Postsecondary Education

Admissions

(w> A. Discussion

Discuss the following questions with your classmates:

• Do you think that this is an important examination that the students are taking?

• What will happen if they fail this exam?

• Do students in your country take a lot of exams? What are the most important exams they take?

В. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Read through the sentences, trying to imagine which words would fit in the blanks. Then listen to a dictation of the full sentences, and write the missing words in the blanks.

1. _______________________ education in the United States

includes_________________________ as well as four-year

colleges, most of which are__________________________

2. To be________________________ , a college must meet certain

________________________ set by institutional and professional associations.

3. The more________________________ private schools are more

________________________ —that is, they have stiffer admissions requirements.

4. All college applicants must submit a________________________

of high school grades and often_________________________ test

results.

5. A student’s________________________ activities and possibly

_________________________________________________ are often factors in his or her admission.

6. Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002, 65.2 percent in

college the following October.

7. If we_________________________________________________

the statistics racially, we find that white students enrolled in

college in greater_________________________ than black or

Hispanic students.

8. They may be people who attend part-time to

________________________ their__________________________ ,

people who are changing careers, or retired people who still have a desire to learn.

9. Because most young American students have not traveled in other

countries, they are not very_________________________ in inter­

national matters, and foreign students often find them friendly but not very about their countries

or cultures.

10. Some students begin college at a community college with more

admissions requirements and later_________________________

________________________ to a four-year college.

Follow-up: Check the spelling of the dictated words with your teacher. Discuss the meanings of these words and any other unfamiliar words in the sentences.

C. Predictions

Using the photograph and the vocabulary exercise as a starting point, write three questions that you think will be answered in the lecture.

Example: • How many colleges and universities are there in the

United States?

1. __________________________________________________

2.

3.

Follow-up: After you have written your questions, share them with your teacher and your classmates.

Preparation

1. Structuring: Listening

In the previous lesson we talked about structuring notes by using letters and numbers to make the notes clearer and easier to use. Practice struc­turing your notes as you listen to a portion of this lecture. Remember to move from left to right as you take down more specific information. The main idea, the most general one, is written for you.

ST3 Community colleges differ from four-year colls.

A.

1.

B.

1.

2.

C.

1.

2.

Conclusion:

Follow-up: Compare your notes with another student’s. Do you have the same information under A, B, and C?

2. Acronyms

Acronyms are abbreviations in which the first letters of the words in a phrase are used as a shortcut way to speak or write about the phrase. For example, ESL is an acronym for "English as a Second Language." It is often used in both spoken and written language.

In this lecture the following tests and degrees will be referred to in abbreviated form. As you now write the first-letter abbreviations, say them to yourself. When you take notes, use the abbreviations.

Graduate Record Examination GRE_______

Graduate Management Admissions Test _________________

Law School Admissions Test __________

Medical College Admissions Test __________

Scholastic Aptitude Test __________

Associate of Arts degree A. A. degree

Bachelor of Science degree __________

Bachelor of Arts degree __________

II. LISTENING______________________________________________

Q A. First Listening

The lecturer appears to be in a hurry today to get into her topic. Her introduction is very brief and basically consists of an announcement of her major subtopics. You will not need to take notes on the introduc­tion itself. However, notice as you listen that the conclusion, which begins with "in brief," contains important logical conclusions about the four subtopics that you will want to include in your notes. As you take notes, take down details you have time for, but make sure that you take down the subtopics. Again, practice structuring your notes by using letters and numbers.

NOTES

ST1

ST3

Conclusion:

ST4

Follow-up: Check your major subtopics with your teacher. Which subtopic would you look under to answer the following questions?

• What are two factors that a college or university might use to decide whether to admit a student?

• What is the range (from low to high) of the total cost of attending a college or university?

• Where can you receive an Associate of Arts degree?

Q B. Further Listening

While continuing to structure your notes, write down remaining rele­vant information.

Follow-up: Check your notes. If you missed important information or have doubts about your notes, (1) verify them by asking a classmate questions to fill the gaps in your notes or (2) listen to the lecture a third time. When verifying your notes with a classmate, do not show each other your notes; ask specific questions to get the information you need.

Examples: • What does SAT stand for? Do all high school students

have to take this exam before they can graduate?

