotels.
Yeah, and doggie day care.
Yeah.
Don’t forget.
Doggie day care.
You can take your dog to day care when you’re at work to do a walk.
Health insurance.
Health insurance.
Of course, veterinary practices. That’s, I think that’s common. And there was something else – the doggie day care, dog insurance, oh, and the tax breaks. There’s an initiative, I don’t think it’s passed but to give a tax discount or break for people who own pets.
Yeah, so…
Isn’t that interesting?
Yeah, that’s super interesting. So here, like you don’t really see wild dogs, do you?
No.
That’s not common at all.
No. I remember when I was in Thailand riding a bike around one of the famous sites I was being chased by wild dogs…
Oh, yeah.
…and I was like, “Oh, my God, what’s going on?”
Yeah.
So you don’t see wild dogs. If there were a wild dog, we’d have animal control, would come out and get the dog…
That’s right.
…and bring the dog to a shelter.
That’s right, yeah. So it’s interesting because when I go travel to a country where there are wild dogs that’s a little scary to me…
Yeah.
…because I’m not used to seeing wild dogs on the streets.
Yeah.
KEY:
1C 2B 3A 4A 5B 6C 7C
martes, 9 de agosto de 2016
A look at Fort Greene
In Fort Greene you can find from historic brownstones on leafy streets to the booming Brooklyn Cultural District.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 There are not many green areas in Fort Greene.
2 There is a lot of variety as far as housing is concerned.
3 Fort Greene is a quiet neighbourhood.
4 You can watch concerts and sporting events in the Barclays Stadium.
5 The subway and the railroad are the only means of transport in the district.
6 Wealthier and working class communities used to live all together.
7 Fort Greene had a bad reputation in the 60s and 70s.
8 Spike Lee's film company was called 40 Acres and a Donkey.
9 You can buy a mansion in Fort Greene for less than $8m.
10 Atlantic Yards will produce more than 7,000 units of housing in the next eight years.
It's one of the more culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
The trees, the lushness.
The feeling on the street and the sense of community.
There's such a rich history, whether it goes all the way back to the abolitionist movement to culture, and just in general, to the arts. I mean, it is a really phenomenal neighborhood. And that's what's so unique about Fort Greene.
Living in Fort Greene is kind of magical. It has some of the most beautiful housing stock.
It's one of the older neighborhoods in Brooklyn. You're going to find a lot of brownstones, a lot of short housing.
Fort Greene Park is like this little jewel.
There's peace, there's quiet. You can go in the house, drop your things, walk your dog.
You have the Brooklyn Academy of Music. You have the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.
You have the Barclays Center which brings in concerts and sports. These are things that people generally thought would just be a Manhattan luxury, and now they're not just a Brooklyn reality, but they're a Brooklyn reality in Fort Greene.
The transportation alternatives vary in Fort Greene. You have 10 to 12 subway lines. You have Long Island Railroad on the peripheral. If you go deeper in, it's challenging.
Growing up in Manhattan the way I did, this is an incredible shock to me that I'm so far away from the subway. But what I am learning is with my son's love of buses, that the buses aren't so bad.
From its earliest developments, Fort Greene had two kinds of communities settling. You had elites building elaborate houses south of the park, and you had working class people settling in the northern part of the neighborhood. For African-Americans, their history in Fort Greene extended from the earliest foundings. The first colored school as it was called, which gradually became part of the public school system attracted black professionals, teachers, and administrators who formed the core of the first black middle class and professional class of Fort Greene.
There were hotels. There were theaters. This was the heart of Brooklyn.
And the whole area fell on bad times as much of the city did in the late 60s and 70s.
In the early 80s one group that began moving in, in somewhat larger numbers was a growing black creative class. One of the most critical artists in this movement was Spike Lee. In 1986 he set up his film company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The reputation that Ford Greene earned as a place for black artists, attracted a second wave. Fort Greene was a place to be.
The spectrum of people in Fort Greene runs the gamut. Fort Greene is really a microcosm of the larger city. From a housing standpoint, we have the Fort Greene housing projects, and we have mansions that now can trade for upwards of $8 to $10 million dollars.
The real estate market here has become extremely competitive. There's just not enough real estate to go around.
Moving forward in Fort Greene, the Brooklyn cultural district starts with BAM at the center. And the large high-rise rental towers that are being built right now. To the south you have Atlantic Yards. Atlantic Yards is the largest development in all of Brooklyn, that over the next eight years will produce nearly 7,000 units of housing.
There hasn't been planning around schools, hospitals, parks. I mean, in any other part of the country, adding 45,000 people to a neighbourhood would be a new town, right?
One of the things that has always been unique about Fort Greene is the diversity of people and of classes. This is the challenge that I think Fort Greene is experiencing today. The future of Fort Greene depends on the ability of the neighbourhood to sustain working people in the neighborhood.
We all love it here. And you get that feeling whenever you talk to anyone who's been here for five years or fifty years, they're very committed and devoted to this neighborhood.
Key:
1F 2T 3T 4F (Blarclays Center) 5F (buses also) 6F 7T 8F 9F 10F
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 There are not many green areas in Fort Greene.
2 There is a lot of variety as far as housing is concerned.
3 Fort Greene is a quiet neighbourhood.
4 You can watch concerts and sporting events in the Barclays Stadium.
5 The subway and the railroad are the only means of transport in the district.
6 Wealthier and working class communities used to live all together.
7 Fort Greene had a bad reputation in the 60s and 70s.
8 Spike Lee's film company was called 40 Acres and a Donkey.
9 You can buy a mansion in Fort Greene for less than $8m.
10 Atlantic Yards will produce more than 7,000 units of housing in the next eight years.
It's one of the more culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
The trees, the lushness.
The feeling on the street and the sense of community.
There's such a rich history, whether it goes all the way back to the abolitionist movement to culture, and just in general, to the arts. I mean, it is a really phenomenal neighborhood. And that's what's so unique about Fort Greene.
Living in Fort Greene is kind of magical. It has some of the most beautiful housing stock.
It's one of the older neighborhoods in Brooklyn. You're going to find a lot of brownstones, a lot of short housing.
Fort Greene Park is like this little jewel.
There's peace, there's quiet. You can go in the house, drop your things, walk your dog.
You have the Brooklyn Academy of Music. You have the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.
You have the Barclays Center which brings in concerts and sports. These are things that people generally thought would just be a Manhattan luxury, and now they're not just a Brooklyn reality, but they're a Brooklyn reality in Fort Greene.
The transportation alternatives vary in Fort Greene. You have 10 to 12 subway lines. You have Long Island Railroad on the peripheral. If you go deeper in, it's challenging.
Growing up in Manhattan the way I did, this is an incredible shock to me that I'm so far away from the subway. But what I am learning is with my son's love of buses, that the buses aren't so bad.
From its earliest developments, Fort Greene had two kinds of communities settling. You had elites building elaborate houses south of the park, and you had working class people settling in the northern part of the neighborhood. For African-Americans, their history in Fort Greene extended from the earliest foundings. The first colored school as it was called, which gradually became part of the public school system attracted black professionals, teachers, and administrators who formed the core of the first black middle class and professional class of Fort Greene.
There were hotels. There were theaters. This was the heart of Brooklyn.
And the whole area fell on bad times as much of the city did in the late 60s and 70s.
In the early 80s one group that began moving in, in somewhat larger numbers was a growing black creative class. One of the most critical artists in this movement was Spike Lee. In 1986 he set up his film company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The reputation that Ford Greene earned as a place for black artists, attracted a second wave. Fort Greene was a place to be.
The spectrum of people in Fort Greene runs the gamut. Fort Greene is really a microcosm of the larger city. From a housing standpoint, we have the Fort Greene housing projects, and we have mansions that now can trade for upwards of $8 to $10 million dollars.
The real estate market here has become extremely competitive. There's just not enough real estate to go around.
Moving forward in Fort Greene, the Brooklyn cultural district starts with BAM at the center. And the large high-rise rental towers that are being built right now. To the south you have Atlantic Yards. Atlantic Yards is the largest development in all of Brooklyn, that over the next eight years will produce nearly 7,000 units of housing.
There hasn't been planning around schools, hospitals, parks. I mean, in any other part of the country, adding 45,000 people to a neighbourhood would be a new town, right?
One of the things that has always been unique about Fort Greene is the diversity of people and of classes. This is the challenge that I think Fort Greene is experiencing today. The future of Fort Greene depends on the ability of the neighbourhood to sustain working people in the neighborhood.
We all love it here. And you get that feeling whenever you talk to anyone who's been here for five years or fifty years, they're very committed and devoted to this neighborhood.
Key:
1F 2T 3T 4F (Blarclays Center) 5F (buses also) 6F 7T 8F 9F 10F
domingo, 24 de abril de 2016
Extensive listening: The reporting system that sexual assault survivors want
We don't have to live in a world where 99 percent of rapists get away with it, says TED Fellow Jessica Ladd.
With Callisto, a new platform for college students to confidentially report sexual assault, Ladd is helping survivors get the support and justice they deserve while respecting their privacy concerns.
"We can create a world where there's a real deterrent to violating the rights of another human being," she says.
Jessica Ladd is using technology to advance sexual health in the US.
You can read the full transcript for Jessica's talk here.
With Callisto, a new platform for college students to confidentially report sexual assault, Ladd is helping survivors get the support and justice they deserve while respecting their privacy concerns.
"We can create a world where there's a real deterrent to violating the rights of another human being," she says.
Jessica Ladd is using technology to advance sexual health in the US.
You can read the full transcript for Jessica's talk here.
martes, 5 de abril de 2016
Wage justice is on the menu
Mark Bittman talks with a leader of the food labor movement, Saru Jayaraman, about how far the movement has come, and where it still has to go.
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 The restaurant industry's the largest sector of the US economy.
2 Eleven million people work in this sector.
3 The federal minimum wage is $7.25 for all the workers in the sector.
4 The situation of restaurant workers in US is unique in the world.
5 Wages are low because growing food is getting more and more expensive.
6 California is the only state that has eliminated tipped minimum wage.
7 In-N-Out is set as an example of a company that treats workers very well.
8 The minimum wage for workers in America is $15.
I've known Saru Jayaraman for a long time, and she is one busy woman. Co-founder and co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Center United, director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, author, activist, wife, and mother.
In recent months, the news has been filled with coverage of protests against McDonald's and other restaurants by workers seeking to earn higher wages. So I caught up with Saru at a local cafe in Los Angeles to discuss her perspective on the ongoing movement for change in the restaurant industry.
