Tag: First Certificate FCE

Dear Sir or Hey, Folks?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Email is used in many different settings and it is widely used in the workplace as the formal tool of communication among people within the business. It is important to know how the recipient understood your message and just as important is the impression you leave on them especially if it is the first correspondence with them.

Read the article on whether to open emails with Dear, Hi, or Hey.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-1/session-4/activity-2

Discussion Questions:

  1. How often do you use email in the workplace?
  2. How do usually start your work emails? What salutations do you use?
  3. According to the article, what are the preferences for email salutations?
  4. Do you agree with Giselle Barry on her opinion on using ‘Dear’ to start the work email?
  5. Share some interesting email correspondences you’ve had at and for work.

Climate Crisis Threatens Future of Global Sport

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Sports have always been an important part of society and we all have contributed to our favorite sport at some point in our lives. However, sports do so much more than entertain us. Sports provide jobs, influence the economy, and can sometimes cause troubles.

What if major sports events are to be cancelled and postponed? What do you think will happen?

Let’s read the article below.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2006/200622-sports-events.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do sports events create global emissions?
  2. How might climate change affect sports?
  3. What do you think of your country’s national sport?
  4. How can sports deal with climate change?
  5. What are the benefits of sports to the world?
  6. What’s your favorite sport and why?

Caring for Aging Parents

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Aging can be challenging for elderly parents and children alike. It is depressing for an aging parent to have to face their physical and mental downturn. On the other side of the fence, children of elderly people also have to take on the very challenging job of looking after their aged parents.

Read the article below on this real crisis on taking care of aging parents.

https://www.thetimesinplainenglish.com/a-real-crisis-caring-for-aging-parents/

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the effects of aging on a person, their children or family, caregivers, and workers and employers?
  2. How are old people’s lives like in your country?
  3. How are you preparing for and what are your plans for your twilight years?
  4. Talk about your experience caring for elderly members of your family. How was it like?
  5. Do you think you have enough family-friendly policies in your country? If yes, tell us about some of them. If not, what do you think are some policies needed?

Pandemic Changed the Way Americans Spend Money

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on every aspect of everyone’s life. A survey found the consequences of the pandemic on Americans’ personal finances.

Read the article and find out some of the key findings of this survey.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/28/success/pandemic-spending-saving-changes-feseries/index.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do you think the pandemic impacted Spanish people’s finances in terms of their income, stimulus saving, homebuying, buying insurance, investing, and post-pandemic plans?
  2. How has the pandemic changed your financial behavior?
  3. How can one make up income loss?
  4. What is the best way to spend one’s stimulus check?
  5. What do you think will happen to how Spanish think about homebuying, travel insurance, and investing?
  6. What are some of your post-pandemic financial plans?

Etiquette Mistakes You Need to Stop Making

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Do we really get wiser as we age? We certainly hope so. As you grow older, there are certain lessons that you learn and then those habits that you have to cull in order for you to become a more mature individual.

Below are some inexcusable etiquettes that you should remove in your system by the time you hit your 30s. Learn them very carefully.

https://www.rd.com/advice/etiquette-mistakes-stop-making-by-30/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Which among those etiquette mistakes do you still unconsciously make?
  2. Which among the etiquette mistakes mentioned do you find most repulsive?
  3. What others can you add to this list?

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

B2 – Upper Intermediate

When we get hurt, it’s normal to cut off ties with the people who inflicted harm on us. It is human nature when we try to avoid a harmful situation to happen again. Oftentimes, we build armor around us to prevent ourselves from getting hurt again. But is it always good to react in such way?

Let’s watch the video and find out more about this expression.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/experiment/unit-1/session-6

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does the expression ‘once bitten, twice shy’ mean?
  2. What cases of ‘once bitten, twice shy’ have you had in the past? Has it brought you better results or did you miss out on certain opportunities?
  3. What other languages have a similar expression as mentioned in the video? How are they translated into English?
  4. Do you have a similar expression in your language? How do you say it?

What Difference Has #MeToo Made?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The #MeToo movement has become viral in social media. A lot of prominent celebrities and survivors have come forward to share their saddening and traumatic stories with all the sexual harassment and abuse that they have experienced from wealthy men with high-power positions.

Tarana Burke, an American social activist, created the movement in 2006 and according to her, the purpose of the movement was to empower women through empathy. She has stated that the movement is for giving people the resources to have access to healing and to advocate for changes in the laws and policies around violence against women.

Let’s hear more about it in the audio below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-200604

Discussion Questions:

  1. Are you familiar with #MeToo before listening to the audio?
  2. How did the #MeToo movement start and why did it become viral?
  3. What is your reaction and opinion about the #MeToo movement?
  4. How did the #MeToo movement impact people? Did it help the victims?
  5. Are you interested in being an advocate of the #MeToo movement?
  6. How do you think we can help people who was sexually abused?
  7. Did this movement reach Spain too or are there similar organizations there? Talk about some of them and their impact on helping women.

Learn English by Yourself

B2 – Upper intermediate

A lot of people wanted to learn and master the English language. It’s no doubt that most companies hire applicants who can speak in English fluently. Maybe that’s why some are trying to learn English by themselves.

Learning English by yourself could be cheaper and simpler. But this type of learning is not for everyone. It can be time -consuming and pretty challenging. You have to have the desire and patience to be really good at it.

Here in this article, you will find general recommendations for English learners that could be helpful if you are planning to learn English on your own.

https://tv-english.club/articles-en/education-en-2/how-to-learn-english-by-yourself/

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the things you need to learn the English language independently?
  2. What are the recommendations for English learners?
  3. How can you improve your English skills based on the article?
  4. What are the advantages of learning a new language?
  5. Why learning English on your own is not suitable for everyone?

The Body-In-Seat Mentality Toward Remote Employees

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Due to fears of the spread of Covid-19 disease, citizens in a lot of countries worldwide were advised not to leave or prohibited from going out of their homes. This meant companies had no choice but to make a their employees shift suddenly from working in the office to working from home.

Does body-in-the-seat means your staff are more productive or is it just a detriment to their full capacity in achieving significant amount of deep work?

Read this article about the body-in-seat mentality.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2020/04/14/when-your-employees-are-remote-you-have-to-stop-the-body-in-seat-mentality/#4ded8ff22d33

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does ‘Body-In-Seat Mentality’ mean?
  2. Explain the concept of time chunking. What are your thoughts on this?
  3. Do you agree or disagree that having a body-in-the-seat does not equal productivity?
  4. What productivity hacks do you employ during your workday?
  5. Do you think it’s important to disconnect to accomplish great work?

Tell Siri You’re Getting Pulled Over By the Police

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Due to some incidents of police brutality we’ve seen recently, iPhone is making it possible for users to automatically record any interactions with the police by saying “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.”

Read this news and find out about this new iPhone shortcut that might come in handy when you find yourself in a sticky situation with police officers.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/16/us/iphone-police-shortcut-record-trnd/index.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on this phone shortcut? Do you want a similar function on your phone?
  2. Share incidents of police brutality in your country. If it never happens there, what do you think are reasons it doesn’t occur?
  3. Why do you think some police get aggressive toward civilians sometimes?
  4. Talk about your experience being pulled over by cops.
  5. How are cops like in your country?