Most parents would want to have intelligent kids. The common education system promotes academic excellence. People would do everything to be smart by studying hard; going to private academy for tutorials and starting early on in education to have an edge in life.
However, it has been discovered that there are disadvantages to being an intellectual. Read the article below to know what they are and to find out about intellectual humility.
1. What is your reaction to the article? 2. Have you witnessed intelligent people make the wrong choices for themselves? 3. Do you think that the educational system should change when it comes to measuring intelligence? 4. How can employers take advantage of intellectual humility when interviewing candidates?
Internet experts say that the whole net has become so unsafe that it would be best to start all over again. Do you agree or disagree with this? Explain.
Talk about the good and bad things about the internet.
How can we keep ourselves safe when using the internet?
Smoking is linked to preventable deadly diseases like cancer and heart disease. In America the percentage of smokers has dwindled. How about in your country? Anti-smoking measures help a great deal in educating people about this vice and, in the process, reduces the number of smokers.
1. Do you think that graphic warnings on cigarette packages help in educating people? 2. Are there a lot of smokers in your country? 3. What do you think are good ways to quit smoking?
Critical misunderstanding is the product of a single story. Our perception of someone or another culture can be from overlapping stories . Novelist Chimamanda Adichie narrates how she found her cultural voice and warns us of the danger of hearing only a single story about another person or country.
Discuss:
1. Who are some of the famous local authors or novelists that you know of? 2. What are some of the novels that you like? International? 3. What do you know about the continent Africa? What countries in Africa have you been to? 4. What are some of the stereotypes of your country that you know of?
Office ID cards are a thing of the past. With this futuristic office in Sweden, you wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting your ID at home ever again. You won’t even need some cash to buy coffee in the cafeteria.
Listen and read as Neil and Harry of BBC’s 6 Minute English talk about this ultramodern identification system.
Receiving an email from your boss could either mean good news or bad news. But how would you react if you receive an email similar to the article below?
1. Do you think the boss did the right thing? Why or why not? 2. What can you say about the alleged behavior of the flight attendant? 3. Where do you think should employers draw the line when it comes to monitoring their employees’ activities outside work?
The prophecy of the Mayan Calendar became such a hype when it predicted the end of the world in 2012. Thus, a Siberian company cashed in on the panic and came up with a survival kit.
Read this article from 2012 and express your thoughts about it.
1. How did you react when you heard about the Mayan Prophecy of the world ending on the 21st of December 2012? 2. Should people preoccupy themselves with predicting when the world will end? 3. If you knew the exact date the world would end, would it change the way you live? If so, in what ways? If not, why? 4. If you had to prepare your own Doomsday kit, what would be in it?
Getting tired and working too hard is now being equated to productiveness. And there is a growing sense of pride in being too busy to do anything else but work. Should this be the case? Is this the better choice?
Read the following article and express your thoughts about it.
1. What is Professor Brown’s attitude toward work? 2. Does she think it’s possible to achieve work-life balance? What do you think? 3. With the range of office technology available to workers, are we truly able to do more with less? 4. Why does Brown think giving five minutes of feedback spells a difference in today’s office culture? 5. If you had full control over your schedule, what changes would you make? What items in your timetable would you prioritize?
Daylight Saving Time is the practice of advancing standard time by one hour in the spring of each year and of setting it back by one hour in the fall in order to gain an extra period of daylight during the early evening. Many countries observe this change.
Let’s try to know more about its history and significance. Watch the videos and listen to the audio clips with the transcript.
What is daylight saving time?
Every year billions of us around the world observe the familiar ritual of winding our clocks forward in the spring and turning them back again in the autumn.
To the joy of some and the annoyance of others, this biannual time-tampering first steals 60 minutes of our sleep, then gives us all an ‘extra’ hour in bed. Of course, in reality we are neither losing nor gaining time. By shifting an hour of sunlight during the summer months we’re merely making better use of the daylight temporarily available to us in the evenings.
There are many countries worldwide that do not observe daylight saving time (DST) – and in those that do it has had a somewhat chequered and quirky history. Are those of us who meddle with our clocks making time or killing time?
In the UK we observe Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the winter months, and advance an hour during British Summer Time (BST). From time to time Parliament has debated the idea of adopting BST throughout the year, but a permanent change is yet to happen.
A permanent change
The case in favour
Those in favour of year-long BST say it would benefit our health and well-being. A 2014 study of 23,000 children in nine countries suggested their activity levels were 15-20% higher on summer days. The Automobile Association estimates that around 100 lives each year would be saved by avoiding traffic accidents on dark evenings.
Year-round BST would also bring the UK into line with Central European Time, helping us to do business with the continent. In the view of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions this would increase domestic tourism earnings by £2.5-3.5bn.
Meanwhile, an extra hour of evening sunlight in winter could save £485m a year in electricity bills, as households would require less energy to heat and light their homes.
The argument against
Those against a permanent change to BST say it would delay sunrise in northern Scotland until 10am in the winter months. This would leave children at increased risk of accident walking to school in the dark.
Farmers, postal workers and the construction industry have also traditionally supported lighter mornings.
Some say that even if we did move onto BST all year round, we may still end up changing the clocks twice a year. Proposals have been made to adopt GMT+1 during the winter and introduce GMT+2 in summer.
Discuss:
1. What is the resource saying about Daylight Savings Time? 2. Do you see a drawback to having to adjust your clocks on specific seasons? 3. Do you, personally, think that adjusting is a waste of time? Or is this needed? 4. What is the longest night time you have experienced?
