1. MASS MEDIA Grupo Donos

2. NEWSPAPERS In Britain, most newspapers are daily (they come out / are published everyday); a few only come out on Sundays. Magazines are usually weekly (=they come out every week), or monthly (= published every month).

3. Some newspapers are tabloids (= small in size) e.g. The Mirror; In general, the tabloids represent the popular press (short articles and lots of pictures) • Others are called broadsheets(= larger in size) e.g. The Times. and the broadsheets represent the quality press (longer articles and more “serious”). • The largest circulation (= number of readers) is The Sun.

4. CONTENTS Most British papers contain the following: • home news (= news about Britain) • foreign/international news (= news about other countries) • business news • sport news • features (= longer articles about special subjects, e.g. a famous person or a political issue) • radio and TV programmes • weather forecast (= tells you what the weather will be like ) • reviews (= when films, theatre and music critics write about new films, plays and records, and give their opinion on them)

5. TELEVISION Operating a television turn it on (opposite : turn it off) plug it in remote control You may also want to turn it up (=increase the volume because you can’t hear) or the opposite turn it down; and turn over (=change to a different channel ,e.g. from 1 to 3 ) Note, you can also say switch on, switch off, or switch over (but not switch it up/down)

6. Types of programmes • Soap opera: a programme often on two or three times a week, which follows the lives of a group/community of people; the stories are often exciting, dramatic and hard to believe. • Quiz show or Game show: individuals, teams or families who answer questions or play different games against each other. The winner gets a prize, e.g. a car, a holiday, money. • Chat show: a programme where a presenter talks to famous people about their lives and careers; sometimes there is music as well. • A series: a number of programmes about the same situation or the same characters in different situations. This maybe a comedy series (the programme are intended to be funny), or a drama series (the programmes are intended to be exciting, with interesting characters and situations) • Documentary: a film with factual information, often analysing a problem in society. • Current affairs programme: a programme about a current social/political problem. Current means that it is happening “now / at the present time”

7. COMPUTERS Hardware Screen VDU (monitor) laptop central processing unit (= the heart of the computer) keyboard laser printer As well as the hardware (=the machines), you also need a software (=the programmes needed to work the machines). These programmes are on disks, e.g. the hard disk inside the computer, or floppy disks or on CD-ROMs (=Compact Disc Read Only Memory, a CD on which you can put a large amount of information).

8. OPERATING A COMPUTER Using the mouse, you can do a lot of things by clicking on different icons (=moving the mouse to point at different pictures at the top of the screen) TOOL BAR: copy save the data in this document insert board open a existing document paste hyper link open a new document bigger print

9. WHAT DO PEOPLE USE COMPUTERS FOR? • A word processor is a computer used to prepare documents or letters, or the software which is used for this purpose. Many people use their computers for • word processing, e.g. writing letters and reports. A lot of business people use • spreadsheets (=a programme used to enter and arrange numbers and financial information) and • databases (=programmes which allow you to store, look at or change a large amount of information quickly and easily ). Some people also use • graphics (=the pictures and symbols a computer programme can produce).

10. IMPORTANT VOCABULARY • More and more people are becoming computer-literate (= have experience of working with computers and know how to use them) • as many programme and machines are so user-friendly (=easy to use). • You can now connect your computer to computers all over the world using the Internet. (=a system that allows computers to connect using telephone lines). • People send each other e-mail(=electronic mail) messages using this system or network. • If your computer is slow it may need more memory. • It may crash (=stop working) • if there is not enough memory or if it has a bug (=a software problems; also a virus). Make sure you make a back-up copy of your work (=an extra copy on a floppy disk or pen drive).