<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Teacher Mar]]></title><description><![CDATA[Articles]]></description><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright Teacher Mar]]></copyright><generator>sNews CMS</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Obama to take first major trip in Africa]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
    
  
  
  
     
    
              "Obama to take first major Africa trip in late June"                
  
        
WASHINGTON DC, USA - US President Barack Obama will leave on a first African tour next month, visiting Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa, but his itinerary released on Monday bypasses Kenya, an ancestral homeland.
    
Obama disappointed many Africans by spending only a few hours in sub-Saharan Africa -- in Ghana -- during his first term, but is keen to implement a sweeping new regional strategy, prioritizing democracy and economic reform.
    
Speculation will center on whether America's first black president will see ailing 94-year-old South African anti-Apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, on a trip on which he will be accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama.
    
The White House said the long-awaited visit was intended to underscore Obama's "commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa" to advance peace and prosperity.
    
Obama will meet officials, businessmen, and civil society leaders, including young people, on the trip between June 26 and July 3 -- an unusually long journey for a president who normally dashes across timezones on trips abroad.
    
But early scrutiny will concentrate as much on where he will not go in Africa, as his planned stops, with Kenya, the land of Obama's late father, where he still has living relatives, a glaring omission.
    
Obama frequently uses his past and background to connect with foreigners, remembering his childhood stays while in Indonesia, his Irish heritage in Ireland, and as a Hawaii native, posing as America's "first Pacific president."
    
But politics appears to have scuppered hopes for Obama to reconnect with his roots in Kenya.
    
It would likely be seen as unseemly for Obama to appear with Uhuru Kenyatta, elected president in March, who will go on trial in July at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in post-election violence in 2007-08.
    
An administration official said on condition of anonymity that Kenyatta's election had been a complicating factor in setting Obama's schedule in Africa.
    
Obama did visit Kenya in 2006, shortly after he was elected to the Senate, but before he announced his 2008 run for the White House.
    
His visit to Africa will follow a similar tour made by his wife Michelle in June 2011, during which she met Mandela.
    
While the president is yet to mount a full tour of the continent, he did host a meeting at the end of March with recently elected Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall, along with the leaders of Sierra Leone, Malawi and Cape Verde, lauding them as examples of "the progress that we are seeing in Africa."
    
In 2011, Obama received four other African leaders at the White House, the presidents of Benin, Guinea, Niger and Ivory Coast. He had promised them the US would remain a "stalwart partner" to democracies in Africa.
    
In June 2012, Obama unveiled a sweeping new Africa strategy, with the goal of reinforcing security and democracy on a continent facing the threat of Al-Qaeda and a Chinese economic offensive.
    
The new US blueprint seeks to boost trade, strengthen peace, security and good governance and bolster democratic institutions, declaring that a continent torn by poverty, corruption and discord could be the world's next big economic success story.
    
The administration touted "successes" from helping to restore democracy in Ivory Coast, nurturing the new state of South Sudan, backing stability efforts in Somalia and engaging young African leaders.
    
In his speech before Ghana's parliament in 2009, Obama proclaimed that even though the continent now needs international aid, "Africa's future is up to Africans."
    
Obama's visit will also likely throw a new focus on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was the brainchild of his predecessor George W. Bush and is credited with saving millions of lives. - Rappler.com
            ** Discussion questions to be asked by the teacher.    
       
    
Source: Rappler.com
       ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 09:19:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/obama-to-take-first-major-trip-in-africa/</link><guid>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/obama-to-take-first-major-trip-in-africa/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Voting is a Right, Not a Duty]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
    
  
  
  
     
    
              "Voting is a Right, Not a Duty"                
  
        
IF YOU'VE HEARD IT ONCE, you've heard it a thousand times: It's your civic duty to vote. Between now and Election Day – unless you're planning an extended session in a sensory-deprivation tank – you'll no doubt hear it again. And again.
    
Don't believe it. It's not your duty to vote.
    
Not that I'm against voting. I was 9 when I first saw the inside of a voting booth. It was Election Day, 1968. My father took me with him early in the morning when he went to vote and let me pull the lever for his candidate -- Hubert H. Humphrey. (My mother cast her ballot later that day for Richard M. Nixon.) Once I turned old enough to vote I became an Election Day regular. My candidates don't usually win, and even those who do routinely disappoint me in office. Still, "don't vote – it only encourages them" has never been my philosophy.
    
As a father I've taken my own children with me to the polls. In 2004 my then-7-year-old wondered why so many people were standing in line to vote, when there was no law requiring them to do so and no doubt about which presidential candidate would carry our state. Part of the reason, I told him, is that many people like to vote. We relish the egalitarian ritual of Election Day – citizens of every rank coming together as equals to peacefully choose their leaders. Even when the outcome is a foregone conclusion, voting is an act of democratic self-government that many Americans enjoy being part of.
    
