Monday, November 6, 2023

Neanderthal Origin of Iberian Cave Art



























Pre-lesson - Breaking News English















Look at the picture - what do you think it shows?


Reading

Place these in the right places:

yet
in doing so
makes the case for
as the real artists
made their way to
Until now

More than 65,000 years ago, a Neanderthal reached out and made strokes in red ochre on the wall of a cave, and (1)________, became the first known artist on Earth, scientists claim.
The discovery overturns the widely-held belief that modern humans are the only species to have expressed themselves through works of art.
In caves separated by hundreds of miles, Neanderthals daubed, drew and spat paint on walls producing artworks, the researchers say, tens of thousands of years before modern humans reached the sites.
The finding, described as a “major breakthrough in the field of human evolution” by an expert who was not involved in the research, (2)_________ a radical retelling of the human story, in which the behaviour of modern humans differs from the Neanderthals by the narrowest of margins.

















Paintings on a section of the La Pasiega cave wall, including a ladder shape composed of red horizontal and vertical lines.
Pinterest
 Paintings on a section of the La Pasiega cave wall, including a ladder shape composed of red horizontal and vertical lines. Photograph: P. Saura/PA

(3)_______, the evidence for Neanderthal art has been tenuous and hotly contested, often because the works were not old enough to rule out modern humans (4)_________. But the latest findings, based on new dates of symbols, hand stencils and geometric shapes found on cave walls across Spain, make the most convincing case (5)________.
“I think we have the smoking gun,” said Alistair Pike, professor of archaeological sciences at the University of Southampton. “When we got the first date for the art, we were dumbfounded.”
The Neanderthals were already firmly at home in Europe when modern humans left Africa and (6)________ the continent about 40,000 years ago. The remnants of Neanderthals, in the form of skeletons, tools and decorative adornments, reach back more than 120,000 years in the region.

Bold words:

accessories - amazed - remainders - convincing evidence - unconvincing - tracings - reverses
painted - degrees - well established - eliminate


24 terms to understand before listening / watching:

24 terms

Watch:

Neanderthal Origin of Iberian Cave Art


1. When were Neanderthals fossils first discovered?

2. Which ape have they been compared with by some researchers?

3. What is inside the square frames?

4. Why is it impossible to date the paintings by carbon dating?

5. How is calcium carbonate formed?

6. How long has calcite dating been used in geochronology?

7. According to the researchers, when did Homo Sapiens arrive in this region?

8. In which areas of the Iberian peninsula have Neanderthal paintings been found?

9. What does this tell us?

10. The paintings were not made where the Neanderthals actually lived. Why is this significant?



Review

Listen again for these verb phrases and put them in the order you hear them:

was proposed as
done by
focusing on
arrive
portrayed as
represent
form
had to be
shows
making (deliberate decisions)
exists
look at (in terms of)
percolating
precipitate outImage result for neanderthal art



Check

was proposed as
portrayed as
represent
form
done by
focusing on
percolating
precipitate out
arrive
had to be
shows
making deliberate decisions
exists
look at (in terms of)




Image result for Archeological Discovery in Kakadu


Archeological Discovery in Kakadu

Discuss in groups:

1. How long do you think people have been living in Australia?
2. What kinds of things would archeologists be likely to find when excavating and ancient aboriginal site?
3. Where do human beings (homo sapiens) originally come from?
4. Who should own the ancient artefacts uncovered during the excavation process?

What are the findings?

What do the findings "lay to rest"?

The dating is _____ (adj)
The site is _______ (adj)


What evidence of past activity did the archeologists discover at the site?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

1. What are the global implications of this discovery?
2. In what sense is the discovery a benchmark?
3. What do the archeologists expect to find between Australia and Africa?
4. Who owns the site and the artefacts?
5. What has happened to the human bones collected?






Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Television the Drug of a Nation

some words

to breed

apathetic

to pump out

remedy

a special

to abhor

to take precedence over

commercials

spotless

wet nurse



One Nation under God

has turned intoOne Nation under the influenceof one drug
Television, the drug of the NationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., it satellite linksour United States of _____________Apathetic therapeutic and extremely ____________the methadone metronome pumping outa 150 channels 24 hours a dayyou can _______ through all of themand still there's nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why ________ than ten percent of ourNation reads books dailyWhy most people think Central Americameans _________Socialism means ____________and __________ is a new headache remedy
absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find usIt shapes our minds the mostmaybe the _________ of our Nationshould remind usthat we're sitting ____ close to. . .
Television, the drug of the NationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. isthe stomping ground for political ___________Where bears in the woodsare chased by Grecian Formula'dbald eagles
T.V. is ___________ politics
remote control over the _________co-sponsored by environmentally safe ________watch for the PBS special
It's the _____________ of the two party systemwhere image takes precedence over __________Where _____  _______ politics are served tothe fast-food culture
Where straight teeth in your mouthare more important than the _______that come out of itRace ________ is the way to get selectedWillie Horton orWill he not get elected on . . .
Television, the drug of the NationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. is it the _____________ or the director?Does it imitate us or do we __________ itBecause a child watches 1500 murders before he'stwelve years old and we wonder how we've createda Jason ____________ that learns to laughrather than abhor the __________
T.V. is the place where____________ generals and quarterbacks canexperience first handthe excitement of video __________as the theme song is sung in the _____________
Sugar sweet sitcomsthat leave us with a bad actor taste whilepop stars _______________ into soda pop starsYou saw the videoYou heard the soundtrackWell now go buy the soft drinkWell, the only cola that I supportwould be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allowance)On Television.
Television, the drug of the NationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Back again, "New and Improved",we return to our irregularly programmed __________hidden ___________ between heavy breastedbeer and car commercials
CNN ESPN ABC TNT but mostly B.S.Where ____________ language like"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen""light yet filling" and "military intelligence"have become ___________
T.V. is the place where phrases are ____________like "recession" to "necessary ___________""crude oil" on a beach to "mousse""Civilian death" to "collateral damages"and being killed by your own Armyis now called "__________ fire"
T.V. is the place where the _________of happiness has become the pursuit of _________Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objectsWhere ____________ is sucked out of childrenby a cathode ray nippleT.V. is the only wet nursethat would create a _________
Television, the drug of the NationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiationOn Television . . .






Features of the language

Find examples of 

Euphemism
Metaphor
Oxymoron
Consonance
Assonance
Rhyme
Allusion
Repetition
Acronyms
Phrasal verbs
Punning or double meaning
Slogan-esque language


Sunday, October 29, 2023

Chomsky's 5 Filters


According to American linguist and political activist, Noam Chomsky, media operate through 5 filters: ownership, advertising, the media elite, flak and the common enemy.

Watch:

Chomsky's 5 Filters


Write some notes about each of the five filters:



Listen

Do you agree with the points below?

In what order are the points made in the video?

The owners of the media corporations make money by attracting audiences and then selling advertisers the opportunity to engage those audiences.

In the end the owners of the media care more about money than the public good.

To have influence in the media you have to have friends in high places.

The media likes to have a villain – someone everyone agrees is dangerous.

If you say anything that challenges the convenient story, you’ll find yourself being isolated.








In the end the owners of the media care more about money than the public good.

The owners of the media corporations make money by attracting audiences and then selling advertisers the opportunity to engage those audiences.

To have influence in the media you have to have friends in high places.

If you say anything that challenges the convenient story, you’ll find yourself being isolated.

The media likes to have a villain – someone everyone agrees is dangerous.






1. ownership




2. advertising




3.the media elite




4. flak




5. the common enemy






Discuss

1. What does it mean to manufacture the public’s consent? 

2. Is there a difference between consent and consensus?



Vocab


What do these phrases mean?

to stray away (from) 
the powers that be 
discrediting 
boogie man 
to corral 
take second place 
complicity 
media scoops 
to fall in line 
through the lens 
co-authored 
to act as a check 
conglomerates 
end game 
in bed with each other 
whistle blowers 

In groups try to remember what order these phrases were used.

