South Korea Switches to Digital Textbooks in the Classroom

From English-Online:

South Korea is planning to change from paper to digital textbooks in the next few years. All content of South Korea’s school subjects will be available on PC’s, iPads and mobile phones by 2015. The education department has announced that South Korea is preparing for a new digital revolution that will change schools of the future.

The project was started last summer. Classrooms throughout the Asian country will be equipped with wireless LANs so that students can access learning materials whenever and wherever they want. Pupils won’t have to carry heavy schoolbags and satchels any more.

South Korea is a model nation when it comes to using modern technology. The OECD found out that youngsters in South Korea lead the world when it comes to getting information from the internet and working with computers. The country focuses on teaching children the basics of technology at a very early age.

Compared to South Korea, western nations lag behind. American president Barack Obama has announced that United States is installing a national learning centre which is to improve teaching standards and develop new teaching methods.

Educational experts, however, are currently discussing whether digital technology in the classroom makes a grave difference. Some argue that bad pupils will stay bad even if they have a computer in front of them. They agree, however, that going digital could motivate children more and help schools save money. The biggest problem is how to get teachers to integrate new technologies into their lessons.

American developers have been working on special software that could make learning even more effective. An American army project has shown that students can learn things even without a teacher.
Other experts focus on a social problem. Introducing digital learning materials to the classroom could create two groups of children, those who have access to these new technologies and are able to use them and those who don’t. The first group will have advantages in getting a good job, the others will stay behind.

Critics also fear that digitizing all learning materials will result in the lack of trust. We have more confidence in textbooks simply because contents are written in print, whereas we are skeptical of material published on the Internet.

Words

• access = reach, get to, use
• advantage = to be better off
• agree = to have the same opinion
• announce = officially say
• argue = to give reasons in order to show that something is true
• available = offered
• basics = the most important things
• compared to = to look at two things and see how they are different from each other
• confidence = trust
• content = things that are written in a book
• create = make
• currently = right now
• develop = make, design
• developer =person who designs something technically new
• digital = electronically
• digitize = to make digital
• effective = useful, helpful
• equip = get, install
• focus = concentrate
• going digital = here: changing to digital textbooks
• grave = important, big
• however = but
• in print = on paper pages
• integrate = mix into
• introduce = bring in for the first time
• lack = not enough
• lag = stay
• lead the world = are number one
• model nation = here: leading in a certain field
• OECD = group of rich countries that work together to develop trade and international growth
• prepare = get ready
• publish =print
• satchel = leather bag you carry over your shoulder
• skeptical =  not sure if something is true
• standard = level
• switch = change
• technology = new machines and tools that make our life easier
• throughout = in all of
• trust = belief in something
• whereas = while
• whether = if
• wireless LAN = a computer network that uses radio signals instead of wires

Uncool Korean star goes viral with rapping dance

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - 2012

A chubby, rapping singer with slicked-back hair and a tacky suit is the latest musical sensation to burst upon the world from South Korea, via a YouTube music video that has been seen by over 20 million people in under a month.

In a nation famed for the pretty-boy but often bland bands of K-Pop, nobody was more surprised by the success of the video "Gangnam Style" than its creator, Psy, a musician with a decade-long career in his homeland who never thought to break overseas.

"The YouTube video never targeted foreign countries. It was for local fans," Psy told Reuters on the sidelines of a concert at the weekend. "My goal in this music video was to look uncool until the end. I achieved it."

Decked out in a bow tie and suit jackets varying from pink to baby blue, as well as a towel for one sequence set in a sauna, the 34-year-old Psy busts funky moves based on horse-riding in venues ranging from playgrounds to subways.

The video has been viewed by more than 26 million since mid-July, eclipsing the total for pop star Justin Bieber's most recent effort, according to YouTube. Parodies have popped up in South Korea and the United States, and the tune was used as part of Stockholm's Pride Parade earlier this month.

Even a few of South Korea's normally staid presidential candidates are imitating Psy's moves in an appeal to voters.