But plenty of other Americans don't feel that way. Tens of millions of eligible voters routinely sit out national elections, and there is no legitimate basis for scorning them. Quite the contrary. Though it may be unfashionable to say it, there are perfectly sound reasons not to vote.
    
For one thing, your vote almost certainly won't matter.
    
The odds that any single voter will actually determine how an election turns out are "very, very, very slim," wrote Freakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt in 2005, citing research that analyzed more than 56,000 congressional and state legislative elections sating back to 1898. Just eight of those elections were decided by a single vote – and only one of those eight was a contest for a US House seat. In a presidential election, the average voter's impact is even less significant. Even in so-called battleground states, the likelihood that any given voter's participation will affect the outcome is infinitesimal – and most of us don't live in battleground states. Americans who decide they have more important things to do with their time than cast a vote that won't make a difference anyway are probably right.
    
That's even truer for eligible voters who don't feel they know enough – or who don't care enough -- to cast an informed vote. That's not meant as a put-down. As Harvard economist Greg Mankiw points out, even reliable voters who never miss an election will often skip down-ballot races about which they have little or no information.
    
"In practice, this means that you are relying on your fellow citizens to make the right choice," writes Mankiw, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. "But this can be perfectly rational. If you really don't know enough to cast an intelligent vote, you should be eager to let your more informed neighbors make the decision."
    
If that's the case when it comes to elections for registrar of deeds or county commissioner, why not in contests for state representative, US senator, or president? Like buying stocks or undergoing surgery, the election of government officials can have serious consequences. We don't hector Americans to make uninformed decisions about investments or medical treatment. What societal advantage is there in badgering people with no interest in candidates or elections to go to the polls anyway?
    
"But it's your civic duty to vote!"
    
No, it isn't. You have the right to vote, not a duty to do so. In much the same way, you have the right to worship freely, the right to express your views, the right to run for public office – but no obligation to do any of them. Just as freedom of religion encompasses the freedom to practice no religion, your freedom to vote for the candidate of your choice includes the freedom to vote for no candidate at all.
    
"I leave you with the words of my mom," said CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, wrapping up the final presidential debate in Boca Raton last week. "Go vote. It makes you feel big and strong." Great advice -- for those who feel that way. But there's nothing wrong with staying home for those who don't.
            ** Discussion questions to be asked by the teacher.    
       
    
Source: TownHall.com
       ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 02:56:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/voting-is-a-right-not-a-duty/</link><guid>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/voting-is-a-right-not-a-duty/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bangladeshi Protestors Demand Execution of Bloggers]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
    
  
  
  
     
    
              "100,000 Bangladeshi Protestors Rallied To Demand The Execution Of Atheist Bloggers"                
  
        
Hundreds of thousands of Islamists rallied in Dhaka after an overnight "long march" to the Bangladeshi capital, demanding the execution of atheist bloggers for defaming Islam.
    
It is the latest protest to rack Bangladesh, deepening tensions between secularists and the largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders are under trial for crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of independence.
    
The Islamists converged on Dhaka's main commercial hub to protest against what they say are blasphemous writings by atheist bloggers, defying a pro-government national strike by secular protesters -- who staged a smaller rival protest in Dhaka Saturday -- aimed at resisting the march.
    
Police said about 100,000 people attended the rally during which protesters chanted "God is great, hang the atheist bloggers".
    
Protest organizers, who called the rally the "long march" with many traveling from remote villages, put the number at more than half a million, as Dhaka's Motijheel commercial area turned into a sea of white robes.
    
"I've come here to fight for Islam. We won't allow any bloggers to blaspheme our religion and our beloved Prophet Mohammed," said Shahidul Islam, an imam at a mosque outside Dhaka who walked 20 kilometres (13 miles).
    
Hefajat-e-Islam, an Islamic group which draws support from tens of thousands of seminaries, organized the rally in support of its 13-point demand including enactment of a blasphemy law to prosecute and hang atheist bloggers.
    
There has been vociferous debate between staunch atheists and fundamentalists in Bangladesh's social media for years, but it took a deadly turn in February when an anti-Islam blogger was murdered.
    
This week four online writers were arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiment through their Internet writings against Islam.
    
Following recent protests over the on-going war crimes tribunal the government has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the unrest. It has also set up a panel, which includes intelligence chiefs, to monitor blasphemy on social media.
    
Under the country's cyber laws, a blogger or Internet writer can face up to ten years in jail for defaming a religion.
    
Dhaka has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country since Friday afternoon -- when secularists called a 22-hour nationwide strike to obstruct the march -- as private transport operators stopped services fearing clashes between Islamists and secular protesters.
    
