Category: Homework

Forget Office Cubicles, Try ‘Co-working’

© Josh Hallett from Winter Haven, FL, USA / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-2.0

B2 – Upper Intermediate

In a more globalized world, sharing resources hasn’t been new. Now, a new concept of a “Co-working Space” which helps small businesses and self-employed individuals to stay connected with others by renting a room or small place to work.

Let’s learn more about this and read the article below!

https://www.voanews.com/a/co-working-new-office-style/3365475.html

Discuss:

1. What does Carl Pierre think the advantages of such a workspace are?
2. What do you think about the concept of co-working spaces?
3. What does your workspace look like?
4. Do you prefer working outdoors or in an office? Why?
5. Do you think that, in the future, all business will be conducted from a co-working space? Why or why not?
6. Do you think that, in the future, offices will become obsolete because of the Internet? Why or why not?

Food Waste

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Food waste is food that is discarded or uneaten. Each year, we dispose of a third of the world’s food.

Listen to this podcast to learn more about food wastage and ways to stop it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-170511

Let’s talk:

1. Where does the biggest percentage of food waste come from?

2. What usually happens to the food we waste?

3. What are the consequences of food waste?

4. What is Selina Juul doing to stop food waste in Denmark? What are other ways to avoid wasting food?

5. What do you tend to do with your leftovers?

6. How’s not finishing your food viewed in your country?

How to Haggle: Successful Bargaining Tips

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Bargaining or haggling is a type of negotiation in which the buyer and seller of a good or service debate the price of a transaction.  Not all purchases are open to bargaining. Typical places where bargaining is common include markets, antique shops, and second-hand car shops.

Click the link and read a few guidelines to help us get the best bargain. Answer the discussion questions that follow:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/how-to-haggle

Discussion Questions:

  1. Is bargaining an acceptable practice in your country?
  2. In what kinds of shops is it acceptable?
  3. Do you like to bargain?
  4. What sort of things have you bargained for?
  5. What’s the best bargain you have got?
  6. What strategies did you use?
  7. Have you ever been ripped off?
  8. What is the bargaining etiquette in your country?
  9. What other negotiating do you do in your everyday life?
  10. What are some reasons people give for wanting a price reduction?

Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Innovation is the development and implementation of ideas that lead to more value for whatever business you are in.

When grocery chain Tesco wanted to expand their market share in South Korea, they came up with a brilliant idea. Because the people in South Korea work long hours, Tesco thought of an efficient way to sell their products.  Why is this shop interesting to view?

Watch the video to find out. Be able to answer the questions that follow.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think about Tesco’s virtual store at subway stations in South Korea?
  2. How was Tesco better than its competitor in terms of innovation?
  3. Do you think this innovative idea could be successfully applied in all countries? Explain.
  4. What are the most important innovations for you in your daily life?
  5. Have you ever worked for a company that has implemented any innovative ideas? Talk about it.
  6. Have you ever had an innovative idea? If so, did you put it into action?

Emails – Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Mail

B1 – Intermediate

Email is much older than ARPANet or the Internet. It was never invented; it evolved from very simple beginnings.

Early email was just a small advancement from what we know these days as a file directory – it just put a message in another user’s directory in a spot where they could see it when they logged in. As simple as that. Just like leaving a note on someone’s desk.

Read more on the advantages and disadvantages of using e-mails.

http://www.english-online.at/media/emails/advantages-disadvantages-of-electronic-mail.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you agree with the all the advantages and disadvantages of emails as stated in the article?
2. How does email messaging improve your communication with others especially in the field of business?
3. How do you think you can protect yourself from phishing?

Baby Boomers – The Golden Generation

B1 – Intermediate

Almost exactly nine months after World War II ended, “the cry of the baby was heard across the land,” as historian Landon Jones later described the trend. More babies were born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20 percent more than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby boomers” in the United States. They made up almost 40 percent of the nation’s population.

Read the full article about baby boomers here:

http://www.english-online.at/geography/baby-boomers/baby-boomers-golden-generation.htm

Let’s talk:

1. Who are baby boomers?

2. Are boomers prepared for the challenges of aging?

3. What is your opinion on some baby boomers who can’t retire because they haven’t saved enough money to take it easy? Is the situation in your country the same?

