English News Monthly Podcast

VCR, Very Tall People & A Long Bike Ride

ENM Volume 2 - 6 | July 2016

x

Y

Z

Email: jselwood@hiroshima-u.ac.jp | Homepage: http://pod.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/cms/

[1] Part 1 | Topic Warm Ups

All the words in the box are from this month’s 3 podcast news stories. What do these words means? Are they nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs? Use a dictionary, the Internet or a Smartphone App to help you!

Warm Up 1 Key WordsA1

1 | Production 2 | Declined3 | Almost 4 | Peak 5 | Collectors

1

11 | Annual 12 | Successive 13 | Completed 14 | Hardest 15 | Rode

6 | Nor7 | Average 8 | Position 9 | Stand 10 | However

Warm Up 2 This Month’s Titles!

Re-arrange the titles for the three English News Monthly news stories. Match the news title with the correct photograph! There is one extra!

A | of VHS After the End Years…40

B | Tall The Stand Dutch

C |On 3,539km a Bike! France…around

A |__________________________________

B |__________________________________

C |__________________________________

Now look at the thee photographs on this month’s cover sheet.Match the photograph with the correct title from above! X, Y or Z?

Warm Up 3 Mix & Match

What is the order (in years) that these gadgets were released?VHS / CD / BluRay / iPod / LP / iPad / Flat Screen TV / Mobile Phone

1 |___________1948

2 |___________1970

3 |___________1973

4 |___________1976

5 |___________1982

6 |___________2000

7 |___________2001

8 |___________2010

A B C D E F G H

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

Reading & Listening 1 A2

Read / Listen to the 3 statements about News Story 1.Do you think the answers are ‘YES’ or ‘NO’?If you don’t know the answers - Guess! Or use the Internet!

A: VHS = Video Home System.B: Some 1980s VHS tapes are being sold for more than $2,500.C: Funai Electronics is called SONY outside of Japan.

YES | NOYES | NOYES | NO

[2]

L1 - Gap Fill! Read / Listen to he news story below and write the correct word in the spaces. Read / Listen to the rest of the sentence to help with your understanding!

After 40 Years…The End of V.H.S.The first ENM news story for July reports on the end of production for one of the most iconic technological 1: ________ of the 1980s - the video cassette recorder (VCR). The Japanese company Funai, which is known as Sanyo in Europe, 2: ________ and North America, has decided to stop producing the VCRs after 43 years.

The decision by the Osaka based company is simple - people do not buy many VCRs anymore. At the height of their popularity in the 1980s Funai sold 15 3: ________ VCRs per year. But that number has declined in the 21st Century and in 2015 the company only sold 750,000 units.

VCRs and Video Home System (VHS) tapes were first developed by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in the early 1970s. The first 4: _________ was released in 1976 and became so popular that almost every small town across the world had a VHS movie rental store.

Perhaps the most famous video rental store was Blockbuster and at its peak had 9,000 stores across the world. In 2016 however, there were just 17 - all in the 5: ________. However, there is still a market for old VHS tapes as they have become a popular collectors item. Some less famous horror/slasher films made in the 6: ________ have been sold for more than $1,500!

Q & A

1 | What year did Funai first start selling VCRs in Japan? ______________________2 | How many VCRs did Funai sell in 2015? ______________________3 | What was the name of the popular video rental store? ______________________4 | What does JVCs initials mean? ______________________5 | Which city in Japan are Funai’s headquarters? ______________________

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

L2 - Wrong Word!

[3] Reading & Listening 2 A3

Read / Listen to the 3 statements about News Story 2. Do you think the answers are ‘YES’ or ‘NO’?If you don’t know the answers - Guess! Or use the Internet!

A: Norway has the tallest men and women in the world. B: The average height of an Englishman is 178 cm / 5 ft 8 in.C: Indian women on average are just 5 feet tall.

YES | NOYES | NOYES | NO

Read / Listen to he news story below and circle eight words that are wrong. Read / Listen again write the correct eight words in each space.

