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

Marsha

Megan

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

She is a student in ____.

junior high school

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.

pay attention

talk more

study quietly

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

Some of the students have been _______.

stealing the girl's books

ignoring the girl at lunch

making fun of her looks

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 didn't invite her to a birthday party.

They deleted her as a friend.

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.

meeting with the school principal

contacting the local police

discussing the issue with a lawyer

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 _____.

apologize to the girl by email

read books on suicide prevention

talk to the girl the next day at school

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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