Professional Documents
Culture Documents
speakout Intermediate
UNIT 2
TALES
Overview
Watch the video podcast. Which opinions do you most agree with?
1 Read and complete the text with the prepositions from the box. Then watch the video podcast from
Val
2 How do you find out whats happening in the world? Look at the people and the responses they give.
Then watch the video podcast from 0:25-1:07 and match the responses to the speakers.
A
Mairi
Adrian
A
TV
the radio
the newspapers
Twitter
other people
the internet
news programmes
Joanne
Dorra
Binisa
John
3 Do you always believe what you see or read in the news? Look at the people and read the opinions
below. Then watch the video podcast from 1:08-2:06 and match the opinions to the people. There is
ONE extra answer that you do not need.
A
Mairi
B
Adrian
C
Joanne
Tamara
John
Who
1 thinks its important to distinguish between fact and opinion?
2 doesnt always believe that news sources are being honest?
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speakout Intermediate
UNIT 2
TALES
4 When is it OK to tell a lie? Read the possible answers a and b for each person. Then watch the video
Joanne
Dorra
John
Binisa
page 2
speakout Intermediate
UNIT 2
TALES
watch the video podcast from 1:39-2:06 and complete what they say.
Tamara
John
6 Tell me about a time you told a lie. Look at the people and read the two summaries of their responses
A and B. Then watch the video podcast from 2:45-3:28 and decide which summary is correct for
each person.
1a Tamaras husband cooked a meal that she didnt like but she told him she liked
it because hed made an effort to do it and she didnt want to hurt his feelings.
1b Tamaras husband cooked a salty meal for her one evening but she told him
she liked it and she ate it all even though she had already eaten dinner at a
restaurant.
Tamara
2a When Joannes late for a class or a meeting at university, she usually tells her
tutor that she should have left home earlier.
2b When Joannes late for a class or a meeting at university, she sometimes
blames the transport.
B
Joanne
3a When Adrian was in China, he said the food was delicious, but it was to his
detriment because it made him feel unwell.
3b When Adrian was in China, he said the food was delicious even though it
wasn't. He was sorry later because they gave him even more food.
C
Adrian
Glossary: make an effort = try very hard; detrimental = not good for you; delayed = late
page 3
TALES
speakout Intermediate
UNIT 2
Vocabulary
7 Find the words in italics in Ex. 6 and match them to the definitions.
1 show a small amount of
2 designed to attract your attention
3 a person who buys products and services and says what is bad or wrong about them
4 preferring one thing rather than another in an unfair way
5 happen in a certain way that you often dont expect
6 wanting what is best for you, not for others
tinged
Personalisation
8 Write your answers to the questions.
1 How do you find out whats happening in the world?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
2 Do you always believe what you see or read in the news? Why/Why not?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
3 Do you agree with what the people in the podcasts say about telling lies?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
4 Have you ever told a lie that you feel bad about?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
BBC LINK
A recent study shows that British men tell more lies than British women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8689010.stm
page 4
V = Val
B = Binisa
M = Mairi
Jo = John
A = Adrian J = Joana
T = Tamara
D = Dorra
V:
Hi, Im Val and I work for the BBC here in London. I read a lot of news
stories for my job and I get my news from lots of different sources.
Today, Im going to be asking people about the media and about truth.
How do you find out whats happening in the world?
M:
I find out about whats happening by reading the news on the internet.
Um, I use Twitter a lot for quite a fast look at all of the latest news.
A:
J:
I mainly find out through the internet. Er, and also speaking with
people.
D:
B:
Jo:
Well, I usually listen to the radio in the morning and I often listen to
news programmes and then I frequently go on the internet and look at
a range of web sites.
V:
M:
No, not always. Um, I think the news in Britains quite good for giving
you as much honesty as they have, but I dont always believe that their
sources are being honest.
A:
J:
No. I think you have to distinguish between whats fact and whats
opinion.
T:
I work as a doctor and I know that quite a lot of the health stories,
which are very big in the media and often get headline-grabbing
attention, turn out to be actually not theyre often quite misleading, so
I suppose Im a fairly critical consumer.
V:
J:
D:
You dont want to tell the truth to a kid about something wrong that
happened you dont want to scare a kid. Um, there are some lies that
are necessary, I think.
Jo:
Well, in general I think its not a good idea telling lies because it
destroys relationships, but I suppose telling white lies: when my wife
says, What do I look like in this new dress? Sometimes Im not going
to be strictly honest.
B:
I think its OK to tell a lie when its not harming anyone directly.
V:
T:
My husband made a dish that I didnt really like, and, I just thought, you
know, Im not going to say, This isnt nice, its salty because hed
made an effort.
J:
A: