Category: Class

Staying Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed

B2 – Upper Intermediate

To stay calm in a stressful situation is a hard thing to do. Sometimes, you cannot easily think of a solution since you are too focused on what’s stressing you out.

Let’s watch this video to know how to stay calm in a stressful situation.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. How is pre-mortem explained in the video?
  2. What about post-mortem?
  3. How does the hippocampus work?

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you easily get stressed when things are not going well?
  2. When was the last time you got stressed about something?
  3. How do you usually manage things when you are in a stressful situation?
  4. How do you wish you reacted to things when you were stressed about it in the past?
  5. How would you calm yourself now when you are stressed?

Twitter Feature to Flag Shadow Banning

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Shadow banning or comment ghosting is a way of suspending an account on social media networks like Twitter. The user thinks their posts are going through when in fact, their contents are not visible nor accessible to others.

Twitter is working on a feature that will show whether an account is shadowbanned and the reason behind it. In addition, it will show the users how to appeal for their accounts not to be shadowbanned.

Read the article and watch the video to know more about Twitter’s new feature that will determine whether an account has been shadowbanned.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/09/tech/musk-twitter-shadowbanning

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What is “shadow banning”? “Twitter is rolling out a new feature that will flag ‘shadowbanning.” Use it in your own sentence.
  2. What does “outcry” mean? “With that announcement, Musk, who has said he now votes Republican, prompted an outcry from some conservatives, who accused him of continuing a practice they opposed.” Give 1-2 synonyms of this word. Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does “thread” mean in this sentence, “Musk on Friday shared Weiss’ thread in a tweet and added, “The Twitter Files, Part Duex!!” along with two popcorn emojis.”? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on shadow banning?
  2. What do you think about Twitter’s new feature that will flag shadow banning?
  3. Should negative/hate tweets be de-boosted and demonetized? Explain your stand.

Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For years, scientists have been looking for alternative energy sources to end our dependence on fossil fuels.

American scientists have successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction.

Read the article and watch the video to know more about the ‘holy grail’ of clean energy.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/12/us/common-questions-nuclear-fusion-climate/index.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “breakthrough” mean? Give at least 3 synonyms of this word.
  2. What does “abatement” mean? Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does the phrase, “a race against the clock” mean? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is nuclear fusion and why does it matter?
  2. What are the pros and the challenges in generating nuclear fusion?
  3. What are your thoughts on this milestone?

Hotel Reservations

B1 – Intermediate

It is always a good idea to have your travel needs arranged before your trip. A place to stay is one of the things you may need when you are going on a trip. Whatever type of accommodation you choose, it is better to book in advance to avoid the last minute hassles of finding an available room for you.

Let’s listen to the audio for an example hotel reservation scenario.

Hotel Reservations

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “suite” mean? Use it in a sentence.
  2. What does “all booked” mean in this sentence,” Are you all booked that night?” Use it in a sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What type of room did Max reserve?
  2. What other room types did the hotel clerk recommend?
  3. How much does he need to pay for the room reservation?
  4. Have you made a hotel reservation before? What information did you provide?
  5. What other ways of hotel reservation do you know? Which one is the most convenient?

Apple Workers Protest

B1 – Intermediate

Many, if not all, countries have relaxed their COVID restrictions over the past year. However, it is not the case in China. They continue to have strict rules to prevent new COVID infections in their country.

This means that some workers have to be quarantined in dormitories. Workers are not happy anymore with their conditions so they started protesting.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about Apple workers’ protests in China.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/apple-workers-protest-level-2/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “lead to” mean? “Many of them were very unhappy with the situation, which led to protests.” Use it in a sentence.
  2. What does “tough” mean in this sentence, “Tough restrictions are still in China as the country is trying to stop new COVID-19 infections.“? Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does “shorten” mean? “The government promised to make some changes such as shorten quarantines, but not much changed so far.” Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on these protests?
  2. What is your opinion on the labor conditions of Apple’s factory workers in China?
  3. What is your opinion on China still having tough Covid restrictions until now?

Incorrect Battery Disposal Causes Needless Fires

B1 – Intermediate

One of the most common energy sources is batteries. Everyone uses them. However, if we are not careful in handling their disposal, they could cause fires that could have really serious consequences.

