What we did last lesson...

What we did on Monday the 27th of Ocotber:

We started with reading a poem called "Global Village" by a Nigerian author called Yusufu M. Adamu. We had a discussion about what the poem was all about, and I think that the poem is about the fact that people are different, and people should take care of its culture. When we read the poem, we first read it to ourselves, then we walked around the classroom while reading the poem out loud, and then we were categorized in groups, and read a couple of stanzas each. 

We read another poem called "The Right Word" by Pakistan/British writer named Imtiaz Dharker. The poem was about terrorism, and asking who the terrorists are. That turns out to be a difficult question. Everyone in the class got one stanza each, except the readers, and made a little play. At the end of the class we discussed terrorism. 

Sources:
Page 170 and 184 in Access (29.10.14)

Acronyms

WTO

• deals with the global rules of trade between nations
• it’s main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly predictably and freely as possible
• the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business

"99%"

• is a political slogan used by the Occupy movement (movement against social and economic inequality)
• «We are the 99%»
• the 99% are paying the price for the mistakes of a tiny minority within the upper class
• started in the US, but is now an international movement

 IMF

• international fund is an international organization that was initiated in 1933 at Bretton Wood Conference 
• was formally created in 1945 by 29 member countries

The World Bank

• a United Nations international institution that provides loand and developing countries for capital programs 
• the World Bank’s official is the reduction of poverty

United Nations

• an international organization to promote international co-operation
• created following the second world war to prevent another such conflict
• 193 member states
• the UN headquarter is situated in Manhattan, New York City
• also has main offices in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna

Great recession

• a term used to describe the general economic decline observed in world markets around the end of the first decade of the 21st century
• the recession is often associated with the US subprime mortage crisis and financial crisis of 2007-2008

Occupy Wall Street

• started with demonstrations  in New York City the 17th of September, 2011
• the demonstrations had spread to at least 70 cities in the US
• the demonstrations spread to other countries, like Germany England and Italy
• demonstrated against social and economic inequality, greed and corruption
• used the slogan «we are the 99%»

Globalization

• the process of international intergration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and aspects of culture
• the world is getting «closer»
• we affect each other

NGOs

• a non-govermental organization is any nonprofit, voluntary citizen’s group which is organized on a local, national or international level 

 Sources:
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/thewto_e.htm (8.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization (8.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_are_the_99%25 (8.10.14)
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com (8.10.14)
http://www.imf.org/external/about.htm (8.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund  (13.10.14)
http://www.worldbank.org/en/about (13.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations (13.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession (13.10.14)
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street (13.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization (13.10.14)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization (13.10.14)

Apple Launch

In my presentation, where the task was to talk about news, I chose to talk about the apple launch that happened the 9th of September (over a month ago). We had to find the news from three different articles, and I picked three different articles from three different TV-channels from three different countries. I chose CBC (Canada), CNN (USA) and BBC (UK). 

So, Apple’s announcement is always a big happening. It usually happens a couple of times a year. They have one every fall, where they normally release a new iPhone. But other than that, Apple is usually good at keeping their cards close to their chest, so you don't really know what to expect. There are always a lot of speculations and rumours, and sometimes they are right. 

This fall they released not only one iPhone, but two new models. The new models are bigger then the previous ones. They are called iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 +. The iPhone 6 + is a couple inches bigger than the iPhone 6, and the iPhone 6 is a couple of inches bigger than the iPhone 5. A lot of people think that having a bigger phone is an advantage, and there has been complaining that the iPhone 5, and the older models, has been too small. But the size is not the only thing that is different. The new iPhones has more round edges, and different design, and it is also thinner. The graphic is supposed to be better, and the camera is supposed to be better as well. Other than that, there are not too many changes. 

The next product they launced, was a brand new one. It is called Apple Watch. There has been speculations about a product like this for years, and now, Apple has finally announced it. Apple Watch is what we call a smartwatch, with touchscreen and Apps, but you can still use it like a normal watch. It has many different like functions, and you can use it as a GPS, you can check the weather, you can check the calender, look at your schedule and etc. The watch is not on the market yet, but it will most likely come out in early 2015. 

Apple ended it all with a new service called Apple Pay. It gives you the oppertunity to pay with your iPhone, instead of using a credit card. Your iPhone has all the credit card-information it needs, and you can simply just hold your phone to a scanner in the store, and you have made your payment. Apple Pay is now only aviable in the US, but Apple are working on making it a global service. 

As mentioned earlier, I read three different articles. There were not too many differences in the articles. They all focused on the products, and had a lot of similiar information. CNN's article stood out though, because their journalist got to try one of the products, so the article included som personal opinions as well. But other than that, the articles were very similar. 

Sources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apple-watch-iphone-6-models-apple-pay-unveiled-1.2759617 (17.09.14)
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/10/tech/mobile/apple-watch-hands-on/index.html?iid=article_sidebar(17.09.14)
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29128083 (17.09.14)