The restaurant industry's the second largest and absolute fastest-growing sector of the economy. It's the largest segment of the food system and the food chain. It's over 11 million workers. And yet they're the absolute lowest-paid workers in America, and it's because of the power of the Restaurant Association. Right now, the federal minimum wage is at the bottom of everybody. It's $7.25 for non-tipped workers and $2.13 an hour for tipped workers. And it's been stuck there for 24 years. We have basically allowed the Restaurant Association in the vast majority of states to basically argue we should be the only industry on Earth, because we're the only country where this happens that doesn't have to pay its own workers. You, the customer, should pay our workers' wages for us, because these workers are making their income through tips.
We know that wages in general are artificially low because food has been so cheap. We also know that food has been so cheap because we're growing food in the possibly least sustainable way we can imagine. We're able to hold costs artificially down, and this is just another part of it.
But all of our research has shown that it actually wouldn't have to go up dramatically to pay workers a living wage.
That would be a raise for almost everybody.
30 million workers in America. The cost of food for the average American household, all food bought outside the home, would be, at most, $0.30 more per day.
What's the strategy for changing things on the big scale?
Yeah. It's going to take policy change, because sometimes you just need a blunt instrument of the law to tell restaurants, you know, you actually have to pay your own workers. The state of California did it. Six other states besides California have done it. There's no reason why…
Have eliminated tipped minimum wage.
Have eliminated a lower wage for tipped workers. This is where my dual role at UC Berkeley really comes into play. We've put out research on how much the cost of food would go up, the sexual harassment that tipped workers face.
I'm... I mean, I'm going to ask a very direct question. Is there an industry leader, someone who's... is Darden or someone else on the verge of saying, we understand that this is correct. We want to be the right people. We want to take the lead on this. Is there someone near that place?
Yes, there is. In-N-Out pays its workers really good living wages, provides health benefits, provides internal mobility. One of the best companies I've seen. Chipotle currently has great standards in terms of internal mobility, is thinking about wage and benefit standards. I think could be a real industry leader on these issues.
What you consider a huge victory is so small a part of the work that you're doing.
It is so small, yes.
Not to depress you.
No, no, it's true.
But I mean, you work so hard, and the people who are working with you work so hard, to get…
Minimal increases.
Yeah, minimal increases of something that's so pathetic to begin with.
That's right.
Which is why a national policy change is really the way to go.
You're right. What we really need is the federal government to say, give a living wage to all your workers, $15 across the board, as they do in many countries in Europe. The joy of seeing workers with so little power come together and win up against some of the most powerful trade lobbies and corporations in the world? I just have the best job in the world to be a part of that. That's what drives me.
With people like Saru and many others driving change, it will be really interesting to watch how this movement continues to unfold. Because the fight for wage justice is one of the most important there is right now.
KEY:
1F 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F 7T 8F
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 The restaurant industry's the largest sector of the US economy.
2 Eleven million people work in this sector.
3 The federal minimum wage is $7.25 for all the workers in the sector.
4 The situation of restaurant workers in US is unique in the world.
5 Wages are low because growing food is getting more and more expensive.
6 California is the only state that has eliminated tipped minimum wage.
7 In-N-Out is set as an example of a company that treats workers very well.
8 The minimum wage for workers in America is $15.
I've known Saru Jayaraman for a long time, and she is one busy woman. Co-founder and co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Center United, director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, author, activist, wife, and mother.
In recent months, the news has been filled with coverage of protests against McDonald's and other restaurants by workers seeking to earn higher wages. So I caught up with Saru at a local cafe in Los Angeles to discuss her perspective on the ongoing movement for change in the restaurant industry.
The restaurant industry's the second largest and absolute fastest-growing sector of the economy. It's the largest segment of the food system and the food chain. It's over 11 million workers. And yet they're the absolute lowest-paid workers in America, and it's because of the power of the Restaurant Association. Right now, the federal minimum wage is at the bottom of everybody. It's $7.25 for non-tipped workers and $2.13 an hour for tipped workers. And it's been stuck there for 24 years. We have basically allowed the Restaurant Association in the vast majority of states to basically argue we should be the only industry on Earth, because we're the only country where this happens that doesn't have to pay its own workers. You, the customer, should pay our workers' wages for us, because these workers are making their income through tips.
We know that wages in general are artificially low because food has been so cheap. We also know that food has been so cheap because we're growing food in the possibly least sustainable way we can imagine. We're able to hold costs artificially down, and this is just another part of it.
But all of our research has shown that it actually wouldn't have to go up dramatically to pay workers a living wage.
That would be a raise for almost everybody.
30 million workers in America. The cost of food for the average American household, all food bought outside the home, would be, at most, $0.30 more per day.
What's the strategy for changing things on the big scale?
Yeah. It's going to take policy change, because sometimes you just need a blunt instrument of the law to tell restaurants, you know, you actually have to pay your own workers. The state of California did it. Six other states besides California have done it. There's no reason why…
Have eliminated tipped minimum wage.
Have eliminated a lower wage for tipped workers. This is where my dual role at UC Berkeley really comes into play. We've put out research on how much the cost of food would go up, the sexual harassment that tipped workers face.
I'm... I mean, I'm going to ask a very direct question. Is there an industry leader, someone who's... is Darden or someone else on the verge of saying, we understand that this is correct. We want to be the right people. We want to take the lead on this. Is there someone near that place?
Yes, there is. In-N-Out pays its workers really good living wages, provides health benefits, provides internal mobility. One of the best companies I've seen. Chipotle currently has great standards in terms of internal mobility, is thinking about wage and benefit standards. I think could be a real industry leader on these issues.
What you consider a huge victory is so small a part of the work that you're doing.
It is so small, yes.
Not to depress you.
No, no, it's true.
But I mean, you work so hard, and the people who are working with you work so hard, to get…
Minimal increases.
Yeah, minimal increases of something that's so pathetic to begin with.
That's right.
Which is why a national policy change is really the way to go.
You're right. What we really need is the federal government to say, give a living wage to all your workers, $15 across the board, as they do in many countries in Europe. The joy of seeing workers with so little power come together and win up against some of the most powerful trade lobbies and corporations in the world? I just have the best job in the world to be a part of that. That's what drives me.
With people like Saru and many others driving change, it will be really interesting to watch how this movement continues to unfold. Because the fight for wage justice is one of the most important there is right now.
KEY:
1F 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F 7T 8F
lunes, 4 de abril de 2016
Listening test: The spirit of Harlem
Listen to a Harlem resident talking about her neighbourhood and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence.
1 Tourists used to … Harlem.
A dislike
B love going to
C purposely avoid
2 Nowadays
A plenty of people visit the area.
B there is a tourist bus in the area.
C very few buses take tourists to that area.
3 Thomas Dorsey was a
A guitarist and composer.
B gospel singer.
C religious leader.
4 Peggy Taylor describes gospel music as 'secular' because
A it is associated with Thomas Dorsey.
B its origins are not religious.
C it is fun to listen to.
5 The rhetoric of gospel preachers has influenced
A jazz music.
B modern chat shows.
C political speeches.
6 In Montgomery, Alabama,
A a social movement started.
B Martin Luther King was arrested for participating in the 1955 Bus Boycott.
C Peggy Taylor was the finance officer of a church.
7 Harlem
A has a reputation for welcoming visitors.
B is best visited by going on your own.
C starts in 150th Street.
Harlem is without doubt one of the most fascinating areas of New York. Occupying the section of Manhattan that lies to the north of Central Park, for decades it was considered a dangerous ghetto that white New Yorkers — and tourists — tended to avoid.
Yet all that has changed and now busloads' of European tourists go there, to enjoy the wonders of soul food and music.
Peggy Taylor works for Harlem Spirituals Gospel and Jazz Tours. We began by asking her to define gospel music.
Gospel means the first four books of the New Testament, so you're talking about the birth of Christ, you're talking about a very joyous occasion. And gospel music itself was created by a blues guitarist named Thomas Dorsey —not to be confused with the band leader Thomas Dorsey. This was another Thomas Dorsey and he called his music 'gospel blues' and he wrote the famous song, Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
Gospel, somebody said, is really the music of Saturday night with Sunday morning's words. So you have something that is at once religious, but also secular; secular in the music, in the beat, in the syncopation, but the sentiment is religious.
In addition to the fabulous music, another part of the appeals of attending a gospel ceremony is listening to the powerful rhetoric of the preacher. The speeches of Barack Obama clearly contain this element. Peggy Taylor, who grew up in Alabama, had first-hand experience of an even more charismatic preacher.
I was a member of Martin Luther King's first church, which was in Montgomery, Alabama, which he became pastor of at the ripe young age of 26! And my father was the finance officer of the church, a long-standing member, and so I was, of course, a member and I listened to his sermons every Sunday and we participated in the famous Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which really began the civil rights movement.
Back in Harlem, Peggy Taylor admits that things have improved dramatically.
Tourism in Harlem today is a very accepted thing. People realise now that Harlem is not dangerous, they can even come to Harlem on their own, but, of course, I recommend that they come with a tour first, in order to get the lay of the land. Harlem is a vast, vast neighborhood and if you really want to get an overview of Harlem, you should take a tour first and then you come back on your own. And everybody has their guide books and they know now how to get to 125th Street, and they know that they can go to the museums, to the Schomberg Library, to the night clubs. People have a much easier way of seeing Harlem today and I think that's very positive. And the Harlemites are very accepting of it, too. People just take it for granted now that tourists come to Harlem.
KEY:
1C 2A 3A 4B 5C 6A 7A
1 Tourists used to … Harlem.
A dislike
B love going to
C purposely avoid
2 Nowadays
A plenty of people visit the area.
B there is a tourist bus in the area.
C very few buses take tourists to that area.
3 Thomas Dorsey was a
A guitarist and composer.
B gospel singer.
C religious leader.
4 Peggy Taylor describes gospel music as 'secular' because
A it is associated with Thomas Dorsey.
B its origins are not religious.
C it is fun to listen to.
5 The rhetoric of gospel preachers has influenced
A jazz music.
B modern chat shows.
C political speeches.
6 In Montgomery, Alabama,
A a social movement started.
B Martin Luther King was arrested for participating in the 1955 Bus Boycott.
C Peggy Taylor was the finance officer of a church.
7 Harlem
A has a reputation for welcoming visitors.
B is best visited by going on your own.
C starts in 150th Street.
Harlem is without doubt one of the most fascinating areas of New York. Occupying the section of Manhattan that lies to the north of Central Park, for decades it was considered a dangerous ghetto that white New Yorkers — and tourists — tended to avoid.
Yet all that has changed and now busloads' of European tourists go there, to enjoy the wonders of soul food and music.
Peggy Taylor works for Harlem Spirituals Gospel and Jazz Tours. We began by asking her to define gospel music.
