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Hoaxes

Hoaxes

Date: Nov 13 2009

Themes: News

Grammar: Modal Verbs

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Recently, all of America held its breath as a little six-year-old boy went floating through the sky over Colorado in a giant silver balloon. Or did he? According to his parents, the boy had gotten stuck inside the balloon, which had then somehow come loose and drifted away. But it later turned out that the balloon was empty, and the boy had been hiding, safe at home, the whole time. His parents are now being accused of involving their son in a hoax in order to get attention from the media.

Although this is the biggest publicity stunt in recent times, it’s not the first. Celebrities pull publicity stunts all the time, in order to gain more attention and promote their careers. Remember when Michael Jackson, the “Prince of Pop,” married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”? That marriage lasted about two minutes, but it helped keep Lisa Marie and Michael in the spotlight for a lot longer.

Find out how easy it is to fool Devan and Beren.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Beren

Beren

Devan:  So did you watch that whole balloon boy saga unfold?

Beren:  Yeah, I didn’t watch it, I read about it, and the first headline I saw was “Boy Trapped in a Balloon,” and they had like a picture of this balloon, and immediately I thought it was a prank or just a publicity stunt. I was like, “There’s no way!”

Devan:  So you right from the beginning knew that it was a hoax?

Beren:  I wasn’t sure. But I was thinking it was probably just an attention hog.

Devan:  Yeah, well obviously since then they’ve revealed that it was a hoax. But I was, as most of the nation was, was just watching in shock and scared for this little boy. And I just can’t believe that someone would go to such extremes to get famous, you know? But there’s been other of instances of this in the past, of these media publicity stunts that people have pulled just to try to get their name out there.

Beren:  Well I think it’s pretty common like with celebrities, I’m sure a lot of what we read in the gossip magazines are just publicity stunts. But I’ve never heard as big as the balloon boy saga.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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When Beren first read about the balloon boy, she suspected that it was some kind of publicity stunt. But Devan was really worried about the little boy who everyone believed was trapped inside a giant balloon.

Devan is shocked that the parents of the balloon boy would involve him in a hoax. She thinks they must just want to be famous. She and Beren agree that celebrities often pull publicity stunts in order to become more famous. But they were still shocked by the story of the balloon boy.

Can you think of any other major publicity stunts? Have you ever acted like an attention hog before?

 

Comments

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PumpkinSoup

Thailand

I read the news recently and was quite surprised of how far people can go for money. The couple wanted the media attention so bad and it's all about business. It's such a shame. Poor boy to live with that kind of parents.

04:50 PM Nov 13 2009 |

malvarim

malvarim

Brazil

Paris Hilton is the queen of this kind of actions….

04:41 PM Nov 13 2009 |

noguti

noguti

Brazil

well… of course there're lots of publicity stunts out there…..

Personally, I've never made this, I hate being in the spotlight anyway :P

03:15 PM Nov 13 2009 |

veniceboy

veniceboy

Italy

i was sure it was just a publicity stunt…it seemed too crazy to be true!

01:36 PM Nov 13 2009 |

Jan Luka

Jan Luka

Germany

I think the kiss from Madonna and Bridney was a typical example for a publicity stunt.

 

01:05 PM Nov 13 2009 |

graceliana

graceliana

China

We all be so gullible every once in a while.

12:20 PM Nov 13 2009 |

))~~#~~RO$E~~%~~((

Saudi Arabia

I watched that on Tv,I think it was the first publicity stunt I've heard about it, & I've never acted like an attention hog before!

In fact, it's not a good idea 2 involve our selves in hoaxes in order

 2 get attention from the media and 2 be famous!!!!

Thanx~

12:11 PM Nov 13 2009 |

vic2326*

Peru

I can't believe that people can do hoax like this to get publicity. the next time when something like this happen nobody is going to help or believe it.

11:55 AM Nov 13 2009 |

NIIS

NIIS

Germany

When I heard about it for the first time I couldn't believe it. 

However, it's just fair that they have to pay for  all the trouble they've caused. After all the goverment imposed a flight ban to and stuff like that to save the child. ^^

10:06 AM Nov 13 2009 |

mickee85

mickee85

Philippines

Most of the Celebraties and artists want a lot of attention and publicity stunts is their way of getting it.

08:30 AM Nov 13 2009 |

laurazhang

laurazhang

China

someone wanna through publicity stunt be famous,that really can make them famous,but always get criticism.

07:40 AM Nov 13 2009 |

dearpesar

dearpesar

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i can’t hear the lesson dialouge…. is it just me or all of you? do i have any problem?

06:19 AM Nov 13 2009 |

fedorame

fedorame

China

there are always some sorta pulicity stunts around celebrities.they're born to be such attention hogs, and this is their life style.I guess I've never been an attention hog, and sometimes I dont take that as an advantage.

04:57 AM Nov 13 2009 |

nhanhong

Cambodia

the hoax is done to produce a result. without an expected result nobody would attempt a hoax. our reactions and interests make everything exist. which I means our current media.

04:08 AM Nov 13 2009 |

Ahn Soo-hyun

South Korea

I think publicity stunt seems dangerous. And I agree Grace, I don't like that but I can't stop clicking…  How to get attention is to help the poor, I think. Have a happy weekend, all of you!!!

02:38 AM Nov 13 2009 |

Grace22

South Korea

I know some shocking news would be kind of publicity stunt but I can't stop clicking the shoking news especially gossip of celebrities…..

01:45 AM Nov 13 2009 |

julywidiawati

Indonesia

There is one major publicity stunt in my country when there was a little boy who could give a healing of any diseases just with a little hunk of stone, and it costs some souls because people putting their life in the line to get the treatment. Yeah I was asking to much of getting attention of my boyfriend, till he went nuts! 

01:40 AM Nov 13 2009 |

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