Afghan eQuality Alliance
This course is based on selections from the television series Free to Choose, created by the famous economist Dr. Milton Friedman in 1980. Each program in the series consists two parts. The first part is a brief documentary narrated by Dr. Friedman. The documentaries were filmed in many parts of the world, from Hong Kong to Scotland to the US. The second part of each program is a discussion of the documentary. All discussions took place on the campus of the University of Chicago where Dr. Friedman taught for many years.
This course uses selections from both documentaries and discussions in Programs 1 and 3 of the 10-part series. We gratefully acknoledge the support of the Free-to-Choose Media Foundation that has given us permission to use these selections for educational purposes. It was the President of the Foundation, Mr. Bob Chitester, who conceived and produced the 1980 series and has maintained it ever since.
We recommend that students follow this process:
READING: Read the paraphrase through, using the glossary.
LISTENING COMPREHENSION: Work through the unit segment by segment listening to the movie, reading the grammar-vocabulary comments and looking up words in the glossary.
GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY EXERCISES: Do grammar and vocabulary exercises for the lesson.
DICTATION: Using the version without the transcript, listen to the movie segment by segment and write down what the lecturer says.
TRANSLATION: Translate the paraphrase into your native language.
SUMMARY: Using the version without the transcript or paraphrase, listen to each segment and write down a short summary of what the lecturer says.
By the end of the course, students will reach these objectives:
In Economics, the students will learn or review the basic prinicples of the free market as explained by Adam Smith, the causes of the Great Depression, and other topics related to international trade, taxes, and the role of government in economic activity.
| Unit | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Content | Free market and open trade in Hong Kong. |
| 1. English | Present Perfect and Present Perfect Progressive tenses. Adverbs of tim. Gerunds. Passives
with to be and to get. Contrary-to-fact conditionals. |
| 2. Content | A brief summary of Adam Smith |
| 2. English | Non-restrictive relative clauses with who (for people) and which (for things). Hypotheticals with could. Word formation: the suffix -er/-or. Causative constructions with to get |
| 3. Content | Discussion: What is the proper role of government in economic life? |
| 3. English | Sequences of tenses for reported speech. Gerunds with verbs. Word formation with over- and -able. would rather with simple verb vs. Subjunctive. |
| 4. Content | Discussion: Can Hong Kong policies be adopted in the US? |
| 4. English | Same as in Unit 1, with new vocabulary. Expressions: make the most of, take for granted, take place; seize the opportunity, bear the cost |
| 5 Content | Was the Great Depression a failure of the market or a failure of the government? |
| 5 English | Clauses as subjects and direct objects. Direct objects with Infinitives and Passive Participles. Passive construction |
| 6 Content | Example of good bank management in difficult times. |
| 6 English | Conditionals in reported speech. The meaning of up and down in send up, bring down. |