Gospel means the first four books of the New Testament, so you're talking about the birth of Christ, you're talking about a very joyous occasion. And gospel music itself was created by a blues guitarist named Thomas Dorsey —not to be confused with the band leader Thomas Dorsey. This was another Thomas Dorsey and he called his music 'gospel blues' and he wrote the famous song, Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
Gospel, somebody said, is really the music of Saturday night with Sunday morning's words. So you have something that is at once religious, but also secular; secular in the music, in the beat, in the syncopation, but the sentiment is religious.
In addition to the fabulous music, another part of the appeals of attending a gospel ceremony is listening to the powerful rhetoric of the preacher. The speeches of Barack Obama clearly contain this element. Peggy Taylor, who grew up in Alabama, had first-hand experience of an even more charismatic preacher.
I was a member of Martin Luther King's first church, which was in Montgomery, Alabama, which he became pastor of at the ripe young age of 26! And my father was the finance officer of the church, a long-standing member, and so I was, of course, a member and I listened to his sermons every Sunday and we participated in the famous Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which really began the civil rights movement.
Back in Harlem, Peggy Taylor admits that things have improved dramatically.
Tourism in Harlem today is a very accepted thing. People realise now that Harlem is not dangerous, they can even come to Harlem on their own, but, of course, I recommend that they come with a tour first, in order to get the lay of the land. Harlem is a vast, vast neighborhood and if you really want to get an overview of Harlem, you should take a tour first and then you come back on your own. And everybody has their guide books and they know now how to get to 125th Street, and they know that they can go to the museums, to the Schomberg Library, to the night clubs. People have a much easier way of seeing Harlem today and I think that's very positive. And the Harlemites are very accepting of it, too. People just take it for granted now that tourists come to Harlem.
KEY:
1C 2A 3A 4B 5C 6A 7A
martes, 15 de marzo de 2016
36 Hours in Boston
Boston has emerged from its brainy, introverted shell to offer a livelier mix of cultural offerings, not to mention an exploding food scene.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 What was built in 1912?
2 What was founded in 1903?
3 Where can you buy beer?
4 Where can you eat a big burger and fish?
5 Where can you have a beer outdoors with your children?
6 Where can you have oysters and beer?
7 Where can you listen to music four nights a week?
8 Which place has been inspired by places in New York, Paris or London?
9 Which place opens 365 days a year?
Boston across the board punches way above its weight.
The cultural offerings here are so far greater than you might expect from a metropolis of its size.
I would certainly compare Boston restaurants to any other city in the country as far as quality of what we're doing and the talent that's here.
Of course, the history of Boston is the story of America. The Freedom Trail is here. Boston Tea Party happened just right around the corner from here.
It's a very knowledge-based city with universities, the researcher institutions.
And we've got the best sports city in the world, so how are we going to complain about that?
I like the passion of everybody in Boston. It's a very passionate place. They're opinionated, but they're also very, very passionate.
Row 34
Boston has grown and evolved far beyond the pub and the old school thick chowder. I mean, you can still get a good bowl of chowder in Boston, but it's much better than it used to be. We're all about oysters and beer, and we have a lot of both of those. So it's oysters, and fish and chips, and lobster rolls, and what you would expect from a great Boston seafood restaurant. I think that's what we've been able to to-- is surprise people at what a great time they have from the time they walk in to the time they leave and are surprised that an oyster bar can deliver the experience that we deliver. Get a lot of oysters, get a really cold beer that you like, and enjoy the ride is really what we're all about.
Bee's Knees
Bee's Knees means to us as a company the best of things and a focus on how things are made, where they come from. Good food for humans is what we like to say. We're a provision store with craft beer, fine wines, cheeses, charcuterie, delicatessen, cafe. Whether a customer or guest is coming in for a meal or some provisions to take home, we want an environment that is fun, informative, and relaxing.
The Gallows
When we opened The Gallows, we wanted to design a restaurant that we would want to go to, a neighbourhood bar that you could come and get a great burger. You could get an awesome dish of scallops, great cocktails, and hospitable service.
Gallows is great. There's something about it. It just feels cool when you go there, and it's the best comfort food in the city, I think-- is at The Gallows. Amazing.
You could take a date here, and he or she will be very happy, or you can bring your parents here, and they'll be psyched, too.
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a cathedral of sports.
We are in the oldest major league ballpark in America. It was built in 1912. People who came here saw Babe Ruth pitch. They saw Ted Williams hit. All kinds of history here. The tour we take people all through the ballpark. We go sit in the oldest seats in major league baseball. We go up on the green monster. We go into the press box. The Red Sox are very important to Boston. We've suffered with them. We've won championships with them, so they're really part of the fabric of the city.
The Lawn on D
It is an experimental interactive open space for the people of Boston. A lot of times when parks have been designed, inadvertently you send signals don't walk on the grass. Don't do anything. This is intended to encourage people to play in the grass. It's OK to have an adult beverage. It's OK to do things that are fun and interactive. You just want to have a beer, be outdoors. We chatted up with some local Bostonians who are friendly and just having some fun. This is the place to do it.
Gardner Museum
The Gardner is the original immersive experience in museums. Founded and opened in 1903 it went very much against the grain. Mrs. Gardner's vision was for people to come in and have an unhindered aesthetic
experience. It's a small institution that is distinguished by an incredibly rich and important collection. When you walk into any of the Gardner's galleries, you begin to forget that you're in an institution, and you feel like you've received an amazing invitation from a hostess.
Wally’s Jazz Cafe
It's the oldest black family owned and operated jazz club in the world, started in 1947 by my mother and my father. This place is always crowded on any given night with live music seven nights a week 365 days a year. I think this atmosphere is intimate. The audience can connect with the musicians, and the musicians can really connect with the audience.
Lucky’s Lounge
It's sort of a retro Vegas Rat Pack vibe. I want everybody to feel cool, kind of like you know about something that other people don't.
Lucky's is an institution here in Boston, and you have this great time, but then when you want to try to find it again, unless there's a line around the door, you're like, where was that?
We live music here four nights a week.
On Sundays, we have a Sinatra brunch, a Sinatra dinner show. Basically from noon to close is just an homage to Frank.
Bastille Kitchen Chalet
We're in what we refer to as the subterranean cocktail lounge for Bastille kitchen. It's a very cool loungey space. It's inspired by places like Rose Bar in New York City or great places in Paris or London. We connect as a nightlife piece for people, but it's not an aggressive nightclubby kind of place. It's romantic. It has some cool style. I love the sensibility of this city. People in Boston love their history and love their traditions, and that's what makes this city very unique to the world.
KEY:
1 Fenway Park
2 Gardner Museum
3 Bee’s Knees
4 The Gallows
5 The Lawn on D
6 Row 34
7 Lucky’s Lounge
8 Bastille Kitchen Chalet
9 Wally’s Jazz Café
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 What was built in 1912?
2 What was founded in 1903?
3 Where can you buy beer?
4 Where can you eat a big burger and fish?
5 Where can you have a beer outdoors with your children?
6 Where can you have oysters and beer?
7 Where can you listen to music four nights a week?
8 Which place has been inspired by places in New York, Paris or London?
9 Which place opens 365 days a year?
Boston across the board punches way above its weight.
The cultural offerings here are so far greater than you might expect from a metropolis of its size.
I would certainly compare Boston restaurants to any other city in the country as far as quality of what we're doing and the talent that's here.
Of course, the history of Boston is the story of America. The Freedom Trail is here. Boston Tea Party happened just right around the corner from here.
It's a very knowledge-based city with universities, the researcher institutions.
And we've got the best sports city in the world, so how are we going to complain about that?
I like the passion of everybody in Boston. It's a very passionate place. They're opinionated, but they're also very, very passionate.
Row 34
Boston has grown and evolved far beyond the pub and the old school thick chowder. I mean, you can still get a good bowl of chowder in Boston, but it's much better than it used to be. We're all about oysters and beer, and we have a lot of both of those. So it's oysters, and fish and chips, and lobster rolls, and what you would expect from a great Boston seafood restaurant. I think that's what we've been able to to-- is surprise people at what a great time they have from the time they walk in to the time they leave and are surprised that an oyster bar can deliver the experience that we deliver. Get a lot of oysters, get a really cold beer that you like, and enjoy the ride is really what we're all about.
Bee's Knees
Bee's Knees means to us as a company the best of things and a focus on how things are made, where they come from. Good food for humans is what we like to say. We're a provision store with craft beer, fine wines, cheeses, charcuterie, delicatessen, cafe. Whether a customer or guest is coming in for a meal or some provisions to take home, we want an environment that is fun, informative, and relaxing.
The Gallows
When we opened The Gallows, we wanted to design a restaurant that we would want to go to, a neighbourhood bar that you could come and get a great burger. You could get an awesome dish of scallops, great cocktails, and hospitable service.
Gallows is great. There's something about it. It just feels cool when you go there, and it's the best comfort food in the city, I think-- is at The Gallows. Amazing.
You could take a date here, and he or she will be very happy, or you can bring your parents here, and they'll be psyched, too.
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a cathedral of sports.
We are in the oldest major league ballpark in America. It was built in 1912. People who came here saw Babe Ruth pitch. They saw Ted Williams hit. All kinds of history here. The tour we take people all through the ballpark. We go sit in the oldest seats in major league baseball. We go up on the green monster. We go into the press box. The Red Sox are very important to Boston. We've suffered with them. We've won championships with them, so they're really part of the fabric of the city.
The Lawn on D
It is an experimental interactive open space for the people of Boston. A lot of times when parks have been designed, inadvertently you send signals don't walk on the grass. Don't do anything. This is intended to encourage people to play in the grass. It's OK to have an adult beverage. It's OK to do things that are fun and interactive. You just want to have a beer, be outdoors. We chatted up with some local Bostonians who are friendly and just having some fun. This is the place to do it.
Gardner Museum
The Gardner is the original immersive experience in museums. Founded and opened in 1903 it went very much against the grain. Mrs. Gardner's vision was for people to come in and have an unhindered aesthetic
experience. It's a small institution that is distinguished by an incredibly rich and important collection. When you walk into any of the Gardner's galleries, you begin to forget that you're in an institution, and you feel like you've received an amazing invitation from a hostess.
Wally’s Jazz Cafe
It's the oldest black family owned and operated jazz club in the world, started in 1947 by my mother and my father. This place is always crowded on any given night with live music seven nights a week 365 days a year. I think this atmosphere is intimate. The audience can connect with the musicians, and the musicians can really connect with the audience.
Lucky’s Lounge
It's sort of a retro Vegas Rat Pack vibe. I want everybody to feel cool, kind of like you know about something that other people don't.
Lucky's is an institution here in Boston, and you have this great time, but then when you want to try to find it again, unless there's a line around the door, you're like, where was that?
We live music here four nights a week.
On Sundays, we have a Sinatra brunch, a Sinatra dinner show. Basically from noon to close is just an homage to Frank.
