TEXT 1

School for sexism

By Deborah Cameron (Oxford University)

      This week, it was announced that schools in England are being issued with new guidelines on combatting sexism and gender stereotyping. This initiative follows research conducted for the Institute of Physics (IoP), which found that most schools took sexism less seriously than other kinds of prejudice and discrimination. […]

      The IoP’s main concern—one it shares with the government, which co-funded the research—is that girls are being deterred from studying science subjects by the sexist attitudes they encounter in school. Language is only one of the issues the report urges schools to tackle. […] But language was the main theme picked up in media reporting on the new guidelines, with many news outlets dramatically proclaiming that children ‘as young as five’ were going to be ‘banned’ from using certain words.

      […] I think we can guess why these newspapers were so keen on the language angle. They’ve known since the heyday of ‘political correctness gone mad’ that nothing stirs up the wrath of Middle England like a story about someone trying to ban words. Never mind that no sane parent permits total free expression for the under-fives […].

      This reporting only underlined the point that sexism isn’t taken as seriously as other forms of prejudice. […] Rather than being outraged by the idea of telling primary school children to watch their words, shouldn’t we be asking why ‘children as young as five’ are using sexist language in the first place?

      We may not want to think that this is happening among children still at primary school, but unfortunately the evidence says it is. […] Girl Guiding UK publishes an annual survey of girls’ attitudes: the 2015 survey, conducted with a sample of nearly 1600 girls and young women aged between 7 and 21, found that in the week before they were questioned, over 80% of respondents had experienced or witnessed some form of sexism, much of which was perpetrated by boys of their own age, and some of which undoubtedly occurred in school. 39% of respondents had been subjected to demeaning comments on their appearance, and 58% had heard comments or jokes belittling women and girls. […]

      By the time they go to secondary school, girls are conscious of this everyday sexism as a factor which restricts their freedom, affecting where they feel they can go, what they feel able to wear and how much they are willing to talk in front of boys. In the Girl Guiding UK survey, a quarter of respondents aged 11-16 reported that they avoided speaking in lessons because of their fear of attracting sexist comments.

      So, the Institute of Physics isn’t just being perverse when it identifies sexist ‘banter’ as a problem that affects girls’ education. It’s to the organization’s credit that it’s saying this shouldn’t be tolerated—and it’s also to its credit that it’s offering practical advice. Its recommendations are sensible, and its report contains many good ideas for teachers to consider. […]

      When the Sunday Times talks about ‘boys and girls cheerfully baiting each other in the playground’, the implication is that we’re dealing with something reciprocal, a ‘battle of the sexes’ in which the two sides are evenly matched. But they’re not evenly matched. What can a girl say to a boy that will make him feel like a commodity, a piece of meat? What popular catchphrase can she fling at him that has the same dismissive force as ‘make me a sandwich’? […]

      The IoP report does not seem to grasp that there is more to sexism than gender stereotyping. It falls back on the liberal argument that stereotyping harms both sexes equally: it’s as bad for the boy who wants to be a ballet dancer as it is for the girl who dreams of becoming an astrophysicist. But sexism doesn’t harm boys and girls equally, just as racism doesn’t harm white people and people of colour equally. It is the ideology of a system based on structural sexual inequality: male dominance and female subordination. You can’t address the problem of gender stereotyping effectively if you don’t acknowledge the larger power structure it is part of.

                               Disponível em: https://debuk.wordpress.com. Acesso em: 20 out. 2019. 

The Disappearing Honeybee

• Honeybees do more than just make honey. They fly around and pollinate flowers, plants, and trees. Our fruits, nuts, and vegetables rely.....................these pollinators. One third.....................America’s food supply is pollinated.....................the honeybee.

Have you seen or heard a honeybee lately? Bees are mysteriously disappearing in many parts of the world. Most people don’t know about this problem. It is called “colony collapse disorder” (CCD). Some North American beekeepers lost 80% of their hives from 2006-2008. Bees in Italy and Australia are disappearing too.

The disappearance of the honeybee is a serious problem. Can you imagine never eating another blueberry? What about almonds and cherries? Without honeybees food prices will skyrocket. The poorest people always suffer the worst when there is a lack of food.

