Breaking News English

Tuesday November 2, 2004
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

China has a bad image for not allowing its people access to information. The Chinese government has shut down 1,600 Internet cafes this year and fined or temporarily closed thousands more. However, it is because the cafes allow children to access adult-only games or content. China’s Culture Ministry says the cafes are hotbeds of gambling, pornography and violence allowing children access to adult-only games or content.

Just over half of China’s near-one million Internet users are younger than 24 years old, with roughly 18 percent being minors. China's move to protect young people from obscene websites is being carefully watched by Governments and Internet service providers around the world, which are struggling to find ways to filter content that is inappropriate for minors.

It is much easier for China to control the Internet as not many homes have a computer. There are about 1.8 million Internet cafes and most people who use the Internet visit them. Therefore it is easier for the government to control the kind of sites Chinese people visit. For many years the government has tried to censor citizens' use of the Internet as they do not want their citizens from getting information that differs from official government. Control of the Internet and freedom of information are sensitive issues.

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT: Talk about Internet cafes (Pairs)

2. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Have students (As and Bs) stand/sit facing each other in pairs. Students A believe the Internet is bad. Students B believe it is good. They have 2 minutes to debate. Change partners (or roles) every two minutes.

3. CHINA BRAINSTORM: Ask the class to call out / write down words they associate with China. Once you have a selection, talk about the associations in pairs.

4. FAVE SITES : Ask students to note down their 3 favourite / oft-visited sites. They ask each other about / explain why they like these sites.

 

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. MATCHING & GAP FILL: Individual or pairwork? Set a time limit of five minutes to match and fill in the gaps. Compare answers in pairs. Teacher to monitor and help / receive questions after exercise.

2. PRE-VOCAB: Write the words ‘gambling’, ‘pornography’ and ‘violence’ on the board for students to look up, talk about. Change partners/groups regularly to exchange views and/or cast doubts.

3. CENSORSHIP:  Explain ‘censorship’. Write the following on the board (or paste into your word proc. doc.: naked bodies / real dead people on the news / bad news about your country from another country / kissing scenes in movies (censored in India, I think) / violence / bad language / other.
Students discuss which should be censored and from what age.

4. ADULT-ONLY: There is a lot of adult-only material around for children to see – TV, pornographic magazines, newspapers, comics, Internet, video etc. Students talk about how to prevent children gaining access to these.

5. I DID IT: Sharing in pairs of all the ‘bad’ things you did when you were ‘underage’ – drinking, smoking, looking at adult videos & magazines, shoplifting, gambling, sexual relations…

 .

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. VOCAB CHECK:  Students check the matching and gap-fill from above.

2. WHY?:  As you read write down 3 or 4 ‘Why?’ questions that you would like answered.

3. VOCABULARY: Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

4. AGREE or DISAGREE?: Circle things you agree with, underline things you disagree with.

5. MATCHING:

Match the word pairs below:

	shut	image
	access to	only
	bad	down
	adult-	information

Put the matched word pairs into the paragraph below

China has a ___________ for not allowing its people _______________. The Chinese government has __________ 1,600 Internet cafes this year and fined or temporarily closed thousands more. However, it is because the cafes allow children to access
_____________ games or content. China’s Culture Ministry says the cafes are hotbeds of gambling, pornography and violence, which allow children access to adult-only games or content.

Match the word pairs below:

	obscene	over
	just	websites
	find	ways
	adult-	users

Put the matched word pairs into the paragraph below

____________ half of China’s near-one million _____________ are younger than 24 years old, with roughly 18 percent being minors. China's move to protect young people from _______________ is being carefully watched by Governments and Internet service providers around the world, which are struggling to _____________ to filter content that is inappropriate for minors.

Match the word pairs below:

	much	issues
	sensitive	from
	most	easier
	different	people

Put the matched word pairs into the paragraph below

It is ____________ for China to control the Internet as not many homes have a computer. There are about 1.8 million Internet cafes and ____________ who use the Internet visit them. Therefore it is simple for the government to control the kind of sites Chinese people visit. For years the government has tried to censor peoples' use of the Internet to stop their citizens from getting information that is ___________ official government news. Control of the Internet and freedom of information are _____________.

 

POST READING IDEAS

1. AGREE or DISAGREE?:  Share and discuss with your partner the things you circled / underlined above.

2. REPORT: In pairs / groups, brainstorm the dangers of the Internet for children. Change pairs/groups and add to your ideas. Once a number of dangers written down, discuss how to safeguard against each point.

3. KIDS ARE OLDER THESE DAYS: It seems kids are doing more, younger these days (??). Write on the board / paste into word proc. doc. the following, which students discuss suitable ages for: adult videos, free Internet access, smoking, voting, part-time jobs, wearing make-up, ear-rings, marriage …

4. ADULTS TOO: Should things also be censored / banned for adults. Write a list on the board for students to discuss: pornography / gambling / marijuana / alcohol / divorce / gun ownership / etc

5. BE THE CENSOR: Take in adult (non-pornographic) magazines into the classroom. Students adopt the role of censor for pictures / content for 10-yar-olds. They explain to other pairs the reasons for what they have (or have not) censored.

6. HOTTER WARMERS: Extend any of the above warm-ups into more comprehensive fluency activities.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose 5 of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on censorship in China. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. WEB SITE: Some people want to censor Harry Potter. Find out why at http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/censorship/a/banharry.htm .

4. 13 AGAIN: Imagine once again you are a young teen. Write your diary entry explaining your views on adult censorship.

 

FULL TEXT

China has a bad image for not allowing its people access to information. The Chinese government has shut down 1,600 Internet cafes this year and fined or temporarily closed thousands more. However, it is because the cafes allow children to access adult-only games or content. China’s Culture Ministry says the cafes are hotbeds of gambling, pornography and violence allowing children access to adult-only games or content.

Just over half of China’s near-one million Internet users are younger than 24 years old, with roughly 18 percent being minors. China's move to protect young people from obscene websites is being carefully watched by Governments and Internet service providers around the world, which are struggling to find ways to filter content that is inappropriate for minors.

It is much easier for China to control the Internet as not many homes have a computer. There are about 1.8 million Internet cafes and most people who use the Internet visit them. Therefore it is easier for the government to control the kind of sites Chinese people visit. For many years the government has tried to censor citizens' use of the Internet as they do not want their citizens from getting information that differs from official government. Control of the Internet and freedom of information are sensitive issues.