Bastille Kitchen Chalet
We're in what we refer to as the subterranean cocktail lounge for Bastille kitchen. It's a very cool loungey space. It's inspired by places like Rose Bar in New York City or great places in Paris or London. We connect as a nightlife piece for people, but it's not an aggressive nightclubby kind of place. It's romantic. It has some cool style. I love the sensibility of this city. People in Boston love their history and love their traditions, and that's what makes this city very unique to the world.
KEY:
1 Fenway Park
2 Gardner Museum
3 Bee’s Knees
4 The Gallows
5 The Lawn on D
6 Row 34
7 Lucky’s Lounge
8 Bastille Kitchen Chalet
9 Wally’s Jazz Café
martes, 8 de marzo de 2016
A Look at Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
Italian-American flavor come together in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Gardens.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Carroll Gardens is a large neighbourhood.
2 You can find gardens only in the front of the houses.
3 Walking around the neighbourhood used to take very long because you had to talk to a lot of people.
4 Brooklyn Bridge is within walking distance from Carroll Gardens.
5 There is no problem to park in Carroll Gardens.
6 Italians have been the only nationality to live in this neighbourhood.
7 In the 1970's you could buy a house for $50,000.
8 There's no room in the schools anymore.
It’s a beautiful little neighbourhood with these brown stones.
Beautiful trees on the street. People outside.
A lot of old-timers, a lot of families.
Lots of mom and pap stores. You come out of the subway station and it’s just… It’s a really special place.
This neighbourhood is only like maybe about only four blocks wide and when you’re on a corner is like two, three blocks in each direction, and that’s it.
Carroll Gardens was all part of Red Hook.
Back in the 60’s, I decided we’re going to call it Carroll Gardens. Carroll because of Carroll Park and gardens because we had this unique front gardens.
Carroll Gardens was laid out and built according to a master plan which asked for gardens in the front and in the back and it creates a pretty good mixed treescape.
All the restaurants typically have gardens. There’s a lot of outdoor seating.
It has a very much a small town feel within the larger city.
Growing up it would take twenty, thirty minutes to walk two blocks. You had to say hello to everybody and they would strike up a conversation.
The shoppers tended to go out of their way to actually learn who you are and get to know you.
The F and the G service Carroll Gardens primarily. I think a lot of people have a lot of hate relationship with the F train but if you’re going into Mid Town or downtown it’s a great mode of transportation.
It’s also close to Manhattan, you can literally walk from Carroll Garden over the Brooklyn Bridge.
What really shocked me was the amount of cabs you can get here.
The only problem is parking. You can’t park your car.
This neighbourhood used to be Scandinavian, mostly because of the seaport. As they moved out of the neighbourhood you had Italians who moved in first into Red Hook and then into what we now call Carroll Gardens.
When my father emigrated here back in 1909 or thereabouts, this was an Italian ghetto, desperately poor neighbourhood.
Al Capone got married here on Court Street.
Most of the people from this area came from an Italian town in Sicily called Pozzallo.
I was born and raised here and I think the whole world was Italian-American because everybody here was Italian-American.
You could buy a brownstone back in the 70’s for about 40,000, $50,000. People started coming in and it started changing. People that did live here, they can’t afford it.
When I first moved into this neighbourhood 30 years ago, if you wanted meat, you went to the butcher. If you wanted vegetables, you went to Florence on Court Street.
We’ve lost a lot of, you know, those mom and pap shops. I think for the first time it’s going to change for the worse. One of the reasons for this neighbourhood becoming so desirable is the schools. There’s no room in the schools anymore, so they’re putting these trailer units in the school yards and creating more classrooms.
Try to get your child into PS58 is very difficult, even if it’s you’re zoned for the school.
4,000 units are coming to market over the next two years and with that, where are all these kids gonna go to school?
Today the market is just fierce. You know, people will wanna buy a brownstone, they’re coming in ready. Rental prices are going up too.
I don't think there's anything that could make me leave other than getting priced out. You know, even now I walk the streets and it’s like oh, so-and-so used to live there, and so-and-so used to live there and people ask me like tell me what it was like back in the day here, you know, there was this tiny little area that nobody knew really about, and then word got out and spread like wildfire.
Key:
1F 2F 3T 4T 5F 6F 7T 8T
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Carroll Gardens is a large neighbourhood.
2 You can find gardens only in the front of the houses.
3 Walking around the neighbourhood used to take very long because you had to talk to a lot of people.
4 Brooklyn Bridge is within walking distance from Carroll Gardens.
5 There is no problem to park in Carroll Gardens.
6 Italians have been the only nationality to live in this neighbourhood.
7 In the 1970's you could buy a house for $50,000.
8 There's no room in the schools anymore.
It’s a beautiful little neighbourhood with these brown stones.
Beautiful trees on the street. People outside.
A lot of old-timers, a lot of families.
Lots of mom and pap stores. You come out of the subway station and it’s just… It’s a really special place.
This neighbourhood is only like maybe about only four blocks wide and when you’re on a corner is like two, three blocks in each direction, and that’s it.
Carroll Gardens was all part of Red Hook.
Back in the 60’s, I decided we’re going to call it Carroll Gardens. Carroll because of Carroll Park and gardens because we had this unique front gardens.
Carroll Gardens was laid out and built according to a master plan which asked for gardens in the front and in the back and it creates a pretty good mixed treescape.
All the restaurants typically have gardens. There’s a lot of outdoor seating.
It has a very much a small town feel within the larger city.
Growing up it would take twenty, thirty minutes to walk two blocks. You had to say hello to everybody and they would strike up a conversation.
The shoppers tended to go out of their way to actually learn who you are and get to know you.
The F and the G service Carroll Gardens primarily. I think a lot of people have a lot of hate relationship with the F train but if you’re going into Mid Town or downtown it’s a great mode of transportation.
It’s also close to Manhattan, you can literally walk from Carroll Garden over the Brooklyn Bridge.
What really shocked me was the amount of cabs you can get here.
The only problem is parking. You can’t park your car.
This neighbourhood used to be Scandinavian, mostly because of the seaport. As they moved out of the neighbourhood you had Italians who moved in first into Red Hook and then into what we now call Carroll Gardens.
When my father emigrated here back in 1909 or thereabouts, this was an Italian ghetto, desperately poor neighbourhood.
Al Capone got married here on Court Street.
Most of the people from this area came from an Italian town in Sicily called Pozzallo.
I was born and raised here and I think the whole world was Italian-American because everybody here was Italian-American.
You could buy a brownstone back in the 70’s for about 40,000, $50,000. People started coming in and it started changing. People that did live here, they can’t afford it.
When I first moved into this neighbourhood 30 years ago, if you wanted meat, you went to the butcher. If you wanted vegetables, you went to Florence on Court Street.
We’ve lost a lot of, you know, those mom and pap shops. I think for the first time it’s going to change for the worse. One of the reasons for this neighbourhood becoming so desirable is the schools. There’s no room in the schools anymore, so they’re putting these trailer units in the school yards and creating more classrooms.
Try to get your child into PS58 is very difficult, even if it’s you’re zoned for the school.
4,000 units are coming to market over the next two years and with that, where are all these kids gonna go to school?
Today the market is just fierce. You know, people will wanna buy a brownstone, they’re coming in ready. Rental prices are going up too.
I don't think there's anything that could make me leave other than getting priced out. You know, even now I walk the streets and it’s like oh, so-and-so used to live there, and so-and-so used to live there and people ask me like tell me what it was like back in the day here, you know, there was this tiny little area that nobody knew really about, and then word got out and spread like wildfire.
Key:
1F 2F 3T 4T 5F 6F 7T 8T
martes, 1 de marzo de 2016
Women entrepreneurs: Sheela Murthy
Watch this short video on female entrepreneur Sheela Murthy, who battled for years to obtain her green card in US, and complete the information below about her.
Name: Sheela Murthy
Company: Law firm
Sheela’s mother
Sheela’s father
Her love story
The process of becoming a US citizen
The principles underlying her law firm
Sheela’s husband’s advice to run the business
Mistakes she made at the early stages of her firm
Lessons she learnt from that
Should the business grow?
Giving back to the community
A big part of the reason that I became an immigration lawyer was because I went through hell in getting my own green card.
I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people and so I thought I’m gonna live the American Dream and start my own baby, start my own law firm and see where it takes me.
My mother was very, very strong as a role model, very, very powerful as a person, and extremely strong as an Indian woman. She said a woman is supposed to be subservient. A woman is supposed to tow the line and follow what her husband tells her to do, but not one single day of her life did she ever tow the line, or listen to my father.
My father is just very, very kind, caring, compassionate and generous to a fault. He was an engineer in the Indian army and he came from a really poor family so he had to work really, really hard. My father and mother are polar opposites but the one thing that both my parents were in complete accord and agreement over, which is that their three children were definitely going to excel in their education and become professionals.
I know for him it was love at first sight. He makes no bones about it. For me, I felt he was one of the nicest human beings that I had ever met in my life.
The process from the time I entered the United States till the time I became a U.S. citizen was about a dozen years. It was a long process, very painful, very slow, very stressful.
I thought “My law firm is not just gonna be about being an amazing lawyer but it’s really going to be about compassion and empathy and caring about people.”
I thought, “Oh my God. Is it okay to give away everything I own in this world, which is my knowledge, for free on the Internet and write answers for people?” And my husband actually said, “Trust me. It’s gonna pay off. It’s okay.” And what it did was actually made me see hundreds of real life cases, learn my knowledge, learn the craft.
We started making money but I kept thinking, “Oh gosh, the bubble is going to burst. This can’t be true.” So I was hiring part-time employees initially and then full-time paralegals. And making sure that I didn’t overpay people, which in hindsight wasn’t very wise.
I would expect so much and demand so much that three out of my four paralegals walked out within a week of each other. I think they were telling me, “Buzz off, Bozo. You’re stressing the heck out of us.” And I didn’t get it because I was like go, go, go, go, go like a machine.
That was a huge, huge, huge lesson in humility for me to have to take. I had to eat humble pie, because I knew the problem was me. I was telling them all the time, take care of the client but I wasn’t taking care of my own staff.
I’m always constantly divided between staying at this number which is very nice and comfortable and the natural urgent inclination to grow. I don’t need to have more money. And I don’t want more responsibility. But if the next generation decides that that’s where that’s where they’re going to take the firm, I will be thrilled and honored.
The firm is doing very well. And we do a lot to give back to the community. And I feel that my legacy is already in each family that we have helped to accomplish their great American dream of living and working in this great country. And I’ve been very blessed and fortunate that I’ve been able to do that in my life.
Name: Sheela Murthy
Company: Law firm
Sheela’s mother
Sheela’s father
Her love story
The process of becoming a US citizen
The principles underlying her law firm
Sheela’s husband’s advice to run the business
Mistakes she made at the early stages of her firm
Lessons she learnt from that
Should the business grow?
