Students
In this column, we usually point to the Bangkok Post as a great resource
for learning the English language. Well, it is, but there are many
parts of the newspaper that can be used for learning other subjects.
For example, in the main news and feature sections of the newspaper,
most stories start with the name of a place, in bold type. This
“dateline” is usually the place from which the story is
sent and is usually — but not always — capital cities.
In the old days, the dateline also included the date, but that isn’t
necessary any longer since news travels so quickly.
Because news can happen almost anywhere, some of the places in
datelines are likely to be new to you. Good! That gives you an easy
and fun way to learn some geography.
However, you don’t have to reach for an atlas or log onto
the Internet because the news story itself usually mentions the
name of the country or region.
Here, we’ve given you a few examples. However, we’ve
left out the place name in the main story. See if you can match
the cities with the countries/regions listed by reading the story.
Don’t worry too much about reading for meaning as this is a
geography lesson, not a comprehension exercise. Also, you should
be familiar with many of the cities and name mentioned here. Next
week, we’ll make things a little harder for you!
Teachers
This is a simple and easy lesson that needs little preparation —
all you need is a copy of a newspaper. Cut out or copy small international
stories with unusual datelines and pass them round to your students.
Have them work out where the stories originated by reading them.
Students can then try to find the places on an atlas or pinpoint
countries to continents or regions (Europe, Asia, America, etc.).
While this exercise may be suitable for older students, it can
adapted for many different age groups and can even be used for Thai
geography given that local stories also have a dateline.
___________________
This lesson was adapted from a lesson in “Test Your English
With the Newspaper” written by Terry L. Fredrickson and published
by Post Books.
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Death
toll from mine explosion reaches 63
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Beijing — Emergency crews in northern ....................... yesterday pulled
three more bodies from the site of a weekend mine
explosion, bringing the death toll to 63 with six people
still missing, the government said.
The blast occurred on Saturday at the Xishui Colliery in Shuozhou,
a city in Shanxi province, in a mine that had been ordered
shut in November because of safety problems, Xinhua news agency
reported.
“An investigation has found that the mine owners, disregarding
the government's supervision, continued with coal production,
causing the disaster,” Xinhua said. Police have reportedly
detained the owners of the mine. AP
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Troops
from region set for redeployment
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Canberra — ........................, Japan and Singapore yesterday prepared
to redeploy troops in Indonesia to help with the country's
latest earthquake disaster, while Washington and other nations
expressed condolences and a desire to help.
Prime Minister John Howard said ........................ would
provide a field hospital and air medical evacuation team to
Indonesia. He said he might order a navy transport ship that
had been coming back to Australia after helping in the tsunami
relief effort in Aceh to turn around, and could send two military
transport planes. AP
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Laura
Bush promotes rights
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| US First Lady
Laura Bush listens to US Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings speaking to reporters aboard an airplane bound
for England on March 29, 2005. The plane refuelled there
on its way to Kabul.--AFP |
Kabul — US First Lady Laura Bush visited ........................ for the
first time yesterday to promote education for women, which
was forbidden by the Taliban government overthrown
by US-led forces three years ago.
Mrs Bush, a former school teacher and librarian, flew into
Kabul by helicopter after landing at the US base at Bagram.
She was greeted by young girls dressed in red dresses and
green scarves at a project to rehabilitate a women's
dormitory.
On Tuesday, before heading to ........................, Mrs
Bush said she hoped to leave behind a message that Americans
wanted the women to succeed.
“It's very hard to imagine the idea of denying girls an education,
of never allowing girls to go to school,'' she told reporters
travelling with her.
“My dream will be that it will be an educated country where
all these little girls who started school two years ago on
March 23 will have graduated from high school and be going
to Kabul University or some of these other universities there,''
she said. Mrs Bush will announce two US grants for education.
REUTERS
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McDonald's pushes healthier message
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Eikoh
Harada, new chief executive, chairman and president of
McDonald's Holdings Co., shakes hands with figure-skater
Fumie Suguri as the hamburger chain's mascot Ronald McDonald
waving during a press conference in Tokyo.
--AP |
Tokyo — McDonald's is adding a vegetarian bagel sandwich to its menu in
.................... and signing on a figure-skating star
to push its healthier message as the US fast-food chain continues
its turnaround after years of losses.
Eikoh Harada, the new chief executive, chairman and president
of McDonald's Holdings Co (...............) Ltd, said yesterday
the burger chain will invest 22.7 billion yen (8.2 billion
baht) in remodelling 500 stores this year as part of its strategy
to improve customer service and beef up its image.
The partnership with the US chain, which operates about 3,700
burger stores, ran into trouble in recent years after a mad-cow
scare, which began in 2001 and drove consumers away from beef,
although McDonald's uses only Australian beef unaffected by
the brain-wasting disease.
The bagel with cheese, lettuce and tomato is part of the new
breakfast menu. Fish sandwiches, juice and salad were also
added for a healthier overall menu, according to McDonald's.
At a time when fears about fattening eating habits are growing
here as in the rest of the world, McDonald's is supporting
the Olympic Games to show it's on a health kick. AP
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Net surfers on rise
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Manila — Internet users in ........................ are predicted to increase
by more than 69 percent to 20 million by 2007, a company covering
the information technology industry said recently.
There were an estimated 11.8 million Internet users in the
country in 2004.
The local office of a US-based research firm said commercial
transactions through the Internet originating from ........................
amounted to $3 billion last year.
At least 70 percent of Internet transactions were between
businesses, said research manager Manuel Ravago. Consumers
still did not appreciate the value of shopping through the
Internet, he said in a statement.
However, Ravago
said that Internet use and e-commerce in ........................
were expected to increase due to economic growth, aggressive
pricing by telecom firms and Internet service providers, growth
in use of personal computers and government initiatives to
encourage Internet use. AFP
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| Countries: |
| Australia |
China |
Japan |
| Afghanistan |
the Philippines |
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site
a place where a building, town, etc. was, is or will be situated
mine
a deep hole or holes under the ground where minerals such
as coal are dug
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death toll
the number of people killed in an accident, a war, a disaster,
etc
disregard
to treat something as unimportant
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redeploy
to move something to a new position
condolences
an expression of this sympathy
forbidden
not allowed
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rehabilitate
to return a building to its previous good condition
transaction
a piece of business that is done between people
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