Category: Class

Influential People You Should Befriend At Work

B2 – Upper Intermediate

According to experts, if you generate the patronage of mediators, socialites, and other high profile people, you will move ahead in your career.
And to get ahead of the curve in your profession, performing your specific task is not enough. Additionally, you must establish competencies in interacting with your fellow employees. Popularity can be attributed to whoever holds the most prominent role. To elevate your career, you must acquire the ability to discern who has authority in a room.

To learn more, follow the link and read the full article.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/influential-people-work_l_63f7b2ace4b04ff5b488c1e7

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “top of mind” mean, “They are often top of mind for professional opportunities inside and outside of the organization and are likely to be well networked themselves.“? Use this expression in your own sentence.
  2. What does “a hard/bitter pill to swallow” mean, “They hate to give you a hard pill to swallow, but you don’t have documentational evidence, so we can’t do anything about it.”? Use this idiom in a sentence.
  3. What does “to climb [up] the company/corporate ladder” mean, “Politicians understand that doing the job alone is not enough to climb the company ladder.”? Use this phrase in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you agree or disagree to this statement: “To get ahead in your career, it’s not enough do your job. You also need to learn how to manage relationships with your co-workers.”. Explain your perspective.
  2. Do you think managers should be friends with their subordinates? Why? Why not?
  3. What are the advantages and pitfalls of the connection that exists between employers and staff members?
  4. Do you feel at ease making friends with the prominent individuals at work? Why? Why not?
  5. What kind of people are you friends at work? Why is this?

Dutch People Let You Peer Into Their Homes

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Every country has its own traditions and practices. Some of which are standard and others seem rather strange. Most people try hard to ensure privacy in their homes. It is that one place where we can act freely without the fear of embarrassment and humiliation. However, in the Netherlands, people believe otherwise.

Let’s read the article and know more about this seemingly bizarre practice of Dutch people.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/dutch-windows/index.html#:~:text=That’s%20because%20many%20Dutch%20people,quirk%20seems%20even%20more%20intriguing.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “interwoven” mean? “It’s so interwoven in their culture that researchers have struggled to figure out exactly why people in the Netherlands care so little about their privacy.” Use it in a sentence.
  2. Define the word “bourgeois“. Give two synonyms and use them in sentences. “Astrid Brooke says she considers curtains bourgeois adornment to a window and has rarely felt the need for them.”
  3. What does “tight-knit” mean in this sentence, “Anthropologists Hilje van der Horst and Jantine Messing researched the phenomenon in 2006 and observed that people in tight-knit neighborhoods were more likely to leave their curtain open – and more likely to decorate their windows with statues, vases, and (fake) flowers.”? Use it in a sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. According to the article, what reasons do Dutch people have for not using blinds or curtains? What is your stand on Dutch people’s open culture?
  2. How do people in your country protect their private domestic lives?
  3. Do you think that privacy in the real world is just as important as that in the virtual world? Why or why not?

Promising Research on Psilocybin

B1 – Intermediate

Psilocybin is a substance taken from a species of mushroom. It is informally known as ‘magic mushroom’. In many places, it is illegal. However, medical researchers are looking at it as possible treatment for some conditions such as addiction and depression.

Read the article and listen to the audio to learn more about psilocybin.

https://eslnewsstories.com/articles/2022-09-01-promising-research-on-psilocybin/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does the phrase ”cut back” mean, ”New research on psilocybin shows that it can help heavy drinkers cut back on alcohol.”? Give at least 1 synonym and use this word  in your own sentence.
  2. What does “otherworldly” mean, “The participants who received psilocybin reported having otherworldly experiences and in most cases were able to guess that they got the real psilocybin.” Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. What does “psychedelic drug” mean, “Although taking psilocybin is illegal in most places, medical researchers are currently interested in it and other psychedelic drugs for the treatment of addiction and depression.” Use this noun in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on psilocybin as a possible treatment for some conditions?
  2. What are the benefits and risks of psilocybin?
  3. Should this type of treatment be legal? Explain your opinion.
  4. Should scientists continue to study psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs? Why or why not?
  5. If your doctor recommends this kind of treatment, would you do it?

