7. Watch the talk again and note down how the speaker uses rhetorical devices, signposting language, humor, intonation and stress, and to what effect?

WORKSHOP 3

Mustafa Akyol, journalist, March 2011 (17:08)

1. Identify the topic of the talk given by Mustafa Akyol.

2. For questions a-f decide whether the statements are true, false or no information is given (if false, explain why):

1. The tradition of seclusion of women predated Islam.

2. The speaker calls on pious, conservative Muslims to stick to their traditions because they are divinely mandated.

3. The Koran neither has punishment for apostasy or drinking nor condones stoning.

4. Authoritarianism is inherent in the political culture of Muslim societies.

5. Islam created the idea of the individual in the Middle East and saved man from the collectivism of the tribe.

6. In the 18th century Islamic modernism was advanced by intellectuals and statesmen, not just as an intellectual idea, but also as a political program.

3. Answer the comprehension questions:

1. What beliefs or misconceptions about cultural and political traditions of Muslim societies does the author seek to dispel?

2. How does he account for the existing practice of dividing men and women and cruel rituals in Muslim communities?

3. How did it happen that many Muslim countries tend to be authoritarian?

4. What led to the rise of Islamism?

5. What point does Mustafa Akyol seek to illustrate talking about the modern and contemporary history of Turkey?

4. Identify the thesis of the talk.

5. Give the gist/summary of the talk.

Part 3. Watching to review

WORKSHOP 1

Paddy Ashdown, former member of the British Parliament and a diplomat, December 2011 (18:30)

1. Identify the topic and the thesis of the talk given by Paddy Ashdown.

2. Answer the questions:

1. The speaker believes that

“We are condemned to live at just one of those moments in history when the gimbals upon which the established order of power are beginning to change and the new look of the world, the new powers that exist in the world, are beginning to take form.”

Do you find the idea tenable? Is it a widespread perception among experts and analysts nowadays?

2. What three factors does the speaker dwell on in his talk?

3. What shifts of power does he describe?

4. What risks and threats can globalization of power pose? What solution does the speaker propose? How feasible is this idea?

5. How should shifts of power affect international cooperation?

6. How valid do you think the following prediction is? How does the speaker substantiate it?

“We're reaching the beginning of the end of 400 years of the hegemony of Western power, Western institutions and Western values.”

7. How has the perception of security and hence that of defense of a nation changed over the past decades? Why? Do you think it is a mainstream approach to the problem?

8. What does the speaker imply saying that “the paradigm structure of our time is the network”?

9. How often does the speaker resort to examples to illustrate his ideas? What effect does it produce?

10. Expand on the following:

“The advent of the interconnectedness and of the weapons of mass destruction means that, increasingly, I share a destiny with my enemy.”

11. The speaker starts and ends his talk with a poem. What impression did it produce on you? Why do you think the speaker chose to recite the poems?

"A Shropshire Lad" by A.E. Housman

On the idle hill of summer,

Sleepy with the flow of streams,

Far I hear the steady drummer

Drumming like a noise in dreams.

Far and near and low and louder

On the roads of earth go by,

Dear to friends and food for powder,

Soldiers marching, all to die.

“No Man is an Island" by John Donne

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

3. Summarize your opinion of the talk, you may want to consider the impression produced by the talk, manner of presentation, language used, logic of the arguments and conclusions, accuracy of observation, timeliness and originality, etc.

WORKSHOP 2