Cyber-bullying: Two teenage girls try to drown themselves

Entrada relacionada: What is ciberbullying? - PAU 2015 Andalucía resuelto   

                      

Two teenage girls in Israel tried to commit suicide because of cyber-bullying by their classmates. During a terrible storm last week, the two girls attempted to commit suicide by drowning themselves in the Mediterranean Sea. The two girls, who are 13 and 14 years old, are from the coastal city of Ashdod. They were found unconscious floating in the water, and they were saved by a local person who contacted the rescue services. One of the girls has been released from hospital, however, the other girl is still hospitalized.

The girls told the police that they are in the same class in Junior High School. They said that their classmates had harassed them for years, face to face and on the internet, mostly on Facebook. Apparently classmates continually spread rumours and embarrassing stories about them.

Ashdod’s Head of Social Services has begun an immediate investigation. The police are currently gathering evidence and intend to press charges.

Hana Levi Julian, a behavioural psychotherapist in Jerusalem said that bullying by classmates does not always take the traditional form of physically being hurt, which we once thought. One of the worst forms of bullying is that of embarrassing or publicly ridiculing another person.

Kids single out and target others very often, especially in school. Cyber-bullying can occur in class as well as out of it. They have plenty of opportunity before and after class, during recess and on lunch breaks to harass a classmate. More supervision is needed during these unstructured times. Also, teachers need to be trained to deal with this problem when it occurs, whether before or after classes, between classes or during their classes.

By Lesley Lanir in Internet (Adapted)

Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text.

a) – The two girls had been intimidated for a long time.

b) – Work is being done to catch and punish the attackers.

c) – Bullying is very rare among young people.

Choose ONLY THREE of the following words and write a synonym (=), an opposite ( ≠), a definition or a sentence (only one of these four) to show that you understand their meaning in the text. Use your own words.

• a) – local (line 5)
• b) – however (line 6)
• c) – to harass (line 8)
• d) – currently (line 12)
• e) – recess (line 19)
• f) – to deal with (line 20)