General Listening Quiz

"Cyberbullying"

Level:	Topic:	Speakers:	Length:
difficult	bullying	man - woman	01:57

Pre-Listening Exercise

How common is bullying at school or even at the workplace in your country? In what ways is cyberbullying a serious problem, and how is it different than bullying in the past?

Idioms

"be or feel down" = be or feel sad
"James has been really down lately because he has few close friends at school."

"pick a fight" = start a fight
"Some of the kids are always trying to pick a fight with our son for unknown reasons."

Listening Exercise

A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

What is the name of the girl?

Michelle

Megan

Marsha

Teacher: So, what is your child's name? Parent: It's Megan Jones.

She is a student in ____.

high school

junior high school

elementary school

Teacher: Well, you know, junior high school is a difficult time, but she just needs to speak up a little more in class. I think . . .

The girl's teacher just thinks that she needs to _____ to make things better.

study quietly

talk more

pay attention

Teacher: She just needs to speak up a little more in class. I think . . .

Some of the students have been _______.

making fun of her looks

ignoring the girl at lunch

stealing the girl's books

Parent: Well, um, they've been teasing her a lot about her appearance, and then, the other day, you didn't help things [ What? ] Yeah, she said you made a comment about her clothes.

What did some kids do on Facebook that hurt the girl's feelings?

They wrote some awful messages.

They deleted her as a friend.

They didn't invite her to a birthday party.

Parent: Well, yeah, that's what you think, but other kids follow your example. In fact, one of the kids took a picture of her with their phone and posted it and had some real nasty comments on Facebook. It was terrible.

The girl's mother is planning on ______ to resolve the problem.

discussing the issue with a lawyer

contacting the local police

meeting with the school principal

Parent: No, don't you get it? This is bullying; it's cyberbullying, and adults like you are part of the problem. Forget it. I'm planning on discussing this with the principal tomorrow.

The teacher wants to _____.

talk to the girl the next day at school

apologize to the girl by email

read books on suicide prevention

Teacher: Wow. Uh, I'm really sorry. Could you see if you can bring her to school tomorrow? Uh, I'd like to apologize and see what I can do to, maybe, improve the situation.

Post-Listening Exercise

Have you (or someone you know) ever experienced bullying at school or in your neighborhood? If so, explain the situation, how you felt, and how things turned out for you. Have you bullied someone in any big or small way? Why did you do it? What led you to stop at some point (if you did stop)?

Online Investigation

Use the Internet to find information on these questions:

How is bullying in person different from cybebullying (for example, you can cyberbullying someone else 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)?
What are the effects of cyberbullying on people?
What are the warning signs of cyberbullying?
What are ways in which people are cyberbullied on the Internet?
What can people do to protect themselves from cyberbullying?
Are boys or girls more likely bully other kids?
Are people who are bullied more likely to suffer from depression or die by suicide?

See Listening Script

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