The song, released in mid-July, was meant as a commentary on the rampant materialism and emphasis on appearance of today's South Korea - particularly in relation to Gangnam, which Psy terms Seoul's Beverly Hills.

 
"It is too hot, and the economy is so bad," said Psy, whose real name is Park Jai-sang. "So I just wanted the song - lyrics, dances and everything - to be full of gusto."

At one point enrolled in a U.S. business school by his traditional parents, who wanted their son to inherit the family business, Psy confessed to sneaking out and buying musical instruments with his tuition money.

"Since when I was very small, I have been looking for something fun," he said. "If I did not do music, I would most likely have been a loser. I was very lazy - just drinks, clubs and ladies. That was fun at that time."

Eventually graduating from the Berklee College of Music in the United States, Psy rose to fame with a 2001 debut album. But he landed in hot water several times - once for smoking marijuana and later for trouble over his mandatory military service.

Known for his brash style, catchy beat and kitschy antics, Psy specializes in high-energy and outrageous performances. At a weekend concert that packed a Seoul stadium, he staged a parody of Lady Gaga - complete with fake breasts that he set on fire.

"He makes people crazy, real crazy," said Yoon Sun-sik, a 29-year-old fan. "He has the power to blow away all the stress in the world with one punch."

Pirates in Today's Seas

From English-online

Pirates in speedboats

Although this story is from 2012, piracy is still a problem in 2024.

Piracy off the coast of Somali has become a big threat in the past years. In their biggest coup pirates captured the Sinus Star, a Saudi Arabian oil tanker, near the Horn of Africa (the coast of Somalia - see map) and freed it two months later.

Saudi Arabian oil tanker

Somali pirates have very modern equipment including satellite phones and GPS. They also have lots of weapons, like grenades, rockets or AK-47 rifles. Pirates get the information of approaching ships from contacts at harbours nearby. Then they go for their targets with speedboats, sometimes from the coast and sometimes from larger mother ships nearby.

They board ships by launching ropes with hooks and iron at one end. After bringing the ship under their control they take them to a harbour in Somalia and bring the hostages to a safe place. Nothing happens to them there because Somalia has had a long civil war and there is no powerful government.

Warships from countries around the world are now patrolling the region but the area in which the pirates operate is too big. About 25% of the Indian Ocean is at risk and pirates move quickly and often at night.

It is very difficult to capture and arrest them because the crimes happen in international waters and no country is really responsible. Some political experts say that they should be put before an international court led by the United Nations. The UN, however, doesn’t have the money for such a court but it has allowed countries to chase pirates before they seek refuge in Somali waters.

Somali pirates get their vessel ready

The pirates hold the ship and its crew as hostages and demand money for their release. Some of them do it because they have no jobs in Somalia and hunger is widespread. In the past year Somali pirates have received about $ 150 million in ransom money. They use some of the money to buy faster boats, more weapons and to strengthen their organization.

The hijackings cost the shipping industry a lot of money. Ships may have to travel less dangerous routes and invest more money in security and insurance.

When it costs more to ship products to other countries such as food, fuel and many other things, the cost of these products goes up.

Words

• approaching = coming closer
• at risk = in danger
• board = to go on
• capture = to catch someone
• chase = follow
• civil war = war between two or more groups of the same country
• coup = attack
• court = place where a jury and a judge decide if someone is guilty or not
• demand = want from someone else
• equipment = the things you need to do something
• hijacking = to capture a ship or plane that does not belong to you and take control of it
• hook = a curved piece of metal
• hostage = someone who is kept as a prisoner and is released after you do what the other side says
• insurance = you pay a company money and if something bad happens they pay for the costs
• launch = here: throw
• piracy =the crime of attacking and stealing from ships
• ransom money = the money you must pay to free a hostage
• release = to let someone go
• rope = a very strong thick string
• security = safety, defence
• seek refuge = to look for protection
• target = object of attack
• threat = danger
• weapon = something that you use to fight against an enemy, like a gun or a bomb
• widespread = everywhere