Jargon

If you got a letter saying that local officials 'wish to engage you as a stakeholder', who could blame you if you thought it was a marriage proposal or even an offer to employ you as a barbecue chef?! In this week's programme, William joins Yvonne as she finds out about an attempt at jargon-busting - getting rid jargon.

This week's question: Which British Prime Minister was known as 'Jack the Jargon Killer' because he wanted officials to stop using jargon?

a) Tony Blair
b) Robert Peel
c) Winston Churchill

Listen out for the answer to this question at the end of the programme!

Vocabulary from the programme

jargon
Words and expressions which are used in a technical or special way by a group of people in certain situations or places of work

councils
local government

councillors
members of councils who people have elected or voted for to make decisions about what happens in their area

stake-holder engagement
speaking to, liaising with and getting the attention of people or organisations that have an interest in and are important to a specific project

a civic amenity site
a place which is used by the general public

a rubbish tip
a place where dirt, refuse and things that people no longer need are left

to embrace something
to accept, welcome and enjoy something

the vernacular
slang or informal language

shorthand
a quick way to write, say or do something

to flag up
to bring attention to

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Extras
Download this programme (mp3 - 2.8 MB)
Programme script (pdf - 39 K)

Related Links

Jack the Jargon Killer article *
Article on list of jargon*

President Clinton impeached

December 19, 1998

After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term.

In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon. That summer, she first confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the relationship over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair.

In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998, allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship with him. Five days later, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and the tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by FBI agents working with Starr, met with Lewinsky again, and on January 16, Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."

In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked out a full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky and her parents, all of whom Starr had threatened with prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky appeared before the grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August 17 President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony in the Paula Jones sexual-harassment case, President Clinton acknowledged to prosecutors from the office of the independent counsel that he had had an extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky.

In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in the Map Room of the White House, Clinton spoke live via closed-circuit television to a grand jury in a nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting president ever to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct. That evening, President Clinton also gave a four-minute televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief speech, which was wrought with legalisms, the word "sex" was never spoken, and the word "regret" was used only in reference to his admission that he misled the public and his family.

Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship between the president and Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House authorized a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On December 19, the House impeached Clinton.

On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not seen since the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the trial of President Clinton got underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in as jurors.

Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on whether to remove Clinton from office. The president was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted "not guilty," and on the charge of obstruction of justice the Senate was split 50-50. After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he was "profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and the American people.

http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=5616

Penélope Cruz

Escucha el audio en

http://www.revistahabla.com.br/

Con valor añadido

Por Gabriela Cañas

Muchos y muy buenos narradores han utilizado alguna vez como fuente de inspiración las noticias de la prensa para tejer las tramas de sus relatos. No es de extrañar. Basta leer con cierto detenimiento los artículos periodísticos para encontrar el latido de seres humanos de excepción. A veces son los protagonistas de la actualidad que brillan con titulares de neón. A veces son los ciudadanos desconocidos que aparecen, si lo hacen, muy detrás de la noticia, aunque luzcan invisibles gestas en la solapa.

Éste es un homenaje a un centenar de personajes buscados y hallados en todos los rincones del planeta, si bien, fieles a la vocación de EL PAÍS como periódico global en español, se han centrado las pesquisas en los personajes de origen iberoamericano, lo que, aunque parezca contradictorio, no ha sido limitante. El criterio aplicado, lejos de reducir opciones, ha sido una útil herramienta para abrir el espectro frente a una actualidad que idealiza y jalea hasta la extenuación todo lo anglosajón eclipsando otros mundos.
Y así es como este periódico ha confeccionado una lista redonda, pero incompleta por definición, con todos aquellos que, objetivamente, han destacado este año y los que, sin ser apenas conocidos, son dignos de destacar. Unos y otros responden, seguramente, a los anhelos de los lectores de EL PAÍS porque han demostrado poseer una cualidad (o varias) por la que ser admirados.
En esta tarea de homenajear a un centenar de personajes, EL PAÍS ha contado con la colaboración de lujo de decenas de firmas que, como un caleidoscopio, han multiplicado el valor de la galería. Porque junto a periodistas de EL PAÍS o de otros medios, los hay que han hablado de personajes a los que les une la afinidad política, la adversidad común o la entrañable amistad, cuando no los lazos de sangre.