• What percentage of university students actually graduate?

• What do you have in your notes about the differences between community colleges and four-year colleges and universities? I’m not sure I got everything the lecturer said.

This is also a good time to check to see if the lecturer answered your Predictions questions about the lecture.

III. POSTLISTEIMIIMG________________________________________

Q A. Accuracy Check

Listen to the following questions, and write short answers. You will hear each question one time only.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

10. _________________________________________

Follow-up: Check your answers with your teacher. If your score is less than 70 percent, you may need to listen to the lecture again or rewrite your notes so that you can understand and use them later.

1.

B. Oral Activities

Review

In small groups, review your notes section by section to be sure that all members have a complete set of notes for each subsection. At the end of this activity, your teacher will ask various class members to reproduce sections of the lecture for the whole class to listen to. At that time, check what you hear against your notes. If you don’t understand or you disagree with what you hear, wait until the speaker finishes. Then bring your notes into agreement by seeking clarification, as follows:

• Did you say that some schools have up to 15,000 students or 50,000 students?

• In my notes I have that it’s expensive to attend a community college. What do you have?

• I’m not sure what it means to "drop out" of school.

2. Transfer

If you and your classmates come from different countries, discuss these questions with a partner or in small groups. If not, discuss them with the whole class.

• How many colleges and universities are there in your country?

• What kinds of colleges and universities do you have?

• Where are these schools located—in major cities or in small towns?

• Approximately how many students are there at these schools?

• What percentage of high school graduates go on to a university?

Some countries take a more elitist approach to education than does the United States. That is, some countries limit the number of students who can go on to college by means of a highly competitive examination system. Discuss the following two questions in pairs, in small groups, or as a class:

• What might be some of the social, political, and economic reasons for an elitist educational system?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the two different approaches to education—elitist and nonelitist?

C. Collaboration: Writing Answers to Essay Questions

To help you prepare for the essay questions in the Unit Quiz at the end of this unit, plan and write essay answers to the following questions on U. S. postsecondary education in groups of three or four. Appoint one member of the group to do the actual writing; all members of the group should participate in planning and helping with the answers. At this point, you should refer to the guidelines in Unit 1, Chapter 2, p. 18. Review the guidelines before you begin to write essay answers.

Questions:

1. Discuss the wide variety of sizes, kinds, and locations of American universities and colleges.

2. Compare and contrast junior colleges and four-year universities.

Follow-up: Share your answers with at least one other group that has written on the same question(s). Or share your answers orally as a class, and discuss the strengths in each answer.

D. Pursuing the Topic

The following are recommended for a closer look at university admis­sions issues in the United States:

Book/Periodicals/Internet

www. collegeboard. com

This Web site gives reliable information on more than 1,500 colleges and universities to help students select a school. The site allows students to compare different colleges by listing tuition and fees, admissions requirements, and the range of students’

SAT scores to let applicants knowhow competitive the school is.

It also gives information about SAT administration, hints about applying to colleges, and information on loans and scholarships.

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Public Education

Philosophy and Funding

I. PRELISTENING

A. Discussion

Discuss the following questions with your classmates:

• What kind of school do you think this is, public or private?

• Who do you think pays for the education that the children who attend this school receive?

• Where do most parents in your country prefer to send their children, to private or public schools?

Q B. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Read through the sentences, trying to imagine which words would fit in the blanks. Then listen to a dictation of the full sentences, and write the missing words in the blanks.

1. Education in the United States is_________________________

until a certain age or grade level.

2. A small percentage of students attend private schools, either reli­gious or, but most attend public

schools.

3. There is no nationwide_________________________ , nor are there

nationwide_________________________ examinations set by the

federal government.

4. The federal government influences public education by providing

________________________ for special programs such as educa­tion for the and bilingual education.

5. Control of education in the United States is mainly

6. Each state has many school districts run by school boards whose

members are________________________ by voters of the

district.

7. The amount of funding supplied by the state and by the local

school districts_________________________ over time and from

state to state.

8. Public schools are funded to_________________________

_________________________________________________ by local

taxes.

9. Government funding of private schools, which are generally

religious schools, is now and has been________________________

for some time.

