Social Issues NEW
Social Issues NEW
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II. Poverty
1. Symptoms of poverty
List as many symptoms of poverty as you can. Imagine what you would see, hear or
smell if you travelled to an area where people were living in poverty. How would you
know these people were living in poverty? What would be different compared to a
place where people were well off?
system
trash
dirt lack of hygiene open fire to cook
lack of housing
the
people living on
street or sitting on
furniture
the pavementwo
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2. Causes of poverty
Having identified some symptoms of poverty, try to track them back to their potential cause(s).
For example: People suffering from Malaria - Theres’s no health centre - Government can’t
afford to pay for clinics or mosquito nets - big companies are not paying the right amount of
taxes
addition
education drug
lack of universal
unemployment
a high
rate
and conflicts
wars
bankruptcy
financial
displacement mismanagement
debt
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III. Poverty in Developed Countries
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1. What makes poor people’s lives so hard? What are the adversi;es that they have to face?
Make separate lists for Emanuel Laster, Nataly Ledesma and Bethany Underwood.
2. What are the origins of these adversi;es, according to the author, Nicholas Kristof?
→ Your opinion: Who would you say is most responsible?
3. Why does Nicholas Kristof suggest that Cassidy McDonald might as well have been born on a different
planet?
Glossary
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1. What makes poor people’s lives so hard? What are the adversi&es that they have to face?
Make separate lists for Emanuel Laster, Nataly Ledesma and Bethany Underwood.
2. What are the origins of these adversi;es, according to the author, Nicholas Kristof?
→ Your opinion: Who would you say is most responsible?
3. Why does Nicholas Kristof suggest that Cassidy McDonald might as well have been born on a different
planet?
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IV. Social justice
2. Types of inequality. Read what the six activists say about social inequality. Identify the area
of inequality and pick the one you identify or agree with the most.
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I believe that equal access to I believe that equal access to
education for all people parks and green spaces is
regardless of who they are or important because we all need
where they live is important places to relax, to exercise and to
because everyone deserves the enjoy ourselves. These spaces
opportunity to learn and improve shouldn’t be restricted to the
their lives, and it will benefit us all wealthy. Everyone benefits from a
if everyone has basic skills and healthier and happier society.
can contribute to our society and Bonus, green spaces help the
economy. environment too!
Isabella, Equality Campaigner Mai, Equality Campaigner
3. Which area of inequality is the worst affected in your opinion and requires the most urgent action?
Explain why.
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4. Can you identify something that represents social inequality in your local area or maybe at
school?
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V. Finance Vocabulary
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VI. Cyberbullying
Instagram Is Trying to Curb Bullying. First, It Needs to Define Bullying.
By Kevin Roose - The New York Times
(1) If you were to rank all the ways humans can inflict harm on one another, ranked by severity, it
might be a few pages before you got to “intentional inducement of FOMO.”Purposefully giving
someone else FOMO — fear of missing out — is not a crime, or even a misdemeanour. But it is a big
problem on Instagram, where millions of teenagers go every day to check on their peers. And it is
one of the subtle slights that Instagram is focused on classifying as part of its new anti-bullying
initiative, which will use a combination of artificial intelligence and human reviewers to try to protect
its youngest users from harassment and pain.
(2) The anti-bullying effort is part of a larger attempt by Instagram and its parent company,
Facebook, to clean themselves up. Both platforms have struggled to contain a flood of toxic
behavior, extreme content and misinformation on their services. Instagram is particularly vulnerable
because of its young user base. About 70 percent of American teenagers use the service, according
to the Pew Research Center. And 42 percent of cyberbullying victims ages 12 to 20 reported being
bullied on Instagram, according to a 2017 survey by the British anti-bullying organization Ditch the
Label.