The Dutch Stand TallHow tall are you? ENM stands at 183.5cm or just over 6 feet tall and this means we are about 5cm taller than the average height of people in England. However England is not the tallest country in the world, and nor is Japan - where the average height of a man is 165.5cm or 5 ft 5 in. So, which country do you think does have the tallest people? The answer is the Netherlands. Dutch men, on average, are 182.9cm or 6ft tall and this makes them 0.3cm taller than the next tallest nation - Denmark. On average Danish men are 182.6cm or 5 feet 10 inches tall. However Dutch women are not the tallest females in the world that position belongs to Norway where on average a Norwegian woman is 170.2cm or 5 ft 7 in. To find the shortest men in the world ENM must travel from Europe to Indonesia where the average man is just 158cm or 5 feet 1 inch tall. On the other hand the shortest women in world are to be found in India where the average height is 152.4cm or 5 feet tall.

Q & A

1 | Which country has the tallest men in the world? ______________________2 | Which country has the tallest women in the world? ______________________3 | How tall is ENM? ______________________4 | Which country has the shortest men on average? ______________________5 | How tall are men in Denmark on average? ______________________

Write the Correct Words!

1: __________ 2: __________ 3: __________ 4: __________ 5: ___________ 6: __________

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

A

[4] Reading & Listening 3 A4

Read / Listen to the 3 statements about News Story 3. Do you think the answers are ‘YES’ or ‘NO’?If you don’t know the answers - Guess! Or use the Internet!

A: The 2016 Tour de France had stages in four. countries. B: Adam Yates and Chris Froome are British Cyclists.C: The Tour de France Points Winner wears a Green Jersey.

YES | NOYES | NOYES | NO

L3 - Which Word?

1| successive 2| Yellow 3|Green 4| distance 5 | cycling 6|Yates 7 | boulevard

Read / Listen to he news story below and circle eight words that are wrong. Read / Listen again write the correct eight words in each space.

3,529 km around France…On a Bike!The third and final news report for July’s ENM podcast comes from the most famous 1: ____ race in the world - the Tour de France. The annual cycling event that tests the best road cyclists in the world ended on Sunday 24th July with a 113km ride which finished, as always, with a sprint up the famous 2: ____ - the Champs-Elysee. This year’s race was once again won by British cyclist Chris Froome who is the first back to back winner of the Le Tour since Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain won the last of his five 3: ____ tours in 1995. Froome, winner of the famous 4: ____ Jersey, completed the 21 stages in a time of 89h 4m 48s, which was 4m 05s faster than the runner-up France’s Romain Bardet.

Other winners on this year’s Tour were Peter Sagan from Slovakia who won the 5: _____ Jersey for scoring the most points, Rafal Majka from Poland who was King of the Mountains and 23 year-old Briton Adam 6: ____ who won the White Jersey for being the best young rider.

The 2016 Tour started on July 2nd and included 21 stages in France and Switzerland with the hardest being the finish on Mont Ventoux a 1,912 metre-high mountain. In total the cyclists who completed the 2016 Tour rode a total 7: ____ of 3,529 km which is an average of 168km a day.

Q & A

1 | What does the White Jersey at the Tour de France mean? ______________________2 | How many Tours did Miguel Indurain win? ______________________3 | How high is Mont Ventoux in metres? ______________________4 | What colour does the winner of the Tour de France wear? ______________________5 | Who finished 2nd in the 2016 Tour de France? ______________________

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

[5] Post- Listening / Reading

1: Funai a Japanese based electronics company is also called Sanyo.2: Funai first started to make VCRs in 1983.3: The average height of a Dutch female is 182.9cm4: The average height of men in the UK is 5 ft 10 inches. 5: Indian men are on average the smallest in the world.6: The 2016 Tour de France was 2,193 miles in distance.7: The last two Tour de France’s have been won by a French cyclist. 8: The Tour de France always ends on the Champs Elysee.