10. Charter schools are________________________ public schools

that_________________________ with regular public schools for

students.

11. Charter schools operate under_______________________ to a

sponsor, usually a state or local school board, to whom they are

12. of the voucher concept believe that

private schools offer better education.

13. of the voucher concept claim that

using tax money for private schools__________________________

the separation of church and state built into the U. S. Constitution.

14. The federal government in 2002, passed an educational

________________________ that requires states that wish

to receive certain federal funding to develop and put in place extensive testing programs and other systems to ensure

________________________ " of students.

Follow-up: Check the spelling of the dictated words with your teacher.

Discuss the meanings of these words and any other unfamiliar words

in the sentences.

C. Predictions

Using the photograph and the vocabulary exercise as a starting point, write three questions that you think will be answered in the lecture.

Example: • What are the other responsibilities of the local school

districts?

1.

2.

3.

Follow-up: After you have written your questions, share them with your teacher and your classmates.

Q D. Notetaking Preparation

1. Structuring: Outlining

A good notetaker structures his or her notes. As you develop this skill, add numbers and letters to show the organization of your notes. Part of this chapter’s lecture is presented here for you to practice this skill before you listen to the complete lecture. Complete the outline below with information from subtopic 1. Some information is included in this outline to help keep you on track. Fill in the rest as you listen. Take a minute now to look over the outline to see where you need to fill in information.

ST1 Three levels of control

A. _________________________

1. Sets basic curriculum

B. School district

1. Numbers depend on

2. Responsibilities

a.

b.

c.

■’ r. уллй ан»іми, ііііц ^

C.

1. Teachers’ responsibilities

a.

b.

2. Rhetorical Cues

Read the following sentences, which contain rhetorical cues to help you follow the organization of the lecture. Decide in which order you will hear them. Number them from first (1) to sixth (6).

__ a. Control of education in the United States is mainly

exercised locally at three levels. Let’s begin with the state department of education.

__ b. The first issue deals with the inequality of educational

opportunities that students face.

__ c. Finally, I’d like to discuss three issues related to the funding

of schools that have been receiving a lot of attention recently in the United States.

__ d. The second level of control is the school district.

__ e. The second issue is the issue of funding for private schools.

__ f. The third level of control is the individual school itself.

II – LISTENING_______________________________________________

£/! A. First Listening

Listen for general ideas. After an introduction in which the lecturer mentions distinguishing features of public education in the United States, she goes on to discuss the three levels of control on education within each state. You already have notes on ST1 in Section 1 D. l. She then goes on to explain how funding contributes to local control. Finally, she discusses three important issues related to how public ed­ucation is funded. As you listen, write the subtopics in the appropriate places and details you have time for. Structure your notes like the example in Section 1. D. l.

Introduction:

ST2

ST1

Follow-up: Check your major subtopics with your teacher before you listen to the lecture for the second time.

Q B. Further Listening

While structuring the notes, write down remaining relevant information.

Follow-up: Check your notes. If you missed important information or have doubts about your notes, (1) verify them by asking a classmate questions to fill the gaps in your notes or (2) listen to the lecture a third time. When verifying your notes with a classmate, do not show each other your notes,- ask specific questions to get the information you need.

Examples: • Who is responsible for the hiring of teachers? Is it the

school district or the individual school itself?

• Where does the largest percentage of money for the pub­lic schools come from? Is it from the state or the local school district?

• What are the major differences between charter schools and voucher schools?

This is also a good time to check to see if the lecturer answered your Predictions questions about the lecture.

(и) A Accuracy Check

Listen to the following questions, and write short answers. You will hear each question one time only.

1. _________________________________________________________

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. __________________________________________________

Follow-up: Check your answers with your teacher. If your score is less than 70 percent, you may need to listen to the lecture again or rewrite your notes so that you can understand and use them later.

B. Oral Activities

1. Review

In groups of four, use your notes to reproduce sections of the lecture. Student A will present the introduction, and Student В will present subtopic 1, including details. Student C will present subtopic 2 with details and Student D, subtopic 3 with details. Check what you hear against your notes. If you don’t understand or you disagree with what you hear, wait until the speaker finishes. Then bring your notes into agreement by seeking clarification, as follows.