Giving back to the community
A big part of the reason that I became an immigration lawyer was because I went through hell in getting my own green card.
I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people and so I thought I’m gonna live the American Dream and start my own baby, start my own law firm and see where it takes me.
My mother was very, very strong as a role model, very, very powerful as a person, and extremely strong as an Indian woman. She said a woman is supposed to be subservient. A woman is supposed to tow the line and follow what her husband tells her to do, but not one single day of her life did she ever tow the line, or listen to my father.
My father is just very, very kind, caring, compassionate and generous to a fault. He was an engineer in the Indian army and he came from a really poor family so he had to work really, really hard. My father and mother are polar opposites but the one thing that both my parents were in complete accord and agreement over, which is that their three children were definitely going to excel in their education and become professionals.
I know for him it was love at first sight. He makes no bones about it. For me, I felt he was one of the nicest human beings that I had ever met in my life.
The process from the time I entered the United States till the time I became a U.S. citizen was about a dozen years. It was a long process, very painful, very slow, very stressful.
I thought “My law firm is not just gonna be about being an amazing lawyer but it’s really going to be about compassion and empathy and caring about people.”
I thought, “Oh my God. Is it okay to give away everything I own in this world, which is my knowledge, for free on the Internet and write answers for people?” And my husband actually said, “Trust me. It’s gonna pay off. It’s okay.” And what it did was actually made me see hundreds of real life cases, learn my knowledge, learn the craft.
We started making money but I kept thinking, “Oh gosh, the bubble is going to burst. This can’t be true.” So I was hiring part-time employees initially and then full-time paralegals. And making sure that I didn’t overpay people, which in hindsight wasn’t very wise.
I would expect so much and demand so much that three out of my four paralegals walked out within a week of each other. I think they were telling me, “Buzz off, Bozo. You’re stressing the heck out of us.” And I didn’t get it because I was like go, go, go, go, go like a machine.
That was a huge, huge, huge lesson in humility for me to have to take. I had to eat humble pie, because I knew the problem was me. I was telling them all the time, take care of the client but I wasn’t taking care of my own staff.
I’m always constantly divided between staying at this number which is very nice and comfortable and the natural urgent inclination to grow. I don’t need to have more money. And I don’t want more responsibility. But if the next generation decides that that’s where that’s where they’re going to take the firm, I will be thrilled and honored.
The firm is doing very well. And we do a lot to give back to the community. And I feel that my legacy is already in each family that we have helped to accomplish their great American dream of living and working in this great country. And I’ve been very blessed and fortunate that I’ve been able to do that in my life.
martes, 23 de febrero de 2016
10 Questions for David McCullough
In this Time Magazine interview historian David McCullough talks about his new book The Greater Journey and how the French influenced a generation of ambitious Americans.
Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1. The period David McCullough has written about in his book is most of the 19th century.
2. The people David McCullough writes about are politicians and high officials in the administration.
3. Augustus Saint Gaudens worked as a shoemaker.
4. The schools of art and architecture in Paris were far better than those in US.
5. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph.
6. Charles Sumner was an advocate for abolitionism.
7. David McCullough is currently working for the US Information Agency in Washington.
Hi, I’m Belinda Luscombe. I’m an editor at large at Time Magazine. Today’s 10 Questions answerer is David McCullough, the author of nine books. His newest is called The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
Now your new book is about a bunch of Americans who moved to Paris and they were a mix of professions, largely artists and writers. The effect it had on them and thus, I guess, the effect it had on America, it seems like a sort of strange subject considering our history. What made you think of it?
Well, I’m drawn to it because the big period of the experience of Americans in Europe and in Paris in particular about which very little had been done. And it’s the period of 1830’s and 1900. We know a good deal about the time when Franklin Adams and Jefferson were all in Paris and we’ve heard more than a great deal about the 1920’s and 30’s, the Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein time. And my feeling was that this period brought to France for a very specific kind of ambition a group of Americans who in many ways are among the most interesting and important figures in American life in that span of time. I also feel very strongly that history ought to been seen as a great deal more than just politics and the military and this was a chance for me to illustrate that with the lives of these individual people.
Who was your favourite character from the book?
Augustus Saint Gaudens is one of my favourite characters that I’ve ever written about in my writing life. Infinitely interesting man. Complicated. Immensely talented and important. An immigrant shoemaker’s son who was put to work at age 13. Street kid here in New York, who felt he had talent that could be, could be something. And he, and he was determined to excel. They all were in that period ambitious to excel, I think it’s the common ingredient in the outlook of these young people. Remember there were no schools of art, no art museums here, no schools of architecture. If you wanted to become an architect, there was no place you could study architecture, so you went to Paris.
Samuel Morse, he was one of the guys that fascinated me. How did he go from portrait painter when he went to Paris to the guy who invented like the single line telegraphs and the code?
Well, I don’t think in that day people saw that they had to necessarily belong to one category. The fact that Morse was a painter and a very gifted painter, a brilliant painter, did not mean that he couldn’t have other ideas. And while he was in Paris he got the idea for the telegraph. Now a man like Charles Sumner brought back another kind of an idea. He brought back the realization for him that we, in America, treated black people the way we did largely because of what we’d been taught, that treating black people as equals was part of the natural order of things because he saw it demonstrated in how the French students treated black students at the Sorbonne, where he was taking courses of all kinds. And that, that changed our history because Sumner, who was only a young lawyer then, decided to devote his life to politics and to the abolitionist movement, became the most powerful voice for abolition in the United States Senate. So if that, if the book were about that one man’s one experience in Paris and how it mushroomed him into a larger effect on the country, that would have made the point. But I wanted to make the point in a variety of ways because I believe so strongly that history is more than just soldiers and politicians.
Do you ever wish you stayed at Sports Illustrated?
No.
Never?
No, I loved being in Time Inc. I worked at Architectural Forum, which is no longer being published, and I worked at Time. I worked at three different places. I got wonderful training, made great friends. I learned a lot about writing, learned a lot about self-editing, which is the real point of it all, learning to edit yourself. But I was ready to move on and when President Kennedy was elected and he called on people to do something for their country, I took it very much to heart and went to Washington to work with the US Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow and that was very exciting. And I learned a great deal there of a different kind.
Now from the point of view of the present, we look back, we look at history and we think, you know, often in a sort of childlike way how could people have possibly owned slaves, how could that happen. [Yes.] What was the thing? How could we have thought it was okay to not educate with it. [Yes.] What do you think? Our… the people that will come after us will look back and say, how, what where they thinking? How could they have done this?
How could they spent so much time of their lives sitting, watching television. You mean, they spend seven hours a day watching that? That is a really good answer, it’s not what I was expecting. David McCullough, thank you so much for coming and seeing us today.
Thank you very much. I’ve hugely enjoyed it. I truly have. Thank you.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 4F 5T 6T 7F
Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1. The period David McCullough has written about in his book is most of the 19th century.
2. The people David McCullough writes about are politicians and high officials in the administration.
3. Augustus Saint Gaudens worked as a shoemaker.
4. The schools of art and architecture in Paris were far better than those in US.
5. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph.
6. Charles Sumner was an advocate for abolitionism.
7. David McCullough is currently working for the US Information Agency in Washington.
Hi, I’m Belinda Luscombe. I’m an editor at large at Time Magazine. Today’s 10 Questions answerer is David McCullough, the author of nine books. His newest is called The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
Now your new book is about a bunch of Americans who moved to Paris and they were a mix of professions, largely artists and writers. The effect it had on them and thus, I guess, the effect it had on America, it seems like a sort of strange subject considering our history. What made you think of it?
Well, I’m drawn to it because the big period of the experience of Americans in Europe and in Paris in particular about which very little had been done. And it’s the period of 1830’s and 1900. We know a good deal about the time when Franklin Adams and Jefferson were all in Paris and we’ve heard more than a great deal about the 1920’s and 30’s, the Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein time. And my feeling was that this period brought to France for a very specific kind of ambition a group of Americans who in many ways are among the most interesting and important figures in American life in that span of time. I also feel very strongly that history ought to been seen as a great deal more than just politics and the military and this was a chance for me to illustrate that with the lives of these individual people.
Who was your favourite character from the book?
Augustus Saint Gaudens is one of my favourite characters that I’ve ever written about in my writing life. Infinitely interesting man. Complicated. Immensely talented and important. An immigrant shoemaker’s son who was put to work at age 13. Street kid here in New York, who felt he had talent that could be, could be something. And he, and he was determined to excel. They all were in that period ambitious to excel, I think it’s the common ingredient in the outlook of these young people. Remember there were no schools of art, no art museums here, no schools of architecture. If you wanted to become an architect, there was no place you could study architecture, so you went to Paris.
Samuel Morse, he was one of the guys that fascinated me. How did he go from portrait painter when he went to Paris to the guy who invented like the single line telegraphs and the code?
Well, I don’t think in that day people saw that they had to necessarily belong to one category. The fact that Morse was a painter and a very gifted painter, a brilliant painter, did not mean that he couldn’t have other ideas. And while he was in Paris he got the idea for the telegraph. Now a man like Charles Sumner brought back another kind of an idea. He brought back the realization for him that we, in America, treated black people the way we did largely because of what we’d been taught, that treating black people as equals was part of the natural order of things because he saw it demonstrated in how the French students treated black students at the Sorbonne, where he was taking courses of all kinds. And that, that changed our history because Sumner, who was only a young lawyer then, decided to devote his life to politics and to the abolitionist movement, became the most powerful voice for abolition in the United States Senate. So if that, if the book were about that one man’s one experience in Paris and how it mushroomed him into a larger effect on the country, that would have made the point. But I wanted to make the point in a variety of ways because I believe so strongly that history is more than just soldiers and politicians.
Do you ever wish you stayed at Sports Illustrated?
No.
Never?
No, I loved being in Time Inc. I worked at Architectural Forum, which is no longer being published, and I worked at Time. I worked at three different places. I got wonderful training, made great friends. I learned a lot about writing, learned a lot about self-editing, which is the real point of it all, learning to edit yourself. But I was ready to move on and when President Kennedy was elected and he called on people to do something for their country, I took it very much to heart and went to Washington to work with the US Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow and that was very exciting. And I learned a great deal there of a different kind.
Now from the point of view of the present, we look back, we look at history and we think, you know, often in a sort of childlike way how could people have possibly owned slaves, how could that happen. [Yes.] What was the thing? How could we have thought it was okay to not educate with it. [Yes.] What do you think? Our… the people that will come after us will look back and say, how, what where they thinking? How could they have done this?
How could they spent so much time of their lives sitting, watching television. You mean, they spend seven hours a day watching that? That is a really good answer, it’s not what I was expecting. David McCullough, thank you so much for coming and seeing us today.