This problem affects other foods besides fresh produce. Imagine losing your favourite ice cream! Haagen Daaz is a famous ice cream company. Many of their flavours rely on the hard working honeybee. In 2008, Haagen Daaz began raising money for CCD. They also funded a garden at the University of California called The Haven. This garden helps raise awareness about the disappearing honeybee and teaches visitors how to plant for pollinators.

Donating money to research is the most important thing humans can do to save the honeybee. Some scientists blame CCD on climate change. Others think pesticides are killing the bees. Commercial bee migration may also cause CCD. Beekeepers transport their hives from place to place in order to pollinate plants year round.

https://www.englishclub.com/reading/environment/honeybee.htm

      There is a danger in paying too much attention to learners’ errors. While errors indeed reveal a system at work, the classroom language teacher can become so preoccupied ________ noticing errors that the correct utterances in the second language go unnoticed. In our observation and analysis of errors – for all that they do reveal about the learner – we must beware of placing too much attention on errors and not lose sight of the value of positive reinforcement of clearly expressed language that is a product of the learner’s progress of development. While the diminishing of errors is an important criterion ______ increasing language proficiency, the ultimate goal of second language learning is the attainment of communicative fluency.

      Another inadequacy in error analysis is an overemphasis on production data. Language is speaking and listening, writing and reading. The comprehension of language is as important as production. It so happens that production lends itself to analysis and thus becomes the prey of researchers, __________ comprehension data is equally important in developing an understanding of the process of SLA.

               (Brown, D. H. Principles of language learning and teaching. 2000. Adapted)

1. What is an analog-digital converter?

An Analog-Digital Converter (ADC) is a widely used electronic component that converts an analog electric signal (usually a voltage) into a digital representation. The ADCs are at the front-end of any digital circuit that needs to process signals coming from the exterior world. Its schematic symbol is:

The output of a microphone, the voltage at a photodiode or the signal of an accelerometer are examples of analog values that need to be converted so that a microprocessor can work with them.

2. How does the ADC convert a signal?

Many ways have been developed to convert an analog signal, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The choice of the ADC for a given application is usually defined by the requirements you have: if you need speed, use a fast ADC; if you need precision, use an accurate ADC; if you are constrained in space, use a compact ADC.

All ADCs work under the same principle: they need to convert a signal to a certain number of bits N. The sequence of bits represents the number and each bit has the double of the weight of the next, starting from the Most Significant Bit (MSB) up to the Least Significant Bit (LSB). In a nutshell, we want to find the sequence of bits bN−1, bN−2, ..., b0 that represents the analog value Vin as Vin=∑n=0N−1bn2nVref2N.

                                (www.onmyphd.com/?p=analog.digital.converter. Adaptado)

                                         Knowledge and the library

      It was not until the development of monastic libraries in Europe around 1200 that humanity amassed in a single place what approached the collective wisdom and knowledge of the age. Libraries may be exchanges of information and market places for ideas but they are also the buildings which contain the bulk of human knowledge. Or, at least they were until the electronic digitally stored information revolution of the 1980s.

      Now knowledge is virtually everywhere; it has broken free of the constraint of buildings. Today if you were today to destroy all the world’s libraries, it is unlikely that more than 20% of human knowledge would be lost. Certainly, a large amount of archival material would disappear forever, but a substantial volume of knowledge would survive. If a library is a repository of knowledge, this is now just one of its functions. The library’s prime function is now making that knowledge available and encouraging exchange and reflection upon it.

      Electronic knowledge is nowadays available to everybody – in the home, workplace, airport terminal, school, and so on. The Internet has liberated the library; nevertheless, it has not removed the justification for library facilities.

                 (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978185617619410017X. Adaptado)

            Technology in schools: Future changes in classrooms

      Technology has the power to transform how people learn - but walk into some classrooms and you could be forgiven for thinking you were entering a time warp. There will probably be a whiteboard instead of the traditional blackboard, and the children may be using laptops or tablets, but plenty of textbooks, pens and photocopied sheets are still likely.

      The curriculum and theory have changed little since Victorian times, according to the educationalist and author Marc Prensky. "The world needs a new curriculum," he said at the recent Bett show, a conference dedicated to technology in education. Most of the education products on the market are just aids to teach the existing curriculum, he says, based on the false assumption "we need to teach better what we teach today". He feels a whole new core of subjects is needed, focusing on the skills that will equip today's learners for tomorrow's world of work. These include problem-solving, creative thinking and collaboration.