• Excuse me, can you tell me what two functions of the state government are?

• Could you repeat what you said about public education in the nineteenth century?

• I’m afraid my notes about taxes are different from yours.

Discuss with a classmate how the educational system in your country is different from that in the United States. Try to use some of the ideas and vocabulary from Vocabulary and Key Concepts—for example, nationwide curriculum, standardized examinations, required courses, electives, control, compulsory.

C. Collaboration: Summary

Work with a partner, and use your notes to write a summary of the lec­ture in no more than 125 words. Be sure to include information about public and private schools, funding and control of schools, and current issues in U. S. public education.

Follow-up: Share your summary with at least one other pair. Tell the other pair what you particularly like about their summary.

D. Pursuing the Topic

The following are recommended for a closer look at public education issues in the United States:

Books/Periodicals/Internet

www. ed. gov

Explore the Web site of the U. S. Department of Education to find out about current topics in public education.

http://nces. ed. gov

Explore the Web site of the National Center for Education Statis­tics to find current statistics and research on education in the United States.

Films/Videos

Stand and Deliver, Roman Menendez, director; 104 minutes, PG.

This film is based on the true story of a high school teacher who tried to inspire students and raise academic standards in a U. S. inner-city, minority neighborhood school.

Dead Poets’ Society, Peter Weir, director,* 129 minutes, PG.

This film depicts the efforts of a teacher who uses poetry to inspire private preparatory school students to be more expressive and to “seize the moment, ” with unexpected dramatic results.

Interview

Interview a U. S. citizen who attended public schools to find out his or her view on some of the issues highlighted in the lecture. Beforehand, write questions as a class to ask

• the person’s opinion of his or her public school education

• what he or she thinks are the best and worst things about public schools

• what the person thinks about tax money in the form of vouchers going to private schools

• what he or she thinks about prayer in public schools

• any other questions your class is interested in

Write down the answers to the questions, and share the informa­tion with your classmates.

Variation: Invite an American to visit your class, and have the whole class interview him or her using the questions that you wrote.

Field Trip

If you are studying in the United States, it may be possible for your instructor to make arrangements for your class to visit a local public elementary, middle, or high school. Although the details of such visits have to be worked out with the school you visit, American students will be curious about your country and culture, so be prepared to answer questions.

Read More

American Trademarks

Multiculturalism

Assign one group member to write down the questions; all members will help plan and compose the questions. For the lecture on multicul­turalism, write five short-answer questions that can be answered with a few words or sentences. In addition, write two essay questions,- word the essay questions so that they can easily be turned into topic sentences.

Short-Answer Questions

1. _________________________________________________________

2.

3.

4.

5.

Essay Questions

1.

2.

Follow-up: Write your questions on the board to discuss as a class.

Written follow-up: Prepare for the quiz by writing answers to the questions your class has proposed. You may have abbreviations in your notes, but do not use abbreviations other than standard ones like U. S. in your answers.

Chapter 8 Crime and Violence in the United States

Assign one group member to write down the questions; all members will help plan and compose the questions. For the lecture on crime, write five short-answer questions that can be answered with a few words or a maximum of two sentences. In addition, write two essay questions; word the essay questions so that they can easily be turned into topic sentences.

Short-Answer Questions

1._________________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________

3.

4.

5.

Essay Questions

1. ____________

2.

Follow-up: Write your questions on the board to discuss as a class.

Written follow-up: Prepare for the quiz by writing answers to the questions your class has proposed. You may have abbreviations in your notes, but do not use abbreviations other than standard ones like IJ. S. in your answers.

UNIT QUIZ PREPARATION 99

Chapter 9 Globalization

Assign one group member to write down the questions; all members will help plan and compose the questions. For the lecture on globaliza­tion, write five short-answer questions that can be answered with a few words or sentences. In addition, write two essay questions,- word the questions so that they can easily be turned into topic sentences.

Short-Answer Questions

1. ________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________

3.

4.

5.

Essay Questions

1. ___________

2.

Follow-up: Write your questions on the board to discuss as a class.

Written follow-up: Prepare for the quiz by writing answers to the questions your class has proposed. You may have abbreviations in your notes, but do not use abbreviations other than standard ones like U. S. in your answers.

