Skills building 1: reading charts and graphs

When you are learning about a new topic, what information is most important besides opinions? (Facts and figures)

Now I’ll present you a chart. Please look at it carefully and try to tell me what this chart can tell us.

(The bar chart above shows the weight in kilograms of some fruit sold one day by a market. We can see that 52 kg of apples were sold, 40 kg of oranges were sold, and 8 kg of star fruit were sold.)

So, when listening, we need to be able to collect facts and figures, which are often presented in the form of charts and graphs. You are expected to learn some different types of graphs and charts that use bars, lines or circles to show information. .

Read the guidelines in Skills building 1 on Page 42. Focus on how to understand different kinds of charts and graphs.

Step 1: collecting information:

1. Pair work:

Have a discussion with your partner:

If you want to attend a series of lectures about the ways people watch or listen to the news, what should you pay special attention to?

2. Listen to the first speech and take notes in the space.

Tapescript

First speaker:

We are here today to discuss the ways that people get their news.

There are several main sources to which most people turn when they want to know what is happening in their local community, or around the world. They are newspapers, television (both local and national), radio and more recently, the Internet.

The main point I would like to make is that there are different types of news, and that some are more easily found from certain sources. As examples, I will discuss sports results, the weather, politics and local, national and international current affairs.

Sports results do not change once the event is over. Fans do not often need or want to see pictures of the games; they simply want to know the scores. For this type of news, radio and newspapers are the most suitable. The weather, however, is something which changes all the times. Therefore, a place to get news which can be updated easily, like radio or the Internet, is the best choice. Politics involves many details, and people often want to understand them at their own speed. For this reason, places to get news that involve reading may be the best-newspapers and the Internet. Current affairs can be covered in many ways, and what people choose often has to do with what type of news they want. For example, those who only want to know the ‘top’ or most important stories will probably choose to watch television news programmes as they only include the most important news. Some people prefer a wider range of views, and would probably prefer the Internet or a newspaper. Other people who drive or travel long distances to work often don’t have the time in the morning or evening to watch television or read a paper. They like to listen to radio news programmes while they travel to and from their offices.

Answers

A (1) radio (2) to see pictures (3) to know scores

(4) the Internet (5) changes (6) updated

(7) newspaper (8) details (9) at their own speed

(10) TV (11) important (12) wider

(13) drive (14) watch TV (15) read newspapers

3. Now, please go over the instructions in Part B and read the three sentences. Try to guess what the speech that you are going to listen to is about and what words will be used to complete these sentences before you listen to the recording.

Tapescript

Final speaker:

As the final speaker here today, I would like to share with you some of the conclusions of our research. We wanted to know if the Internet would become the most popular source of news for people. We have found that although the Internet has become increasingly popular, the number of people who get news from the Internet compared to the radio or television is still small. While the Internet is a popular tool, it is still not as easily accessible as newspapers, television and the radio are, and due to the amount of uncontrolled information on the Internet, people do not always trust the news they find online.

Please check the answers.

Answers

B 1 accessible 2 uncontrolled 3 trust

4. Please read the instructions of Part C. Look at the bar chart and pay special attention to the legend, the side (y-axis) and the bottom (x-axis).

5. Please look at the pie chart and read the question and the legend and try to finish the remaining questions.

Answers

C 1 Local TV. 2 The Internet. 3 4%. 4 Emergency.

5 Opinions, weather and sports results. 6 National TV. 7 The Internet.

6. Discussion in groups of four. Why 50 per cent of people trust the news sources from national TV and local TV, while only 7 per cent of people trust the news on the Internet.

Skills building 2: forming more detailed questions

1. What we can do if we want to get more detailed information when we already know a little about a topic? (One of the ways is to ask more questions on this topic.)

2. Read the guidelines and the three parts on page 44 and try to understand how to get more detailed information.

Step 2: asking more detailed questions

Now, let’s use the skills we just learned to get more detailed information. Suppose you need to ask one speaker his opinion on the situations that people gets news from the Internet.

