Category: Class

Investment Scam Targets Instagram Users

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Scams that start on the internet are becoming more and more common nowadays. Sometimes, you’ll encounter fake websites tricking you into installing software that look legitimate but that is really just a virus or scams that are designed to lure people into investing money.

Please read the article to find out more about this new scam.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47358892

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is this new online scam?
  2. How does it lure people into investing money?
  3. How can getting scammed online be avoided?
  4. Why do you think some people get easily tricked by online scams?

Extinction Crisis Threatening Global Food Supply

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Right now, our soils, freshwater, oceans, forests, and biodiversity are being rapidly degraded. The decrease in the global diversity of plants and animals puts food security at risk. The report identified that changes to how land and water are used and managed, pollution, climate change, overharvesting, population growth, and urbanization caused the declining biodiversity which could have disastrous effects on our planet.

Read more about this  the article below:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/22/health/food-biodiversity-report-intl/index.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What can be done to increase food production?

2. How can we preserve plants and animals’ natural habitats?

3. What environmental effects will this cause?

4. How can changing our diets save plants and animals from extinction? Should we rethink how we grow, share, and consume food?

5. What are your thoughts on the fact that we hold the extraordinary burden of responsibility to avert much of the damage we have done to the environment?

6. What is your reaction that just in the past 50 years, we have seen the destruction of 60% of mammal, bird, fish and reptile populations?

7. Would you know if this is an issue in your country as well? Do you think that this issue is attracting increasing attention in your country?

 

Test 748

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.

The Trolley Problem

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We are put in a situation where we must make a moral decision; and what if between two possible moral imperatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. It’s moral dilemma at its finest.
Here’s a scenario:
How would you decide if the two options you had would cost someone’s life? Could your action be justified?

Watch the video below and find out more about the trolley problem.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is trolley problem?

2. What do you consider in making a moral decision?

3. If you were the one to press the switch, would you let the trolley barrel down the track that would kill five workers or divert the trolley onto a second track with one? Or could there be a more ethical solution to the problem?

4. What are some real world applications of trolley problem? (Note: This is not always about sacrificing people’s life.)

The Placebo Effect

B2 – Upper Intermediate

One doctor made up a fake drug and used every skill he had to convince a group of people it was a cure for their fears, phobias, addictions and insecurities. He was able to get some remarkable results, but in fact the drug was nothing more than a sugar pill.

Can a “fake” treatment really cure an ailment?

Watch the video below to learn more about the placebo effect.

Discussion Questions:

1. Explain the placebo effect. How is it used in a medical research?

2. What are the positive and negative effects of the placebo effect?

3. What conditions do you think can a placebo produce results even when people know they are taking a placebo?

4. Talk about your own experience of a placebo effect.

5. What if all medicines were placebo all along?

Passive (be done/been done/being done)

Take a look at the following forms in active and passive.

  • After will, can, must, going to, want to, etc.

active: eat => Somebody will eat the cake later.

passive: be eaten => The cake will be eaten later.

Examples:

Her lies are getting more and more serious. Something must be said to her.
The criminal is very elusive he can’t be caught.
He asked everyone to leave. He wanted to be left alone.

  • After should have, might have, would have, seem to have, etc.

active: eaten => Somebody might have eaten the cake.

passive: been eaten => The cake might have been eaten.

Examples:

If you had locked the door, nothing would have been stolen.
The casino will not be opened until further notice.
The impact of the typhoon is devastating. Something must be done to help the victims.

  • Present Perfect

active: has/have eaten => The cake is delicious. Somebody has eaten it.

passive: has/have been eaten => The cake is delicious. It has been eaten.

Examples:

I heard their wedding has been canceled.
Have you ever been arrested by the police?
She doesn’t take no for an answer. She has not been turned down.

  • Past Perfect

active: had eaten => The cake was delicious. Somebody had eaten it.

passive: had been eaten => The cake was delicious. It had been eaten.

Examples:

The fruits weren’t ripe enough. They had been picked too soon.
This book was bought a year ago but it hadn’t been read.
Their house was very old but had not been renovated.

  • Present Continuous

active: is/are/am eating => Somebody is eating the cake at the moment.

passive: is/are/am being eaten => The cake is being eaten at the moment.

Examples:

Her boyfriend isn’t faithful. She is being cheated on.
She is being kept alive by a machine.
The elderly people are being taken care of in this facility.

  • Past Continuous

active: was/were eating => Somebody was eating the cake.

passive: was/were being eaten => The cake was being eaten when she arrived.

Examples:

She wasn’t being trained properly.
The dishes weren’t being washed thoroughly.
His car wasn’t being repaired.

Graphic Warning on Cigarettes

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Graphic warnings  are used in order to grab the attention of consumers, forcing them to think about the risks involved in the products, and prompting them to consider their negative health consequences.

In cigarettes for example, highlighting the risks of smoking ought to make people think twice about consuming the product. However, is putting these graphic labels really effective?

Click the link below to read the article and be able to discuss the questions that follow:

https://www.rand.org/blog/2014/09/graphic-warning-labels-on-cigarettes-are-scary-but.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think about graphic warning labels?
  2. Does it decrease the product’s appeal in customers?
  3. Other than cigarettes, what products have graphic warning labels in your country?
  4. What do you think are the possible effects of these labels on businesses?

 

Lie Detector Tests at Airports

B1 – Intermediate

When passing immigration at airports, immigration officers ask to see your passport and travel documents. They also ask questions about your trip.

In some European countries, they are trying a computer-generated border officer.

Find out more about the computerized border guards.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1811/181105-lie-detector-tests-1.html

Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think about using a lie detector machine at the airports?
2. What do you think are the good and bad things about using this technology?
3. Talk about your experience/s with immigration at airports.

Test 687

Please go to Test 687 to view this test

Objectification

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For some people, there is a hairline distinction between appreciation and objectification. When we appreciate, we recognize one’s good looks as a part of that person and not reduce them to it, which is the latter. Some may claim that objectifying someone is natural, others may take it as a compliment.

Let’s listen and find out more about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-181101

Discussion Questions:

1. What is objectification? Is it inherently bad?

2. Please give some examples of objectification evident nowadays. What could it lead to?

4. According to the podcast, “Women are more likely to be objectified than men”, why do you think that is the case?