'Flipped' classrooms

      One of the biggest problems with radically changing centuries-old pedagogical methods is that no generation of parents wants their children to be the guinea pigs. Mr Prensky he thinks we have little choice, however: "We are living in an age of accelerating change. We have to experiment and figure out what works."

      "We are at the ground floor of a new world full of imagination, creativity, innovation and digital wisdom. We are going to have to create the education of the future because it doesn't exist anywhere today." He might be wrong there. Change is already afoot to disrupt the traditional classroom. The "flipped" classroom - the idea of inverting traditional teaching methods by delivering instructions online outside of the classroom and using the time in school as the place to do homework - has gained in popularity in US schools. The teacher's role becomes one of a guide, while students watch lectures at home at their own pace, communicating with classmates and teachers online.

(Available in:https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30814302. Accessed on May 18st, 2019. Adapted. Author: Jane Wakefield.) 

                  The “Social Practice” of Teaching

      Examining teaching from the context of a ‘social practice’ may provide us with fresh insights that will challenge the accepted ways of seeing the world of teaching with important implications for faculty development. First, we will look at what we mean by a social practice and then see how teaching falls into that category. A social practice needs to be understood in terms of purpose, context, and a complex array of norms. A social practice is, first, a form of activity that has grown out of common needs in a community to accomplish certain purposes.

      A system of etiquette and a means for communication serve to make human society more civil. Second, a social practice involves shared and mutually understood ways of behaving or acting. Third, the patterns of action are guided by a complex array or norms that we might call rules, standards, principles, precepts, and unwritten policies. These norms have authority (people comply willingly), and they are created and recreated in and through the interactions of those involved in the practice (Case, 1990; Selman, 1989; MacIntyre, 1984; Taylor, 1983). The norms provide reasons for the actions or behaviors of individuals. As in etiquette using particular forms of address, handshaking, and removing or wearing particular headwear are the behaviors that constitute the practice.

      The behaviors have meaning only in terms of the context of that particular community and purpose and can only be explained in relation to the guiding norms. The feature of a social practice (they develop out of the common needs of the community) is clearly consistent with what has already been said about the purposive nature of teaching. Teaching is an activity that has grown out of the need in a community to pass on its knowledge, mores, and behaviors and in medical schools these are formulated as mission statements which include educational aims. To view teaching as a social practice is to acknowledge, first and foremost, the expectations society has for teaching, or in other words, the particular purposes of teaching.

(Available in: D’Eon, M., Overgaard, V., & Harding, S. R. (2000). Advances in Health Sciences Education, 5(2), 151–162. Accessed on May 18st, 2019. Adapted.)

The Regional English Training Centres (RETC) project – new approach to teaching English already shows results

                                                        September 30, 2018 08:00 By The nation

      British Council and the Thai Education Ministry have joined hands to modernise the teaching methods of 17,000 English-language teachers in the kingdom, moving from the “grammar-vocabulary” memorisation system to focus on communication.The UK cultural and education international body’s Regional English Training Centres (RETC) project aims to improve the skills of teachers at primary and secondary schools across Thailand.

      Some 75% of English teachers in Thailand are ranked at the A2 elementary level in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), representing an IELTS score of 3.5 to 4, according to the statement issued by British Council on Friday.The RETC Boot Camp project was first introduced in 2015 to improve overall English teaching proficiency. After two and a half years, 15,300 English teachers, or 90%, have improved their confidence in teaching English and using it in classrooms.

      As the next step, an assessment and evaluation system is to be considered to assist in the adaptation toward the communicative approach.

      Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said the development of Thai students’ English skills is crucial and needs serious improvement. Each Thai student studies English for at least 12 years at primary and secondary school, however most are unable to communicate in English which is the main obstacle to global competition, he said. Two main challenges that need to be addressed are Thai teachers’ English skills and their teaching approach. “By focusing on language accuracy and the memorisation method rather than the communicative approach, most Thai students cannot communicate effectively in English,” he said.

      Many Thai students also have a poor attitude towards English classes. Andrew Glass, director of British Council Thailand, said since the start of the project, 15 RETCs have been established and that 17,000 out of 40,000 of Thailand’s English teachers have been trained and mentored in the communicative approach. Additionally, more than 30 teachers have been intensively trained to become TMTs. They work with British Council trainers to mentor and transfer knowledge to teachers and school directors, creating academic networking opportunities with regional supervisors to improve their follow-up sessions.