Thank you very much. I’ve hugely enjoyed it. I truly have. Thank you.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 4F 5T 6T 7F
jueves, 28 de enero de 2016
America's 11 million
This New York Times video shows the true picture of illegal immigration in the US.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1. When did the majority of undocumented immigrants arrive in US?
2. What's the ration between men and women?
3. What will immigrants receive and not receive if they have children born in US?
4. What record figure does the state of Nevada have?
5. Why are immigrants settiling in Maryland?
6. Which sector have most undocumented immigrants traditionally worked in?
7. How many undocumented immigrants hold health insurance?
8. Which two requisites are necessary for undocumented immigrants to be protected by President Obama's plan?
We have 11 million people living illegally in this country.
11 million undocumented immigrants…
We don’t have the capacity to deport 11 million people.
11 million undocumented people currently live in the United States. Here’s a look at who they are.
According to the Department of Home Land Security, the majority have been here for more than 10 years. 54%, 6.1m, arrived (1) between 1999 and 2004. 61% are between the ages of 25 and 44, and overall it’s about (2) 50-50 men and women. The Pew Research Center estimates 4m have children born here, in the United States. These people are among the 5m expected to (3) receive protection from deportation and permission to work legally, but not full citizenship under President Obama’s executive action.
Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken.
Most states with the largest populations are also home to the most undocumented people. California has 2.45m, followed by Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. (4) But Nevada has the largest percentage of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, immigrants are settling across the country now with populations rising in (5) Maryland, where there’s near-universal health care in DC. In Pennsylvania, Virginia and Nebraska, which each offers growing economic opportunities.
Immigration makes America stronger. Immigration makes us more prosperous.
Nearly all men here without papers, 87%, are working. Most women, 82%, are also employed or home-caring for children. (6) The construction industry has long been a source of jobs for the undocumented. Now south-eastern states with expanding metropolitan like Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina, are now attracting immigrants.
And finally a few interesting thirds to note. A third of undocumented adults live below the federal poverty level, but also nearly a third on homes and (7) a third carry health insurance.
Overall the vast majority, 5.8m, are Mexican-born. While the number of people coming from Mexico is declining, the number seeking refuge from gang violence and poverty in Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central American countries is rising. (8) But unless these people have been here for more than five years and have US-born children, they are unlikely to be protected by President Obama’s immigration plan.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1. When did the majority of undocumented immigrants arrive in US?
2. What's the ration between men and women?
3. What will immigrants receive and not receive if they have children born in US?
4. What record figure does the state of Nevada have?
5. Why are immigrants settiling in Maryland?
6. Which sector have most undocumented immigrants traditionally worked in?
7. How many undocumented immigrants hold health insurance?
8. Which two requisites are necessary for undocumented immigrants to be protected by President Obama's plan?
We have 11 million people living illegally in this country.
11 million undocumented immigrants…
We don’t have the capacity to deport 11 million people.
11 million undocumented people currently live in the United States. Here’s a look at who they are.
According to the Department of Home Land Security, the majority have been here for more than 10 years. 54%, 6.1m, arrived (1) between 1999 and 2004. 61% are between the ages of 25 and 44, and overall it’s about (2) 50-50 men and women. The Pew Research Center estimates 4m have children born here, in the United States. These people are among the 5m expected to (3) receive protection from deportation and permission to work legally, but not full citizenship under President Obama’s executive action.
Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken.
Most states with the largest populations are also home to the most undocumented people. California has 2.45m, followed by Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. (4) But Nevada has the largest percentage of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, immigrants are settling across the country now with populations rising in (5) Maryland, where there’s near-universal health care in DC. In Pennsylvania, Virginia and Nebraska, which each offers growing economic opportunities.
Immigration makes America stronger. Immigration makes us more prosperous.
Nearly all men here without papers, 87%, are working. Most women, 82%, are also employed or home-caring for children. (6) The construction industry has long been a source of jobs for the undocumented. Now south-eastern states with expanding metropolitan like Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina, are now attracting immigrants.
And finally a few interesting thirds to note. A third of undocumented adults live below the federal poverty level, but also nearly a third on homes and (7) a third carry health insurance.
Overall the vast majority, 5.8m, are Mexican-born. While the number of people coming from Mexico is declining, the number seeking refuge from gang violence and poverty in Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central American countries is rising. (8) But unless these people have been here for more than five years and have US-born children, they are unlikely to be protected by President Obama’s immigration plan.
lunes, 28 de diciembre de 2015
Listening test: Religion in America
Listen to a news report on religion in America and in each of the spaces provided, complete the information required with ONE or TWO WORDS. 0 is an example.
0 Example:
According to a poll fewer Americans believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church than in 2007.
1 The name of the study carried by the Pew Research Center was ‘The 2014 _______________________’ .
2 The study shows that 53% Americans are absolutely certain about _______________________ .
3 The survey’s writers have called _______________________ to the people who don’t belong to a religion.
4 The people who are affiliated with a religion have remained _______________________ .
5 Alan Cooperman thinks that on some aspects the levels of religious practice _______________________ among religious people.
6 People who consider themselves Christians show more tolerance towards _______________________ .
7 62% of Americans said they believed humans _______________________ over time.
Fewer Americans believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church than in 2007, a poll says. More than 35,000 Americans were polled about their religious beliefs over four months in 2014 by the Pew Research Center. The study, called the 2014 Religious Landscape, was released Tuesday. It updates research done seven years ago. The Pew Research Center said the percentage of Americans who are “absolutely certain” God exists fell to 63 percent from 71 percent. One reason for this, the Center says, is the large population of young adults – called Millennials – who say they don’t belong to any religion. The other reason is that older, more religious Americans, are dying. The people who don’t belong to a religion are called “nones” by the survey’s writers. “Nones” made up 16 percent of the adult population in 2007. This time around, the number is 23 percent. Among the “nones,” about 61 percent said they believed in God.
But the research center said there is a “great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape” in spite of the lower numbers. Within the category of people who are affiliated with a religion, the numbers stayed mostly stable. Seventy-seven percent of the people surveyed said they were connected to a religion. In that group, 89 percent of those surveyed said they believe in God, which was only a small change from the last time the survey came out. Alan Cooperman, the Pew center’s director of religious research, says those who identify as “religious” are as observant as ever. “On some measures, there are even small increases in their levels of religious practice.”
The survey asked Americans about a number of hot-button issues related to religion. The survey looked at Americans’ views on homosexuality, abortion and evolution. People who identified as Christian were about 10 percent more accepting of homosexuality than they were seven years ago. Most Christian institutions officially oppose homosexuality. Views about abortion were mostly unchanged compared with the survey seven years ago. Fifty-three percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in most cases. About evolution, 62 percent of Americans said they believed humans evolved over time. Thirty-four percent said they did not believe in that theory.
1 Religious Landscape
2 God’s existence
3 Nones
4 stable / the same
5 have increased
6 homosexuality
7 evolved
0 Example:
According to a poll fewer Americans believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church than in 2007.
1 The name of the study carried by the Pew Research Center was ‘The 2014 _______________________’ .
2 The study shows that 53% Americans are absolutely certain about _______________________ .
3 The survey’s writers have called _______________________ to the people who don’t belong to a religion.
4 The people who are affiliated with a religion have remained _______________________ .
5 Alan Cooperman thinks that on some aspects the levels of religious practice _______________________ among religious people.
6 People who consider themselves Christians show more tolerance towards _______________________ .
7 62% of Americans said they believed humans _______________________ over time.
Fewer Americans believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church than in 2007, a poll says. More than 35,000 Americans were polled about their religious beliefs over four months in 2014 by the Pew Research Center. The study, called the 2014 Religious Landscape, was released Tuesday. It updates research done seven years ago. The Pew Research Center said the percentage of Americans who are “absolutely certain” God exists fell to 63 percent from 71 percent. One reason for this, the Center says, is the large population of young adults – called Millennials – who say they don’t belong to any religion. The other reason is that older, more religious Americans, are dying. The people who don’t belong to a religion are called “nones” by the survey’s writers. “Nones” made up 16 percent of the adult population in 2007. This time around, the number is 23 percent. Among the “nones,” about 61 percent said they believed in God.
But the research center said there is a “great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape” in spite of the lower numbers. Within the category of people who are affiliated with a religion, the numbers stayed mostly stable. Seventy-seven percent of the people surveyed said they were connected to a religion. In that group, 89 percent of those surveyed said they believe in God, which was only a small change from the last time the survey came out. Alan Cooperman, the Pew center’s director of religious research, says those who identify as “religious” are as observant as ever. “On some measures, there are even small increases in their levels of religious practice.”
The survey asked Americans about a number of hot-button issues related to religion. The survey looked at Americans’ views on homosexuality, abortion and evolution. People who identified as Christian were about 10 percent more accepting of homosexuality than they were seven years ago. Most Christian institutions officially oppose homosexuality. Views about abortion were mostly unchanged compared with the survey seven years ago. Fifty-three percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in most cases. About evolution, 62 percent of Americans said they believed humans evolved over time. Thirty-four percent said they did not believe in that theory.
1 Religious Landscape
2 God’s existence
3 Nones
4 stable / the same
5 have increased
6 homosexuality
7 evolved
lunes, 16 de noviembre de 2015
Listening test: Sport in America
Listen to two radio reporters talk about the main sports in US and complete the sentences below with up to three words. 0 is an example.
0 Example:
There are four main team sports in America, Basketball, Baseball , Hockey and Football.
1 When talking about sports in US we have to be careful not to mistake ………………… with ………………… .
2 All the main sports are popular because ………………… don’t overlap and each is played at a different time of the year.
3 The NFL is played ………………… .
4 When talking about the Super Bowl the reporters say that apart from the game, fans really enjoy the ………………… , held between the second and third quarter of the match.
5 Advertisers pay extraordinary amounts of money for Super Bowl ………………… .
6 Baseball is the sport that attracts the most ………………… because the competition takes longer.
7 One of the reporters, who’s also a singer, couldn't start her ………………… in Michigan until the Stanley Cup finals were over.
8 Watching a game creates a ………………… that brings families and friends together and unites the country.
M - Let me tell you one thing that I noticed about team sports in the States: there are four main team sports. Not one but F o u r !
C – Yes, Basketball, Baseball , Hockey and Football.
M – And when you mention Football you don’t mean European Football that is soccer to Americans, do you?
C – No, soccer has grown in The States, but it still doesn’t carry the fan base it holds in the rest of the world.
M – So 4 team sports that have an incredible number of fans.
C – That’s possible because the championships are played throughout the year, so the sporting seasons don’t overlap each other much, giving each sport its own season. For example Major League Baseball runs roughly April through October, while American Football the NFL (National Football League) is played September through January.
M – …..ending with America’s biggest TV sport event.