Read More

Globalization

A. Discussion

Discuss these questions with your classmates:

• The first illustration on the previous page shows a "sweatshop." Why do you think the word sweat is part of the name? Where do we find sweatshops? How do they come about?

• What are the people in the second photo upset about?

• What are the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank? What do they do?

• How is the World Trade Organization (WTO) different from these two banks?

Q B. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Read through the sentences, trying to imagine which words would fit in the blanks. Then listen to a dictation of the full sentences, and write the missing words in the blanks.

1. The King of Bhutan said that he wasn’t sure his country had one of those but was interested in knowing what a

________________________ was.

2. Globalization is the_________________________ and

________________________ of economic interaction among the

people, companies, and governments of different nations.

3. But it is at the same time a subject that________________________

the anger and mistrust of many people in the world: environ­mentalists, unionists, anarchists, and some governments—

all_________________________ rather than supporters of

globalization.

4. Some skeptics feel that globalization allows rich countries to take

________________________ of poor countries, which these skep­tics feel are only hurt by trying to be more___

5. And globalization is definitely about capitalism: its goal is to

increase the______________________________________________

________________________ and capital around the world.

6. If globalization is included in a book that focuses on the United States, it is because the world sees the United States (and, to a lesser degree, Western Europe and Japan) as the

_________________________________________________ behind

the process of globalization.

7. Often, poor countries are pressured to follow global trade rules as a condition for a loan or for aid. For example, a poor country

might be advised to adjust the value of its_____________________

or it might be advised to eliminate__________________________ ,

or taxes, on goods imported from other countries.

8. _______________________ on new inventions and copyright

laws most often protect technology from the West—and keep the technology from being used more freely by poor countries. Poorer

countries may also be told to_________________________ their

industries and banks.

9. To get an idea how these rules can in some cases

________________________ development instead of encouraging

it, let’s take a look at some countries that are not big Western

powers but have________________________ into the world

economy—by not following the rules.

10. It is common for critics to claim that globalization has only

________________________ rich Western countries, but this

claim is_________________________

11. Harvard economist Dani Rodrik, in "Trading in Illusions," writes that all four countries have taken advantage of opportunities to

________________________ in world trade, that is, to

________________________ integration in the world economy.

12. India was, and still is, one of the most________________________

economies in the world but has made great progress economically, and South Korea and Taiwan had patent and copyright

________________________ and restrictions on foreign

________________________ but still prospered.

13. The poor countries_________________________

___________________ against agricultural____________________

by rich countries, which make the poor countries7 products less competitive in the world market.

14. The twenty-three countries did not manage to_________________

the subsidies at that meeting because the talks broke down, but they did

for themselves.

C. Predictions

Using the photographs and the vocabulary exercise as a starting point,

write three questions that you think will be answered in the lecture.

Examples: • Do most countries benefit or suffer from globalization?

• Have any poor countries prospered because of globalization?

1.

Follow-up: After you have written your questions, share them with your teacher and your classmates.

Q D. Notetaking Preparation

1. Structuring

In Chapter 8, you worked on structuring your notes to make them eas­ier to read. Practice organizing ideas again on a new topic. While listen­ing, write the main idea on the first line under Notes. You will hear five examples; notice there are five equally indented lines for those, marked with diamonds (♦). The lines that are even further indented to the right are for details of two of the examples. Listen to this passage two times, and take notes using key words.

Notes

♦ ♦

♦____________________________________________________________

2. Rhetorical Cues

Carefully read these sentences, which signal a transition to a new topic. Then decide in which order you will probably hear them in to­day’s lecture. Number them first (1) to fifth (5).

___ a. To get on to my second point today, let’s look more closely

at some non-Western countries that have achieved long­term economic growth in the past decades.

___ b. To finish up by talking about our third point today, we have

to take up two problems that critics of globalization bring up all the time.

___ c. Let me begin this lecture by telling you a story to put things

in perspective.

__ d. To conclude, in my estimation, globalization is probably

going to continue because capitalism has become the domi­nant world economic system.

___ e. We can’t really go into cultural imperialism today, but we

can look at three different aspects of globalization to under­stand this complicated process a little better.

Follow-up: Discuss your answers as a class.

О A.

