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B1 – Intermediate
A restaurant owner in Mexico is offering tacos topped with insects. He has wild items added to his menu such as scorpions and spiders too.
Discuss:
1. What exotic kinds of food do you know or have tried?
2. Are there exotic foods in Spain?
3. For you, is it okay to use and put insects in our food? Why or why not?
B1 – Intermediate
A footage shows native people emerge from the Amazon rain forest and make contact with the outside world. Brazilian experts said the indigenous people likely crossed the border from Peru facing pressure from illegal logging and drug trafficking at home.
http://www.newsinlevels.com/products/people-from-a-rainforest-level-3/
Discussion Questions:
1. Is drug trafficking happening in Spain? How about illegal logging?
2. Have you ever taken a trip to exotic places?
3. Are there still places in your country that are still “untouched” by civilization?
B1 – Intermediate
Stress is a very common word for most people. It comes from different causes and everybody can have it. Everyone can experience stress and there are ways to be free from it.
Let’s learn how to manage stress properly.
College can be a stressful time for anyone. Some stress pushes you to meet goals by studying more, working harder or sticking with a challenging task. But sometimes stress reaches an unhealthy level that can prevent you from functioning well and meeting your goals. Recent research from The Jed Foundation and mtvU found that over half of all college students had been, at times, so stressed that they couldn’t function during the last year. Your health, school performance and social life can all suffer when stress becomes too much to handle. That’s because stress can affect your mood and ability to think clearly. It can also weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to getting sick.
Chronic stress can lead to — or worsen — serious health problems, including high blood pressure, autoimmune illnesses, digestive issues, depression and anxiety. So it’s important to manage stress, prevent negative stress levels and speak up if you are feeling overwhelmed. Here are some tips for managing stress while in college:
• Watch out for signs of stress overload. Symptoms of too much stress can be physical, emotional, mental and behavioral. While everyone is different, some common signs are: memory problems, trouble concentrating, racing thoughts, irritability, anger, sadness, headaches, frequent colds and changes in sleep or appetite.
• Know your stress triggers. Stress and its triggers are different for everyone. Certain people, places or situations might produce high levels of stress for you. Think about what causes you stress, and brainstorm solutions. If public speaking or presentations make you stressed, start researching early and practice several times. If there are friends or social situations that cause extreme stress, you may want to avoid them when you are already feeling tense or overwhelmed.
• Exercise. All forms of exercise reduce stress hormones, flood the body with feel-good endorphins, improve mood, boost energy and provide a healthy distraction from your dilemmas. Plus, exercise may make you less susceptible to stress in the long run. Find physical activities that you enjoy and try to devote about 30 minutes to them each day.
• Relax. While it’s impossible to eliminate all negative stress from your life, you can control the way you react to stress. Your body’s natural fight-or-flight response can take its toll. When you’re faced with a stressful situation that your mind perceives as a threat, it sends various chemicals, like adrenaline and cortisol, throughout your body. As a result, heart rate and breathing speeds up and your digestion slows down. This tires out the body.
Relaxation techniques are a huge help in calming you down, boosting mood and fighting illness. Try a variety of techniques — like yoga, breathing exercises, meditation and visualization — to see what works for you, and schedule a relaxation break every day.
• Manage your time well. Time can seem like a luxury in college, but there are various ways to manage it effectively. First, focus on one task at a time. Multitasking rarely works. Jot down everything you need to do in a calendar or a task management app/program, prioritize your list and break projects into single steps or actions.
• Be realistic. Pulling yourself in different directions will only stress you out, so try not to over-commit yourself or do extracurricular activities when you’re super busy with school.
• Curb your caffeine. Caffeine might help you study in the short term, but it interrupts sleep and makes you more anxious, tense and jittery. This obviously ups your stress level. Try and drink no more than one caffeinated beverage a day.
• Don’t self-medicate. Some students drink, take drugs, smoke and use other unhealthy behaviors to cope with stress. However, these behaviors can exacerbate stress by negatively affecting your mood and health.
• Reach out. If you’re stressed out, talk to your friends and family. If you feel like you can’t handle the stress on your own, schedule an appointment with a counselor on campus.
Discussion Questions:
1. Would you consider yourself stressed out?
2. What are the major causes of your stress?
3. What are the ways you do to deal with your stress?
B1 – Intermediate
Different studies were conducted on how behavior among children and teenagers are affected by playing video games. A study in Oxford University found that playing video games for less than an hour a day is good. On the other hand, playing violent video games influence teenagers to be more aggressive.
Read the article to know more about the possible benefits and consequences of vieo games on children.
Discuss:
1. Do you play video games?
2. Does it affect your way of thinking and behaviour?
3. Do you agree with idea suggested in the article?
4. Would you allow your children to play video games? If yes, what set of rules would you impose?
B1 – Intermediate
Economic development is causing the extinction of some languages, according to some scientists. A study has found that minority languages in the most developed parts of the world are most at threat.
Listen to the podcast to know more about the extinction of certain languages.
Discussion Questions:
B1 – Intermediate
We’ve all had horrible or not-so-good experiences with our neighbors. The website “Which?” conducted a survey and found out that a number of people are stressed with their neighbors.
Read the article to know more about the different nuisances that neighbors can have with each other.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1409/140918-neighbours.html
Discussion Questions:
B1 – Intermediate
Walking or cycling to work instead of driving a car can improve feelings of health and happiness. Click on the title to know more about alternative ways of commuting. Be ready to answer some discussion questions.
Click on the title to listen to the report:
Discussion Questions:
B1 – Intermediate
Internet addiction is one very common problem among teenagers these days. In China, one way to combat this addiction is to take children to a boot camp.
Listen to this audio and read the transcript on a boot camp for internet addicts.
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/can-boot-camp-cure-internet-addiction/2442322.html
Discussion Questions:
1. How many hours do you usually spend surfing the internet?
2. At work, are you highly dependent on the internet?
3. Would you consider internet addiction as a disease?
4. What are the ways you can prevent internet addiction?
B1 – Intermediate
A report in England states that thousands of patients a year wake up during an
operation. One doctor said it happens one in every 19,000 operations. They are now trying to find areas that could be improved during an operation to prevent this from happening.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1409/140914-surgery.html
Discussion Questions:
B1 – Intermediate
There are common health problems which are caused by high temperatures that, in the worst scenario, can lead to death.
Read the article to know more about the dangers of heat and how to be protected from it.
Discuss:
1. Do you love soaking yourself in the summer sun? Are you aware of its danger?
2. Have you experienced health related issues due to high temperature?
3. What activities do you enjoy doing during the summer?
4. How do you keep cool when the weather gets too hot?