Tag: B2 – Upper intermediate

On Different Cultures: East Meets West

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Graphic artist Yang Liu moved to Germany in 1990 when she was 13. Thirteen years later, she started an illustrated series to capture the differences that she observed between the Chinese and German culture.

Read the article about the cultural differences between East and West from one artist’s perspective.

http://qz.com/567479/the-cultural-differences-between-east-and-west-according-to-one-artist/

Discussion Questions:
1. Choose and describe at least three cultural differences that surprised you the most in these illustrations.
2. How does the Spanish culture compare to other European countries and also the Asian culture? What do you think are the similarities and differences?
3. Is it important to adapt to the culture of the country you are visiting/living in?
4. Which cultural differences surprise you most when you are abroad?
5. Which foreign culture do you find especially interesting? Why?

Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned

B2 – Upper Intermediate

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use is the major cause of preventable and premature death worldwide. The argument of banning smoking has been a strong one. Although dangerous to health, smokers think that they also have the right to choose to smoke or not.

Read the article and find out different points of view toward smoking.

https://quitsmokingcommunity.org/the-big-debate-should-cigarette-smoking-be-banned/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you agree that smoking cigarettes should be banned? Explain your answer.
  2. What are the good and bad effects of completely banning cigarettes?
  3. Do you think smokers are harming other people? Defend your stand.
  4. Should government restrict smoking to protect smokers? Why or why not?
  5. Should smoking advertisement be limited or banned? Why or why not?

New Hazards At the Office

B2 – Upper Intermediate

These days, the average office worker sits for around 10 hours. This results to a sedentary lifestyle and a potential threat to one’s health.

Find out more about this new risk associated to office workers sitting for too long from the article below.

Do you spend a lot of time glued to your computer screen at the office? Is your daily exercise limited to an occasional bathroom break and a brief walk to refill your coffee? According to a new study from New Zealand, if your response was “yes” to these questions, then you may be at risk of forming deadly blood clots. In fact, the risk for office workers is higher than most long-distance air travelers.

It’s called deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. It’s also known as “economy class syndrome,” because it was first linked with long distance flights. The absence of legroom in economy class, as well as the more crowded conditions, means passengers are forced to sit for lengthy periods. DVT is a condition, then, in which a blood clot forms in one of the veins of the leg or pelvis. The clot can break off and block a blood vessel in one of the lungs. Death is the result.

Professor Richard Beasley headed the study. He discovered that a large number of patients coming to the hospital with blood clots had been seated at work for hours and hours. In fact, some people had sat for periods longer than many long-distance flights. He found that it wasn’t uncommon for people to sit for twelve to fourteen hours, nonstop except for a quick time out for the bathroom, coffee, and lunch.

1.4% of people who report blood clots have recently traveled on a plane. Compare this to 34% who have just spent the day at the office. The figures are alarming. They show the sedentary nature of the modern work environment.

The study covered sixty-two patients aged 65 and younger.

Source: headsupenglish.com

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree that employers should protect the health and safety of their employees?
2. What other hazards can you think of in association with the office?
3. What would be the perfect office environment? Is it likely you will ever work in such a place?
4. Describe your workplace. How conducive and safe is it for workers?

Reasons Violent Video Games Contribute To Youth Violence

gamers-are-crabby

B2 – Upper intermediate

A number of studies have been conducted to see the relation of video games and having aggressive behavior, especially to younger children who are at the peak of developing their social lives.

Read the article below and be ready to express your thoughts.

10 Reasons Violent Video Games Contribute To Youth Violence

Discuss:

1. Studies on whether violent video games lead to aggression in children have been mixed. Some studies have found a strong connection, while others find no link. What is your stand?

2. Do you think children could lose their sense of reality and Fiction due to violent video games?

3. What can parents do to avoid this aggression in children ?

The Link Between Sleep and Job Performance

B2 – Upper Intermediate

What difference could an extra hour of sleep make in your life? Quite a lot, experts say. Studies show that the gap between getting just enough sleep and getting too little sleep may affect your health, your mood, and even your work performance.

https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/good-nights-sleep-helps-job-performance

Discussion Questions:

  1. Have you ever sacrificed sleep for work? Talk about this instance.
  2. What happens when you are sleep-deprived? How does it affect your performance at work?
  3. Do you manage to sleep as much as you need? Why or why not?
  4. Do you try to sleep in on weekends or during your days off? Why or why not?
  5. What can be done to avoid employees from being too exhausted?

