Job Discussion Forums

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:47 am Post subject: English Newspapers .

Hi

Just out of interest how often do you buy an English newspaper over here ? They are expensive, but although they are generally 24 hours old I enjoy sitting down with one at least once a week. Even The Sun is ok,not coz of page 3 either, I find they are an excellent mirror of how the language we teach is evolving and slang of 10 years ago is now part of the everyday speech. Most of these we don't pass on to our students ,pity that, or perhaps we ourselves are losing touch with our own country and culture .
I know some people are only interested in the Guardian crossword but for me unless there is no other paper available I wouldn't buy it,come to think of it I don't think I would buy it anyway . There you go comments please arise and speak now defenders of the Gwardean .

yaramaz · Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:00 am Post subject:

Actually I buy the Guardian Weekly, which is a rice-paper thin little rag which has sections from Le Monde and the Washington Post . Itis geared towards ex pats and travellersso the editorials and letters pages are quite diverse. It also has an excellent monthly EFL pull out section with articles, ideas, lesson plans, jobs, etc.

misterkodak

I seldom buy newspapers. If I'm at home with my wife and kids during my time off (they live like 2 hours away) I'll watch fox news, or CNN on digiturk. Since I now work in a different city and go home on weekends I usually get my news from shortwave. It's alot easier for me... I mean BBC, VOA etc broadcast 24 hours a day and I can get varied opinions and views on world events. VOA and (I think BBC) both have easy English news and feature broadcasts which I would dearly love to record and use for conversation classes. Is anyone else here a SW listener?

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

I occasionally buy a newspaper, The Guardian, and no it's not for the crossword, though I have been known to attempt them. I like the Guardian because it provides a broad spectrum of news and interesting comments.
I usually access the news on the Net - it's cheaper but less satisfying. I check the Guardian/Observer daily and have selections of the Torygraph e-mailed to me (you can select your areas of interest, eg expat, sport, finance, daily news etc) free.
I've used lots of Guardian and BBC news online articles in lessons.
I've tried other online papers but either you have to pay or the service isn't so good.
BBC worldservice (and other stations) are also invaluable.
To revert to the subject of Guardian crosswords, I've had pre-intermediate students solve certain clues! It's good learner training.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

FGT, RE guardian crosswords. Are you referring to the quickies or the cryptics. They are very different. Are cryptic crosswords cultural specific? I have never seen a cryptic crossword in Turkish, but I may be looking in the wrong places. Do they exist?

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

dmb- you don't even find cryptic crosswords as we know them in American papers, let alone Turkish! I should have specified that my pre-int students managed some answers to the QUICK crossword (which is basically synonyms). However, I have introduced other (higher level) students to the concept of cryptic crosswords by making clues to fit their names (a pool of x number of answers, known, makes it accessible) or the old chestnut:

h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o (5)

Answers on a postcard, please.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

WATER

What's the prize? do I win anything?

yaramaz · Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:26 am Post subject:

dmb,

um, a glass of water? I'll put some bira in it for your imbibing pleasure.

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

No postcard - no prize. Sorry!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

That's not fair. I had the right answer. I'm not playing any more.

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

Burasi Turkiye: rules is rules!

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The Sun ?

Hmmmmm. Personally for something intellectually challenging I prefer the "Beano" or the "Dandy" but these are difficult to find in Turkey.

I have spotted some intriguing Turkish comics but alas I am Turkically-challenged.

El Duqu� · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 12 Location: Istanbul

Maybe its because I'm in Kadikoy and I don't get a signal, or if my radio is crap, but I'm not able to get VOA or the BBC.

Can anyone else get them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/worldservice/psims/ScheduleSDT.cgi?Sx=istanbul&Pg=Fp&GC.x=17&GC.y=16

http://www.voanews.com/english/broadcast_info.cfm?co=211&lang=17#fm

Haven't listened to TRT at all. Worth listening to?

http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/tsr.aspx

http://radiostationworld.com/Locations/Turkey/radio_websites.asp

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

With ADSL internet connection you can get all the BBC radio channels.

TRT 3 has an eclectic selection of classical/folk/jazz and sporadic news in English (also French, German and Turkish). The news is rendered in an awful accent ("The prime minister said THAT he would be...") and doesn't always feature the items that you'd expect to be in the headlines, but it's better than nothing.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Jings, this is an old thread. Nice to see someone using the search function.