First Listening

Listen for general ideas. The lecturer has a very long introduction, giv­ing us definitions and background that we’ll need to follow the lecture. Then he explains how he will organize the lecture. The first two subtopics are quite long, whereas the third is relatively short. The con­clusion is rather long because the lecturer attempts to bring all three points together. As you listen, decide what the three main subtopics are, and write them down under ST1, ST2, and ST3. Ideas in the intro­duction and conclusion are also important in this lecture, so try to take down important background information including the definitions.

Notes

Introduction:

ST1

ST3

Conclusion:

Follow-up: Now check your major subtopics with your teacher.

Q B. Further Listening

While listening again, write down necessary relevant details below the main subtopic to which they belong. Use key words to save time, and structure the information to organize your notes.

Follow-up: Check your notes. If you missed important information or have doubts about your notes, (1) verify them by asking a classmate questions to fill the gaps in your notes or (2) listen to the lecture a third time. When verifying your notes with a classmate, do not show each other your notes; ask specific questions to get the information you need.

Examples: • Did you get down all five examples under the first

subtopic?

• What did the lecturer say about South Korea and Taiwan?

• Did the lecturer mention any countries in connection to sweatshops?

This is also a good time to check to see if the lecturer answered your Predictions questions about the lecture.

Q A. Accuracy Check

Listen to the following questions, and write short answers where pos­sible. Use your notes. You will hear each question one time only.

1.___________________________________________________ 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9. _________________________________________________________

10. _________________________________________________________________

Follow-up: Check your answers with your teacher. If your score is less than 70 percent, you may need to listen to the lecture again or rewrite your notes so that you can understand and retrieve the information in them.

B. Oral Activities

1. Review

In groups of five, use your notes to reproduce sections of the lecture. Student A will present the introduction, Student B, subtopic 1; student C, subtopic 2; student D, subtopic 3; and student E, the conclusion. If you don’t understand or you disagree with what you hear, wait until your classmate finishes. Then bring your notes into agreement by seek­ing clarification, as follows:

• I didn’t understand your definition of globalization. Could you re­peat it?

• Is the lecturer for or against child labor? It’s not clear to me.

2. Transfer

Look into your country’s integration into the world economy by researching one or more of these topics:

• imports and exports, including whether subsidies and tariffs exist

• their country’s economic health today compared to ten or twenty years ago and the reasons for the change if there is one

• recent participation by their country in WTO talks

• a particular World Bank or IMF project: its success and, if possible, the global trade rules imposed to complete the project

Use the library, the Internet, or an interview with an expert for infor­mation to prepare a five-minute talk to present to the class. Put the re­search into your own words and speak from notes (rather than read a text) to be easier to understand.

C. Collaboration: Discussion

Discuss one or two of the following questions with a partner. Then share your views with another pair or the whole class.

1. Do you think the world in general is worse off or better off because of globalization? Explain.

2. Can poorer countries oppose the will of stronger ones when it comes to world trade? If so, how?

3. Do you feel that the only ones benefiting from globalization are transnational corporations (multinationals)? Explain.

D. Pursuing the Topic

Books/Periodicals/Internet

www. guardian, со. uk/globalisation/storv

A number of different views on globalization from a British newspaper site (note the British spelling “globalisation ” in the address).

On the Internet, search under "Dani Rodik" for a Harvard professor’s further views on globalization.

Films/Videos

Life and Debt, Stephanie Black, director; 86 minutes, not rated.

A documentary which examines how the Jamaican economy has changed under the influence of the IMF, World Bank, and other organizations. Based on the book A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.

Now that you have completed the chapters in this unit, your teacher may want you to take a quiz. Your teacher will tell you whether or not you can use your notes to answer the questions on the quiz. If you can use your notes, review them before taking the quiz so that you can anticipate the questions and know where to find the answers. If you cannot use your notes, study them carefully before you take the quiz, concentrating on organizing the information into main ideas and details that support these main ideas.

Work in small groups to help each other anticipate the questions your teacher will ask. Before breaking up into groups, review your notes and highlight important, noteworthy points. After reviewing your notes, break up into groups. Discuss and write specific short – answer questions and more general essay questions. (For guidelines in writing questions, see the Unit Quiz Directions at the end of Unit 1.)

