Stigma follows filmmakers Jeff Johns and Ryan Loughridge as they travel the globe to discover why more hasn't been done to completely eradicate the existence of Leprosy in the world. Through India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, they talk to WHO doctors and aid workers, while visiting numerous colonies and hospitals to meet those affected by the disease and to understand the life-changing stigma it has created for them and for their families.
While some prejudice stems from religious beliefs, much of the stigma is simply passed down from generation to generation. This has allowed a once biblical illness, often referred to as the world’s oldest and most misunderstood disease, to continue to affect hundreds of thousands each year, right up into the twenty-first century - even though this disease is completely curable.
Follow the filmmakers, armed with only two backpacks, their passports, and $1,200, on a breathtaking journey across the world, as they learn about the lives, cultures, triumphs, and struggles of those whose lives have been stigmatized by this horrible disease, and as they discover the disturbing politics that have allowed this situation to be perpetuated.
The World Health Organization proudly announced the elimination of Leprosy in 2000 and refused to take part in the making of this film. Conservative estimates indicate that over 200,000 new cases of Leprosy were reported in over 125 countries throughout the world in 2011.
"STIGMA" Full Length Documentary from Doc NOW on Vimeo.
domingo, 30 de junio de 2013
sábado, 29 de junio de 2013
What are the best ways to memorise new vocabulary?
Author Michael McCarthy, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham and co-writer of the Vocabulary in Use series for Cambridge University Press, gives us some advice on how to learn vocabulary.
First of all, I think it does help to write down new words, keep a notebook. It doesn't have to be a big notebook, it could be an electronic notebook, you could you use Smartphone, but always write down new and interesting words, that's the first tip
.
The second tip is always write those words either in a short sentence or together with another word that it collocates with, or just make a couple of notes about the context in which you heard or read the new word.
The next tip is to keep looking at that notebook, come back to those words time and time again.
Another tip is to try to relate new words to your personal life in some way. So, for example, if you see a new word, can you connect it with any experience in your life? Can you use it to describe a person that you know, someone in your family or a friend? Can you use it to describe some experience that you've had? So making it relevant to you personally is probably one of the best tips of all.
Finally I would say this, that there will be hundreds, thousands of new words that you will meet as you read and listen to English, but the best tip of all is if you hear the same word coming back three or four or five times, then that's an important one that you simply must learn. Many other words might not be so important, you may only hear them or read them once, but if you hear them and read them repeatedly, then those are the important words that you should try to them.
Food luck with your learning of vocabulary.
First of all, I think it does help to write down new words, keep a notebook. It doesn't have to be a big notebook, it could be an electronic notebook, you could you use Smartphone, but always write down new and interesting words, that's the first tip
.
The second tip is always write those words either in a short sentence or together with another word that it collocates with, or just make a couple of notes about the context in which you heard or read the new word.
The next tip is to keep looking at that notebook, come back to those words time and time again.
Another tip is to try to relate new words to your personal life in some way. So, for example, if you see a new word, can you connect it with any experience in your life? Can you use it to describe a person that you know, someone in your family or a friend? Can you use it to describe some experience that you've had? So making it relevant to you personally is probably one of the best tips of all.
Finally I would say this, that there will be hundreds, thousands of new words that you will meet as you read and listen to English, but the best tip of all is if you hear the same word coming back three or four or five times, then that's an important one that you simply must learn. Many other words might not be so important, you may only hear them or read them once, but if you hear them and read them repeatedly, then those are the important words that you should try to them.
Food luck with your learning of vocabulary.
viernes, 28 de junio de 2013
Chinese shoppers attracted to Britain
This is a BBC video clip on the rising attraction that Britain offers for Chinese tourists.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip by clicking on the picture below or on the BBC link above and answer the questions about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How many international tourists visited the shopping area [Bicester Village] last year?
2 How much does a Chinese tourist spend?
3 How many Chinese tourists visit the UK every year?
4 What factor contributed to an increase in Chinese tourists last year?
5 What different steps to attract Chinese tourists does Patricia Yates from Visit Britain mention?
6 What is the major obstacle for Chinese tourists to visit the UK?
7 Why are US, Germany and France mentioned at the end?
To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.
Greeted in Madarin in shops which accept Chinese credit. It’s a welcome appreciated in high sales.
The Chinese market is very, very important to us. Last year we had about 60% of all our visitors who were international tourists and a very significant proportion of these were Chinese. The Chinese love the brands. They love the atmosphere here and they particularly love Great Britain and England and all that is English.
