Floods in Spain & Climate Change Summit

Valencia suffered the worst floods in history two weeks ago, with a death toll of 224 people in two regions so far, and Malaga has just suffered heavy rains and limited floods, while the COP29 climate meeting has recently opened in Azerbaijan.

Here you can listen to several audio clips from Today (14/11/24), on BBC Radio-4, and discuss climate change and natural disasters. First, you can listen to an interview to Jacqui Ross (03:52), who has suffered the most recent floods in Malaga and another interview to climate scientist Simon Lewis (03:23), explaining why extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and you can do two listening tasks and a discussion. The tasks are suitable for C1 students and above, who will come across words, in Jacqui Ross's, like: lash, awashed, disrupted, bracing [for], heavy [rain], to wash away, flooded [streets], [animal] rescue, to clear up, to step out, wellington boots, a tsunami, clearance, to burst its banks, sheer [quantity of rain], to fare, travails, to be prompted, drought. In Simon Lewis: fossil fuel [emissions], [extreme weather] events, moisture, downpours, the bigger picture, to withstand, a heat wave, a backlash, harsh, to get to grips [with].

Today also covered the floods in Valencia on 01/11/24:  here you can find a short news bulletin (01:24), and then you can listen to a longer eyewitness report by Bethany Bell with an interview to a local volunteer Paco Pola (05:29), who describe the devastation, the helplessness and the first rescue efforts by volunteers right after the disaster (you can see some images of the devastation here).  You can do a listening and speaking task for B2 students and above, who will come across interesting words like: surreal, flashed floods, swept away, eyewitness, to pile up, debris, a chest, a lightning flash, officials, utter [devastation], [action] to ensue, to set off.

For further information, you can read an article by environment correspondent Matt MacGrath, Scientists Say Climate Change Made Spanish Floods Worse, or read Aljazeera's report on the U.N. climate meeting in Azerbaijan, COP29 Azerbaijan: What's at stake at the 2024 climate summit?.

Trump Wins the U.S. Elections

Donald Trump has won a second term in office as president of the U.S.A., and the Republican party has regained control of the Senate and, most problably, retained its majority in the House of Representatives, which means that Trumpism and the Republican party will dominate the American political agenda for the next two years, at least until the mid-term elections.

The Republican victory came as a staggering surprise for many, including some progressive media pundits, because the polls had predicted a very tight race, and there were even concerns of a slow, painful and acrimonious vote count if Mr. Trump didn't win the race, but, in fact, CNN and other media networks soon declared a sweeping victory for the Republican party, starting in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, on election night. But unlike in Ronald Reagan's landslide victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980, the Democrats have remained united under the leadership of Kamala Harris and have won 226 electoral votes in their traditional strongholds of New York, New England, Illinois, the West Coast etc. To understand how the American people have voted, and how Mr. Trump has won the popular vote with small but crucial gains in various social groups across the nation, you can read the BBC News article "How Small Gains Delivered Trump a Big Win" (Nov. 8th).  This article analyses data with many charts, so its difficulty is not so much linguistic as contextual (learners lack the necessary background information) and it requires basic chart literacy skills, so, it can be recommended for B2+/C1 students and above, who will find interesting words like: to deliver [a gain], to land [a presidency, a job etc], to tip the balance, a swing [towards Trump], pervasive, to outline, to tally [votes], to do the trick, the battleground, to survey, to flip, a stark [difference], to cut through, to cast [a ballot].

If you want to read further, you can check out CNN's article "8 Takeaways From the 2024 Election" (Nov. 6th), which is more demanding in terms of syntax, vocabulary choice, density of information and cultural knowledge (Amercian politics) so, it is recommended for C2 students and Experts, who will encounter interesting vocabulary like: a takeaway, dire [warnings], the blue wall, to romp, to near-mirror, [to be] poised [to return to office], to ease [his path], to tally [results], to slip [into], musings, an edge [to hold], a glass ceiling [to shatter], a [significant gender] split, to back [Harris], to propel, the GOP, a tie-breaking [vote], to fall short, a long shot, to buck a trend, neck-and-neck, to step down, an incumbent, hamstrung, bipartisan, [to be] on the chopping block, to be off the table, to uproot, to dole out, a [governing] trifecta, a bleak [night], to mine [votes], a stronghold, to chew on, soul searching, finger-pointing, a razor thin [race], to drag on, to court [men], to pay off, to be deep underwater, gerrymandering.