Write your group’s questions on the following pages.

97

UNIT QUIZ DIRECTIONS

Read More

. Crime and Violence in the United States

A. Discussion

Discuss these questions with your classmates:

• What’s happening in the first picture?

• Does the man in the second picture look like a criminal? What is a white-collar crime?

• Would you say there is more crime in the United States or in your country? Why?

Q B. Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Read through the sentences, trying to imagine which words would fit in the blanks. Then listen to a dictation of the full sentences, and write the missing words in the blanks.

1. Between 1994 and 2001,________________________________________________ crime—

homicide, rape, arson, and aggravated____________________ —

fell 52 percent.

2. At the same time, in recent years there has been stricter law

________________________ in cities like New York and Boston,

and very_________________________ penalties have been

imposed on repeat offenders.

3. Statistics are harder to come by for_________________________

________________________ crime, crimes including

________________________ and bribery.

4. One theory says that people are basically______________________

by nature and, therefore,_________________________

________________________ violence.

5. If a person commits a crime, society is________________________

____________________ because society’s______________________

are the cause of the criminal behavior.

6. There are________________________ causes like racism and

more obvious causes like the breakdown of the family and a of drugs.

7. Because they have been_________________________

________________________ the benefits that most Americans

have, criminals are alienated from society, which causes them

to——————————————————————————– at

the society.

8. The________________________ is that small part of the popula­

tion that typically fits the following profile: poor, unemployed,

badly educated,_________________________ black, inner-city

youth, some of whom belong to gangs.

9. According to the theory, society_________________________ this

aggressiveness and potential violence by______________________

us.

10. Society gives us_________________________ against killing and

stealing, for example, and values for honesty and

11. If we are adequately socialized, we have a

________________________ , the result of values that determine

how we_________________________________________________

our children.

12. The amount of crime depends on how_______________________

is used as a_________________________ to crime—that is, how

effectively the criminal justice system functions.

13. Typically, white-collar criminals, who include some businessmen

and_____________________ , may be_______________________

a well-developed conscience.

14. Without a strong conscience, a person’s innate aggressiveness

—————————————————————————— and

—————————————————————————— crime.

15. Many experts feel that this can come about only if the underclass

has the same_________________________ that the majority of the

population______________________________________________

Follow-up: Check the spelling of the dictated words with your teacher.

Discuss the meanings of those words and any other unfamiliar words

in the sentences.

C. Predictions

Using the photographs and the vocabulary exercise as a starting point,

write three questions that you think will be answered in the lecture.

Example: • How did the underclass in the United States develop?

1._________________________________________________________ 2.

3.

Follow-up: After you have written your questions, share them with your teacher and your classmates.

D. Notetaking Preparation

1. Structuring

It is easier to get information from your notes if you make an effort to organize the ideas on the page as you take notes. Organizing the ideas means putting the ideas down in a logical way. The first step in organiz­ing your ideas is to distinguish between main ideas and secondary ideas. Organize your notes by writing main ideas all the way to the left of the page and by writing secondary ideas a little to the right. Details can be indented even further to the right. Look at how the introduction to this lesson has been structured, and answer the questions that follow.

Crime statistics match public’s perception of less crime

• 1994-2001: violent crime decreased 52%

• 1994: 51 victims per 1,000

• 2001:24 " " "

• Possible reasons for decrease

• Stricter law enforcement in cities

• Stringent penalties on repeat offenders

• Statistics on white-collar crime (embezzlement, bribery, and so on) not as clear

• Statistics hard to get.

• It doesn’t scare people.

a. What is the main idea of the introduction?

b. How many ideas (secondary) support the main idea? What are they?

c. How many details support the secondary ideas? What are they? Follow-up: Now check your answers with your teacher.

2. Rhetorical Cues

Read these sentences, in which the lecturer uses rhetorical cues to make a transition from one topic to another. Decide in which order you will hear them. Number them from first (1) to sixth (6).

__ a. To start off with, liberals—in politics, sociology, and other

fields—typically embrace the first theory.

__ b. Actually, I feel that both theories serve us in identifying

solutions.

__ c. Crime is such a difficult issue to discuss because it can be

looked at in so many different ways. Today I’d like to take a philosophical, sociological look at society and crime by dis­cussing two theories of crime.