Protein Hunger and Overeating

B1 – Intermediate

There are many types of dietary habits that people are trying to adopt in order to stay fit and healthy and one of those is the low-protein diet. However, this type of dietary habit could result in overeating, according to new research.

Read the article and listen to the audio to learn more about how lack of protein leads to overeating.

https://eslnewsstories.com/articles/2022-12-18-protein-hunger-and-overeating/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “prevalent” mean, “Eating more of the food that is prevalent in modern supermarkets, also means eating more calorie-dense types of food.”? Give 2 at least 2 synonyms of this word and use them in your own sentences.
  2. What does “dietary habit” mean, “Researchers from the University of Sydney followed the dietary habits of almost 10,000 Australians for one year.”? Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. What does the expression “to make sense” mean, “It makes sense that our bodies want protein because it does many things for us.“? Use this phrase in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your reaction to the new research mentioned in the article?
  2. Have you tried a low-protein diet? How was it?
  3. Do you have a dietary habit? If yes, what is it? If not, why?
  4. Do you think you get enough protein? What foods do you get your protein from?
  5. Which healthy and unhealthy foods do you often eat?
  6. Do you often eat processed food? Why/why not?

Aid Package to Ease Inflation Pain

B2 – Upper Intermediate

As nations struggle with widespread cost of living crisis, governments must come up with measures to help their respective countries deal with the consequences of inflation.

Read the article about Spain’s $10bn aid package as a bid to ease the impact of inflation in the country. 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/27/spain-announces-10bn-aid-package-in-bid-to-ease-inflation-pain

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does the expression ”to hit one’s wallet” mean, ”But food prices have continued to hit Spaniards’ wallets, climbing 15 percent during October and November from a year earlier.”? Use this idiom in your own sentence.
  2. What does “haulage” mean, “However, a rebate on the price of petrol for consumers except for the haulage sector will be discontinued.”? Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. What does “exacerbate” mean, “Measures come as Madrid grapples with a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by the economic fallout from the Ukraine war.”? Use this word in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is this aid package advantageous and disadvantageous?
  2. What are your thoughts on handing millions of low-income households a one-off bonus of 200 euros?
  3. Talk about some measures that your government has implemented to ease inflation consequences in your country.
  4. What other measures do you think can help a country get by during inflation?

Juggling Three Jobs Just to Get By

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Amidst Britain’s cost of living emergency, many struggle to make ends meet. Those in dire situations are pushed to juggle two to three jobs at a time just to survive.

Read the commentary on the worsening problem with steeply increasing cost of living in the UK and how citizens cope with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/14/heat-or-eat-poverty-rising-costs

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does the expression ”to drop the ball” mean, ”I’m juggling so I don’t drop the balls.”? Use this idiom in your own sentence.
  2. What does “sleaze” mean, “Tory sleaze every day, a drip, drip, drip effect.”? Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. What does “drip effect” mean, “Tory sleaze every day, a drip, drip, drip effect.”? Use this phrase in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your reaction to having to keep 2 to 3 jobs at a time just to get by? How would you feel if you were in the same situation?
  2. Is it common for people to keep more than one job in your country? Why is this the case?
  3. What are ways to make ends meet amidst rising cost of living?
  4. Talk about the current cost of living in your country. 
  5. What are your thoughts on the writer’s opinion about the accountability from the government?

Sushi Terrorism

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Sushi is one of the most popular Japanese dishes all around the world. Recently, some pranks have become viral on social media where some pranksters are seen meddling with the food at some conveyor belt sushi restaurants. 

This lead to customers rethinking about going to this kind of restaurants, police conducting investigations, and restaurants’ shares plummeting.