Live in this Italian Village and Receive Money

© via Daily Mail UK

B2 – Upper Intermediate

How would you like to move to a picturesque town with only 394 inhabitants, rents for as low as €50 a month, and an incentive of €2,000 for relocating there?

The city government in a little Italian village offers all these things to address a problem their town is facing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4484094/Italian-village-offers-2-000-people-there.html

Let’s talk:
1. What’s the problem in this village and what is the solution to it?
2. Do you have the same problem in your country?
3. What are the reasons you would move or not relocate to this town?

Drunk Driving

B1 – Intermediate

Driving under the influence, or driving while impaired, is the crime or offense of operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol or other drugs (including recreational drugs and those prescribed by physicians), to a level that renders the driver incapable of operating a motor vehicle safely.

Linda Hunt

In 1994, in the town of Barrie in central Canada, Linda Hunt, a part-time receptionist at Incentive Realty, got drunk at an office Christmas party. Her boss noticed what had happened and told her if she was going to drink any more she had to call her husband and ask him to come and pick her up. The boss had also told all the employees before the party began that, if they felt they were too drunk to drive home safely, the company would pay for a taxi.

But Linda ignored her boss’s warning. She felt all right. After the party, Linda and some of her co-workers went to P.J.’s pub in Barrie and continued drinking. By the time Linda left the pub and headed home, it was snowing—and Linda had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her blood. Several of her friends offered her a ride but she refused. On the road she lost control of her car and hit a truck. She received serious head injuries, including brain damage. She was in hospital for several months and needed both physiotherapy and speech therapy. Seven years later, she was still suffering from pain and mild amnesia.

On February 6, 2001 an Ontario Superior Court judge announced that Linda’s company and P.J.’s pub had to pay Linda a large part of the money she had lost because she was not able to work after the accident. Together they were ordered to pay more that $300,000, but, because the pub was not in business anymore, the realty company where Linda worked had to pay the whole amount.

There have been at least two other cases in Canada where an employer was held partly responsible for an accident caused by a employee drinking on the job, but this decision was important because it was the first time in Canada that an employer of a drunken driver has been found partly responsible for an accident even though they had warned their employee not to drive.

Linda Hunt’s lawyer was interviewed after the decision was announced. He said that, because of this case, there is now a possibility that people who allow their friends to get drunk in their homes, and then allow them to drive home will be held responsible for an accident.

– information from: Globe and Mail (Toronto), 01.02.06, and Toronto Star, 01.02.06

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about drunk driving?

2. What are the penalties for drunk driving in your country?

3. Should the passengers/friends of a drunk driver also be punished?

4. Is drunk driving one of the biggest causes of road accidents in your country?

5. Is it fair to hold the employer responsible for an accident caused by a drunk employee?

Housing in Spain and Poverty

B1 – Intermediate

Housing generally refers to the social problem of ensuring that members of society have a home in which they can live in, whether this is a house, or some other kinds of dwelling, lodging, or shelter.

Watch the video below about housing in Spain and its connection to poverty.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you agree with the woman in the video?
  2. Do you know anything about your government’s housing policy?
  3. Does your government provide housing for people on low or no income?
  4. Is it easy to find good quality housing in your town?
  5. How can housing be made affordable for everyone?
  6. What issues will arise with housing of the future?

Multiple Careers

B2 – Upper Intermediate

There is a new trend in some societies. It’s having more than one occupation. There is someone who is a part-time computer programmer and a part-time musician or someone who is a teacher by day and a bartender by night.

Click on the links below to listen to and read the transcript of this BBC 6 Minute English podcast about having several jobs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/6-minute-english/ep-170413

Discussion Questions:
1. When you were young, how did you answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up”?
2. What do you do now? Are you interested in getting another job? If so, what kind?
3. What does the term “portfolio careers” mean?
4. What might be the good and bad things about having portfolio careers?
5. Think of other reasons why having multiple jobs is becoming a trend.