Durante la elaboración de este número especial, El País Semanal ha descubierto dotes literarias allá donde no las esperaba, la generosidad de personas muy relevantes dispuestas a adaptarse al personaje y al espacio elegidos para ellos, y se ha encontrado con la sorpresa de haber seleccionado a dos hermanos sin saberlo: un ingeniero aeronáutico de Airbus y el director del centro de investigación de la malaria de Manhiça (Mozambique). Ambos han sido colocados en la misma página, por si su familia quiere enmarcarla, por si algún lector quiere guardarla como ejemplo de los caprichos de la genética.

Los personajes seleccionados han añadido durante 2008 un nuevo mérito a su palmarés. Algunas causas propias de este tiempo han puesto a EL PAÍS sobre sus pistas. La recuperación de la memoria histórica reúne a un lado y otro del Atlántico a una legión de ciudadanos dispuestos a desenterrar la verdad y que casi siempre trabajan a contracorriente, enfrentándose a los que creen que barrer bajo la alfombra evita los efectos secundarios de una meticulosa higiene social.
La crisis financiera y económica ha puesto a flote a muchos profesionales que supieron prever y laborar en tiempos de bonanza. Y así es como en 2008 todos los expertos han vuelto su mirada hacia un gobernador del Banco de España ya jubilado o como causan renovada admiración empresarios que sobreviven con éxito.
La violencia que sacude a países como México y Colombia y la represión que persiste en Cuba han conocido también luces y sombras que pasan por liberaciones de película y por gestos de infinito coraje frente a unos poderes públicos incapaces de entender la libertad o de proteger a sus propios ciudadanos.

La expansión del mundo hispano en Estados Unidos es, por último, el otro gran rasgo característico del año 2008. La comunidad hispana de la primera potencia mundial conformaría ya el segundo país de habla española del mundo, después de México, según un reciente informe del Instituto Cervantes, que la sitúa en 45 millones de personas, sin contar a los inmigrantes irregulares. Su voto ha sido, además, determinante para la victoria del demócrata Barack Obama.

Los 100 iberoamericanos aquí seleccionados desarrollan sus conocimientos y cualidades en todas las partes del mundo: de Nueva Delhi a París, de Ginebra al Congo. Pero fuera de nuestras fronteras es en Estados Unidos donde se concentra el mayor número de iberoamericanos de prestigio. Ahí es donde han conquistado las universidades, las pasarelas de la moda, los teatros de Broadway, los platós de cine o la sede central de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas.

El texto completo está en el enlace

http://www.elpais.com/especial/protagonistas/

LdeLengua 15 con Mario Rinvolucri y Rosana Acquaroni

En este programa de LdeLengua, el que hace el número quince, vamos a dejar aparcadas por el momento las sesiones habituales del podcast para centrarnos en dos jugosas entrevistas.

La primera, realizada por Agustín Garmendia, de Difusión, a Mario Rinvolucri, aprovechando su presencia en el Rencontre FLE de Barcelona que organizó recientemente la misma editorial. Rinvolucri es, sin duda, uno de los máximos exponentes del enfoque humanista en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y es, al mismo tiempo, un estupendo comunicador con una innegable aptitud evangelizadora. Si queréis saber más sobre este investigador, os recomendamos que sigáis su blog. Dejamos este y todos los enlaces al final del post.

La segunda entrevista es la que Emilia Conejo y Victoria Castrillejo grabaron en Madrid con Rosana Acquaroni como protagonista. Rosana nos hablará sobre la competencia metafórica y su desarrollo en el aula español como lengua extranjera. De alguna manera, esta conversación viene a ser un estupendo aperitivo antes de el taller que la autora nos dará en el Encuentro Práctico International House - Difusión de Barcelona.

