Category: Class

Ninja Tourism

B1 – Intermediate

We probably know ninjas from movies, animations, comics and the likes. But in Japan, ninjas have been an important country symbol since the 15th century.

Find out how ninjas will help Japan increase tourism in their country.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1812/181215-ninja-tourism-1.html

Discussion Questions:
1. What are your thoughts on ninjas?
2. What do you think about using ninjas to increase tourism in Japan?
3. Talk about some of Spain’s country symbols.
4. How is tourism in Spain promoted to the world?
5. What are ways to attract tourists to a country?

Recovering from Micromanaging

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Micromanaging is a management style whereby the manager closely  observes or controls the work of his employees. Is micromanagement really effective? Some says it’s not but why do we do it?

Let us watch as Chieh Huang confesses and shares the cure for micromanagement madness and how to foster innovation and happiness at work.

 

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your opinion of micromanagement?

2. What management style do you follow at work?

3. How effective do you do your job with or without a manager around you?

 

 

The Progressive Income Tax

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The progressive income tax is one of those economic terms that gets bandied about, but few actually know what it means or how it works. Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society, the progressivity of taxes largely determines how that price varies among individuals. A progressive tax takes a larger percentage of income from high-income groups than from low-income groups and is based on the concept of ability to pay.

Watch the video about the progressive income tax.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘tax’?
  2. Describe your country’s tax system.
  3. What changes would you like to see in your country’s tax system?
  4.  How taxes are spent in your country?
  5. Should poor people be exempted from paying tax? Explain your stand.

How Resilient Are You?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Have you ever been in a situation where everything has been prepared under thorough planning for weeks yet for whatever reason you bumble through all your numbers, everything seems to fall flat and against you?

Watch the video to learn more about resilience.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is resilience?
2. How do we learn it?
3. When was the last time you ever faced rejection, failure or adversity?
4. How did you handle it?
5. Are you resilient?
6. How resilient are you in dealing with challenges or setbacks?

Stop Procrastinating and Maximize Productivity

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing a task or set of tasks. It is a challenge we have all faced at one point. As humans, we have been struggling with delaying, avoiding, and procrastinating on issues that matter to us.

Click the link below to watch the video on how to beat procrastination and learn some useful strategies that will make it easier for us to start working on our tasks ahead.

Discussion Questions:
  1. What are some reasons why people procrastinate?
  2. What kinds of things do you usually put off doing?
  3. What are the negative effects of procrastination?
  4. When is it good to procrastinate?
  5. According to the video, how can one kick the habit of procrastination?

Toyota to Save Money

B1 – Intermediate

When companies go through hard financial times, they find ways to lower their expenses. In Toyota’s case, they thought of shutting down some elevators in their main office in Tokyo.

Read the full article to find out more about Toyota’s ways to cut costs.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1607/160710-elevators-1.html

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is Toyota shutting down elevators in their headquarters?
2. What are others ways they are saving money?
3. What cost-cutting measures has your company ever implemented?

Safety of Doctors

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Doctors treat our illnesses and at times, even save our lives when we are confronted with a life-threatening medical condition. An increasing number of Korean doctors are growing more worried about their safety while at work.

Read the article below and find out one of the reasons why a huge number of doctors in Korea want to work abroad.

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=261424

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is the reason Korean doctors worry about their safety?
  2. State ways on how to solve this problem.
  3. What other work-related perils do doctors face?
  4. What challenges do doctors in your country have to deal with?

Comparison: As … as

As … as

“As + adjective/adverb + as” is used when the things being compared are somehow the same.

Examples:

The temperature today is as low as yesterday. It hasn’t been very warm this past few days.

You have to be as careful as you can in unwrapping this ancient, fragile vase.

She ran as fast as she could to catch up with him.

Not as … as

On the other hand, “not as … as” is used when comparing things that aren’t of equal proportion.

Examples:

The film is not as good as I expected it would be, actually.

The plant hasn’t grown as tall as the others yet.

She’s not as perky as usual today.

 

Other ways to express “not as … as” are: “not quite … as” or “not nearly … as”.

Examples:

The second exam was not quite as difficult as the first one. (The second exam was difficult but the first one was more difficult.)

This new mobile phone is not nearly as expensive as my old one. (My old mobile phone is a lot more expensive than the new one.)

 

Although not as common as “not as … as”, “not so … as” can also be used.

Examples:

Cooking all these dishes was tiring but not so hard as the baking we did.

 

As … as + possibility

“As … as” is normally followed by possibility or ability expressions.

Examples:

Can she submit this document as soon as possible?

Go to the gym as many times as you can a week.

They got to the hospital as fast as they could after hearing about his accident.

As much as / As many as

In terms of making comparisons about quantity, “as much … as” and “as many … as” are used with uncountable and plural nouns, respectively.

Examples:

Sean makes as much money as David but not as much as Dion.

Mia’s parents try to give her and her brother as much freedom as they can.

There weren’t as many tourists on the beach as we expected last weekend.

“As much as” and “as many as” followed by a number are used to refer to a great number of something.

Examples:

There are as many as 8.6 million people living in New York.

The United States produces as much as 230 million tons of garbage per year.

Aging Cure

C1 – Advanced

Aging is inevitable and is associated with changes in our biological, physiological, and behavioral being. Scientists are doing their best to unravel all aging mysteries to come up with an antidote. If scientists discovered a cure for aging, would you take it?

Let’s watch the video to check the discoveries that might benefit us:

Discussion Questions:

1. What 3 tools are scientists experimenting with?
2. Do you think humans will ever be able to stop aging?
3. Would you volunteer for a trial?
4. How long do you want to live?
5. How are senior citizens viewed in your country?

Test 666

Es necesario estar registrado en phone english para realizar este test. Si tu nombre no aparece en el campo debes loguearte aqui. El test tiene una duración de 10 minutos como máximo y una vez iniciado el tiempo no se puede detener. Haga click en Start Quiz! para iniciar.

User:

This quiz must be completed in 10 minutes.