T | FT | FT | FT | FT | FT | FT | FT | F

A5Post Listening / Reading 1 True or False

Post Listening / Reading 2

How many different words can you connect to the word in the box?

Brainstorm

Jumbled SentencePost Listening / Reading 3

the only company declined sold the

in that number has

750,000 But 2015 units. 21st

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

JULY

Re-arrange the words below to make a correct sentence from one ENM news report.

and

Century

in

[6] Podcast Vocabulary+

1| Iconic 2| Decided 3| Popularity 4| Developed 5| Average 6| Tall 7| Short 8| Find 9| Sprint 10| Successive 11| Complete 12| Best

A synonym is a word with a similar meaning. [Big / Large or Small / Tiny] An antonym is a word with an opposite meaning. [Big / Tiny or Large / Small]

Match the 12 words from News Report 1, 2 & 3 with their correct synonym/antonym

A| Ordinary B| Lanky C| SeminalD| Finished E| Discover F| Perfect G| LittleH| Resolved I| ExpandedJ| Next K| Fame L| Scurry

Original News Report Word

Synonym Answers

[G]

Antonym Answers Synonyms

M|Unfinished N| LostO| Stopped P| Previous Q| Hesitated R| Dawdle S| Short T| PoorU| Unimportant V| RareW| TallX| Dislike

Antonyms

(c) Jaime Selwood 2016

Podcast Vocabulary+ What is the Question?

How much can you remember from the the news reports? Read the answers below and then write a correct possible question!

[W]

1: France. 2: 1980s.3: Netherlands 4: 183.5cm. 5: Mont Ventoux

1: _____________________________________________2: _____________________________________________3: _____________________________________________4: _____________________________________________5: _____________________________________________

Podcast Vocabulary++ Odd One Out!

Look at the four words below. Which word is different form the other three? Why?

A| Netherlands

A6

B|South Africa C| Japan D|England

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That tallest man who ever lived was Robert Pershing Wadlow who grew to an incredible 272 cm or 8ft 11in tall! Mr Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois in 1918 and by the age of 10 was already 196 cm tall. Mr Wadlow’s father, Franklin, was 182cm tall which was considered x: _______ for the era. However Robert Wadlow was only seven years old when he grew taller than his father ! Sadly Mr Wadlow died ages just 22 after getting an infection after z: ________ a faulty metal brace to help his legs stand up and support his huge skeletal frame.

[7] Extra (c) Jaime Selwood 2016

And Finally Did You Know…?A7

Quick Chat June

1: Did you ever own any VHS tapes? How many? Why?

2: Are you happy with your height? Why / Why not?

3: How often do you cycle per month? Why?

4: How many DVDs & downloads do you own?

5: What would like you to change about your physical appearance?

6: What sporting event do you really enjoy watching?

Writing July

Ask / Answer the questions about this month’s three news reports. Can you think of any more questions to ask?

What has been you favourite / least favourite news report this month?

1 | You Tube (USA)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxBjEJggmc [04:04]A Brief History of VHS / VCR

2 | BBC News (UK)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_lDTOIJ4xA [02:52]Sony Building in Ginza

3 | Wall Street Journal (USA)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXUrIPlAHU [01:49]2016 Tour de France - Chris Froome

[8] Video Links (c) Jaime Selwood 2016

Answers

Podcast Audio Information

This symbol means that you can listen to these activities on the podcast!

Warm Up 21 - A & Z After 40 Years…The End of VHS2 - B & X The Dutch Stand Tall 3 - C & Y 3,539km around France…On a Bike

Warm Up 31 - D 5 - E2 - C 6 - G3 - A 7 - F4 - H 8 - B

News Report 1 | After 40 Years…The End of VHSA - Yes B - No C- No1 - 1983 2 - 750,000 3 - Blockbuster 4 - Victor Company of Japan 5 - Osaka

After 40 Years…The End of V.H.S.

The first ENM news story for July reports on the end of production for one of the most iconic technological symbols of the 1980s - the video cassette recorder (VCR). The Japanese company Funai, which is known as Sanyo in Europe, Asia and North America, has decided to stop producing the VCRs after 43 years.

