UNIT 5: THE MEDIA

Topic: The Media, Television, the Internet, Newspapers and Magazines

PART 1: Personal Questions
Television
1. How often do you watch television?
2. What type of programmes do you prefer?
3. When do you normally watch television?
4. Do you think children watch too much television?
Newspapers and magazines
5. Do you read a newspaper every day?
6. Which sections of the newspaper do you read most often?
7. Do you read newspapers online or in paper format?
8. Do you think that it is important for everyone to read newspapers?
The Internet
9. How often do you use the Internet?
10. What are your favourite websites?
11. Would you like to have your own website?
12. Do you think there should be restrictions on what is published on the Internet?
Computers
13. Do you have your own computer?
14. What do you use your computer for?
15. Do you think computers are necessary for modern day life?
16. Are there any problems with using computers too much?

PART 2: Long-turn speaking

#1
Describe a television or radio station that you often watch or listen to. You should include:
Why you choose that station
What you like about it
How other people feel about it
And say what you think could be improved about its output.
#2
Describe some interesting news that you have recently read about or heard about
You should say:
what the story was
who was involved in the story
where you read or heard about this story
and explain why this news story was interesting to you.

PART 3: DISCUSSION

Do people in your country generally listen to the radio? (What kinds of things?)
What can be done to make the media better quality in your country? (Do you
think that is likely?)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of people getting the news from the
Internet? (Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?)
Do you think that newspapers will disappear as a result of the Internet?
1

How do you think the Internet will change entertainment in the future?
In your opinion, is the Internet a valuable educational tool?
To what extent does the Internet promote globalization?
What do you think has been the greatest advance in the world of media in the
past ten years?
In your opinion, what is the most effective way of getting news?
What do you think makes a newspaper or magazine interesting?
Should children be controlled in their TV watching habits? Why/Why not?
Do TV programmes affect peoples behaviors? Use specific examples.

The Internet:
Advantages

Disadvantages

the convenience and speed of the

Internet helps people gain access to
all sort of information
the Internet is a great tool for
interacting around the world at a
relatively low cost
the Internet enable people to form
communities in new and unique
relationships, eg: discussion forums,
people can easily communicate and
share their ideas.
the Internet provides many learning
opportunities and research activities
the most important features of the
Internet include email, online
conversation, e-commerce, online
shopping, online learning and
browsing the Internet for downloading
materials

unsupervised children on the Internet

children are exposed to dangerous
information
there are lots of websites which
promote immorality in the society
copy and paste academic
assignments associated with the
availability of the Internet
loss of privacy is one of the major
problems associated with the growth
of the Internet
Hacking, viruses and many types of
cybercrimes

Mass Media:
The role of mass media is primarily to educate, inform and entertain people
The media is to:
portray social problems,
communicate and share information,
serve to build a healthy and progressive society,
help create community,
share peoples opinions,
bring about greater awareness,
form and reflect public opinions
instill social values

Television:
Advantages

Disadvantages

is a powerful tool to educate viewers

around the world
provide people with inspiration, ideas
and knowledge
hold families together
serve the particular interests of
individuals and groups
watching television is a fast way to
find out about the latest news from all
over the world and regarded as the
main source of information for most
people
TV is considered as a convenient
source of entertainment

TV has always been a subject of

criticism.
It can stop family members from
communicating with each other.
Children spend too many hours
passively watching TV:
Excessive TV watching (TV
addiction) can lead to poor academic
performance
It can also result in physical
complications, eg: obesity
Watching too much TV makes
children lose important social skills
Violence in TV programmes
contributes to aggressive behaviors
of the youth and consequently leads
to social disorders