1. Work individually to think up and write down as many questions as you can to find more detailed information. You can consult the prompts in the left column on page 44.

2. Work in pairs, one asks questions formed from the prompts in the left column, and the other answers these questions using the prompts in the right column. After that, I’d like you to present the questions and answers in front of the classroom.

Sample answers

1 Q: What is the most popular way to get news for people under 18 years old, people from 18 to 50 or people 50 and older?

A: For people under 18, the most popular way to get news is from television. People from 18 to 50 would most like to get news from newspapers as well as television while people over 50 prefer getting news by listening to the radio.

2 Q: What news source do you think is fastest growing

A: I think that Internet news is fastest growing.

3 Q: Who is the Internet mostly used by?

A: The people between 15 and 40 years old, especially those who are university-educated.

4 Q: Is there any difference between where men and women get news?

A: No, there isn’t.

5 Q: What do people think are the best Internet news sites?

A: The ones that are linked to or are part of major TV networks.

6 Q: How can I know which Internet news sites to trust?

A: You can look for supporting facts through cross-checking facts with other sites, especially the sites run by organizations you already know.

7 Q: The most popular way to get news is to read newspapers, but some people have switched to the Internet. Do you think why? What do you think are the problems with newspapers?

A: I think it is mainly because newspapers are too big and most of them are messily printed. The most important reason I think is that news on the Internet is updated each hour while news in newspapers cannot be updated.

8 Q: Some people prefer television. Why do you think this is?

A: I think people prefer television because they can see the most important and current news appear on TV with‘real’images as fast as possible.

9 Q: Why do you think some people still prefer radio?

A: These people can listen to news while driving or doing housework at the same time. No time is wasted.

10 Q: Do you think that next generation will prefer Internet news more than any other news source?

A: No, because computers are still too expensive for many people. I think TV and newspapers will still be most popular for many years.

Skills building 3: reporting on facts and figures

Sometimes we need to write a report on certain topic. What shall we pay attention to when we write a report? For example, when you are asked to write a report on how the students in your class think they should spend their time, what should you include?

1. Read the guidelines in this part to find out what are the two main things to focus on.

2. Please read Part 1 and try to get how to state facts and opinions. Then try to tell us which of the following are facts and which are opinions.

1) Computers are still too expensive for many people. (fact)

2) I think reading newspapers is the easiest way to get news. (opinion)

3) You can not only see‘real’images on TV but also hear them talk. (fact)

4) News on the Internet is updated every hour. (fact)

5) Some people consider Internet news to be unbelievable. (opinion)

Step 3: e-mail a report

As mentioned above, you are expected to know how to express facts and opinions. Now, let’s have a practice. Let’s write a report using the information gathered in Steps 1 and 2 and e-mail it.

1. First let’s divided into small groups and then make an arrangement. Remember each member of the group should contribute to the planning of the outline of the report. You should pay special attention to in what position you should write the report and to whom you will write the report.

2. I’d like several students to read your e-mails to the class.

Possible example

Dear Sir,

I went to listen to two speeches about the ways people get news. From the first speaker, I know there are different types of news, such as sports results, weather, politics and current affairs, and some of them are most suited to sources like radio, newspapers, and television. There is no doubt that the Internet is increasingly popular, but the number of people who get their news from the Internet is still small. I have collected some figures from two charts, each of which is a survey of 500 people. According to the two charts, the percentage of people who turn first on the Internet for news on emergency, opinions, weather, breaking news and sports results is respectively only 2 per cent, 5 per cent, 5 per cent, 4 per cent and 5 per cent. However, for news on emergency and breaking news, the percentage of people who turn first to local TV comes to 53 per cent and 48 per cent. Why still people not turn first on the Internet to get news? The second speaker gave the following reasons: first, the Internet is still not accessible to everyone; second, information on it is often uncontrolled; third, people do not always trust the news online.

Yours,

(Your own name)