Discussion Topics
(1) Expo
(2) Marino withdraws resignation.
Mayor’s credibility?
PD’s credibility?
What’s best for the city?
(3) Accountability of politicians
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/29/manifesto-promise-broken-general-election-david-cameron-child-tax-credits
Simon Hattenstone in the Guardian
“If a political party then insists on going ahead with a policy at odds with pre-election promises, they should have a right to, but they should also know there is a price to be paid. There is currently much discussion about the prospect of MPs who regularly defy their party whip facing reselection. But what about parties who defy themselves – and the public who voted them in? Surely, if a government insists on breaking promises that got them elected in the first place, it should face the ultimate sanction: the automatic triggering of a general election.
Why are we so tolerant of political lies? The astonishing thing is that after the Lords vote on tax credits this week, the outrage was not about Cameron’s lying, but whether it had been constitutional to block financial measures approved by the House of Commons. The fact that Cameron and his cabinet had told bare-faced porkies over tax credits was taken as a given.”
Vocabulary
bare faced lie/liar
telling porkies (porkie pies = lies) For more about Cockney Rhyming Slang see: http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk
to be taken as (a) given
Music & Language
Do you think pop is music dumbing down?
Do you think that particular genres of music e.g. rock, country, pop, hip hop are more intelligent than others?
Andrew Powell-Morse analysed the reading level of 225 songs that spent three or more weeks at No. 1 on Billboard''s pop, country, rock and hip hop charts.
He notes that the study did not look at the meaning of each song, metaphors, or how the words connect with the artist’s personal story, but the results are still very illuminating.
In 2014, the average reading level of a Billboard No. 1 single was between 7 or 8 years, and has seen a fairly worrying decline over the last decade.
http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/05/the-lyrics-of-recent-no-1-singles-average-at-a-third-grade-reading-level/
Third Grade = school year for 8 year olds
Using Songs
Lyric sites which include an online discussion on the meaning and metaphors:
(1) Global Warming from the album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (2015) by John Grant
Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is the 3rd solo album released by John Grant, and follows Pale Green Ghost and Queen of Denmark.
“Grey Tickles” is a literal translation from an Icelandic phrase meaning “mid-life crisis, and “Black Pressure” is translated from the Turkish for "nightmare”.
Vocabulary
to throw around
to hang out
to clog up
to work on your tan
a taken man
to throw around
to hang out
to clog up
to work on your tan
a taken man
(2) It’s the End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (1987) by REM
from the album Document
Jigsaw listening.
Collocations
continental drift
to feed something off a speaker/power source
save yourself
continental drift
to feed something off a speaker/power source
save yourself
Corrections
Pronunciation
promise /I/ not /aI/
Vocabulary, Fixed Phrases and Collocations
media covering coverage
the students' frequency attendance was poor
to ridicule
to stab someone in the back
the lowest common denominator
the mayor's term (of office)
student representative
Structure
too much focussed
we wanted to make them to study more
confront with people
Going Further
1. Scary Movie for Halloween - The Babadook http://scarybradshaw.blogspot.it/2015/10/scary-bradshaws-halloween-selection.html
2. No More Tangles - John Grant http://genius.com/John-grant-no-more-tangles-lyrics
2. No More Tangles - John Grant http://genius.com/John-grant-no-more-tangles-lyrics
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