Good afternoon Pre-Inters!
Today we began by reviewing the vocabulary from yesterday and correcting the homework. We moved on to some pronunciation work. We looked at pronouncing plurals and verb + s.
There are three different was to pronounce 'S' at the end of words.
/s/, /z/ and /iz/. Here are the rules...
Next we talked about social networking. We discussed how our lives have changed because of social networking. We named some different social networks.
We read an article about a man who jokingly tweeted about blowing up an airport. His tweet was misunderstood and he got into trouble with the police.Here is the article...
Twitter joker wins high court appeal against conviction
Twitter joke trial: Paul Chambers wins high court appeal against conviction. Owen Bowcott
27 July, 2012
1
In 2010, Paul Chambers was found guilty of
sending a menacing tweet. Now he has won his
high court appeal against his conviction. Outside
the court, Chambers, 27, said he was pleased.
He added: “It’s ridiculous it went this far.”
2
He tweeted because he was angry that Robin
Hood Airport in South Yorkshire was closed
because of snow. He sent a tweet on Twitter that
read: “Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got
a week to solve the problems. If you don’t, I’m
going to blow up the airport!!”
3
He has always said that he did not believe
anyone would believe his “silly joke”.
4
Chambers said outside the court: “It was a
long, hard road. I would like to thank everyone
on Twitter.” He lost two jobs because of his
conviction, he said, but it is now time to continue
with his life.
5
Chambers’s supporters said the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) wasted public money
in its action against Chambers.
6
Louise Mensch, who is Chambers’s local Member
of Parliament, was in court to support him. “The
CPS should say sorry to the whole country,” she
said. “They wasted public money and caused him
two and a half years of serious stress for what
was a joke.”
7
“We want to know why freedom of speech was
ignored. There was nothing menacing about
this message.”
8
Chambers arrived at the airport on 6 January,
2010. He wanted to fly to Belfast to meet his
girlfriend, whom he met on Twitter.
9
A week later, he was arrested by four police
officers from South Yorkshire Police who visited
his office in Doncaster. Soon afterwards,
Chambers lost his job.
10
He was prosecuted under section 127(1) of
the Communications Act 2003, which says that
sending a “menacing” message via a public
electronic communications network is illegal.
11
In May 2010, Chambers was convicted and told
to pay £1,000. In November 2010, a judge said
again that the electronic communication was
“clearly menacing” and that airport staff were
worried enough to report it.
12
John Cooper QC said: “It’s an important decision
for social networks. It means that in future a
message has to be really menacing and also the
person who sends it has to want it to
be menacing.”
13
After the judge left the high court people
were happy and they clapped. “It’s a victory
for common sense,” a supporter said. “It’s
extraordinary this ever came to court. The judges
saw there was no menacing message. It’s a
really important victory.”
14
Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive of a free speech
campaign, said, “As more and more of us
use social media, it is important that the law
understands how people communicate online.”
15
But Chris Watson, a social media expert,
said that he could understand why the CPS
prosecuted Chambers.
16
“The police have a duty to take all terrorism
threats seriously”. He added that “the public
seems very unaware that the same rules apply to
social media as any other public forum.”
© Guardian News and Media 2012
First published in
The Guardian
27/07/12
We looked at some of the new vocabulary...
I have given you some questions to answer about the article as homework. You must also prepare an opinion on the following questions...
1. In your opinion, what should people not write about on social media? Why?
2. Should there be rules that say what people may and may not post on social networking sites? Why? Why not?
We will begin tomorrow's class with a discussion on this topic.
Have a great evening class, see you tomorrow!
P.s. We also discussed the difference between social networks and social media. I found this article which helps to explain. I am still a little confused though!
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