So many brand in China are very, very expensive. Shopping mainly attracts the price.
I think mainly the price and the quality, that’s the sort of thing that we are looking for really.
Buy the Dior and Prada,and Mulbury’s.
The Chinese are big spenders and that's why places like Bicester Village are so keen to attract them. They spend on average three times more than other international visitors, but other countries have also picked up on this trend and are more successful. France, for example, attracts around a million Chinese tourists every year. The UK manages just over 150,000.
The Olympic effect did help boost numbers by another 20% last year, but Visit Britain, the agency responsible for promoting the UK abroad, says Britain is still lagging behind, and it should be a wake-up call for the tourism industry.
What can we do? Well we can think where the population is in China and not just in Shanghai and Beijing, but those major second-tier cities, making sure they understand what the experience is of coming to Britain. They do expect Mandarin-speaking tour guides, they do expect Mandarin ads, they do expect that sort of Chinese concept of welcome.
But the major obstacle is the fact that a separate visa is needed for the UK. For as they can travel under just one cheap visa around 26 other European countries. So for now purchases by other nationalities dwarf the amount of those made by the Chinese. The US, France and Germany still remain Britain’s most important inbound markets in terms of spend and accounting for a third of all trips to the UK. But with the Chinese already spending more on travelling the world than any other nationality, if they take home memories of a warm British welcome it could help businesses here tap the potential of a huge overseas market. This is Susannah Streeter, BBC News.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip by clicking on the picture below or on the BBC link above and answer the questions about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How many international tourists visited the shopping area [Bicester Village] last year?
2 How much does a Chinese tourist spend?
3 How many Chinese tourists visit the UK every year?
4 What factor contributed to an increase in Chinese tourists last year?
5 What different steps to attract Chinese tourists does Patricia Yates from Visit Britain mention?
6 What is the major obstacle for Chinese tourists to visit the UK?
7 Why are US, Germany and France mentioned at the end?
To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.
Greeted in Madarin in shops which accept Chinese credit. It’s a welcome appreciated in high sales.
The Chinese market is very, very important to us. Last year we had about 60% of all our visitors who were international tourists and a very significant proportion of these were Chinese. The Chinese love the brands. They love the atmosphere here and they particularly love Great Britain and England and all that is English.
So many brand in China are very, very expensive. Shopping mainly attracts the price.
I think mainly the price and the quality, that’s the sort of thing that we are looking for really.
Buy the Dior and Prada,and Mulbury’s.
The Chinese are big spenders and that's why places like Bicester Village are so keen to attract them. They spend on average three times more than other international visitors, but other countries have also picked up on this trend and are more successful. France, for example, attracts around a million Chinese tourists every year. The UK manages just over 150,000.
The Olympic effect did help boost numbers by another 20% last year, but Visit Britain, the agency responsible for promoting the UK abroad, says Britain is still lagging behind, and it should be a wake-up call for the tourism industry.
What can we do? Well we can think where the population is in China and not just in Shanghai and Beijing, but those major second-tier cities, making sure they understand what the experience is of coming to Britain. They do expect Mandarin-speaking tour guides, they do expect Mandarin ads, they do expect that sort of Chinese concept of welcome.
But the major obstacle is the fact that a separate visa is needed for the UK. For as they can travel under just one cheap visa around 26 other European countries. So for now purchases by other nationalities dwarf the amount of those made by the Chinese. The US, France and Germany still remain Britain’s most important inbound markets in terms of spend and accounting for a third of all trips to the UK. But with the Chinese already spending more on travelling the world than any other nationality, if they take home memories of a warm British welcome it could help businesses here tap the potential of a huge overseas market. This is Susannah Streeter, BBC News.
jueves, 27 de junio de 2013
Renewable energy: Why burn US trees in UK power stations?
American wood is brought to Europe to burn in European power stations.
Self-study activity:
Watch this short BBC video clip explaining the process which allows American wood to be brought and used as fuel in Europe and say whether the statements below are true or false.
The activity is suitable to intermediate students.
1 Not everybody agrees with the process.
2 All of the pine trees will be used as fuel.
3 Environmentalists object to the trees being turned into wood chips.
4 The sawdust helps take water out of the wood chips.
5 Environmentalist disagree with this energy policy.
You can read the transcript below.