Además de estas dos charlas, comentamos dos iniciativas ya en marcha: el Congreso Internacional Virtual de ELE, que tendrá lugar entre el 1 y e 14 de diciembre próximos y la salida del podcast que acompaña a la revista Foco, la publicación de los profesores de español en Holanda. Como ya viene siendo habitual, aquí tenéis todos los enlaces relacionados o citados en este programa.

Datos técnicos: este podcast está disponible en una única versión en estéreo de 128 kbps en formato mp3 con una duración de 59 minutos y un peso de 54 MB. Ha sido grabado con Behringer Podcast Studio y M-Audio Podcast Factory. Para las entrevistas vía Skype contamos con Audio Hijack Pro y Pamela y para la edición del podcast se ha utilizado Audacity.

LdeLengua15: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download
http://eledelengua.com/

The Festive Season in a Part of Africa

Two days after Christmas a Zulu woman and her schoolboy son sat waiting for me to finish my morning's clinic in Ondini. She wanted me to visit her old mother's cow, which had a calf waiting to be born. But for two days now the calf would not come out, and the poor cow was getting very tired. 'We have heard that you are a good vet,' the woman said to me.

So off we went. The schoolboy in the front of my pick-up, to show me the way, and the woman and my assistant Mbambo in the back.

Download this story

http://www.oup-bookworms.com/teachers-only.cfm

Activity

Use the lesson plan provided with last month's free story. Once students have listened to the Audio Hook, ask them how many of these things they think will happen in the story:

http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/promo/bookworms/teaching_notes1.pdf

The cow dies	The cow has a calf
The vet is very expensive	The vet agrees a good price

After your students have read the story, put them in pairs and ask them to discuss why the vet said that half of 2,000 rands was 750, not 1,000. When they have finished their discussion, ask them to look at these two ideas, and decide which one they agree with:

1. He made a mistake because he was not good at numbers.
2. He did not really make a mistake; he wanted to give Granny a good price because it was the festive season.

Your students can also read an interview with the Author of this story on our website.

Reading tip

Include DEAR time in your lesson plans (Drop Everything And Read). Make sure that students always have a book with them in class, and from time to time announce 15 or 20 minutes DEAR time. Everybody reads, including the teacher, which demonstrates the value of reading and helps to establish a reading community. Oxford Bookworms Series Editor Jennifer Bassett For more tips visit our ask the experts web page.

Don't miss next month's free story at oup.com/bookworms
http://elt-marketing.oup.com/q/12hMXEFcSrOo7/wv

Blind Masseurs

This week, we find out about an interesting challenge to an employment law in South Korea. The law was passed in 1963 and stops people who aren't blind from taking jobs as massage therapists. Is this law absolutely crucial to one group of people whilst being unfair to others? Yvonne Archer is joined by William Kremer as she looks at a very difficult issue.

This week's question: Approximately how many people in the world are living with a disability of some kind?

a) 2%
b) 10%
c) 12%

You'll hear the answer at the end of the programme!


Vocabulary from the programme

a massage therapist
someone who uses his or her hands and fingers to rub different areas of the head, limbs and body to help stop pain or increase movement

masseurs
male massage therapists, but also used for females

masseuses
female massage therapists, never used for males

decades
tens of years ? a decade is ten years

cannot cope with demand
is unable to manage and complete all the work there is to do on time

awash with
literally, covered in water, but here, used as an adjective to describe a place where there are lots of people

Example sentence:
"During the summer months, the streets are awash with people."

barbers' shops
a place where people, usually men, pay to have their hair cut

sighted
able to see

practitioners
people who do something that's practical

non-visually impaired
able to see, having no problems with eyesight

constitutional court
a legal court where laws are made or changed

a monopoly
an exclusive right to do something

patronising
treating people as though they are children, have little intelligence or are of little importance

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Extras
Download this programme (mp3 - 2.8 MB)
Programme script (pdf - 40K)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/144_6minute/