C – Yes, the famous Super Bowl ! Everyone watches the Super Bowl game and of course the Half Time show! Friends and family gather in pubs or at home to watch. Great food is prepared. Rivalries intensify. Truthfully it’s mainly about food and breaking your friend’s balls on facebook. It’s a lot of fun.
M – Well Maybe you should tell our listeners about the The Half Time Show …
C – It’s a concert, a performance given during the break between the second and third quarter of the game. Great performances, artists like Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson… This year we saw The Black Eved Peas Usher and Slash from my personal favorite Guns and Roses.
The Super Bowl is always an exciting event. The TV commercials are famous too. Advertisers pay extraordinary amounts of money for Super Bowl air time. Last year 30 seconds of advertising time was expected to cost 2.6 million US dollars.
You know, we may say that in general football attracts more television viewers than baseball, although baseball attracts significantly more ticket sales due to its much longer schedule.
M – And there are also Basketball and Hockey, as well. (NHL) National Hockey League runs October though April and the NBA National Basketball Association November through April.
C – Hockey is more popular in the colder climates of the northern United States such as New England and in the Midwest. And our neighbors in Canada are crazy about Hockey!
M – I can tell you for sure that Hockey is very popular in Michigan, I was there a couple of years ago during the Stanley Cup finals and I was supposed to perform a live concert, because you know I’m a singer, well, that night I had to wait for the match to be over before the music could start, because everyone was glued to the TV screen!
C – Awesome!! Isn’t that what sport is about? Supporting your favorite team . Going crazy when they win or lose? Wearing those T-shirts proudly, cheering on your heroes and supporting them when they’re down. It’s a great atmosphere. It really brings family and friends together, and it even unites countries.
KEY:
1 football (with) soccer
2 the (sporting) seasons
3 September through January
4 half-time show
5 air time
6 ticket sales
7 (live) concert
8 great atmosphere
0 Example:
There are four main team sports in America, Basketball, Baseball , Hockey and Football.
1 When talking about sports in US we have to be careful not to mistake ………………… with ………………… .
2 All the main sports are popular because ………………… don’t overlap and each is played at a different time of the year.
3 The NFL is played ………………… .
4 When talking about the Super Bowl the reporters say that apart from the game, fans really enjoy the ………………… , held between the second and third quarter of the match.
5 Advertisers pay extraordinary amounts of money for Super Bowl ………………… .
6 Baseball is the sport that attracts the most ………………… because the competition takes longer.
7 One of the reporters, who’s also a singer, couldn't start her ………………… in Michigan until the Stanley Cup finals were over.
8 Watching a game creates a ………………… that brings families and friends together and unites the country.
M - Let me tell you one thing that I noticed about team sports in the States: there are four main team sports. Not one but F o u r !
C – Yes, Basketball, Baseball , Hockey and Football.
M – And when you mention Football you don’t mean European Football that is soccer to Americans, do you?
C – No, soccer has grown in The States, but it still doesn’t carry the fan base it holds in the rest of the world.
M – So 4 team sports that have an incredible number of fans.
C – That’s possible because the championships are played throughout the year, so the sporting seasons don’t overlap each other much, giving each sport its own season. For example Major League Baseball runs roughly April through October, while American Football the NFL (National Football League) is played September through January.
M – …..ending with America’s biggest TV sport event.
C – Yes, the famous Super Bowl ! Everyone watches the Super Bowl game and of course the Half Time show! Friends and family gather in pubs or at home to watch. Great food is prepared. Rivalries intensify. Truthfully it’s mainly about food and breaking your friend’s balls on facebook. It’s a lot of fun.
M – Well Maybe you should tell our listeners about the The Half Time Show …
C – It’s a concert, a performance given during the break between the second and third quarter of the game. Great performances, artists like Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson… This year we saw The Black Eved Peas Usher and Slash from my personal favorite Guns and Roses.
The Super Bowl is always an exciting event. The TV commercials are famous too. Advertisers pay extraordinary amounts of money for Super Bowl air time. Last year 30 seconds of advertising time was expected to cost 2.6 million US dollars.
You know, we may say that in general football attracts more television viewers than baseball, although baseball attracts significantly more ticket sales due to its much longer schedule.
M – And there are also Basketball and Hockey, as well. (NHL) National Hockey League runs October though April and the NBA National Basketball Association November through April.
C – Hockey is more popular in the colder climates of the northern United States such as New England and in the Midwest. And our neighbors in Canada are crazy about Hockey!
M – I can tell you for sure that Hockey is very popular in Michigan, I was there a couple of years ago during the Stanley Cup finals and I was supposed to perform a live concert, because you know I’m a singer, well, that night I had to wait for the match to be over before the music could start, because everyone was glued to the TV screen!
C – Awesome!! Isn’t that what sport is about? Supporting your favorite team . Going crazy when they win or lose? Wearing those T-shirts proudly, cheering on your heroes and supporting them when they’re down. It’s a great atmosphere. It really brings family and friends together, and it even unites countries.
KEY:
1 football (with) soccer
2 the (sporting) seasons
3 September through January
4 half-time show
5 air time
6 ticket sales
7 (live) concert
8 great atmosphere
domingo, 4 de octubre de 2015
Extensive listening: The little problem I had renting a house
Fifty-three years ago, James A. White Sr. joined the US Air Force. But as an African American man, he had to go to shocking lengths to find a place for his young family to live nearby. He tells this powerful story about the lived experience of "everyday racism" — and how it echoes today in the way he's had to teach his grandchildren to interact with police.
You can read a full transcript here.
You can read a full transcript here.
martes, 6 de enero de 2015
Madrid Teacher: New York parks
In our weekly Madrid Teacher video, a teacher is giving another information about parks in New York.
Although the video is a short one, we're going to use it as a springboard to revise some of the features of spoken English that they use.
First of all watch the video through to get acquainted with the teachers' conversation.
Now watch the video more carefully, paying attention to the following:
Ok, well, you have to do the touristy things, I mean and then, do some local stuff, but do the touristy thing that everyone does is go to Battery Park, er, you know it has a lot of history.
Which park?
Battery Park.
Oh right. I thought you were going to say Central Park.
No. Well, Central Park is that is also a very important park. It’s one of the oldest in New York. You know for a while it was a, that’s where junkies used to go. Did you know that?
No, I didn’t.
Yes, that’s where people went to smoke.
Well, actually, I’ve seen quite a few films, you see, scenes where they, bad things happen in the park.
Well, it was, until the project to restore Central Park came along in like the late 90’s, that place was just a dump.
Yeah.
A lot of junkies would go there and get high, and end of story, and then, you know, with the philanthropist trying to, it’s in the middle. It’s a beautiful park. It’s the lung of New York to begin with. So, everyone said it’s a crime, it’s a shame not to fix this park. And so, the project of restoration came about and it started booming and it brought a lot of tourists also, a lot. It brings, well, a lot of the magazine shoots are done there I’m pretty sure, Vogue, Marie Claire, etc, etc. but anyhow that’s Central Park. You have to go, Battery Park is really nice also. That’s more in the Lower East near the Iron Building.
Although the video is a short one, we're going to use it as a springboard to revise some of the features of spoken English that they use.
First of all watch the video through to get acquainted with the teachers' conversation.
Now watch the video more carefully, paying attention to the following:
- Conversation fillers to gain thinking time: Well; er, you know; you see
- Showing that you understand: Oh right; Yeah
- Use of I mean to paraphrase what you have just said and make yourself clear
- Use of actually to introduce a bit of surprising information
- Use of just to give emphasis
- Use of so as a linking word
- Use of I’m pretty sure to soften your opinion (hedging) and not to sound categorical
- Use of really to emphasize the adjective
Ok, well, you have to do the touristy things, I mean and then, do some local stuff, but do the touristy thing that everyone does is go to Battery Park, er, you know it has a lot of history.
Which park?
Battery Park.
Oh right. I thought you were going to say Central Park.
No. Well, Central Park is that is also a very important park. It’s one of the oldest in New York. You know for a while it was a, that’s where junkies used to go. Did you know that?
No, I didn’t.
Yes, that’s where people went to smoke.
Well, actually, I’ve seen quite a few films, you see, scenes where they, bad things happen in the park.
Well, it was, until the project to restore Central Park came along in like the late 90’s, that place was just a dump.
Yeah.
A lot of junkies would go there and get high, and end of story, and then, you know, with the philanthropist trying to, it’s in the middle. It’s a beautiful park. It’s the lung of New York to begin with. So, everyone said it’s a crime, it’s a shame not to fix this park. And so, the project of restoration came about and it started booming and it brought a lot of tourists also, a lot. It brings, well, a lot of the magazine shoots are done there I’m pretty sure, Vogue, Marie Claire, etc, etc. but anyhow that’s Central Park. You have to go, Battery Park is really nice also. That’s more in the Lower East near the Iron Building.
jueves, 18 de diciembre de 2014
Should tipped workers make a higher minimum wage?
In the United States the federal minimum wage is $7.25 (£4.31) per hour. Tipped workers, such as waiters and bartenders, are paid on a different standard, the so-called "tipped minimum wage". In New Jersey, for example, restaurant owners are required to pay a minimum of $2.13, with customers' tips providing the rest.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1. Elizabeth Henry has been a waitress for 15 years.
2. Elizabeth took some time off work in the previous weeks.
3. Most of workers who are paid under the work-for-tips scheme are female.
4. The hotel owner implies that a tipped minimum wage is sometimes synonymous of poor service.
5. Tipped workers are beneficial for the employers.
6. A lot of tipped workers agree with this system.
Elizabeth Henry has been a waitress since she was 15 years old. Most of her money comes from tips, which her boss takes into account when he pays her. It's called tipped minimum wage.
So these are my last couple of paychecks, but I had to take a day off here and there ‘cause like I said before I was going through an eviction, so I had to take some time off to find out what I'm doing. So this is where it says are hourly rate, which is 2.25. And then this is what they claim we make an hour 9.50 in tips, so they say that we make twelve dollars an hour about which isn’t, which is not true.
3.3 million people in the US work for tips. The vast majority are women. Many employers say they can't afford to pay more than the tip to minimum wage. Others disagree.
It's never affected our bottom line. It really it's not going to make or break us.
This hotel owner is paying more than the minimum because he wants to keep his skilled service. New Jersey has the lowest tipped minimum wage. Washington, on the other side of the country, is the state with the highest.
If I don't make minimum wage an hour, then yeah and they're supposed to reimburse me for that but I've never been at a place that does that and like I said I've been doing it for 10 years.
For employers tipped workers are cheap to hire but when more staff are hired the workers can get even less money.
If I had to split my tips three ways behind the bar instead of just having myself in the bar back I’m making third of the money that I can make, that I'm capable of making, capable of doing a good job.