It’s hard to believe but trees like this are being felled in the southern United States to be burned to make electricity in the UK. The process is controversial. Let me take you through it. And here where it starts with baby trees like this just a month old. These will grow into towering pines. Parts of them will be used for construction in the United States and parts for creating power in the United Kingdom. And these are the trees in their teenage years. The best specimens will be cut to be used in the plank industry and the poor quality ones, twisted or small, will be used either for wood pulp or in the wood fuel industry. Next stage is for the trees to be turned into wood chips and dumped, here on this mountain of wood. And it’s the massive scale of this operation that so alarms environmentalists. The wood chips are then again mixed in with sawdust from sawmill thanks to this extraordinary machine. The chips and the sawdust mixed together get fed into this piece of equipment that looks like a washing machine drum, except it is not putting water in it, it’s taking water out, and here’s what comes out at the back end of the process: Billions and billions of tiny wood pellets to be burned in power stations in the UK. Now environmentalists say that it is madness to be growing trees in the USA to keep the lights on in Britain. This industry is helping the UK meet its targets on renewable energy and rightly or wrongly it is here to stay.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 3F 4T 5T
Self-study activity:
Watch this short BBC video clip explaining the process which allows American wood to be brought and used as fuel in Europe and say whether the statements below are true or false.
The activity is suitable to intermediate students.
1 Not everybody agrees with the process.
2 All of the pine trees will be used as fuel.
3 Environmentalists object to the trees being turned into wood chips.
4 The sawdust helps take water out of the wood chips.
5 Environmentalist disagree with this energy policy.
You can read the transcript below.
It’s hard to believe but trees like this are being felled in the southern United States to be burned to make electricity in the UK. The process is controversial. Let me take you through it. And here where it starts with baby trees like this just a month old. These will grow into towering pines. Parts of them will be used for construction in the United States and parts for creating power in the United Kingdom. And these are the trees in their teenage years. The best specimens will be cut to be used in the plank industry and the poor quality ones, twisted or small, will be used either for wood pulp or in the wood fuel industry. Next stage is for the trees to be turned into wood chips and dumped, here on this mountain of wood. And it’s the massive scale of this operation that so alarms environmentalists. The wood chips are then again mixed in with sawdust from sawmill thanks to this extraordinary machine. The chips and the sawdust mixed together get fed into this piece of equipment that looks like a washing machine drum, except it is not putting water in it, it’s taking water out, and here’s what comes out at the back end of the process: Billions and billions of tiny wood pellets to be burned in power stations in the UK. Now environmentalists say that it is madness to be growing trees in the USA to keep the lights on in Britain. This industry is helping the UK meet its targets on renewable energy and rightly or wrongly it is here to stay.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 3F 4T 5T
miércoles, 26 de junio de 2013
Talking point: Alternative travel
This week's talking point touches on the topic of alternative travel. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you get together with your friends and you can work out some vocabulary problems beforehand.
Have you ever been on a long journey? Can you describe the experience?
What's the most unusual holiday you have ever had?
What was different about it?
Do you think travel can broaden your horizons? How?
What is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?
Would you like to travel around the world? Why (not)?
If so, would you like to travel by motorbike?
What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of this trip would be?
Which of the following travel options most/least appeal to you:
Alternating Travel: Leave your home/hotel on foot. Take the first road on the right, then the next on the left, then the next on the right, and so on.
Ero Tourism: Arrange to take a holiday with your loved one. Travel there separately by different means and don't arrange a meeting time or place. Then look for each other.
Blind Man's Bluff Travel: Spend 24 hours blindfolded in a new location with a friend to guide you.
Slight-hitch Travel: Write the name of a faraway destination on a large piece of card. Stand at the side of your nearest motorway with your packback, stick your thumb out and wait.
Oz Bus: Travel from London to Australia by bus. You can find all the details of the trip in the video below.
Oz Bus was created with a desire to go over land from London to Sydney. We are now in our 4th year and on our 20th trip. London-Sydney is a three-month adventure and transits through 16 different countries. What’s great with these trips is we have a whole host of different nationalities and an age range that is from 18 to 80. We also offer trips to Africa, we have a series of budgets and comfort trips and new for this year is South America and of course we do Australia.
I’ve just returned from leading the London to Sydney trip which was absolutely fantastic, the journey of a lifetime. We left London at the end of September, quite chilly autumn morning. We had to be on the embankment at 6.30. We travelled through Western Europe into Eastern Europe, Serbia, Bulgaria then into Turkey and then on into Asia, Iran, India, Nepal, then over into Thailand, Malasia, Indonesia and then fly over to Australia. Obviously there are certain parts of the world where we have to fly over, we couldn’t go over land, such as Pakistan and Bhurma. There are many very different highlights, I think amongst them my favourite would be the Everest flights. I don’t think I’d be standing on top of the Everest, so that was awesome to see Everest, and Ayers Rock. It’s not just a rock. To see it at sunset with a bottle of bubblies, sun rise and to do the walk all the way round it early in the morning.
