Reading
1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.
VIDEO BLOGGER
In April 2007, a 16 year old English boy named Charlie McDonnell was studying for his exams. But he was bored, so he turned on his computer and started surfing the web. He soon found a website called YouTube and within minutes he was watching a video of another teenager sitting in his bedroom and talking to his computer about how bored he was. ‘I could do better than that!’ thought Charlie. So, using a cheap computer and webcam, he made his first video blog and posted it on YouTube under the name Charlieissocoollike.
A few days after the first video Charlie found that he had 150 subscribers. Encouraged by this, he went on to make more videos. A month later Charlie’s audience grew and he started to get hundreds of video messages from his fans. “It was really strange,” says Charlie. “I’d been talking to my computer for a month and suddenly my computer started talking back to me!”
His next big success came a few months later when Oprah Winfrey, the famous American TV host, showed one of Charlie’s comedy videos called How to be English on her programme, which made him popular in the USA too.
Charlie also realised he could use his fame to help people less fortunate than himself. To celebrate his 18th birthday, he raised £5,000 for cancer research. He raised more than four times as much when he copresented a live show on the Internet. He stayed awake for 24 hours performing challenges from viewers. All the money went to the children’s charity UNICEF1.
But what is the secret of his popularity? “I just make videos that I would want to watch,” he says, “and I’m not trying to sell anything. I’m just trying to talk with people and that’s it for me.” His honesty and modesty are perhaps the main reasons why Charlie is so well liked. And of course, he is a talented song writer, camera man, actor and singer.
And if you were wondering how Charlie did in his exams back in 2007...well, he passed with nine A grades and one B! He says that he wants to go on to study at university in the future but decided to try and make a career on YouTube before that.
1UNICEF [ˈjuːnɪsef] Фонд ООН помощи детям
2. Charlie says how the idea of making a video crossed his mind. Find this extract and read it aloud.
3. How did he become popular?
4. Why do people like Charlie?
To learn more about Charlie McDonnell visit charlieissocoollike
Listening
II. Listen to Huan, a Chinese man, speaking about moving out and answer the questions below.
1. Why do young people prefer to live with their parents in Hong Kong?
2. How did Huan’s parents react to his decision?
3. What are the advantages of living on your own?
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