Category: Homework

Night Vision

B1 – Intermediate

Scientists have given mice the ability to see in the dark. Cells found in mice’s retinas are also found in humans. Researchers hope that one day humans may be able to see in the dark.

Let’s read the article to know how these rodents were able to see better in the dark.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190306-night-vision.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What did scientists inject into the mice’s eyes?
2. How long did the effects of injections last?
3. What do you think of this research?
4. Would you like to be able to see in the dark? Why or why not?
5. What is your opinion on technologies like this that give humans abilities that are beyond what’s normal?

College Admission Scandal

C1 – Advanced

Recently, there’s been news about the cheating scandals on college admission. These involved wealthy families, celebrities, and even politicians bribing their children’s way to college. The prestige of getting into elite colleges is one of their ways to gain more popularity and great awes from those people who innocently believed that these students got accepted because of their wits and efforts and not paying millions of dollars to proctors, coaches, and school administrators of their prospective elite colleges.

Watch the video about the largest college admission scams in the US.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your opinion on cheating college admission scandals?
  2. Who do you think is responsible for these crimes and how so?
  3. How does this fraud work?
  4. Do you think the students’ involved in these scams admission should be revoked?

Viral Video

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We see it everyday; people sharing, retweeting, reposting images, videos or even just texts on social media. Most would do it for humour and entertainment. How does an online material get viral? What drives netizens to share them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-170817

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do people share materials on social media?

2. What are high arousal emotions?

3. What kinds of videos or links do you usually share on social media?

Racial Wealth Divide

C1 – Advanced

Racial discrimination has been a problem all over the word. Some races are treated unfairly and do not feel that racial equality has been achieved in terms of wealth. This wealth gap shows that mostly white household owns more wealth more than its black and Latino counterparts in their total assets.

Watch the video to learn more about America’s racial wealth gap.

 

Discussion Questions:

1. Explain the role banks played in minorities losing their wealth.

2. What is your opinion on this topic?

3. Do you think race is the problem of wealth division?

4. Describe the division of wealth in your country? How does inequality affect the country as a whole?

5. What can we do about racial wealth inequality?

Three-Parent Baby

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The joy of having a child is immeasurable and it is what most couples look forward to. However, there are situations when couples could not possibly have a normal and healthy offspring due to the genetic disorder of one of the would-be parents. Science has found the answer, but are parents willing to replace their genes with another person’s to conceive a healthy child?

Let’s learn more about the three-parent baby.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-150402

Discussion Questions:

1. How does the three-parent baby work?

2. Why is there a need for a three-parent baby technique?

3. What is your stand on this issue? Do you think it is morally acceptable to undergo this process?

A Job Interview

B1 –  Intermediate

A job interview is an important tool for employee selection. It involves a conversation between a job applicant and an interviewer.

Let’s watch a sample interview and be ready to answer the questions about it.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Talk about a typical interview in your country.
  2. Talk about your last job interview.
  3. What kinds of jobs have you applied for? Have you ever applied for a job you don’t have any experience in? How did it go?
  4. How do you answer this interview question, “How do you describe yourself?”
  5. What advice can you give to someone attending a job interview for the first time?

Dancing Cha-cha

B1 – Intermediate

Dancing is a pleasurable activity that involves a lot of body movements.  As they say, rhythmic body movement is instinctive but learning some steps won’t hurt.

Let’s learn the basics of dancing cha-cha-cha or or simply cha-cha.

Discussion Questions:
1 What are the 4 basic elements of Cha-Cha?
2. Do you like dancing? How often do you do it?
3. What kinds of dancing can we see in your country?
4. What kind of music do you think is good to dance to?
5. Do you think being a professional dancer would be a good job?

Anti-College

C1 – Advanced

Is college fast becoming irrelevant for many or most students? A lot of students and families are taking on enormous debt with no guarantee of a well-paying job so they ask whether technical or other programs might be the smarter choice.

Let’s find out how Jeremy Rossmann, the founder of Make School program, tries to reinvent college.

Discussion Questions:

1. How different is Make School from a traditional college?
2. Is going to college still relevant?
3. Is the college tuition reasonable in your country? Is it easy to get scholarships or government grants?
4. Which is more important, the essential skills in life you’ve learned to develop on your own or the artificial structure in college about the “real world”?
5. What do you think of the higher education system in your country?

Chocolate Child Slaves

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For the most of us, chocolate is a guilty pleasure. We probably think  we shouldn’t have it but why not reward ourselves after a long, tiring day?  Yet for thousands of children in the cocoa fields of West Africa, chocolate is not a source of pleasure but of a hard and hazardous work. Children working in the cocoa farm are victims of trafficking or slavery. They are kept out of school because their families need their help in the farms and 12-hour workdays make it impossible for them to attend school.

Watch the short video clip to know the bitter truth behind chocolate production.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. What was your reaction to the film? What did you learn?
  2. How do you see child labor?
  3. How might this problem be addressed?
  4. What do you know about child labor laws and regulations in your country?

 

 

 

Water Scarcity

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.

Watch the video to know more why the taps run dry.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does water scarcity affect people’s health?
  2. How does water scarcity affect farmers and food production?
  3. Do you think people waste water? Why or why not?
  4. Have you ever experienced a water shortage? What happened?
  5. What would happen if your town had no water for a week?