When the unusual situations there’s more work for Oz Bus, they must give inside knowledge on the trips. Having been started as a passenger on the first load of the New York trip. First thing most people ask when we are in the New York trip going over land is how you go over land from London to New York, it’s a great deal of water in the way. Basically we use a cruise ship to go for two weeks from China to Alaska, it’s one of seven different forms of transport when we are not on a bus on this trip. This section of journey takes about two and a half weeks, which is longer than your average family holiday, takes you through Europe through Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, up to Poland, then through the Baltic states and into Russia to St Petersburg and Moscow. The next section is completely different again. In Moscow we board a trans Siberian railway, a travel experience in its own right. From Moscow we go through Siberia, that section actually contains two of my personal highlights on the trip, Lake Baikal the deepest fresh water lake in the world was frozen when we would walk cross it for two kilometers and watch the sun come down over the mainland. It was a truly stunning moment. And in Mongolia we spent a night in a national park in Gher, it’s about as relaxing as it gets. And then from Mongolia … in China, stopping in Beijing for a 10-day loop which takes you through the castle of … and back up to … and … to the Great Wall before returning to Beijing. And then it changes again, after China two weeks at sea on a cruise ship, so many different parts of the trip, totally different from the rest of the adventure. It’s a chance to relax, and do as little or as much as you like. After the cruise ship it all changes once more, and we hit mainland USA, starting off in Alaska in Anchorage. We head off on a sleeper bus up into the wilds of Alaska. From Alaska we go down in an inside passage on a series of ferries, through Canada, through Vancouver, Seattle, then Sernise for the National Parks, and North America and the north of Chicago, Niagara and New York.
Oz Bus is the most amazing experience. It’s a journey of a lifetime, and you’ll make such lifelong friends.
Have you ever been on a long journey? Can you describe the experience?
What's the most unusual holiday you have ever had?
What was different about it?
Do you think travel can broaden your horizons? How?
What is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?
Would you like to travel around the world? Why (not)?
If so, would you like to travel by motorbike?
What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of this trip would be?
Which of the following travel options most/least appeal to you:
Alternating Travel: Leave your home/hotel on foot. Take the first road on the right, then the next on the left, then the next on the right, and so on.
Ero Tourism: Arrange to take a holiday with your loved one. Travel there separately by different means and don't arrange a meeting time or place. Then look for each other.
Blind Man's Bluff Travel: Spend 24 hours blindfolded in a new location with a friend to guide you.
Slight-hitch Travel: Write the name of a faraway destination on a large piece of card. Stand at the side of your nearest motorway with your packback, stick your thumb out and wait.
Oz Bus: Travel from London to Australia by bus. You can find all the details of the trip in the video below.
Oz Bus was created with a desire to go over land from London to Sydney. We are now in our 4th year and on our 20th trip. London-Sydney is a three-month adventure and transits through 16 different countries. What’s great with these trips is we have a whole host of different nationalities and an age range that is from 18 to 80. We also offer trips to Africa, we have a series of budgets and comfort trips and new for this year is South America and of course we do Australia.
I’ve just returned from leading the London to Sydney trip which was absolutely fantastic, the journey of a lifetime. We left London at the end of September, quite chilly autumn morning. We had to be on the embankment at 6.30. We travelled through Western Europe into Eastern Europe, Serbia, Bulgaria then into Turkey and then on into Asia, Iran, India, Nepal, then over into Thailand, Malasia, Indonesia and then fly over to Australia. Obviously there are certain parts of the world where we have to fly over, we couldn’t go over land, such as Pakistan and Bhurma. There are many very different highlights, I think amongst them my favourite would be the Everest flights. I don’t think I’d be standing on top of the Everest, so that was awesome to see Everest, and Ayers Rock. It’s not just a rock. To see it at sunset with a bottle of bubblies, sun rise and to do the walk all the way round it early in the morning.
