English, baby!

Talking Iranian Democracy on Ebaby!

Date: Jun 23 2009

Themes: News

Grammar: Present Perfect Progressive

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Iran is in crisis. The results of the country’s national election are being disputed and there are thousands of people demonstrating in the streets. Some of them have been killed or injured by police and military trying to stop the protests.

The whole world is watching Iran, but most of our information is not coming from traditional media since reporters in the country have been restricted. Iranians are using many different websites to plan meetings and share their experiences and English, baby! is among them. Take a look at this forum thread about the protests, and this one about Iran in general.

Listen to John on a radio news program in the US talking about how the events in Iran are playing out on English, baby!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kristian

John

Kristian: English, baby!, is a site where anybody who wants to learn English can go to chat. To make it even more compelling, English, baby!, is set up like a social media site. So students post their favorite music picks and make friends with each other online. The site has about 10,000 members in Iran and it’s easy to find discussions about the election. The founder of English, baby!, John Hayden, says he’s been surprised by the wealth of opinions expressed.

John: We see a lot in the Western media, a lot of the protests and a lot of the bloodshed. And we’re seeing conversations talking about that as well on English, baby! But there’s definitely another side to that, that we’re seeing. Support for the election and wanting to abide by the results of that.

Kristian: The Iranian government has been making sounds about shutting places down. Is that a concern for you and would it be possible for them to do that?

John: You know, it’s tough. I think the major sites, the Facebooks, the YouTubes and the Twitters, it’s really easy to target those URL’s but the Internet is so broad now. There are so many niche sites, where people can communicate and have conversations, like English, baby!, where we feel like we’re pretty safe, underneath the radar and people are freely discussing their views on there. So we’re not concerned about being shut down and if that does happen, we’ll deal with it then.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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John tells Kristian that on English, baby! you can find Iranian people who support the protesters and believe the election was rigged, as well as people who think the election was fair and that the protesters should stop.

The government of Iran has banned some websites, hoping to stop the protests. Kristian asks John if the thinks English, baby! could be banned in Iran. Since Ebaby! is primarily a site for learning English, John hopes that the Iranian censors won’t notice it and that the discussion can continue freely.

Have do you feel about the events in Iran?

Listen to the rest of the radio story on our blog.

Comments

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hsuan chang

Taiwan

The demonstrations of Iran were due to the result of a controversial election. I think this is the price they need to pay when people persue the value of democracy.

But in my point of view, the majority of news came from the western media, is that fair to Iranian? We can keep our concerntration on this event, but don't judge it. This domestic controversy need to be solved by themselves.

joojootala

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

The Iranian government cheated in the election and it has killed about 300 people who are just in silent protests and among them is our hero, Neda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_(Iranian_protester)

joojootala

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

She is our hero and will be always in our mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_(Iranian_protester)

joojootala

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

To omarOK: It is not a lie!I am in Iran and I can see what is happening here and no here is no democracy at all you are concerned about the money that Ahmadinejad gives you each year to support Palestinian terrorists so do not say anything about our country and you should know that the iranian government is killing its own people who are in silent protests!

Here are some additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_(Iranian_protester)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_presidential_election,_2009

sangdhbkhn2005

Viet Nam

I have heard some news about Iran, protest, demotrations… But I do not like politic very much. It always makes people confuse.

Everything in the internet century is not under the radar.

julywidiawati

Indonesia

i have been hearing about some events in Iran since i was at elementary school, it was 13 years ago. Sometimes i really thank God that i was born here in Indonesia, we live in peace and harmony, there's no such a huge murder and widely open.

Actually, recently in my country also close to president election which be held on July, and so far we are in a health competition and i'm sure there will be some protester but i think it's natural as long as it doesn't happen like in Iran.

Miss·Daisy

China

It is true that English,baby! is a good website for people around the world to learn English,communicate in English and make friends at the same time,

but i don't think it's appropriate to make this website become politicalize.Most people here are very young,and too much political opinion will mislead them a certain extent.

alexa1

Saudi Arabia

hey everyone…..i see what's happen in Iran …and i wish the peace for The whole world ..amen !!

Josh K

Guatemala

I see this site, can give ur opinion about happenin in Iran, get free for say one feel and think, that's important.

gravity-100

Turkey

hey everybody

othman ahmaro

Jordan

Iran is an Islamic country and Those who make demonstrations are paid from outside powers to spoil the democracy in Iran.The west wants to damage Iran from inside after they couldn't do so from the outside.The west is using doublle standard policy.What did they do when Israel killed the children in Gaza and damaged the houses over the heads of its people.Every day many Palestinians are killed because of the cruel seige over Gaza.Where is the west from this case?The BBC and The sound of America are doing their best to motivate demonstrators to spoil the life in Iran as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.