Talking about politics, using new words & phrases ■■ Using an English search engine interface (1 5.6), search for one of the following terms (without quotation marks): “guardian put politics on the curriculum”, “newspaper article development of democracy”, “magazine article future of politics”, “new york times political engagement young people”, or a similar one. ■■ Read one of the texts you find. ■■ In your text, find, underline, and memorise as many new words and phrases, including idioms and phrasal verbs, as possible – at least five. For example: If you use the search term “guardian put politics on the curriculum”, you will probably find an article by Sophie Grubb called “Put politics on the curriculum if you want young people to vote”. She writes that “local polls have […] passed [her] by – for a bunch of reasons”. Even if you understand what she means, make sure to learn the word “poll” (Abstimmung) and the phrasal verb “to pass (someone) by” (an jemandem vorbeigehen, vorüberziehen). You want those words to become part of your active vocabulary. That means that you use them in your own texts and presentation. Another example from the same text: “The political landscape is complex and to teach myself the whos, whats and whys of the main parties, let alone about their historical and foreign counterparts, was near impossible.” Take a look at the phrase “let alone”. It has a very specific meaning. Can you guess it? ■■ Then talk about one or two of the following questions for about three minutes. In your talk, use at least three of the new words and phrases you found in the text you read, and at least one idiom or proverb. 1 Are young people interested in politics? Why or why not? 2 Has the fact that the voting age was lowered to 16 in Austria changed anything about the situation? 3 Is it important for politicians to be young in order to understand the lives of today’s youth? Sample Matura task: Politics Mündliche Reife- und Diplomprüfung aus ENGLISCH Thema 9 Politics Prüfungsfrage 9.01 Prüfungsdatum: Situation: You are a participant in the traineeship programme of the European Commission in Brussels. Your supervisor is responsible for developing programmes to make young people more aware of the importance of politics and democracy. Your job is to attend and observe meetings of student representatives from different European countries, to learn about their worldviews, listen to their ideas, and tell them about the importance of political awareness and participation. To do [A] [B] [H] 9.5 PLEASE NOTE The word “politics” may be followed either by a singular or by a plural verb. In modern use, the singular is more common – e.g. “Politics is a complicated game”. Other fields of study ending in -ics, such as “economics”, “mathematics”, or “physics”, also take a singular verb in most cases. However, when the word is used in the sense of “political beliefs, affairs, or opinions”, it’s usually plural – e.g., “His politics are not in line with his party’s platform.” Please be sure to pronounce the words “politics”, “political” and “politician” correctly. 9.6 PLEASE NOTE Please read or re-read the materials from this chapter carefully before doing this task. Of course, you are more than welcome to do some additional research as well. 85 Key aspects Strategies Sample task 9 Politics Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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