When the unusual situations there’s more work for Oz Bus, they must give inside knowledge on the trips. Having been started as a passenger on the first load of the New York trip. First thing most people ask when we are in the New York trip going over land is how you go over land from London to New York, it’s a great deal of water in the way. Basically we use a cruise ship to go for two weeks from China to Alaska, it’s one of seven different forms of transport when we are not on a bus on this trip. This section of journey takes about two and a half weeks, which is longer than your average family holiday, takes you through Europe through Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, up to Poland, then through the Baltic states and into Russia to St Petersburg and Moscow. The next section is completely different again. In Moscow we board a trans Siberian railway, a travel experience in its own right. From Moscow we go through Siberia, that section actually contains two of my personal highlights on the trip, Lake Baikal the deepest fresh water lake in the world was frozen when we would walk cross it for two kilometers and watch the sun come down over the mainland. It was a truly stunning moment. And in Mongolia we spent a night in a national park in Gher, it’s about as relaxing as it gets. And then from Mongolia … in China, stopping in Beijing for a 10-day loop which takes you through the castle of … and back up to … and … to the Great Wall before returning to Beijing. And then it changes again, after China two weeks at sea on a cruise ship, so many different parts of the trip, totally different from the rest of the adventure. It’s a chance to relax, and do as little or as much as you like. After the cruise ship it all changes once more, and we hit mainland USA, starting off in Alaska in Anchorage. We head off on a sleeper bus up into the wilds of Alaska. From Alaska we go down in an inside passage on a series of ferries, through Canada, through Vancouver, Seattle, then Sernise for the National Parks, and North America and the north of Chicago, Niagara and New York.
Oz Bus is the most amazing experience. It’s a journey of a lifetime, and you’ll make such lifelong friends.
martes, 25 de junio de 2013
Speakout starter: Plans (jobs)
This is the last episode of the Speakout video podcasts for beginners, from Pearson Longman. The topic of today's video is jobs, and passers-by answer questions related to their professional life.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
Do you like what you do?
What’s your perfect job?
Now it's over to you. Go over the questions above and answer them for yourself. Try and use some of the expressions you heard on the video.
You can read the transcript here.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
Do you like what you do?
What’s your perfect job?
Now it's over to you. Go over the questions above and answer them for yourself. Try and use some of the expressions you heard on the video.
You can read the transcript here.
lunes, 24 de junio de 2013
Derry, UK's City of Culture
In the summer of 2010 Derry was named UK's City of Culture for 2013. This Deutsch Welle video, where Derry singer and actress Bronagh Gallagher shows us the facelift of the second biggest city in Northern Ireland in preparation for the event, allows us to discover the place and its people, and get familiar with the Northern-Irish accent.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
The activity is suitable for strong intermediate students.
1 How many people live in Derry?
2 What is the perfect place to start a tour of the city?
3 When did the clashes between the army and catholic residents happen?
4 What's the name of the bridge which was opened two years ago?
5 What's the best place to learn about the town's turbulent history?
6 Is the City Hall (or Guild Hall) open to the public?
7 What long tradition does Derry have?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Music and the arts play a major role here, all the more so since this was named Britain's first City of Culture on May 16th. That's also because the area has been experiencing a cultural renaissance for some time. Actress and singer Bronagh Gallagher grew up here and to see first-hand how this city of eighty five thousand has come to its own culturally.
There’s a hub of activity. We have very many brilliant music venues and very many beautiful little cafés and restaurants and a gorgeous walk all along the river Foyle, and the city’s now connected to both sides by our Peace Bridge. So this is our Europe City of Culture, so we're celebrating the culture within the city.
One way to get acquainted with the place is to take a walk on the ancient city walls, which has some of the best preserved in Europe. A walkway tops the ninety meter wide fortifications around the old city center. It's the perfect place to start a tour.
This is a great tour available for the walk of the walls, it takes the whole way round the city the city and the great great turret gates to do, it’s brilliant. And you can see inside all the different facilities that are here, all the people that work within the walls and obviously then your direct access to the city centre. That’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful walk to do as you can see the views are pretty cool, you know.
You can also see the part of the city where catholic residents and British army troops clashed in the nineteen seventies. That led to an escalation of the conflict in all of Northern Ireland between Catholics
and Protestants.
Now the city is trying to emerge from the shadows of the past. The hands across the divide monument is one of the most significant symbols of this reproach mull. So is the Peace Bridge which was opened two years ago. It links the predominantly Protestant eastern part of the city to the western mainly catholic district.
That's what people believe and this side of still over water, you know, very healing, very healing I meant the water, so it might very much so that obviously means that the city’s connected in that way and obviously we do have, you know, bridges that are for the traffic, but this was given to the city only because it was a peace bridge and we had it bring it and accept it and have it, you know, installed as a peace bridge, so yeah meaning to us this is a very important symbolic bridge.
