Tag: audio

Emotions of Dogs

B1 – Intermediate

Dogs are highly social animals. They have emotions just like people do. They experience feelings such as happiness, anger, fear, joy, and anxiety. It is also known that part of a dog’s ability to understand human emotions comes from the long-established relationship between humans and canines.

Let’s listen to the audio and read the transcript below to know more about the emotions of dogs.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/emotions-of-dogs-level-3/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you have or have you ever had a dog for a pet? Talk about your experience being a dog owner.
  2. What are the good and bad things about having a dog?
  3. Do you agree that dogs have emotions? Why or why not?
  4. In what ways are dogs helpful to humans?
  5. What do you think of dog hotels, dog cafes, and poodle parlors?

Yellow School Bus

B1 – Intermediate

In the US, the school bus is believed to be the safest vehicle on the road. Parents feel safe when their children take this yellow bus to school. They have safety features that not all vehicles have. It is easy to notice them on the road because they are yellow in color.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript and find out why school buses are yellow.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/reasons-for-yellow-us-school-buses-level-1/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why are school buses in yellow?
  2. Why do you think school buses are safer than most vehicles?
  3. Are school buses common in your country? Are they also painted yellow?
  4. Do you have children or young family members who go to school? How do they usually get there?
  5. What other protective measures should be included in yellow buses or school transport?

Weather and Tea

B1 – Intermediate

Tea is such an important drink all over the world. India is one of the main sources of it. However, due to the very unpredictable weather these days, tea farmers are having problems in growing tea in their plantations.

If this problem persists, it could cause a shortage in tea supply in the world. 

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about the problems in tea production caused by extreme weather changes.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/weather-and-tea-level-3/

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your reaction to this news?
  2. Are there tea plantations in your country? How are their conditions nowadays?
  3. What agricultural problems do you have in your country that is caused by unpredictable weather?
  4. How important is tea in your country or for you?
  5. What are the health benefits of drinking tea?

Flexible Working

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Perhaps, there is a debate on how much change the pandemic has brought about in the way we work. Is our newfound work flexibility a boon or a bane for workers and the management?

Listen to this audio and read the transcript to know more about being able to work with so much flexibility.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-210715

Discussion Questions:

  1. Personally, what are your thoughts on flexible working?
  2. What sort of flexibility do you have at work?
  3. Is it possible for the 9-to-5 jobs to become a thing of the past? Why or why not?
  4. What might be the benefits and downsides of flexible work for employers and employees alike?
  5. How has the pandemic changed your way of working or your company’s work policies?

Cryotherapy

B1 – Intermediate

When are bodies need to heal, we find the best therapy. What do you think about a therapy wherein they put you inside a machine to freeze your whole body for a few minutes?

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about cryotherapy.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/cryotherapy-level-2/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Share your opinion about this therapy.
  2. What are the good and bad things about this kind of therapy?
  3. Would you be interested to try it? Why or why not?
  4. What other therapies similar to cryotherapy do you know of?
  5. What other therapies similar to cryotherapy have you tried? Talk about its effects on you. 
  6. What other therapies similar to cryotherapy are you interested to try and why?

Free Period Products

B1 – Intermediate

For women, having their menstruation can be a nuisance. Nowadays, another problem they are facing is the high prices of these products that they use when they have their periods.

Scotland created a law that provides these types of products to women of all ages in their country for free.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about Scotland providing free period products to its female citizens.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/free-period-products-in-scotland-level-2/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Share your reaction to this law. Is a law such as this necessary in every country? Why or why not?
  2. What is your reaction to this, “Some women have so little money that they can’t buy these products every month.”?
  3. What might be other problems women have with their physical hygiene?
  4. In your country, what other laws can the government create to help women in maintaining their health?

Clothes

B1 – Intermediate

Clothes are important because it protects us from the weather and provide us with warmth and cover. They also make us desirable in others’ eyes; making us wanted and even disliked.

Because clothes are important, do you buy too many of them?

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about clothes.

https://listenaminute.com/c/clothes.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. About how much money do you spend on clothes a year?
  2. Can you be fashionable without spending money?
  3. Do you have clothes in your closet that you’ve never worn? Why haven’t you worn them?
  4. Do you always recycle your old clothes or give them to charity?
  5. What’s your favorite piece of clothing? Why?
  6. Do you buy clothes online? Why or why not?
  7. Is fashion a kind of art? Elaborate.

Beauty

B1 – Intermediate

Perfect hair, perfect teeth and a perfect smile is ones definition of beauty. Beauty is solely dependent on how a person looks in the outside. However, inner beauty is more important for others because it’s the beauty within which makes a person beautiful.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript about beauty.

https://listenaminute.com/b/beauty.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What makes a person beautiful?
  2. What is better, to be physically attractive or intelligent? Why?
  3. Do you think beauty affects your self-confidence? Why or why not?
  4. Does beauty affect a person’s success in personal/ professional life? How?
  5. Do people spend too much money and time on their beauty? In what ways?
  6. “There should be equal rights for most of us “non-beautiful” people.” Do you agree or disagree with this? Why or why not?

Why We Say “God Bless You”

B1 – Intermediate

When someone sneezes, some people immediately respond with “God bless you!”. Just why people respond to this is not really crystal clear. There have been numerous beliefs as to its logic and origin.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript to know some of the reasons people use this expression.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/why-we-say-god-bless-you-level-1/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you use this response when someone sneezes? Why or why not?
  2. Do you know other interpretation of this expression?
  3. Do you think this is considered a polite gesture? Why or why not?
  4. What other polite gestures are common in your country?

Boy Dies After TikTok Challenge

B1 – Intermediate

TikTok is a popular video-sharing social network especially among young people. At the beginning, users normally shared their dance moves videos. In recent years, there have been a variety of contents that users can share; including challenges that have proven to be not just dangerous but also fatal.

Listen to this audio and read the transcript to know more about a young boy who lost his life for taking on a TikTok challenge.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/a-boy-dies-after-tiktok-challenge-level-1/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does ‘blackout‘ mean here, “He is in a TikTok challenge called the “blackout challenge”. Use it in your own sentence.
  2. What does ‘to be against something‘ mean, “Archie’s family is against the change.”? Use this expression in your own sentence.
  3. What does it mean ‘to switch off the machines‘ mean here, “Last Sunday, doctors switch off the machines.” Use this expression in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you have a TikTok account? How is it different from other social media platforms?
  2. What is the “blackout challenge” in Tiktok? What are your thoughts on it?
  3. Have you heard of other dangerous TikTok challenges? What are some of them?
  4. Should TikTok be held legally accountable for incidents like this?
  5. How do you think TikTok could improve its safety measures?