Sewing Teddy Bears for Sick Kids

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Campbell is not your average kid. He is one of the everyday heroes trying to make a difference not only in sick children’s lives but also those who are dealing with grief.

Find out more about his unusual hobby and prepare to talk about your thoughts on this topic on being an everyday hero.

Discussion Questions:

1. How is Campbell different from other kids? How did he start creating teddy bears?

2. What do you think of his efforts?

3. Why is it important to have heroes?

4. Who is your country’s biggest national hero and why?

5. Who is the local hero of your town? What did he do?

6. Who was your childhood hero?

7. What is the most charitable thing you’ve ever done?

Impacts of Brain Drain on Developing Countries

B2 – Upper intermediate

Every year, more and more people are looking for opportunities or greener pastures outside their country and many of these individuals are highly skilled and educated. So how does this affect the country they are leaving?

Click the link below to find out more.

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/reading_brain_drain.php

Discussion Questions:

1. What is brain drain? What is another term for brain drain?

2. To address the problem of brain drain, what should we understand?
3. What are the consequences of brain drain?
4. What are some reasons why people choose to go abroad?

Emergency Junk Food Flown to Earthquake Town

B2 – Upper Intermediate

A town in New Zealand badly hit by the recent earthquake was the joyful receiver of a not-so-typical food donation.

Read the article below to find out what the citizens of the town collected from a kind-hearted man.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1611/161121-junk-food.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What can you say about the actions of Robert Coombes?
  2. How can we help people hit by earthquakes?
  3. Have you ever volunteered to help people affected by a natural disaster?
  4. Have you ever experienced a natural disaster?

Pfizer Forbids Sales of Drugs For Lethal Injection

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Certain states in the US that allow lethal injections are having a challenging time sourcing their substances for their execution.

Read the article below to know the reason behind Pfizer’s decision to stop selling specific narcotics used in lethal injections.

The American pharmaceutical conmpany Pfizer has said it will no longer sell drugs that can be used for lethal injections to the Amercian government.  A total of 7 substances on the list are mostly used for operations and certain illnesses but are also in liquids used for executions. According to a Pfizer representative, the company’s aim is to save lives and not help kill people.

Pfizer says it will closely monitor buyers who try to resell the drugs to state institutions, which may use  them for executions.

After Pfizer’s decision , there are no more companies in the USA and Europe that sell lethal injection drugs to the Amercian government . The European Union  has banned the export of such drugs to the US.

As a result, state authorities are trying to find new drugs and combinations of substances that can be used for executions. Normally, three mixtures of drugs are used to execute a prisoner. The first one makes you unconscious , the second liquid paralyses the muscles  and the third stops the heart from beating.

In the past few years, the number of executions has decreased, in part due to the availability of lethal drugs. Last year only 28 executions were carried out in the US. Among the 32 states that allow capital punishment, all of them use lethal injections as the main method of execution but some allow the electric chair,hanging, the firing squad and the gas chamber as alternatives.

Human rights organizations and other groups opposed to capital punishment have welcomed Pfizer’s decision as a bold move to ban the death penalty in the United States.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think of Pfizer’s decision?
  2. Why did several drug companies refuse to sell these drugs to the US government?
  3. In your own opinion, is lethal injection humane? Explain your opinion.
  4. Is there death penalty in your country? If none, should there be one?

Effects of Daylight Saving Time

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Daylight saving time (DST) has been practiced by some countries as early as 1908. The tradition of adjusting time back during the fall has given joy to most people as it would mean extra time for sleep. But DST can also cause other “side effects”.

Click the link below to learn about the 5 weird effects of Daylight Saving Time.

http://www.livescience.com/40903-daylight-saving-time-affects-your-body.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Which effect of Daylight Saving Time were you most surprised about?
  2. Where did the idea of Daylight Saving Time come from?
  3. What are the upside and downside of DST?
  4. Are you in favor of DST? Why or why not?