Read the article about a series of pranks at conveyor belt sushi restaurants that is dubbed as “sushi terrorism”. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/03/wave-of-sushi-terrorism-grips-japans-restaurant-world

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “meddle” mean, “Signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves meddling with dishes.”? Use this word in your own sentence.
  2. What does ”egregious” mean, ”A clip of the most egregious culinary crime, which has been viewed almost 40m times on Twitter, shows what appears to be a teenager licking the open top of a communal soy sauce bottle and the entire rim of a teacup, which he then places back on a shelf.”? Give at least one (1) synonym of this word and use it in a sentence.
  3. What does “outpouring” mean? “The firm’s president, Kohei Nii, said he had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support.”  Use this word in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your reaction to this news? How does this affect your interest in going to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant?
  2. How can the restaurants bounce back from this controversy?
  3. What are your thoughts on the action by some conveyor belt sushi restaurants to install cameras above conveyor belts to monitor customers?
  4. How should these pranksters be punished?

People Drink Bleach

B1 – Intermediate

Even before the alarming concern for treating COVID-19 with the use of household disinfectants, bleach cure has been in practice for some Americans with the belief that ingesting it would cure autism. During the coronavirus pandemic, this became even more common due to a suggestion by then US president Donald Trump that bleach could possibly treat COVID.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript to know more about the dangers of this ingesting bleach.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/people-drink-bleach-level-2/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “disinfectant” mean? “In 2020, former US president Donald Trump said that disinfectant may help treat COVID-19.” Use it in your own sentence. Give a synonym.
  2. What does “bleach” mean? “MMS is an industrial bleach which went on sale in the 1990s.” Use it in your own sentence. Give a synonym.
  3. What does “former” mean here, “In 2020, former US president Donald Trump said that disinfectant may help treat COVID-19.”? Use it in your own sentence. Give a synonym.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Did you hear of any alternative unproven remedy for the treatment of coronavirus during the pandemic? What were they?
  2. What other ways could food and drug agency do to educate people on hazardous household products?
  3. What additional precautionary measures should companies implement to prevent this intentional ingesting of household disinfectants?
  4. What hazardous household products do you have at home? What have you noticed about their warning signs?

Free Subway Rides for the Elderly

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Elderly people in South Korea have been enjoying free subway rides for about 40 years now. However, rapidly aging population coupled with increasing operating costs of subways have caused this perk to spark some issues for their national government.

Read the article about how these free rides for the elderly have become a complicated political problem in South Korea.

https://www.voanews.com/a/in-south-korea-free-subway-rides-for-the-elderly-become-a-political-headache/6965331.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “thorny” mean here, “They have, however, become a thorny political issue as South Korea’s population rapidly ages and subway operating costs soar.” Use this word in your own sentence.
  2. What does ”staunchly” mean, ”The finance ministry is staunchly opposed.”? Give at least one (1) synonym of this word and use it in a sentence.
  3. What does “to remain in place” mean? “To cope, Seoul unveiled plans in December to hike subway fares for the first time since 2015, by as much as 30%, although free rides for the elderly will remain in place.” Use this word in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on these free subway rides for elderly people? Do you have the same perk for senior citizens in your country? Why or why not? Do you think it is a good idea?
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of free subway rides for the elderlies? 
  3. In your opinion, should the national SK government shoulder some of the cost of these free rides for the elders?
  4. What is your reaction to this, “Any scaling back of subway perks for the elderly will not help their chances in next year’s parliamentary election.”?
  5. To cope, some cities in SK are raising the minimum age for senior citizen benefits including free subway rides to 70. Express your opinion on this.
  6. Share your thoughts on the cost of senior welfare in your country.

Why We Need Subtitles

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Do you enjoy watching TV shows and movies a lot? Have you ever felt the need for subtitles to fully grasp what the speakers are saying? If so, don’t you think subtitles should be a requirement and that relying on them would help us understand what we are watching more?

To find out more about the topic, kindly watch the video below.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “intelligibility” mean? “Naturalism isn’t always the best for intelligibility, though.” Use it in your own sentence.
  2. What is the meaning of “impede“? “Microphones don’t impede performance as much anymore.” Make your own sentence using this word.
  3. Do you know the meaning of “mumbler“? “Take Tom Hardy, an actor I personally love, but who famously is a mumbler.” Kindly make your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you rely on subtitles when watching movies or series? Why/why not?
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages you could think of subtitle dependency?
  3. Why are subtitles considered an absolute necessity when watching movies or series?
  4. What factors do you believe most influence whether or not viewers in your country choose to watch movies or television shows with subtitles?