Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 21 June 2011
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Iceland Using Social Media to Rebuild Constitution
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- draft: to think about and write something
- constitution: an official document that outlines the rules and principles of a government
- adoption: the taking and following of someone else’s principles or rules
- consult: to ask for someone’s opinion or idea before making a decision
- unprecedented: never heard or seen before
- crowdsource: to ask a large community or group of outside people to help complete a task
- bill: a final draft of a proposed law or piece of documentation
Comprehension Questions
- What is Iceland’s government asking its citizens to do?
- Why does the report mention YouTube?
- What happened in 1944?
Discussion Question: Could you imagine your own country’s constitution being amended based on suggestions from social media users?
show Answershide Answers
Iceland Using Social Media to Rebuild Constitution
The government of Iceland has invited its citizens to help draft a new constitution. Citizens can provide suggestions and feedback for the government via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Meetings related to the constitution have been streamed live so that citizens have full access to all of the decision making. The original document was created in 1944, and was an adoption of the Danish constitution. It has been revised seven times since then, and the Icelandic people were never consulted. People around the world have expressed interest and shown approval of this unprecedented example of crowdsourcing. The bill could be ready by the end of July.
- Iceland’s government is asking its citizens to help draft a new constitution.
- YouTube is one of the social media platforms that Icelandic people can use to leave feedback and suggestions for the government in relation to the new constitution.
- The first document (an adoption of the Danish constitution) was created in 1944.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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