126 UniT 09 | Make a change! If you were the mayor of your town, what would you change and why? Write down three changes and find good arguments why they should be made. Then get together with another student and discuss your ideas. Agree on one change you would both like to see. Read the information below, then discuss it with a partner. What do you think of this idea? SPEAKING 9 LISTENING 10 You are going to listen to an FM4 interview with Benjamin Barber. Write down three questions you have about his ideas, then listen to the interview. Does he answer any of them? What does he say? You are going to listen to the interview again. First, study the task below. Then, while listening, answer the questions (1–8) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. After listening, take some time to check your answers. 11 a 27 b Collect Barber’s ideas on the board or a flipchart and discuss them in class. Do you think students from another part of Austria, like a city or the countryside, would agree with your views? Do you agree that cities and their mayors should have more influence in politics? Write a PEEL paragraph of around 120 words on your opinion. See PEEL revisited, p. 104. SPEAKING 12 WRITING 13 0 What part of the world’s population lives in cities? the majority 1 Why can’t mayors solve the big problems now? 2 According to Barber, what kind of people are mayors? 3 Which group of people do mayors have to work with? (Give one answer.) 4 What does Barber say the world is like today? 5 What percentage of the US population lives in cities? 6 What should cities fight for? 7 What percentage of the US population are white people? 8 In Barber’s view, who controls the world? US political scientist Benjamin Barber had a radical idea. He argued that problems like climate change, terrorism and poverty can’t be solved by politicians of nation states or traditional international organisations. Instead, cities and the mayors who run them would be far more likely to succeed if they worked together and took responsibility for these larger issues. Barber proposed a ‘World Parliament of Mayors’ in which the world’s cities work together to improve the situation for everyone. A World Parliament of Mayors Strategies box Remember, you don’t have to understand every word in an authentic recording. Focus on finding the answers to the questions; sometimes all you need is a number or a single word. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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