Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Iran is in crisis. The results of the country’s national election are being disputed and there are thousands of people demonstrating in the streets. Some of them have been killed or injured by police and military trying to stop the protests.
The whole world is watching Iran, but most of our information is not coming from traditional media since reporters in the country have been restricted. Iranians are using many different websites to plan meetings and share their experiences and English, baby! is among them. Take a look at this forum thread about the protests, and this one about Iran in general.
Listen to John on a radio news program in the US talking about how the events in Iran are playing out on English, baby!
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Kristian |
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Kristian: English, baby!, is a site where anybody who wants to learn English can go to chat. To make it even more compelling, English, baby!, is set up like a social media site. So students post their favorite music picks and make friends with each other online. The site has about 10,000 members in Iran and it’s easy to find discussions about the election. The founder of English, baby!, John Hayden, says he’s been surprised by the wealth of opinions expressed.
John: We see a lot in the Western media, a lot of the protests and a lot of the bloodshed. And we’re seeing conversations talking about that as well on English, baby! But there’s definitely another side to that, that we’re seeing. Support for the election and wanting to abide by the results of that.
Kristian: The Iranian government has been making sounds about shutting places down. Is that a concern for you and would it be possible for them to do that?
John: You know, it’s tough. I think the major sites, the Facebooks, the YouTubes and the Twitters, it’s really easy to target those URL’s but the Internet is so broad now. There are so many niche sites, where people can communicate and have conversations, like English, baby!, where we feel like we’re pretty safe, underneath the radar and people are freely discussing their views on there. So we’re not concerned about being shut down and if that does happen, we’ll deal with it then.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
John tells Kristian that on English, baby! you can find Iranian people who support the protesters and believe the election was rigged, as well as people who think the election was fair and that the protesters should stop.
The government of Iran has banned some websites, hoping to stop the protests. Kristian asks John if the thinks English, baby! could be banned in Iran. Since Ebaby! is primarily a site for learning English, John hopes that the Iranian censors won’t notice it and that the discussion can continue freely.
Have do you feel about the events in Iran?
Listen to the rest of the radio story on our blog.
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