Read this lesson about how incorrectly disposing batteries can start needless fires.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2212/221205-batteries-4.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “needless” mean? Use it in a sentence.
  2. What does “bit” mean in this sentence, “Everyone can do their bit…by disposing of batteries correctly.”? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the uses of batteries?
  2. What are the consequences of incorrectly disposing them?
  3. What are the best ways to dispose of batteries?

The Fermi Paradox

B2 – Upper Intermediate

“If life on other planets exist, why haven’t we found any evidence of that? The galaxy is very large, so why haven’t we found any other life?” This question is known as the Fermi Paradox.

The Fermi Paradox is very interesting because each explanation to question has immense value within it.

To find out more, let’s watch this video.

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “paradox” mean?

2. What are “filters” in the context of this lesson?

3. Do you know the meaning of the word, “galaxy”?

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your answer to the Fermi Paradox?

2. Do you think we’d ever discover conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life? Why or why not?

3. Do you think we could travel to other universes, if so, do you think we could do it alone?

Bosses Silently Nudge Out Workers

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We’ve all heard of “quiet quitting”, in which an employed person does the barest minimum in order to keep their job. And now there’s a great deal of discussion about “quiet firing” and it is currently making waves.

Is it, however, a new concept? Do you or someone you care about have this problem?

Read the article about how some bosses quietly nudge their employees out.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221021-the-bosses-who-silently-nudge-out-workers

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “ marginalize ” mean? Use this word in a sentence.
  2. What does “nudge out” mean in this sentence,” An employee subtly nudged out the door isn’t without legal recourse, either.”? Use this word in a sentence.
  3. What does “rejection” mean? Mention some alternative words for this one.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are some common signs of quiet firing?
  2. Is quiet firing a constructive dismissal? Elaborate.
  3. How do you deal with unfair firing?
  4. How would you manage a boss who is not willing to bring the conversation of termination forward?
  5. Do you or someone you care about struggle with this issue? Share about it.

Separate the Art from the Artist

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Most people have a favorite artist and they know a lot about them, including their lifestyle, favorites, daily activities, and so on. But often, they naively believe that they know everything there is to know about them. Some even think their favorite artists aren’t capable of doing negative things. However, artists are human beings who are bound to make mistakes and have problematic sides, too.

What if their negative sides came to light? Would you ignore it or utterly stop supporting them?

Read the article to know if it’s really possible or impossible to separate the art from the artist.

https://www.theslateonline.com/article/2022/10/the-slate-speaks-can-you-separate-the-art-from-the-artist#:~:text=It%20is%20possible%20to%20separate,the%20actions%20of%20the%20artist.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “nuance” mean, “There’s a lot of nuance (hence why there’s plenty of books written on the subject).”? Use this word in a sentence.
  2. Explain the meaning of “heinous” in your own words. “But something like the Harry Potter books have themes that are so intertwined with J.K. Rowling’s heinous and ignorant world view that it’s almost impossible to separate the two.” Use it in a sentence.
  3. What does “mainstream” mean, “You can’t say Michael Jackson didn’t impact pop music and the presence of black artists in mainstream media, and you can respect that.”? Give some synonyms of this word.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you have a favorite artist? If yes, do you know a lot about him/her?  How would you react if you learned about your favorite artist’s negative side?
  2. What do you think about thinking too highly of an artist?
  3. Do you think it’s possible to separate the art from the artist? Elaborate. How can it be done?

Man Wins after Being Fired for Not Being Fun

B2 – Upper Intermediate

There are employees who decide to have some good times to ease themselves from a long-day of working.

Most of them plan for team building activities or have after-work drinks.

However, what if an employee does not join in any of these activities? Is it right to fire him for being ‘boring’?

Read this article to know about this issue.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/man-wins-4600-after-being-fired-for-not-being-fun-004904815.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIwXIqeja7zEhXhAKd_8qFJhQW_LMvh0oa44QDeXJbapTEdK9MdknWo0aiyDFoidpLnY1ifxfvGKaI6N7Khs535gId76brNT1YtT2y2Zg1fMcZWa1ufqS-BcxUPM2-apOh1A9sDq4L0Pleq0Ids-7nNmRWW38zE1bJ_G2-xX4wqd

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you think that it was only right to fire Mr. T for being boring? Explain.
  2. Will you consider your co-worker as “boring” when he/she does not join in team building activities? Explain.
  3. What do you think of the team building activities in your company?
  4. What do you think about going out for drinks every week with co-workers? Is it a good idea?