      After completing the project, the research clearly indicates that 90% or 15,300 English teachers have more confidence in teaching English in the communicative approach and more confidence in using English in their classrooms. Besides, 72 of English teachers improved their lesson planning and were able to give clearer instructions, while 94% improved their lesson management. In addition, 93% of English teachers have improved their English subject knowledge. Sutthiwat Sutthiprapa, one of the Thai master trainers and a full-time English teacher at Khor Wittayakom in Nakhon Phanom Province, said all the knowledge he gained from the RETC project can be applied in his English classes. “It significantly changes the atmosphere of the classroom and the students’ attitude towards English. "Students are eager to attend the class and make every effort to participate in class activities. I believe that if every English teacher in Thailand exploits the RETC concept, Thai students’ English ability will increase considerably," he said.

(Available in: https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1548446/british-council-helps-train-thai-english-language-teachers.Accessed on May 18th, 2019. Adapted.)

         Why 'Run' Is The Most Complex Word in the English Language

                                                                                         BY EMILY PETSKO

      English can be hard for other language speakers to learn. To use just one example, there are at least eight different ways of expressing events in the future, and conditional tenses are another matter entirely. For evidence of the many nuances and inconsistencies of the English tongue, look no further than this tricky poem penned in 1920. (For a sample: “Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!”)

      As author Simon Winchester wrote for The New York Times, there’s one English word in particular that’s deceptively simple: run. As a verb, it boasts a record-setting 645 definitions. Peter Gilliver, a lexicographer and associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, spent nine months sussing out its many shades of meaning.

      “You might think this word simply means ‘to go with quick steps on alternate feet, never having both or (in the case of many animals) all feet on the ground at the same time,’” Winchester writes. “But no such luck: that is merely sense, and there are miles to go before the reader of this particular entry may sleep.”

      This wasn’t always the case, though. When the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1928, the word with the most definitions was set. However, the word put later outpaced it, and run eventually overtook them both as the English language's most complex word. Winchester thinks this evolution is partly due to advancements in technology (for instance, “a train runs on tracks” and “an iPad runs apps”).

      He believes the widespread use of run—and its intricate web of meanings—is also a reflection of our times. “It is a feature of our more sort of energetic and frantic times that set and put seem, in a peculiar way, sort of rather stodgy, rather conservative,” Gilliver told NPR in an interview.

      So the next time you tell your boss you "want to run an idea" by them, know that you’re unconsciously expressing your enthusiasm— as well as all the other subtleties wrapped up in run that previous words like set failed to capture.

(Available in: http://mentalfloss.com/article/582820/run-most-complex-word-in-english-language. Accessed on May 17th, 2019. Adapted.) 

Schools of thought: can mindfulness lessons boost child mental health?

      Children are taking 10 minutes out from the hurly burly school day to reflect on their thoughts and their feelings. Some ground themselves by thinking about their feet on the floor, while others concentrate on their breathing.

      This is mindfulness, the lessons quickly growing in popularity as an antidote to the stress of being a young person in the 21st century, be it pressure to perform in exams, social media, or the obsession with body image that is reported to even affect primary age children.

      Children are learning about their brains and how to deal with unruly thoughts – to control emotions such as anger and fear. It is no longer head, shoulders, knees and toes, but amygdala, hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex.

      The most recent NHS survey of young people’s mental health in 2017 shows one-in-eight 5- to 19-year-olds in England has a diagnosable mental health condition. Hospital admissions for anorexia alone more than doubled in the eight years to 2017/18.

      Stress is a known barrier to learning and a growing number of schools are targeting the emotional health of pupils through schemes such as meditation, mindfulness and the provision of mental health first aiders and buddies.

      The Mental Health Foundation charity wants emotional wellbeing to be at the heart of the school curriculum, and has chosen body image as the key theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Dr Antonis Kousoulis, its assistant director, said its survey last year found 47% of people aged 18-24 had experienced stress over their body image to the extent of being overwhelmed or unable to cope. “Social media has certainly played a part,” he says. “Historically, it was the mirror that was the main driver of perception of our image and how we thought others perceived us. Nowadays, young people are exposed almost on a 24/7 basis to manipulated and heavily edited images, whether that’s in advertising or photos of their friends.”