Anyone who would like to know more about the town’s turbulent history should visit the Tower Museum.
Its exhibitions have already won several awards for their balanced yet gripping depiction of key historical events here.
The neo-gothic city hall or guilt hall is just over the road. It has the largest number of stained glass windows on the whole of the island. It reopens next month after nearly two years of renovations.
Anyone who comes here maybe who hadn't been here for twenty years will be astonished at the changes that have taken place. I think that if they arrive, then take the time to take a wander around and see to talk to people and find out what they think about the changes in their own city. They’ll find a really positive vibe coming out of the city.
That becomes clear when residents here pick up their instruments and start harmonizing among themselves. The place has indeed a long musical tradition.
The year for me means celebrating what the city has itself and utilizing the talent and the facilities that are in the side. We’ve got a lot of beautiful venues here as well. So I would love to see it be an opportunity for young people of all ages I should say to all people of all ages to be given a chance to show what they're capable of.
So the people of Derry, Londonderry, are looking forward to a year as Britain’s City of Culture. For them it's an opportunity to enjoy showing the world their cultural treasures.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
The activity is suitable for strong intermediate students.
1 How many people live in Derry?
2 What is the perfect place to start a tour of the city?
3 When did the clashes between the army and catholic residents happen?
4 What's the name of the bridge which was opened two years ago?
5 What's the best place to learn about the town's turbulent history?
6 Is the City Hall (or Guild Hall) open to the public?
7 What long tradition does Derry have?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Music and the arts play a major role here, all the more so since this was named Britain's first City of Culture on May 16th. That's also because the area has been experiencing a cultural renaissance for some time. Actress and singer Bronagh Gallagher grew up here and to see first-hand how this city of eighty five thousand has come to its own culturally.
There’s a hub of activity. We have very many brilliant music venues and very many beautiful little cafés and restaurants and a gorgeous walk all along the river Foyle, and the city’s now connected to both sides by our Peace Bridge. So this is our Europe City of Culture, so we're celebrating the culture within the city.
One way to get acquainted with the place is to take a walk on the ancient city walls, which has some of the best preserved in Europe. A walkway tops the ninety meter wide fortifications around the old city center. It's the perfect place to start a tour.
This is a great tour available for the walk of the walls, it takes the whole way round the city the city and the great great turret gates to do, it’s brilliant. And you can see inside all the different facilities that are here, all the people that work within the walls and obviously then your direct access to the city centre. That’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful walk to do as you can see the views are pretty cool, you know.
You can also see the part of the city where catholic residents and British army troops clashed in the nineteen seventies. That led to an escalation of the conflict in all of Northern Ireland between Catholics
and Protestants.
Now the city is trying to emerge from the shadows of the past. The hands across the divide monument is one of the most significant symbols of this reproach mull. So is the Peace Bridge which was opened two years ago. It links the predominantly Protestant eastern part of the city to the western mainly catholic district.
That's what people believe and this side of still over water, you know, very healing, very healing I meant the water, so it might very much so that obviously means that the city’s connected in that way and obviously we do have, you know, bridges that are for the traffic, but this was given to the city only because it was a peace bridge and we had it bring it and accept it and have it, you know, installed as a peace bridge, so yeah meaning to us this is a very important symbolic bridge.
Anyone who would like to know more about the town’s turbulent history should visit the Tower Museum.
Its exhibitions have already won several awards for their balanced yet gripping depiction of key historical events here.
The neo-gothic city hall or guilt hall is just over the road. It has the largest number of stained glass windows on the whole of the island. It reopens next month after nearly two years of renovations.
Anyone who comes here maybe who hadn't been here for twenty years will be astonished at the changes that have taken place. I think that if they arrive, then take the time to take a wander around and see to talk to people and find out what they think about the changes in their own city. They’ll find a really positive vibe coming out of the city.
That becomes clear when residents here pick up their instruments and start harmonizing among themselves. The place has indeed a long musical tradition.
The year for me means celebrating what the city has itself and utilizing the talent and the facilities that are in the side. We’ve got a lot of beautiful venues here as well. So I would love to see it be an opportunity for young people of all ages I should say to all people of all ages to be given a chance to show what they're capable of.
So the people of Derry, Londonderry, are looking forward to a year as Britain’s City of Culture. For them it's an opportunity to enjoy showing the world their cultural treasures.
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