Hefajat-e-Islam has accused the government of ordering the transport shutdown to try to foil its march to the capital. While the secularists claim the main goal of the march is to halt the war crime trials of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, a charge the Islamists deny.
    
On Friday, a ruling party activist was shot dead after the secularists clashed with hundreds of seminary students holding a rally in support of the march, local police chief Yasir Arafat told AFP.
            ** Discussion questions to be asked by the teacher.    
       
    
Source: Agence Presse France
       ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 05:37:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/bangladeshi-protestors-demand-execution-of-bloggers/</link><guid>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/bangladeshi-protestors-demand-execution-of-bloggers/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Beginner English: New Cellphone]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
    
  
  
  
    
    
    "Beginner English: New Cellphone"      
        
  A. READING   
      
Art’s wife bought him an expensive cell phone for his fiftieth birthday. Now, he can take pictures, record videos, access the Internet, download maps, play music, and send and receive text messages. Unfortunately, Art doesn’t know how to use all the features on his new phone. He read the instructions, but he doesn’t understand them. He read the instructions a second time, but he still doesn’t understand them. Art’s wife told
him to ask a friend at work to show him how to use his new phone. Art doesn’t want to ask for help. He doesn’t want his co-workers to think he is not good with technology.
            
  B. TRUE OR FALSE   
      
1. ________ Art got a new cell phone for his birthday.  
2. ________ Some cell phones can record videos.  
3. ________ Art has a wife and a job.  
4. ________ Art is forty years old.  
5. ________ Co-workers are people who work for the same company.
            
  C. YES OR NO - Share your opinion  
      
1. ________ Art should ask a co-worker to help him with his new cell phone.  
2. ________ Technology is improving our lives.
            
  D. WRITING   
    
– Is it necessary to have a cell phone? Why?
      
________________________________________________________________________  
________________________________________________________________________  
________________________________________________________________________
  
            ** Some more discussion questions to be asked by the teacher.    
       
  
       ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 07 Apr 2013 10:42:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/level-c/beginner-english-new-cellphone/</link><guid>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/level-c/beginner-english-new-cellphone/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Diplomats in N. Korea staying in place]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
    
  
  
  
     
    
              "Diplomats in N. Korea staying in place"                
  
        
SEOUL, South Korea (Updated) - Foreign diplomats in North Korea appeared to be staying put Saturday, ignoring a warning by Pyongyang that they should consider evacuating their missions amid soaring nuclear tensions.

    
Pyongyang had informed embassies it could not guarantee their safety if a conflict broke out as concerns grew that the isolated state was preparing a missile launch.

    
But most of their governments made it clear they had no immediate plans to withdraw personnel, and some suggested the advisory was a ruse to fuel growing global anxiety over the current crisis on the Korean peninsula.

    
"The security of the German embassy and its exposure to danger are continually being evaluated," the German foreign ministry said in a statement. "For now, the embassy can continue working."

    
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman, commenting on the North's advisory, said: "We believe they have taken this step as part of their country's rhetoric that the US poses a threat to them."

    
The heads of EU missions in Pyongyang had been scheduled to meet Saturday, but Britain said it was a routine gathering and no major decision was expected.
    

In South Korea, a government official was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying that diplomats would ignore the North's appeal to leave.

    
"Most foreign governments view the North Korean message as a way of ratcheting up tension on the Korean peninsula," the official said.

    
Western tourists returning from organised tours in Pyongyang -- which have continued despite the tensions -- said the situation on the ground appeared calm, with life going on as normal.

    
"We're glad to be back but we didn't feel frightened when we were there," said Tina Krabbe, from Denmark, arriving in Beijing after five days in North Korea.

    
The embassy warning on Friday coincided with reports that North Korea had loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast.

    
"The North is apparently intent on firing the missiles without prior warning," Yonhap quoted a senior South Korean government official as saying.
    

They were reported to be untested Musudan missiles which are believed to have a range of around 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) that could theoretically be pushed to 4,000 kilometres with a light payload.
    

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam.
    

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday that Washington "would not be surprised" by a missile test, which would fit the North's "current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric and actions".

    
North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.

    
The North has no proven inter-continental ballistic missile capability that would enable it to strike more distant US targets, and many experts say it is unlikely it can even mount a nuclear warhead on a mid-range missile.

    
Nevertheless, the international community is becoming increasingly skittish that, with tensions showing no sign of de-escalating, there is a real risk of the situation spiralling out of control.
            ** Discussion questions to be asked by the teacher.    
       
    
Source: Rappler.com
       ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 07 Apr 2013 08:54:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/diplomats-in-n-korea-staying-in-place/</link><guid>http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/mar/home/diplomats-in-n-korea-staying-in-place/</guid></item></channel></rss>