The decision by the Osaka based company is simple - people do not buy many VCRs anymore. At the height of their popularity in the 1980s Funai sold 15 million VCRs per year. But that number has declined in the 21st Century and in 2015 the company only sold 750,000 units. VCRs and Video Home System (VHS) tapes were first developed by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in the early 1970s. The first machine was released in 1976 and became so popular that almost every small town across the world had a VHS movie rental store.

News Report 2 | The Dutch Stand TallA - No B - Yes C - Yes1 - Netherlands 2 - Norway 3 - 183.5cm 4 - Indonesia 5 - 182.6cm

The Dutch Stand TallHow tall are you? ENM stands at 183.5cm or just over 6 feet tall and this means we are about 5cm taller than the average height of people in England. However England is not the tallest country in the world, and nor is Japan - where the average height of a man is 165.5cm or 5 ft 5 in. So, which country do you think does have the tallest people? The answer is the Netherlands. Dutch men, on average, are 182.9cm or 6ft tall and this makes them 0.3cm taller than the next tallest nation - Denmark. On average Danish men are 182.6cm or 5 feet 10 inches tall. However Dutch women are not the tallest

females in the world that position belongs to Norway where on average a Norwegian woman is 170.2cm or 5 ft 7 in. To find the shortest men in the world ENM must travel from Europe to Indonesia where the average man is just 158cm or 5 feet 1 inch tall. On the other hand the shortest women in world are to be found in India where the average height is 152.4cm or 5 feet tall.

News Report 3 | 3,529 km around France…on a Bike!A - No B - Yes C - Yes1 - Best Young Rider 2 - 5 3 - 1,912m 4 - Yellow 5 - Romain Bardet

3,529 km around France…On a Bike!The third and final news report for July’s ENM podcast comes from the most famous cycling race in the world - the Tour de France. The annual cycling event that tests the best road cyclists in the world ended on Sunday 24th July with a 113km ride which finished as always, with a sprint up the famous boulevard - Champs-Elysee. This year’s race was once again won by British cyclist Chris Froome who is the first back to back winner of the Le Tour since Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain won the last of his five successive tours in 1995. Froome, winner of the famous Yellow Jersey, completed the 21 stages in a time of 89h 4m 48s, which was 4m 05s faster than the runner-up France’s Romain Bardet. Other winners on this year’s Tour were Peter Sagan from Slovakia who won the Green Jersey for scoring the most points, Rafal Majka from Poland who was King of the Mountains and 23 year-old Briton Adam Yates who won the White Jersey for being the best young rider.The 2016 Tour started on July 2nd and included 21 stages in France and Switzerland with the hardest being the finish on Mont Ventoux a 1,912 metre-high mountain. In total the cyclists who completed the 2016 Tour rode a total distance of 3,529 km which is an average of 168km a day.

Post Listening 11 - T 2- T 3 - F 4 - F 5 - F 6 - T 7 - F 8 - T

Post Listening 3But that number has declined in the 21st Century and in 2015 the company only sold 750,000 units.

Post Listening 31 C U2 H Q3 K X4 I O5 A V6 B S7 G W8 E N9 L R10 J P11 D M12 F T

Post Listening +1: Which country has the most famous cycle race? 2: When were VCRs very popular?3: Which country has the tallest men in the world?4: How tall is ENM?5: What mountain was in the 2916 Tour de France race?

Post Listening ++[B] Sweden. .

All the other countries are included in one of the 3 news reports in this month’s podcast.

And Finally!x: tall z: wearing

Video Linkshttp://s24.postimg.org/r2kyvxckl/Tallest_nations.pnghttps://www.jotashoes.com/average-height-by-countryhttp://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/vcr-vhs-production-ends/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Tour_de_France#Route_and_stages

Other English News Podcasts

http://pod.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/cms/enw.php

http://pod.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/cms/ens.php

https://www.facebook.com/ENW1975