(3) I went to Instagram’s New York office with several other reporters to hear its executives describe
how they’re trying to fight bullying. It’s not the company’s first time talking about the topic — the
former chief executive, Kevin Systrom, discussed bullying all the way back in 2016 — but it is a
subject of renewed focus there. Last year, Instagram announced an effort to use A.I. (artificial
intelligence) to label instances of bullying within photos. This year, it said it would begin testing new
features aimed at improving teenagers’ mental health, including the ability to hide “like” counts on
posts.
(4) “There are a lot of teens using Instagram, so we actually see new behaviours and words all the
time, and we need to work quickly to understand if these new trends are harmful,” said Bettina
Fairman, Instagram’s director of community operations. These efforts are still unproven. But
Instagram seems to be more aggressive about this than competing platforms like Twitter and
Snapchat. If you want to get rid of bullying, you first have to know what forms it takes. So late last
year, Instagram began assembling focus groups of teenagers and parents and gathering feedback
about what types of unwanted behavior they encountered on the platform.
(5) Some were the predictable types of threats and insults — like rating users’ attractiveness on a
one-to-10 scale, a practice that Instagram already prohibits — while others were more unexpected.
Some teenagers reported feeling bullied when their exes showed off new boyfriends or girlfriends in
a menacing way — for example, by tagging the jilted ex in the photo to trigger a notification and rub
in the fact that they had moved on to someone new. Instagram came up with a name for this
category of bullying — “betrayals” — and started training an algorithm to detect it.
(6) “One of the things we learned early on is that how we were defining bullying in our Community
Guidelines doesn’t necessarily capture all the ways people feel like they’re being bullied,” said
Karina Newton, Instagram’s global head of public policy. Not all of these behaviours necessarily
violate Instagram’s rules. The company has not yet decided where to draw every line; for now, it is
just trying to understand bullying’s many flavours and teach machines to flag them for human
reviewers, who then decide whether or not they violate the platform’s rules. Facebook and Instagram
already use A.I. to detect various types of off-limits content, including nudity, child exploitation and
terrorism-related material. But classifying bullying is a bigger challenge, because doing so often
depends on the context of a social interaction.
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(7) Take one of the examples used by the executives during Tuesday’s briefing: a photo of two
teenage girls that was posted to Instagram with the caption “love you hoe.” Normally, Instagram’s
systems would pick up on the derogatory word “hoe” and flag the post to a human reviewer. But in
context, it’s clear that the user meant it as a term of endearment, so the correct action would be to
leave the post up. Or consider a hypothetical photo of a teenage couple at the beach, posted to
Instagram with the caption “Wish you were here, Amanda!” Normally, that post would be bland and
inoffensive. But you can imagine contexts in which it would constitute bullying: Are the people in the
photo mocking Amanda for being the only senior not invited to Beach Week? If so, it could
constitute “intentional inducement of FOMO.” Is Amanda the ex-girlfriend of the boy in the photo,
being taunted by the new girlfriend? If so, it could be classified as a form of betrayal. Is there a
whale in the background that is tagged as Amanda, as a cruel joke about her weight? If so, it could
be classified as an insult.
(8) It’s odd to realize that what Instagram is describing — a planetary-scale A.I. surveillance system
for detecting and classifying various forms of teenage drama — is both technically possible and,
sadly, maybe necessary. It should make us all question whether a single company should have so
much power over our social relationships, or whether any platform of Instagram’s size can be
effectively governed at all.
(9) But if you have to have an Instagram-size platform, there are arguments in favour of using A.I. to
seek out bad behavior, rather than wait for users to report it. One reason, Instagram’s executives
said, is that teenagers often don’t report bullying when it happens to them. Some fear social
repercussions or retaliation from their bullies, while others fear that their parents will take away their
phones.
(10) Eventually, the company hopes its A.I. will be good enough to identify and remove all types of
bullying on its own, without the need for human review. But, executives cautioned, that day may be
distant, especially outside the English-speaking world, where it has fewer moderators and less local-
language data available to train algorithms. “Our algorithms aren’t yet as good as people when it
comes to understanding context,” Ms. Fairman said.
