Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 26 February 2013
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New Language Checks For Doctors In UK
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- practise: to work or perform regularly in a certain field
- treat: to provide medical aid
- subject to: conditional upon meeting certain requirements
- GP: general practitioner, doctor
- fatal: causing death
- overdose: an amount of a substance that is too much and can cause physical harm or death
- loophole: words or details that have been left out of a law; allows people to claim they aren’t breaking a law
Comprehension Questions
- What medical law is changing in the UK?
- What medical loophole used to exist in the UK?
- What did a German speaking doctor do in 2008?
Discussion Question: Do you think that having strong communication skills is important for doctors? How important is it for your doctor to speak your first language?
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New Language Checks For Doctors in UK
As of April, all foreign doctors who want to treat National Health Service patients in the UK will be subject to an English language check. To get on the GP list, doctors will have to prove that their English communication skills are strong. The General Medical Council in the UK claims that the new law will close a loophole that allowed doctors from within the European Union to practise medicine in the UK without proving they could communicate effectively with patients. The new law will require all foreign doctors to have their language proficiency checked. In 2008, a German speaking doctor who was working in the UK gave a patient a fatal overdose. The mistake occurred because of the doctor’s poor English language skills.
- A new law related to language proficiency is changing in the UK. Foreign doctors will have to prove that they have strong English skills.
- In the past, foreign doctors from within the European Union did not have to prove that they had strong English skills before practising in the UK.
- In 2008, a German speaking doctor gave a patient a fatal overdose in the UK.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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