But many, especially bartenders, prefer tips because in the high season they can make more money. Higher minimum wage with no tips? Probably not. In the winter it's kinda slow but in the summer, I mean, we’re average, you know, upwards of anywhere for forty-five, fifty dollars an hour at times on a really good night.
President Obama supports an increase to the basic minimum wage but that won't help people like Elizabeth Henry as the tipped minimum wage isn't likely to change.
Guess that's life right. It’s life.
Key:
1F 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1. Elizabeth Henry has been a waitress for 15 years.
2. Elizabeth took some time off work in the previous weeks.
3. Most of workers who are paid under the work-for-tips scheme are female.
4. The hotel owner implies that a tipped minimum wage is sometimes synonymous of poor service.
5. Tipped workers are beneficial for the employers.
6. A lot of tipped workers agree with this system.
Elizabeth Henry has been a waitress since she was 15 years old. Most of her money comes from tips, which her boss takes into account when he pays her. It's called tipped minimum wage.
So these are my last couple of paychecks, but I had to take a day off here and there ‘cause like I said before I was going through an eviction, so I had to take some time off to find out what I'm doing. So this is where it says are hourly rate, which is 2.25. And then this is what they claim we make an hour 9.50 in tips, so they say that we make twelve dollars an hour about which isn’t, which is not true.
3.3 million people in the US work for tips. The vast majority are women. Many employers say they can't afford to pay more than the tip to minimum wage. Others disagree.
It's never affected our bottom line. It really it's not going to make or break us.
This hotel owner is paying more than the minimum because he wants to keep his skilled service. New Jersey has the lowest tipped minimum wage. Washington, on the other side of the country, is the state with the highest.
If I don't make minimum wage an hour, then yeah and they're supposed to reimburse me for that but I've never been at a place that does that and like I said I've been doing it for 10 years.
For employers tipped workers are cheap to hire but when more staff are hired the workers can get even less money.
If I had to split my tips three ways behind the bar instead of just having myself in the bar back I’m making third of the money that I can make, that I'm capable of making, capable of doing a good job.
But many, especially bartenders, prefer tips because in the high season they can make more money. Higher minimum wage with no tips? Probably not. In the winter it's kinda slow but in the summer, I mean, we’re average, you know, upwards of anywhere for forty-five, fifty dollars an hour at times on a really good night.
President Obama supports an increase to the basic minimum wage but that won't help people like Elizabeth Henry as the tipped minimum wage isn't likely to change.
Guess that's life right. It’s life.
Key:
1F 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T
lunes, 24 de noviembre de 2014
History of Thanksgiving
We have moved this week's listening test to Thursday 27 November so that teachers and students can do the video activity History of Thanksgiving well in advance of the holiday.
The history of Thanksgiving Day is a short educational video that covers how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
Self-study activity:
Watch this five-minute video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 students.
1. When did the Mayflower arrive in the new world?
2. How many colonists died during the first winter?
3. What did Quantum show the colonists to do?
4. What did the king of the Wampanoan, Massasoit, donate to the feast with the pilgrims?
5. What event was commemorated on December 18, 1777?
6. When did President Lincoln declare the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day?
7. What event is organised by Macy’s Department Store on Thanksgiving Day?
8. Why was Thanksgiving Day moved to the fourth Thursday in November in 1941?
Turkey, pumpkin pie, family, football, and parades. Where did these traditions come from and how did they become a part of a national holiday we call Thanksgiving?
To understand the origins of this holiday, we must take a look back at the origins of our country itself, particularly at the Plymouth Colony and it’s crucial first year.
In the fall of 1620, the cargo ship Mayflower transported a group of 102 English men, women and children to the new world. A portion of this group were separatists, people who had religiously separated themselves from the Church of England, and wanted to come to the new world to find religious freedom. In time, these people would come to be known as the pilgrims.
The Mayflower arrived in the new world in December 16, 1620 (1), weeks later than they had originally hoped and landing much farther north than they had planned, putting them in present-day Massachusetts. These unfortunate circumstances made for a particularly harsh winter — nearly half the colonists died (2) and those who did not, fell ill.
As the spring of 1621 approached, the luck of Plymouth Colony began to change. The colony was visited by several local Indians, or Wampanoan people. One of these visitors was Quantum, otherwise known as Squanto. Squanto spoke English and showed the pilgrims how to use fish as fertilizer (3) to grow crops on sandy land. He was their interpreter. He even chose to live among the colonists at Plymouth.
By November 1621, things were looking up for the pilgrims. They had survived their first year in the new world, and had a successful enough harvest to continue living there. The pilgrims collected their harvest which could have included corn, pumpkins, squash, and some grain. They caught fish and gathered together wildfowl and birds, such as ducks, geese, and even wild turkeys to feast on in celebration.
The mighty king of the Wampanoan people, Massasoit, joined the pilgrims with 90 of his men. He also donated five deer (4) to this great feast which lasted for three whole days.
To the pilgrims, this celebration was not the start of a new holiday. It was a common harvest festival much like the ones held in Europe, after every fall after a good harvest.
On December 18, 1777, Washington held a national day of Thanksgiving to commemorate the defeat of the British Army in Saratoga (5). Through the remainder of the Revolutionary War, Washington proclaimed several national days of Thanksgiving to commemorate special days.
By the end of the war, individual states, particularly in the North, had gotten used to having a yearly Thanksgiving Day, though there was no official national holiday and the date of the feast would vary from state to state.
Thanksgiving as we know it today was made possible largely by the efforts of a 19th century writer named Sarah Josepha Hale. She was America’s first female magazine editor, and author of the famous nursery rhyme ‘Marry had a little lamb’. During the Civil War, Hale was convinced that a national Thanksgiving Day would awaken in American hearts the love of home and country of thankfulness to God and peace between brethren.
She wrote letters to governors and even to President Abraham Lincoln. A few days after receiving her letter, on October 3rd, 1863 (6), President Lincoln, issued a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day.
Year after year, Americans continue to celebrate this day of feasting and thanks even though Congress had not yet ratified it as an official holiday. Over the years, the date seems to coincide with the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In 1924, Macy’s Department Store started their Thanksgiving Day Parade (7) which route heads down the streets of New York and ends at the store.
Also in the 1920s, the Detroit Lions came up with the idea of a Thanksgiving Day football game. In order to boost dwindling attendance. It was not until 1941 that congress finally made Thanksgiving a legal holiday. When they did, they moved the holiday up one week so that official day of Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November. This was done in an attempt to extend the Christmas shopping season (8).
Today, more than anything else, Thanksgiving is about family. Though the way we serve our turkey and our pumpkin may have changed, and our entertainment varied over the years from archery and display of arms to football and parades, Thanksgiving has become a welcome day of rest to spend with loved ones in recognition and appreciation for all the blessings for which we are thankful.
The history of Thanksgiving Day is a short educational video that covers how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
Self-study activity:
Watch this five-minute video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 students.
1. When did the Mayflower arrive in the new world?
2. How many colonists died during the first winter?
3. What did Quantum show the colonists to do?
4. What did the king of the Wampanoan, Massasoit, donate to the feast with the pilgrims?
5. What event was commemorated on December 18, 1777?
6. When did President Lincoln declare the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day?
7. What event is organised by Macy’s Department Store on Thanksgiving Day?
8. Why was Thanksgiving Day moved to the fourth Thursday in November in 1941?
Turkey, pumpkin pie, family, football, and parades. Where did these traditions come from and how did they become a part of a national holiday we call Thanksgiving?
To understand the origins of this holiday, we must take a look back at the origins of our country itself, particularly at the Plymouth Colony and it’s crucial first year.
In the fall of 1620, the cargo ship Mayflower transported a group of 102 English men, women and children to the new world. A portion of this group were separatists, people who had religiously separated themselves from the Church of England, and wanted to come to the new world to find religious freedom. In time, these people would come to be known as the pilgrims.
The Mayflower arrived in the new world in December 16, 1620 (1), weeks later than they had originally hoped and landing much farther north than they had planned, putting them in present-day Massachusetts. These unfortunate circumstances made for a particularly harsh winter — nearly half the colonists died (2) and those who did not, fell ill.
As the spring of 1621 approached, the luck of Plymouth Colony began to change. The colony was visited by several local Indians, or Wampanoan people. One of these visitors was Quantum, otherwise known as Squanto. Squanto spoke English and showed the pilgrims how to use fish as fertilizer (3) to grow crops on sandy land. He was their interpreter. He even chose to live among the colonists at Plymouth.
By November 1621, things were looking up for the pilgrims. They had survived their first year in the new world, and had a successful enough harvest to continue living there. The pilgrims collected their harvest which could have included corn, pumpkins, squash, and some grain. They caught fish and gathered together wildfowl and birds, such as ducks, geese, and even wild turkeys to feast on in celebration.
The mighty king of the Wampanoan people, Massasoit, joined the pilgrims with 90 of his men. He also donated five deer (4) to this great feast which lasted for three whole days.
To the pilgrims, this celebration was not the start of a new holiday. It was a common harvest festival much like the ones held in Europe, after every fall after a good harvest.
On December 18, 1777, Washington held a national day of Thanksgiving to commemorate the defeat of the British Army in Saratoga (5). Through the remainder of the Revolutionary War, Washington proclaimed several national days of Thanksgiving to commemorate special days.
By the end of the war, individual states, particularly in the North, had gotten used to having a yearly Thanksgiving Day, though there was no official national holiday and the date of the feast would vary from state to state.
Thanksgiving as we know it today was made possible largely by the efforts of a 19th century writer named Sarah Josepha Hale. She was America’s first female magazine editor, and author of the famous nursery rhyme ‘Marry had a little lamb’. During the Civil War, Hale was convinced that a national Thanksgiving Day would awaken in American hearts the love of home and country of thankfulness to God and peace between brethren.
She wrote letters to governors and even to President Abraham Lincoln. A few days after receiving her letter, on October 3rd, 1863 (6), President Lincoln, issued a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day.
Year after year, Americans continue to celebrate this day of feasting and thanks even though Congress had not yet ratified it as an official holiday. Over the years, the date seems to coincide with the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In 1924, Macy’s Department Store started their Thanksgiving Day Parade (7) which route heads down the streets of New York and ends at the store.
Also in the 1920s, the Detroit Lions came up with the idea of a Thanksgiving Day football game. In order to boost dwindling attendance. It was not until 1941 that congress finally made Thanksgiving a legal holiday. When they did, they moved the holiday up one week so that official day of Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November. This was done in an attempt to extend the Christmas shopping season (8).
Today, more than anything else, Thanksgiving is about family. Though the way we serve our turkey and our pumpkin may have changed, and our entertainment varied over the years from archery and display of arms to football and parades, Thanksgiving has become a welcome day of rest to spend with loved ones in recognition and appreciation for all the blessings for which we are thankful.
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