Listen once more, and check the order.


Script


1 OWNERSHIP
The first filter has to do with ownership. Mass media firms are big corporations. Often, they are part of even bigger conglomerates. Their end game? Profit. And so it’s in their interests to push for whatever guarantees that profit. Naturally, critical journalism must take second place to the needs and interests of the corporation.
2 ADVERTISINGThe second filter exposes the real role of advertising. Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output. They are also selling advertisers a product — YOU.”
3 THE MEDIA ELITE
The establishment manages the media through the third filter. Journalism cannot be a check on power because the very system encourages complicity. Governments, corporations, big institutions know how to play the media game. They know how to influence the news narrative. They feed media scoops, official accounts, interviews with the ‘experts’. They make themselves crucial to the process of journalism. So, those in power and those who report on them are in bed with each other.
4 FLAK 
If you want to challenge power, you’ll be pushed to the margins. When the media – journalists, whistleblowers, sources – stray away from the consensus, they get ‘flak’. This is the fourth filter. When the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.

5 THE COMMON ENEMY
To manufacture consent, you need an enemy — a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.

Vocab review









Thursday, October 19, 2023

Lamb to the slaughter

She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying. Then he crashed to the carpet. The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped bring her out of the shock. 


Beginning middle or end of the story?



Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work. Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come.

Beginning middle or end of the story?




a.     Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all. It occurred to her that perhaps he hadn’t even spoken, that she herself had imagined the whole thing.

 

 

b.     She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink.

 

 

c.      After a while, the photographer and the doctor departed and two other men came in and took the corpse away on a stretcher.

 

 

d.     ‘This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I’m afraid,’ he said. 

 

 

e.      Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work.

 

 

f.      Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven. It’ll be cooked just right by now.

 

 

g.     She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying.

 

 

h.     Both the smile and the voice were coming out better now. She rehearsed it several times more.

 

 

i.      The car came very quickly, and when she opened the front door, two policemen walked in.


Wednesday, October 11, 2023

In exactly thirty words

 Say it in exactly thirty words







What is a lake?

What happened to you last week?

How do aeroplanes fly?

What is a good friend?

How do misunderstandings arise between friends?

What is the difference between mud and soil?

What makes you unique?

Why do people get angry?

Why do we have hands?

What is an ant?

What is a question?

Is it better to sleep on the right or left side of the bed, and why?

What does confusion feel like?

Which is better - chocolate cake or lemon cake? Why?

What makes someone educated?

How many feelings are there?

Why is colour important?

What is the best kind of haircut for you?

In what situation is it best not to think deeply?

Where are we exactly?

How much money is Mount Everest worth?

How would you be different if you had been born in 1950?

What happened in 2020?

What do you know about me?

What is a frog?

What is the universe?

Where are your family right now?

Describe a triangle

Describe a horse

Describe a robot

Describe a radio station

Describe an airport

Describe the Covid pandemic

Describe an alien



Changes

 

Changes

Bowie

 

I still don't _______ _______ I was looking for
And my ______ was running wild
A million dead-end ________
Every time I thought I'd got it ______
It seemed the taste was ____ so sweet
So I turned myself to ______ me
But I've never caught a _________
Of how the ________ must see the faker
I'm much too fast to _______ that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer one
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different one
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

I watch the ________ change their size
But never leave the _______
Of _______ impermanence
So the days _______ through my eyes
But still the ______ seem the same
And these _______ that you spit on
As they try to change their _________
Their immune to _______ consultations
They're quite ________ of what they're going through

Syllables and word stress

You have three minutes to think of a multi-syllabic word beginning with each letter of the alphabet.


1-syllable word = 1 point

2-syllable word = 2 points

3-syllable word = 3 points

4-syllable word = 4 points

5-syllable word = 5 points

6-syllable word = 6 points



A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N|
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z