April Fool’s Day in Mass Media
1. Вступительное слово учителя.
Listen to me and answer the following questions: (слайд 1)
Are the origins of April Fool’s Day clear?
What place does the tradition come from?
In what ancient countries was the April Fool’s Day celebrated?
What was it closely related?
The origins of April Fool’s Day are not clear but it is known that the tradition of practical joking and mischief-making dates back to Ancient Roman times.
It would appear that the festival is closely related to the coming of Spring.
Ancient Romans and Celts celebrated a festival of practical joking at about the time of the Vernal Equinox, as do millions of India's Hindus.
The French also mark 1 April but instead of April Fools they call it Poisson d'Avril (April Fish).
2. Look through some new words, try to remember them. (слайд 2)
anxious – беспокойный carry out - осуществить
crop, harvest – урожай tremendous, vast - огромный
impair – ухудшать bumper – обильный
flavour – вкус weevil - долгоносик
obtain – получить depredation – хищничество
endeavor – усилия
Составить словосочетания с новыми словами, например:
беспокойный человек, огромный урожай, ухудшать здоровье, ужасный вкус, осуществить планы, обильный год, огромные усилия, т.д.
3. Watch the video and fill in the gaps: ( Видеоклип + листочки с текстом на столах уч-ся.)
The last two weeks in -----1 are an anxious time for the spaghetti-----2. There’s always the----- 3 of a late frost, which while not entirely ruining the----- 4, generally impairs the flavour and makes it difficult for him to obtain top----- 5 in world markets. But now these------6 are over and the harvest spaghetti goes forward.
Spaghetti cultivation here in Switzerland is not, of course, ------7 on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry.
Many of you, I’m sure, will have seen ------8 of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po Valley. For the Swiss, however, it tends to be more of a family ------9. Another reason why this may be a bumper year lies in the virtual ------10 of the spaghetti weevil – the tiny------11 whose depredations have caused much concern in the past.
After picking, the spaghetti is ------12 to dry in the warm Alpine sun.
Many people are often ------13 by the fact that spaghetti is produced at such ------14 length. But this is the ------15 of many years of patience and endeavor by plant breeders who have ------16 in producing the perfect spaghetti.
4. Проверка выполнения задания – полный текст выводится на доску. Проверка, перевод текста.
5. Учитель:
What’s your opinion about viewers’ attitude to the hoax?
После того, как уч-ся высказали свои мнения, на доску выводится статья с сайта ВВС по ссылке, и уч-ся находят правильный ответ.
Ссылка: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm
Текст статьи:
1957: BBC fools the nation
The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland.
The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest.
It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.
But some viewers failed to see the funny side of the broadcast and criticised the BBC for airing the item on what is supposed to be a serious factual programme.
Others, however, were so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush.
Exotic delicacy
Spaghetti is not a widely-eaten food in the UK and is considered by many as an exotic delicacy.
Mr Dimbleby explained how each year the end of March is a very anxious time for Spaghetti harvesters all over Europe as severe frost can impair the flavour of the spaghetti.
He also explained how each strand of spaghetti always grows to the same length thanks to years of hard work by generations of growers.
This is believed to be one of the first times the medium of television has been used to stage an April Fool’s Day hoax.
6. Подведение итогов урока, домашнее задание:
найти в интернете другие известные медийные розыгрыши, рассказать о них кратко.