Benefits Street

Dear students,

   as we have dealt with the perception of the British TV format Benefits Street in class, it's high time you watched at least a bit of the series. Therefore, just click the following link. (If you want to watch more, you can find the rest of the episodes quite easily on YouTube).

New reality TV format in GB - Benefits street

Although I am currently not dealing with the media I think this is an interesting topic that I have come across today. The new documentary BENEFITS STREET that was produced by the British TV Channel 4 has sparked great controversy in GB ... 

Read here why ...

1. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/07/tvratings-channel4
2. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/police-to-watch-controversial-channel-4-documentary-benefits-street-to-investigate-crime-9044148.html

Televangelism

Dear students,

   as we could see in the last weeks the USA offers a great variety of beliefs and a huge choice of religions. While only a minority of people go for TV preachers in Europe, televangelism is an important and influential religious group in the USA and many other countries around the globe (Brazil, Nigeria, India ...). Many successful "ministers" in the US support politicians and therefore also have influence when it comes to making laws. Please click the following links to get a better idea of this: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGqCT5G7OoA (McCain -> presidential candidate)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVVX9aTNKB4 (Romney -> presidential candidate)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNTGRL0OJWQ (Obama -> presidential candidate)

   One could assume that nowadays people don't let themselves get manipulated, but this is far from reality. One of the biggest current TV evangelist "stars" is Joel Osteen.
Read the following article and do some research on the net about him and his congregation starting with his homepage ... (see link below) 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/televangelist-joel-osteen_n_918468.html
http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Home.aspx

Please be prepared to present your findings to the rest of the course in our next lesson!

Franconian English

Dear students,
   that you realize how "strange" franconian English actually sounds can be heard here. Just click the link and you'll understand why practising "th" and the pronunciation of "d"/"t" and "s"/"z" are worth while ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0tp7heHx5s

Don't mess with Loddar!!!

The Gunpowder Plot