(11) Instagram’s critics probably won’t be satisfied that, after making billions of dollars in profits and
contributing to what researchers say is an epidemic of teenage depression and anxiety, the
company is now trying to dismantle the culture of social media bullying it helped to create. “Where
were they five years ago? It’s about time, honestly,” said Jim Steyer, the chief executive of Common
Sense Media, a nonprofit watchdog group that advocates better protections on children’s
technology. “This has been a huge issue for years, and most of these companies buried their heads
in the sand until they were under pressure to do something about it.”
(12) It’s true that Instagram’s anti-bullying effort may be useful for generating good public relations,
and that the company seems to be making up some of the details as it goes along. It’s also true that
Instagram has a multitude of serious problems on its hands — including anti-vaccine misinformation
and rampant hate speech and extremism — and that building A.I. to detect bullying is probably a
more convenient challenge than rethinking the ad-driven business model and platform design issues
that encourage antisocial behavior in the first place. But better too little, too late than nothing, ever.
Instagram’s bully-detecting A.I. is a good idea, and a step toward giving young people an easier time
navigating the vicissitudes of 21st-century adolescence. For their sake, let’s hope it works.
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1. Vocabulary
a. Link the following expressions to their definitions or synonyms
3. subtle slights c) ac;on that sb takes against sb who has harmed them
6. chief execu;ve f) bad result (effect) of an ac;on that may happen a\erwards
b. Look at the highlighted expressions in the text, and define them or find synonyms
inten;onal _________________________________________________
to contain _________________________________________________
to be vulnerable _________________________________________________
to encounter _________________________________________________
to prohibit _________________________________________________
menacing _________________________________________________
to trigger _________________________________________________
endearment _________________________________________________
to taunt sb _________________________________________________
to generate _________________________________________________
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c. Find the matching words in the text
1. Any decrease in steel produc;on could have serious ____________________ for the local
economy.
2. Smoking in public places has been _______________ for many years.
3. This topic______________________ a lot of discussions last year.
4. The bomb aback at a concert was in _________________________ for the recent arrest of three
well-known terrorists.
5. He made some ________________ comments about her appearance that were highly
inappropriate.
6. The journalist has been accused of _____________________ a famous star’s privacy by taking
pictures of her kissing a man.
7. Diabetes specialists ________________________a diet low in sugar.
8. Lina’s brother hurt her ____________________ because he is jealous of her being praised all the
;me by their parents.
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b. Instagram has developed an an&-bullying programme that involves
d. According to the text, adolescents do not always admit being bullied because they
o rumours
o gossip
o false facts
o inten;onal lies
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VII. Education - Introduction
List 3 things that you like about education in the 21st century and 3 things that you think could be
improved.
+ -
Think about the title of the song. Look at the wall on the left – it is made of bricks all of the same
size. Imagine you are one of the bricks. How do you feel? (supported, proud, helpful, without
identity, lonely, in good company?)
Watch the video for Pink Floyd’s song and answer the questions.
1. Complete the lyrics for the chorus
We don't need no ___________________
We don’t need no ___________________ control
No dark _________________ in the _________________
Teacher _________________ them kids _________________
Hey! Teacher! _________________ those/them kids _________________!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
2. The song uses ‘education’ in a negative sense. What does it mean to the children singing, and
what should it mean (its positive sense) in your opinion?
3. The first two lines are grammatically incorrect. How do you feel this affects the message of the
song?
4.The positive sense of ‘education’ is the exact opposite of ‘thought control’. What metaphors are
used to illustrate the idea of ‘thought control’?
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VIII. School dress codes
1. Quick-write prompt. What do you think about your school’s dress code? Do you think it’s
fair to all students? What would you change about it, if you could?
2. Useful vocabulary. Match the words on the left with their correct definitions/explanations.
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3. Above the Noise video (https://tinyurl.com/3jspe2nj). Take notes on evidence in the video.