___ d. In another lecture, we’ll look at the justice system.

__ e. So we need to look a little further into the causes of crime,*

let’s look at the second theory.

__ f. The second theory, often embraced by conservatives, sees

people as innately aggressive and predisposed to violence.

Follow-up: Discuss your answers as a class.

Q A. First Listening

You already have notes for the introduction. Review those notes so that you can follow how the notetaker structured the information. Then use the first listening to take down the three major subtopics. As you take down additional information, structure it by putting main ideas to the left and indenting for secondary ideas and indenting even further for details.

NOTES

Introduction:

ST1

ST3

Follow-up: Now check your major subtopics with your teacher.

0 B. Further Listening

While listening again, write down necessary relevant details below the main subtopic to which they belong. Remember to structure the infor­mation as you take it down.

Follow-up: Check your notes. If you missed important information or have doubts about your notes, (1) verify them by asking a classmate questions to fill the gaps in your notes or (2) listen to the lecture a third time. When verifying your notes with a classmate, do not show each other your notes; ask specific questions to get the information you need.

Examples: • Do you have any idea whether liberals embrace the first

theory or the second one?

• I’m wondering if you caught how society socializes people.

This is also a good time to check to see if the lecturer answered your Predictions questions about the lecture.

0 A. Accuracy Check

Listen to the following questions, and write short answers. Use your notes. You will hear each question one time only.

1. ______________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. ________________________________________________________

8.

9. _________________________________________________________

10. _________________________________________________________________

Follow-up: Check your answers with your teacher. If your score is less than 70 percent, you may need to listen to the lecture again or rewrite your notes so that you can understand and retrieve the information in them.

B. Oral Activities

1. Review

In groups of four, use your notes to practice giving one section of the lecture to classmates. Take turns practicing different sections until everyone has had a chance to speak. For example, Student A will give the introduction, Student В will give subtopic 1, and so on. Check what you hear against your notes. If you don’t understand or you disagree with what you hear, wait until the speaker finishes. Then bring your notes into agreement by clarifying points of disagreement, as follows:

• Would you mind repeating what you said about why crime is a dif­ficult issue to discuss?

• Excuse me. Can you tell me once again why society is to blame, according to the first theory?

2. Transfer

If your class is multinational, prepare a short oral report about crime in your country, covering the points below. Work with the other students from your country.

If your classmates are all from your country, discuss crime in your country as a class. Discuss these points:

• How much crime is there in your country?

• Is the crime rate increasing or decreasing?

• What are the causes of crime?

• What solutions would you propose to reduce crime?

C. Collaboration: Writing Answers to Essay Questions

On the quiz at the end of this unit, there will be short-answer ques­tions and essay questions. You will answer the short-answer questions with a few words or a sentence or two. You will answer the essay ques­tions with a complete English paragraph.

With a partner, plan and write essay answers to the questions on crime. One will write the answer down, but both partners will collabo­rate in forming the answers.

Essay Questions

1. Contrast the two theories about the causes of crime in the United States.

2. Discuss how society socializes us, according to the second theory of crime.

Follow-up: Share your answers with at least one other group. Or share your answers orally as a class, and discuss the strengths in each answer.

D. Pursuing the Topic

The following are recommended for a closer look at crime in the United States:

Books/Periodicals/Internet

Reiss, Albert f. and Roth, Jeffrey A. Understanding and Preventing Violence. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993.

The book, which you can read in the electronic version on the Internet, helps to better understand the causes of crime and provides intelligent advice about curbing it. It isn’t as current as some materials but is a good investigation of the problem.

Films/Videos

Boyz ’N the Hood, John Singleton, director; 111 minutes, R.

The film shows young African American males who live in a world where physical and psychological violence are a constant threat.

Of Mice and Men, Gary Sinise, director; 110 minutes, PG-13.

From a John Steinbeck novel, the film depicts the difficulties of two itinerant workers, one of whom commits a murder.

The Fugitive, Andrew Davis, director,- 127 minutes, PG-13.

A remake of an earlier movie and a TV series, this film shows a falsely accused man who escapes the police to prove himself innocent of his wife’s murder.

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