Tag: B2 – Upper intermediate

English Idioms

B2 – Upper intermediate

The use of expressions, phrasal verbs and idioms are one of many ways to increase vocabulary.

The module below will serve as your study guide for expanding your vocabulary through idioms. Feel free to go through the module in sections or chapters and be ready to use them in sentences.

English Idioms

Discuss:
1. When was the last time you were under the weather and had to stay home?
2. Describe a time you were over the moon? What happened?
3. Do you sometimes get butterflies in your stomach?
4. Talk about a time you bought something that cost you an arm and a leg.

Business Podcast – Selling Nostalgia

B2 – Upper intermediate

There are many things that one considers when buying certain products. Is connection to tradition something that makes you buy a product?

In this lesson, listen to the podcast and discover how some producers use tradition as a marketing campaign.

Discussion Questions:
1. How are traditions used as a means to make people buy some products?
2. What are the factors you consider when you are buying a product?
3. Talk about one product / service offered by your company. How would you sell it to someone?
4. Do you follow New Year’s Eve traditions like drinking Spanish champagne and eating 12 pieces of grapes?

Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Almost everyone in the world is on the world wide web nowadays. Doing business online has never been more important for businesses in offering their products and services and for reaching out to their target markets.

Read the article below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/04/10/23-proven-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-website/?sh=668d84ec2654

Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think of Jeff’s idea to compete against yourself? Do you think this would work?
2. What are the benefits and drawbacks for a business to go online?
3. Does your company do business over the internet?
4. What features do you look for in a website when doing some transactions?
5. How do online businesses make the market competitive?

Migrants Storm Border in Spain’s Ceuta

B2 – Upper Intermediate

African migrants usually climb the fence that separates Morocco from Spain. If someone manages to scale those fences, he lands in Europe. Tens of thousands of African and Arab migrants try to do so each year. Many have traveled hundreds of miles already, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, but also from conflict zones like Syria or Somalia.

https://www.thelocal.es/20161101/over-200-migrants-storm-border-in-spains-ceuta

Discussion Questions:

1. Is immigration from one country to another a problem? In what ways do you see it as a problem?
2. Do you think that immigrants (legal or illegal) are treated well in most countries?
3. Do you think immigration and crime are closely related?
4. Should any government limit the number of immigrants entering the country?
5. Is local culture threatened by immigration?

No More Homework!

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For years, schools have always given homework to students every single day. But recently, school officials, as well as parents, are saying no to more homework. A group of parents in Spain have recently gone on strike to protest their children’s school load.

No more homework! Spanish parents go on strike

Children have long complained about homework but parents in Spain are now joining in and have decided to go on strike against their offspring’s school load for the whole month of November.

Called by the Spanish Alliance of Parents’ Associations (CEAPA), a network that covers some 12,000 state schools across the country, the strike targets weekend homework for primary and high school students.

Jose Luis Pazos, president of the CEAPA, told AFP Wednesday parents had launched the unprecedented initiative due to “the absolute certainty that homework is detrimental” to children, damaging their extra-curricular development.

According to a 2012 PISA education report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Spain was the fifth nation with the most homework after Russia, Italy, Ireland and Poland out of 38 countries studied, with 6.5 hours a week compared to an average of 4.9.

The workload does not necessarily translate in better results for Spanish students, whom the PISA report traditionally gives low scores in maths, reading and science.

By contrast, in Finland and South Korea — two of the countries with best student performances according to PISA — the average time spent on homework every week was less than three hours.

Pazos said that education in Spain was still very reliant on the traditional method of rote-learning — memorising work.  

Pointing to the availability of information in current society, he said that “what we have to teach children isn’t to memorise everything, but how to manage information, to be critical, to select what is worth it and what isn’t.”  

“Society has changed deeply, but the environment in the classroom hasn’t.”

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think of the article?
2. Are you for or against giving homework to students?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of giving homework to students?
4. What was the most difficult homework you had to do when you were still a student?

