So, here is the text you had to read:
Updated 1:47pm 6 August 2011:
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Jaci Stephen: I've left
Facebook
Jaci Stephen
The unthinkable has happened. On Sunday night, I uttered[1] the three little words I had never thought I would. They had been coming for a while, but it was having the
courage to say them and mean them that had so far proven the final obstacle.
Then, suddenly, there they were, spilling out of my mouth like a baby’s
dribble: I’ve left Facebook.
It’s something I had tried to do in
the past but had lasted no more than 30 minutes. Without Facebook, my life fell
apart[2]. People whose
business cards I once would have taken (how quaint[3] that social nicety
now seemed) had communicated only with the phrase “I’ll Facebook you”; I quickly
realised that extricating myself from the social networking site meant they
would be out of my life forever.
Then there was my family, for whom,
when I was on my travels, Facebook was a comforting record of what I was doing
on a daily basis. They were distraught[4] the instant I
left.
More to the point: so was I. Often
6000 miles away in Los Angeles, I relied on Facebook to keep me up to date with
friends and family; it created the sense of emotional closeness in the absence
of physical closeness and instilled in me the feeling that I was next door, as
opposed to the other side of the Atlantic.
But my relationship with Facebook
and some of its members had been going wrong for some time. I resented[5] “friends” adding me to
groups I had not asked to join (Facebook’s new policy means that anyone on your
list can add you without your permission). I was not happy having photos posted
– again, without my permission and often in situations that compromised my
privacy. I was especially not happy about the increasingly snide[6] and nasty comments people
made about things they knew nothing about.
The last reason is the one that made
me finally say: Enough’s enough.
When I saw the news about Amy
Winehouse’s death at the weekend, I felt nothing but sorrow[7]: sorrow for a young life,
in the grip of addiction, so tragically lost; sorrow for her grieving parents,
brother and friends; sorrow that the music world had lost a genius who had
already, in her short life, contributed more than so many others manage to[8] do in a lifetime
three times as long.
Then the torrent of abuse poured
forth on Facebook: judgmental, nasty, heartless comments, totally devoid of
compassion. It was disgusting and made me ashamed that I was enabling these
people to have a platform for their abuse on my Facebook page. I would not
tolerate them in my local pub, so why would I invite them into my home to spout
their vile tirades?
I could not, would not, read any
more; it was too distressing[9]. So, since that incident,
I have left Facebook and, despite friends’ attempts to lure me back, I intend
to stay off it for the foreseeable[10] future.
Amy’s music lives on, as will her
memory. With one click of the mouse, the comments of her detractors will not.
Adapted
from: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2011/07/29/jaci-stephen-i-ve-left-facebook-91466-29141612/
[1] Utter : say
[2] Fall apart :
fall into pieces
[4] Distraught :
distressed / out of my mind
[5] Resent : have hard feelings towards
[6] Snide : mean / sarcastic / unpleasant
[7] Sorrow : sadness
[8] Manage to +
V : succeed in + V-ing
[9] Distressing : upsetting, worrying, painful
[10] Foresee : predict,
forecast, anticipate, announce
Reading 1, Anticipation / Global Comprehension:
You had to read and to find out:
- the type of document
- the narrator / the author
- the theme / the main topic
Correction of this task:
This document is a column (a recurring piece or article in which the columnist expresses his opinion on various subjects) written by Jaci Stephen and published on www.walesonline.co.uk on july 29th 2011.
- The headline is quite explicit and allows the reader to know directly the topic of this column.
or
- Thanks to the headline, the reader can easily know the content of this column.
Indeed, 'I've left Facebook' shows that the theme is the most famous social network in the world. We can guess / suppose / infer / that the columnist is going to explain the reasons why she decided to leave FB. Therefore, this text might consist in a criticism of FB.
The very first paragraph confirms that the main topic is FB. Again, we can read: 'I've left Facebook'. But we immediately find out that doing so has not been easy: 'Unthinkable', 'courage', 'obstacle'...
Well, this is somehow what we were supposed to get to using your preparations....
Now, let's move on what you would have done on Monday if I had been there.
I would have asked you the following question (which is in fact a double question!)
'Well, we've said that she has left Facebook and that it hasn't been easy to do so... So, read the text to discover why leaving this 'social networking site' was so difficult for her and why she has finally made that decision.'
I know I'm not here with you but I'm asking you these two questions now... So just do it kids!
Monday, February 4th
Leaving Facebook was difficult
|
Her reasons for leaving Facebook
|
The unthinkable
has happened. On Sunday night, I uttered[1] the three little words I had never thought I would
It’s something I
had tried to do in the past but had lasted no more than 30 minutes.
Why?
2.
bis: emotional closeness in the absence of physical closeness / I
relied on Facebook to keep me up to date with friends and family
|
But my
relationship with Facebook and some of its members had been going wrong for
some time.
Why?
Example :
Amy Winhouse’s death
è torrent of abuse poured forth on Facebook:
judgmental, nasty, heartless comments, totally devoid of compassion.
è disgusting and made me ashamed
è I would not tolerate them in my local pub, so why
would I invite them into my home to spout their vile tirades?
|
Conclusion:
She was
addicted to Facebook / Living without it was impossible for her.
She needed
it for her business and in order to keep in touch with her family. This social
network gave her a sense of emotional closeness with her family and relatives.
Yet, she had wanted to leave Facebook for a while. She had never been able to do so and finally, she did it. She was fed up with her friends’
adding her to groups or with people’s making nasty comments , for instance
about Amy Winehouse’s death.
She says
she would not tolerate people saying such things in her real life therefore
she does not intend to bear them on Facebook.
The following tasks are to be done and sent to seb.vieille@wanadoo.fr before Sunday 12.00 a.m. You will receive a correction and further instructions next monday (this message will not self destruct in 5 seconds)
Reflecting on language:
1) Explain the difference between the two expressions in red and the one in green. (Why does the narrator use different tenses?)
2) Observe the expressions in blue and the ones in purple.
These two different forms are forms of 'nominalization': Why are they called this way in your opinion?
How does each structure work? (different components... Beware: the expressions in blue have two different ways of functioning)
Guess why one of them is coherent with verbs like 'intend' or 'want' and why the other one perfectly goes along with 'be fed up with' or 'tolerate'
Reflecting on the notion
1) Fill in the following diagram using words or expressions
2) Write an essay of about 300 words.
Choose 1 subject
A: Do you sometimes frequent virtual exchange spaces?
If you do, explain why and what spaces you frequent. Also explain what you like talking about.
If you don't, explain why and say how you prefer communicating and what you enjoy talking about.
B: Virtual Exchanges take a too important place in our modern world.
Comment and discuss that statement.
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