Hope you all had great celebrations with your family and friends at Christmas and New Year!
Hope you are all alive and kicking to a great linguistic start (for my new students) or restart (for my existing ones)!!
To boost your listening comprehension, I invite you all to watch part (30 min) of Barack Obama's last State of the Union address (SOTU) of January 12. This is his last mandate year.
While watching it, please have in mind some questions to guide your comprehension. See below.
I wish you all a great course ! A lot of challenges ahead I hope to give you.
See you in class and here on this blog to build a good linguistic network with your virtual peers.
Count on your participation here.
A little note: for those who want to follow the hot debate between the American Democratic Candidates, here's the link to the last televised one on Jan 17th:
Jan.17th Debate of Democratic Party Presidential Candidates
Enjoy!!
Flávia
Go to Obama's State of the Union Address of Jan. 12, 2016 and answer the following questions. Select some of them ( 3 to 4) to answer in order to post on the blog comment box.
1) (the first 10 minutes)
What can you notice about Obama's speech tone: optimistic/pessimistic, agressive/ peaceful, assertive/defeatist, and/or courageous/fearsome?
2) (at 13:51')
What does Obama say about the US economy?
3) (at 15:46')
What does he say about technology and jobs?
4) ( at 15:53')
Obama states that nowadays companies are located everywhere and can face tough competition. According to him, how can this affect workers, company loyalty and wealth concentration? Do you agree? Why?
5) (at 16:42')
How can the following Americans' general belief Everybody who works hard should get a fair shot be affected by the present difficult economic trends mentioned by Obama?
6) (at 17:20')
He referred to a bipartisan (both Democrats and Republicans) reform that was very important. What was it? Do you agree?
7) (at 17:30 till 18:20')
What does he say about high school graduation rates? Also about graduates, teachers for kids and college? How do you see all these past and future measures?
8) (at 19:22 till 20:00')
What is the comment Obama made on retirment that got laughs from the audince? What else did he say about the retirement process?
9) (at 20:15')
What does Obama advise in relation to social security and Medicare health program?
10) (from 21:49 to 22:50')
Obama hypothesizes a case of an American who loses his job. What does he intend to show with this story? Do you think his solutions are a good way to help an unemployed person? Why?
11) (from 23:00 25:00')
Obama refers to lots of conflicts of interest and disagreements between the parties (democrats x republicans) and sectors (private x public). Choose some of them you consider important to the world economy.
12) (at 25:57')
How can you answer Obama's question: How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges? After this question he brings up examples of American breakthroughs - which ones are the best in your opinion?
12) (at 25:57')
How can you answer Obama's question: How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges? After this question he brings up examples of American breakthroughs - which ones are the best in your opinion?
Hello, guys.
ResponderExcluirI'm Cassio Ribeiro, Flavia's new student... I'm a Tax Research analyst and I work for Vertex Inc, especially with Tax Engine tool.
Below I answered questions 1 to 3, I'll be glad if you comment on these questions. See you
1) What can you notice about Obama's speech tone: optimistic/pessimistic, agressive/ peaceful, assertive/defeatist, and/or courageous/fearsome?
R. He was assertive and realistic about what he did in the past, but was very emphatic about the challenges for the future years.
2) What does Obama say about the US economy?
He said the United States is the strongest economy in the world, but the workers are facing new trends in the economy about their jobs.
3) What does he say about technology and jobs?
He said the workers are being squeezed by new trends in economy where they can be replaced by automated processes. But it is happening all over the world, not only in United States.
Hello, my name is Vitor, this is my opinion about Obama's speech:
ResponderExcluirI was impressed with the US economy achievements during the 7 years of Obama's mandate. The US economy has created incredible 14 million jobs since 2008 crisis, and reduced the unemployment rate by half. They also cut down the country's deficit by three quarters. These numbers show that US economy is still strong and can increase a lot, but the citizens are concerned with their life style because the economy is changing.
Nowadays, technology is very important to maintain the level of increase in GDP because this is one of the most important ways to push up productivity. Technology is not only substituting for employees in industry, but is also getting some jobs in other sectors like services; my job, for instance, a portfolio manager, or a lawyer.
The US are still investing a lot in education, the number of Americans with high graduation has been on the top ratio ever. The population is prepared to do all on The population is prepared to do all kinds of jobs.
The US is the strongest economy in the world and will continue to be for many years, because they are concerned about doing the best thing for the country in the long run. They do not have to satisfy a small part of the population.
Nobody is interested in maintaining themselves in power. The US politicians will do whatever is necessary to make their country grow, no matter who the next president will be or which party will control the congress.
What do you think about the future of the US economy? Do you think that machines will substitute for all kinds of jobs?
Hi, Vitor.
ExcluirI think all the economies around the world will grow slowly in the future - as it could be seen on a graph from 2005 to 2016 (source: elemidia news - this month), starting with China, being followed by other countries like Russia, India and Brazil. I believe the US will follow the same trend. Of course, it's not soon, but we can expect the same outcome.
I don't think technology will have influence on manual jobs such as air pilots, or tax research analysts - like me (:D). However, maybe this technological future can be a good chance for people to devolop new skills, and therefore develop and use this new technology.
what's your opinion on this?
BTW, have a nice vacation and don't buy a new handbag for Camila (:P)
Your friend Cassio.
Hi everybody.
ResponderExcluirMy name is Marcelo and I believe to be Flavia’s newest student. I’m a doctor and I’ve emphasized some aspects about healthcare and how it is influenced by politicians in the US and Brazil.
Besides Obama's speech, I've been reading some articles about US economy and healthcare. In fact, I believe Obama could have demonstrated a convincing argument about employment and social development and also reinforced some aspects about healthcare system such as Medicare and MedicAid.
It was a long speech. Consequently, I could not listen to all. However, this speech has really made myself interested to think ahead about US politics and the impact of its projects on civilians all over the world.
Nowadays, we are experiencing some challenges in our way of life. In fact, how does Brazilian politics affect our welfare today? In many aspects, it reflects a dingy scenario to many civilians, reinforced by poor results related to public health management. Thus, the corruption is far from mitigating and its consequences may affect every public and private institution.
As Obama said in his speech, the US economy is the first one on Earth, but the new model of economic priorities showed during the last State of the Union leads us to conclude they are trying to reach another breakthrough into some distorted health indicators, such as overcrowded hospitals and inequality. For example, many Americans still remainlocked out of medical emergency assistance.
Meanwhile,in Brazil, the scenario is similar, but the impact of a distorted and controversial management is really cruel to many civilians. As a result, children, pregnant women, young and old people are dying while waiting for some medical care in overcrowded hospitals.
In addition, tropical diseases such as Dengue and other diseases caused by arboviruses begin to lay waste the Brazilian population.
What is your view on health care?