The online version of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English has a new feature: topics. These are presented in the form of word clouds. Here's the one for marketing and advertising:
There is also a collection of widgets including this one:
LESSON IDEA
The Tiger Woods affair makes a great business case study. Get your students to role play a meeting of the board of one of his sponsors. They have to decide whether to back him or sack him.
READ MORE
• Tiger sponsors see brand buzz suffer (MarketingWeek)
• Accenture ends Tiger Woods sponsorship deal (BBC News)
• A look at how Tiger Woods' sponsors are reacting (AP)
• Nike stands by sponsorship of Tiger Woods despite 'indiscretions' (Guardian)
This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun relates to the speech given by Arnold Schwarzenneger yesterday to delegates at the Copenhagen climate change conference. In an upbeat address, Schwarzenegger urged everyone to do their bit towards change, and not to rely on governments to make a difference.
COMMENTARY
The cartoon shows Schwarzenneger as the Terminator, the movie role he is most famous for. Standing on the surface of a red hot Earth, he is a spraying water from fire hose over factories and power plants. His famous catch phrase 'Hasta la vista, baby' has been changed to 'Hasta la vista, smoky' (a reference to the smoking chimneys, one of which is helpfully labelled 'global warming'). The symbolism should be obvious!
The FT says the UN has conceded that any deal reached at the Copenhagen climate summit may not include financial aid for developing countries. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
If there is a delay, something does not happen until later than planned or expected. • After a delay of more than two years, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with its lightweight design, has made a successful test flight.
This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun shows the head of Tiger Woods on a golf tee. A golfer is preparing to drive Woods into the rough. (The rough is the area outside the fairway on a golf course—not a place a golfer wants to be.) The golf club bears the words "USA Inc."
COMMENTARY
Inc. is an abbreviation of Incorporated, which is used after a company's name to show that it is a legally established company in the United States. Here, USA Inc. is used as shorthand for the American business establishment. The cartoon is a visual metaphor for Woods' current predicament; in particular, the fact that a number of his sponsors are either dropping him or scaling back their involvement with him. Read more >>
Click here to see larger version of photos with captions.
The Times leads on the planned strikes by British Airways cabin crew, saying it will be impossible for many people to make alternative plans and that there could be more strikes in the pipeline. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
Misery is great unhappiness. Scientists say that without drastic action within the next decade, Earth will be on course for warming that will inflict drought, flood, storms and rising sea levels, translating into hunger and misery for many millions.
Here is the CNN Student News for Tuesday 15 December. Click on the links to see a transcript.
2009 is drawing to a close, and dictionaries and language-related websites are coming up with their Words of the Year. Not wishing to be left out, I thought I would compile my own 'Top Ten' of words that have featured prominently in The English Blog over the past twelve months. In number one position is fat cat, a term which has appeared in cartoons and articles with almost depressing regularity, and which seems to sum up the financial crisis and its aftermath better than any other.
Here are the remaining nine in no particular order. Click on the links to go to a post where the word is explained.
• Cloud computing (the next big thing?)
• Bossnapping (a French invention)
• Bonus culture (the City will miss it)
• Expenses (MPs claimed them)
• Paywall (bad news for news freaks)
• Pandemic (worse than an epidemic)
• Quantitative easing (loadsamoney)
• Anthropogenic (as in climate change)
• Recovery (will it ever happen?)
The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and The Big Picture takes a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India and the United States, some wars wound down while others escalated, China turned 60, and the Berlin Wall was remembered 20 years after it came down. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2009. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. I'll add links to part two and part three when they go online. In the meantime, here's a great photo from part one.
To mark the end of the first decade of the century, BBC News Magazine has been asking readers to tell the story of the past 10 years, based on five themes: Words, People, News, Objects, and Culture. A panel of five independent experts considered all the suggestions and each has drawn up a list of 20. The results give a snapshot of who and what has shaped the last 10 years. There's also a downloadable poster depicting all 100 things, by illustrator Chris Bianchi.
LESSON IDEA
Get your students to come up with their own suggestions for the words, people, events, objects and cultural highlights which they think defined the Noughties. You ask them to do it individually (for homework) and then put them into groups to come up with a common list. This activity should involve some discussion about the relative importance of the various items on their lists and negotiation about what makes the group list.
This cartoon by Paul Thomas from The Daily Express shows Tiger Woods and his wife engaged in a counselling session. (Relate is a relationship support organization.) Woods says: "I want us to stay together for the sake of the product sponsorships ..." A newspaper headline in the bottom right-hand corner reads: "Gillette to stop Tiger adverts".
COMMENTARY
People with marriage difficulties often decide to stay together 'for the sake of the sake of the children'. Here, the cartoonist takes a cynical view of Tiger's announcement that he wants to focus on "being a better husband, father, and person". Could it be that he just wants to protect his lucrative sponsorship deals?
FOOTNOTE
Nike and Gatorade are standing by Tiger, but Gillette has said it will 'limit' Tiger's role, and Accenture has dropped Woods altogether. So the world's richest sportsman has every reason to be worried.
The Independent reports that scientists say that sunspots do NOT cause climate change, debunking a key claim of global warming sceptics. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
Sunspots are dark cool patches that appear on the surface of the sun and last for about a week. • Many researchers thought the sunspot cycle had hit bottom in 2008 when the sun was blank 73% of the time.