Self-Driving Electric Delivery Trucks

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Here’s a short article about how technology in driving is getting more and more advanced. Read the article below then express your thoughts about it.

http://fortune.com/2017/12/07/anheuser-busch-tesla-semi-trucks/

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think there still should be a human passenger to monitor driver-less vehicles?
2. Do you think having driver-less vehicles will be a positive or negative thing in the long run?
3. Do you know if there have been any testing of driver-less vehicles in your country or laws passed to allow them?

Video: ‘Cute’ Cuisine is a Bitesize Art

B2 – Upper intermediate

It’s no secret that cooking has evolved over the years. We’ve experienced fine dining cuisine where a small quantity of food is artistically placed on the plate. Then we had molecular gastronomy where science meets art and gives birth to an innovative way of having a meal.

Now, a new trend called miniature food has gone viral on Youtube and viewers just can’t get enough of it. Watch the video below then express your thoughts.

‘Cute’ cuisine is a bitesize art

Discuss:

1. What were your thoughts when you were watching the video?
2. How did the trend of miniature food and cooking happen? Explain what “Kawaii” is.
3. What are some Japanese art that you find interesting?
4. Describe some of the good and fancy restaurants that you’ve been to in the past.

Discovering Your Ancestors

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Knowing your roots and discovering your history is always a fascinating idea. There’s a sense of wonder and mystery as we try to find out who we are.

Websites such as Ancestry.com have been garnering a number of clients as more and more people are getting curious in tracing their genealogy.

Read the article below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

There has been a surge in genealogy websites in recent years, proving that more and more Americans want to trace their family history. Records, such as ship registries and marriage and death certificates, are digitally scanned and available online for the sleuths, too. And now there’s a new option: photo detectives.

Armed with fashion magazines and an eye for detail, photo detectives hunt for clues in old photos. Hair styles, clothes and fashion, and the objects in the pictures help detectives pinpoint dates, places, and professions. The job also requires an expert’s knowledge in social history. For example, a photo of a woman with unusually short hair in the 19th century could mean that she had scarlet fever. A person sick with the disease often had their head shaved. Or a photo of a baby carriage in the mid-1800s could be an announcement that the infant had died, instead of recording his birth. The period had a very high infant mortality rate, and death cards were often sent to family and close friends. These are only some of the facts that photo detectives must have at their fingertips.

Photography was invented in the 1830s. The earliest photos usually required a visit to the studio by the whole family, which was a lengthy and formal process. But when Kodak invented the snapshot in the 1880s, family collections grew with shots of birthdays, holidays, and everyday life. Unfortunately, most people didn’t consider labeling the pictures. The descendents now find it troublesome to identify the old pictures.

Photo detectives can help. But customers may not always like the results, as sometimes the answers disagree with family lore.

Source: headsupenglish.com

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think it’s important to trace your family’s history? Why/not?
2. What do you know about your grandparents? How about your great-grandparents?
3. Do you have old photos at home? If yes, are there people in the photos you can’t recognize?
4. Would you ever consider hiring a photo detective to tell you more about your family? Why/not?
5. How would you feel if you discovered one of your ancestors was a terrible person?

British People Commit Micro Crimes

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Micro crimes are minor criminal offenses. Turns out, 3 out of 4 British people have, at one point in their lives, committed a micro crime.

Just what exactly is a micro crime and how serious is it?

Read the article below to discover the findings of a research done about crime. Be ready to answer discussion questions afterward.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1610/161026-micro-crime.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think of micro crime?
2. How is micro crime different from the usual crimes we hear of?
3. Why do men and the middle class commit more micro crimes?
4. What crimes do you worry about in your country?
5. What should the punishment be for micro crimes?

Why Finland’s Schools are Successful

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Finland has been delivering educational excellence to its children and this country’s success in education has other nations doing their research.

Click on the link below to find out why Finland’s schools are successful.

http://www.english-online.at/news-articles/education/finlands-school-system-is-successful.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. What makes Finland’s schools successful?
2. Tell me about your country’s educational system.
3. Do you think your country would benefit if it follows Finland’s way?
4. What can your country adopt from Finland’s educational system?