CORRIGE STARTING BLOCKS

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A: GLOBAL ECONOMY:

1: the photo shows a demonstration with protestors who voice their opposition to globalization. The man is holding a flag, but the American flag, The Stars and Stripes, has been replaced by thecorporate US flag, also known as Brands-and-Bands(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adbusters).

The man in the photo is wearing a strange hat which looks like the head of a shark… We canclearly see the open jaw with sharp teeth. In informal English, a “shark” is also someone who cheats other people out of their money… So the choice of a shark is highly symbolical… The protester is holding a mockStars and Stripes on which the fifty stars symbolizing the fifty states have been replaced by the logos of major multinational corporations… For most Americans, the Stars-and-Stripes is the symbol oftheir independence; here the Brands-and-Bands has become a symbol of Americans’and the world’s dependence on corporate America / global capitalism…

2: The man means that the US has become ashark: stealing people’s money… The USgovernment no longer rules the country, corporate America does… We can’t helpnoticing that most of the corporations whose logos appear on the flag are multinationals with branches all over the world… Actually these companies rule the world…

The man denounces thisglobal grip on the economy… He believes that these corporations are as dangerous as sharks /predators…Therefore global economy here is given a negative aspect. Companies are everywhere in the world, and the countries are losing their local companies, which are replaced by multinationals. The positive side is that in developing countries, jobs are probably created, but workers are probably exploited. What’s more, in developed countries, because of relocating, the unemployment of unskilled workers grows, and so the gap between the haves and have-notswidens

3: Yes I agree/ no I disagree…

4: We can recognize many logos, from American brands, mostly because we know the companies, which are very present in France. Everybody eats in McDonald’s, buys Pepsi or Coke, etc… and lots of French companies export and exist in other countries as well.

B: GLOBAL CULTURE

1. The photo shows Indian people walking in a small street. In the foreground, on the left, a youngwoman is wearing a traditional Indian sari… The other passers-by on the right and in thebackground are wearing Western-style clothes… On the right,we can see the red and gold sign of a McDonald’s restaurant… We can also see the famous Golden Arches logo on the door in the background…

2. It is not really surprising to see a McDonald’srestaurant in India, McDonald’s being the world’s largest chain of fast-food restaurants. It hasexpanded into many international overseas markets and the company has become a symbol of globalization… So we are bound to find McDonald’s restaurants in India… However thisMcDonald’s is probably not the same as in Western countries… In India most people eat neitherbeef nor pork, which are the main ingredients of McDonald’s famous hamburgers…

It shows how important American culture is in India, but also everywhere in the world, as the text suggests. American culture dominates global entertainment and lifestyle… Indeed, American films, music, food, sports and software are so dominant and visible that they are nowavailable literally everywhere in the world… (for example…).

So here it is not so much about globalization as about Americanization, the main danger being that countries forget their cultural identities, lose their tradition and culture becomes uniform.

On the other hand, the globalization of culture may also make peopleunderstand each other better… Globalization promotesintegration, and sharing a lifestyle may help people become moretolerant

C: GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

1. The scene takes place in a school corridor… Behind the two characters, we can see the typicallockers of an American or Canadian junior or high school… A traditionally dressed elderly man –probably the headmaster or a teacher – must be telling the young boy off… We can see that he isvery angry with the boy because of the way he is glaring at him, and because he has the attitude –hands on his hips / arms akimbo – of somebody who is scolding someone…

The young boy seems to be technically well-equipped… Actually he is covered with high-tech devicesfrom head to toe. He is wearing a small satellite dish on his head and has headphones /earphones on his ears… He is also holding a laptop, a palmtop and a mobile phone / cellphone…On his back he is carrying huge batteries and various other IT devices are attached around hisbelt…

2. What is strange about the situation is that the boy does not seem to know what time it is…That’s why he is asking Mr. Hassenpfeffer… Though the boy is carrying every gadget known to man,he does not know what time it is. Mr. Hassenpfeffer may consider banning cellphones at school,as is written in the top left-hand corner, but he must wish pupils had a watch so thatthey would be ontime…

Thanks to computers, mobiles and internet, we can now communicate worldwide. The personal computer is certainly the device which has had the greatest impact oncommunication worldwide in recent years… The spread of the Internet has made the computerthe greatest means of communication ever… It enables people to get information instantly andcommunicate free of charge anywhere in the world…Chatting and blogging have become daily routines for millions of people in theworld…

We must also add the mobile phone / cellphone to the list of essential / indispensable devices… Notonly can people talk to their friends but they can also send photos and videos…

As a result we can be connected and be in touch with people all around the globe. However the main drawback is that sometimes people are isolated from those physically near them and can become addicted to the new technologies

D: GLOBAL WARMING

1: The photo is an aerial shot of a glacier where demonstrators / Greenpeace activists haveunfurled a huge banner on which we can read “Climate change powered by” above the logos of BP (a British Company: British Petroleum),Esso (an American oil company)and Shell (a British and Dutch company)… Below the logos is the signature of the protesters: Greenpeace… Below the word“Greenpeace”, we can see a line of tiny men standing side by side on the glacier… The fact thatthey look so tiny gives us the scale of the shot… The banner must be at least 100 meters long…

2: These multinational oil companies are accused of bringing about climate change because of theirenergy policies… For instance the American decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol was partly aresult of pressure from Exxon Mobil (Esso), the world’s most powerful oil company…

We can also notice that the upper part of the Esso logo has been smeared with black paint, and thetwo Ss have been turned into dollar symbols: what they want is money, no matter the consequences on the environment… The black paint, which symbolizes oil, is here toremind us that Esso has been responsible for a lot of oil spills / slicks including the notorious ExxonValdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, one of the largest man-made environmental disaster ever to occur atsea….

The consequences of global warming are numerous. It has an impact on the environment, on animals and on humans and it affects the whole planet. For example, both nature and living beings suffer or will suffer from pollution, there are many endangered species, etc…