Digitális tananyagbank www.netangol.hu
Upper-intermediate (B2)
Focus: Listening/ Video/Vocabulary
Teenage affluenza
This material is based on a video that compares the western lifestyle (and teenagers'
problems) with those of an African child.
(Note: affluenza comes froma blending of 'influenza' - the disease - and the word 'affluent'
- meaning well-off, rich).
1 First, just wtch the video and write down anything that comes to your mind while doing
so. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything right now, judt try to get the basic
message and write down your reactions to it.
Note : You can find the video by following this link:
http://www.netangol.hu/B2/B2_affluenza/player.html
2 Now, watch the video again and decide what the following numbers and keywords refer to.
a) 5 million: _____________________________________________________________________________
b) 15: ___________________________________________________________________________________
c) stiff: __________________________________________________________________________________
d) 40: ___________________________________________________________________________________
e) milkbar: ______________________________________________________________________________
f) Toyota Corolla: ________________________________________________________________________
g) 125: __________________________________________________________________________________
h) month: _______________________________________________________________________________
i) 1 gigabyte: ____________________________________________________________________________
j) PS 2: __________________________________________________________________________________
k) toe: __________________________________________________________________________________
l) several hundred: _______________________________________________________________________
m) injections: _____________________________________________________________________________
3 Discussion
What did you think about this video, Do you think it is effective? Did it have an effect on you? What was it? Do you think we need this kind of
videos? Why/why not?
Digitális tananyagbank www.netangol.hu
4 Vocabulary: Below you can find a list of useful expressions from the video. Read through them and try to tell the story of the video uding the
facts from exercise 1 and the vocabulary below.
Australia is home to ... teenagers
a high percentage of
to be at risk of sth
at the heart of her tragic story
we find an issue that is reflected right around the country
she wakes up stiff
her pleas fall on deaf ears
education is readily available to her
it is so much harder to bear with the knowledge that
she is forced to ride in the back
on the rare occasion that she does manage to get the front seat
she must endure
to make matters worse
it proves to be a constant source of embarrassment to her
she has a gruelling walk of 125 steps
on a dirt road
they are forced against their will
one bag will feed a family of four for a month
he feels left behind
Playstation 3 has hit the market
a civil war is raging
he suffers a chronic lack of sth
from dawn to dusk
we were abducted at night
Digitális tananyagbank www.netangol.hu
KEY:
a) Australia is home to some 5 million children and teenagers
b) Erin is a healthy 15-year old student
c) she wakes up stiff every morning because the bed that she sleepd in has been the same for the last 15 years
d) many teenagers are forced to live on 40 dollars pocket money a week.
e) the milklbar is literally metres away from her home
f) Erin’s family has this make of car, which is really embarrassing to her
g) she has to walk 125 step to her first class
h) a bag of food shown in the video feeds a family of 4 for a monh
i) her Ipod is only ’1 gig’ and it has not enough space to hold all her music
j) Erin’s brither doesn’have Playstation 3, which is new, and so he cannot tak his computer game skills on to the next level
k) the child cut his toe and the wound is open because there is no bandage to cover the wound
l) gangs of several hundred children are scanning through the garbage
m) sometimes people begging are given injections to paralyse them if they don’t make anough food