4. Personal opinion. Which evidence do you find most convincing and why?
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IX. Types of education
What are the pros and cons of the following types of schools: public schools, private schools,
boarding schools and homeschooling.
Fill in the Google document shared with you on Google Classroom. Afterwards, pick the type of
school you like best and explain why.
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X. Alternative schools and methods of education
Watch the videos corresponding to the alternative types of education listed below and complete the
texts.
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4. Doing homework in class allows students to help each other, which benefits both the advanced
and less advanced learners. Flipping also brings changes for teachers. Traditionally, teachers
e______________________ most with the confident students who ask questions. Flipping allows
teachers to target the students who really need help instead of just those who are confident. Also,
instead of instructing from the front, teachers “g______________________ on the side”. Many
scholars also argue that the flipped classroom model p__________________ equal learning
opportunities as all kids get the same attention when doing their homework.
4. The IB programme
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XI. Education and technology
1. Read both texts then write a structured response (200-250 words) in which you do the following:
- compare and contrast the main arguments put forward by each author concerning
mindfulness
- explain which author you agree with and why
Text A Text B
A couple of weeks ago I was asked what I As a culture, we are finally waking up to the
thought the future of technology in education dark side of new technology. Yet while geeks,
was. By its very nature, technology changes the public and politicians grow disenchanted,
at a fast pace and making it accessible to schools seem intent on pushing more and
pupils, teachers and other stakeholders is an more screens and devices into the learning
ongoing challenge. environment.
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The Civil Rights Movement
1. Definitions:
- Civil rights
Civil rights, guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law,
regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics.
- Social justice
Social justice is the relation of balance between individuals and society measured by
comparing distribution of wealth differences, from personal liberties to fair privilege
opportunities.
Watch the video (https://youtu.be/S64zRnnn4Po) and write down the most important events.
3. A civil rights timeline: Read the shared material and Google Classroom and complete the
timeline.
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4. Two key figures of the civil rights movement
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5. The social justice movement today.
- Read the excerpt from ‘How The Struggle For Social Justice Shaped 2020’ (refinery29.com)
- Underline the recent developments that have happened due to the movement.
If there's any baggage to take from 2020 it's this: This was the year of our reckoning, when the
social justice movement took center stage, and activism became a part of more and more people's
lives.
Across the country, countless people were doing the work on the ground, driving large-scale
initiatives like defunding the police, abolishing the industrial prison complex, and fighting, well, the
evils of capitalism. In truth, it's the activists and organizers that set actions in motion that have come
to define 2020. Mass mutual aid movements provided groceries and protective supplies; there's a
renewed attention to housing crises; immigration and deportation have been at the forefront of our
collective conversations; and the repeated killing of unarmed black people by police have inspired
actual policy changes.
In looking at this year through the lens of social justice, it's clear that long-standing problems were
both laid bare for all to see and exacerbated by the pandemic. Nurses and doctors went on strike for
their rights, and showed up to counter-protest anti-maskers across the country. Organizers pushed
for legislation to cancel rent and mortgages, and stave off people being evicted from their homes.
At the onset of the summer, mass Black Lives Matter protests sprung up in every state in the country
in response to police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and dozens of other black people.
Demands for social justice — ranging from firing officers to defunding and abolishing the police were
waged, as well as abolishing the whole prison industrial complex — were made from all corners of
society. “Since George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, more people are socially aware of the effects of
police brutality on our society which has made people challenge a lot of beliefs they previously
held,” Glenn Foster, Lead Organizer of The Freedom Neighborhood, an abolitionist collective in
Washington, D.C. says. “It's going to cause disruption, but the positive benefit of the disruption is
the exposure to systems that truly don't benefit the people, one of those being our police.”
Although the protests have slowed down since the summer, they mark one of the biggest
movements to shape this past year — and this decade. Talks of police reform surged in Congress,
and in many states, organizers pushed for their towns and cities to take money away from police
departments to redistribute it to social services. In plenty of places, protesters also toppled statues
of white supremacists and slave traders.
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