      Over the past five years there has been a proliferation of mindfulness organisations and companies selling lesson plans and staff training to schools. But does it work?

      Secondary school teacher Richard Burnett, who founded the Mindfulness in Schools Project 10 years ago, warns against “quick fix” approaches. “We are a charity started by teachers who wanted to teach children how best to manage their thoughts and feelings and deal with the rollercoaster of being a young person,” he says.

      It has two training courses for teachers – one aimed at secondary students and another for younger classes. “It’s about training your attention to notice what is going on. If you are aware of that, you can choose how to respond, for example to manage the amygdala, the part of the brain that detects fear and prepares a response,” he says.

      Emotional disorders are on the rise, and we should instil something in our children and young people about coping with stress, advises Lee Hudson, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s mental health lead. But should it be mindfulness? There is evidence that the process can bring benefits to adults, he says. “[But] the evidence for its effectiveness with children is not yet sufficiently robust and we need more research. However, some schools are rolling it out and children seem to enjoy it – and it unlikely to cause harm.”

(Available in: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/16/mindfulness-lessons-child-mental-health. Accessed on May 17th, 2019. Adapted.) 

TOURISM IN TURKEY

Turkey's Tourism Took a Hit in 2016

by Isabel von Kessel,

Jul 13, 2017  

Several major terrorist attacks in(1)____ Ankara, Istanbul and Diyarbakir, as well as an attempted coup d'état one year ago, made 2016 one of the worst years for (2)_____ Turkish tourism industry. After a ten-year-high of nearly 36,8 million visitors arriving in 2014, Turkey is facing a severe backlash that is hitting its tourism sector the hardest. Following the coup on 15 July 2016 and subsequent purges in Turkey, foreign visitor numbers have dropped dramatically (70 percent). By the end of last year visitor numbers fell to 25,4 million. While European holidaymakers and business people (notably the British and Germans) are still reluctant to pay a visit to Turkey, visitor numbers nevertheless increased from January to May 2017 by 16.3 percent when compared to the same time frame of the previous year. However, Russian citizens are increasingly making up for the declining tourist numbers from other countries: with more than 928,000 visitors coming from Russia up until the end of May, Germany was displaced as (3)_____ largest source of tourism for Turkey. (…)  

Source:https://www.statista.com/chart/10270/tourism-in-turkey/(adapted)

Access:22^nd April, 2019  

TEXT II

What to Know About the Controversy Surrounding the Movie Green Book

Depending on who you ask, Green Book is either the pinnacle of movie magic or a whitewashing sham. 

The film, which took home the prize for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards, as well as honors for Mahershala Ali as Best Supporting Actor and Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly for Best Original Screenplay, depicts the burgeoning friendship between a black classical pianist and his ItalianAmerican driver as they travel the 1960s segregated South on a concert tour. But while Green Book was an awards frontrunner all season, its road to Oscar night was riddled with missteps and controversies over its authenticity and racial politics. 

Green Book is about the relationship between two real-life people: Donald Shirley and Tony “Lip” Vallelonga. Shirley was born in 1927 and grew up in a well-off black family in Florida, where he emerged as a classical piano prodigy: he possessed virtuosic technique and a firm grasp of both classical and pop repertoire. He went on to perform regularly at Carnegie Hall— right below his regal apartment—and work with many prestigious orchestras, like the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. But at a time when prominent black classical musicians were few and far between due to racist power structures, he never secured a spot in the upper echelons of the classical world. (African Americans still only make up 1.8 percent of musicians playing in orchestras nationwide, according to a recent study.) 

Vallelonga was born in 1930 to working-class Italian parents and grew up in the Bronx. As an adult he worked as a bouncer, a maître d’ and a chauffeur, and he was hired in 1962 to drive Shirley on a concert tour through the Jim Crow South. The mismatched pair spent one and a half years together on the road — though it’s condensed to just a couple of months in the film — wriggling out of perilous situations and learning about each other’s worlds. Vallelonga would later become an actor and land a recurring role on The Sopranos. 

In the 1980s, Vallelonga’s son, Nick, approached his father and Shirley about making a movie about their friendship. For reasons that are now contested, Shirley rebuffed these requests at the time. […]

(Source: from http://time.com/5527806/green-book-movie-controversy/)