Tag: First Certificate FCE

Amazon Alexa’s Symptom Checker: The Pros and Cons

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Amazon’s digital voice assistant Alexa seems to have the answer for nearly every question one might have and that includes your health or medical queries.

Read the article to know more about the pros and cons of using Alexa’s symptom checker in monitoring one’s health.

https://edition.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/electronics/amazon-alexa-symptom-checker

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “nuance” mean? Use it in your own sentence.
  2. What does “narrow down” mean here, “From there, Alexa will ask a series of yes-or-no questions to help narrow down which underlying medical conditions might be related.”? Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does “resounding” mean? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the pros and cons of Alexa Symptom Checker?
  2. When it comes to your health, would you entrust it with a digital voice assistant? Explain.
  3. How often and for what do you use your AI assistant for? Do you think people would be more dependent on them in the near future? Why or why not?

Staying Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed

B2 – Upper Intermediate

To stay calm in a stressful situation is a hard thing to do. Sometimes, you cannot easily think of a solution since you are too focused on what’s stressing you out.

Let’s watch this video to know how to stay calm in a stressful situation.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. How is pre-mortem explained in the video?
  2. What about post-mortem?
  3. How does the hippocampus work?

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you easily get stressed when things are not going well?
  2. When was the last time you got stressed about something?
  3. How do you usually manage things when you are in a stressful situation?
  4. How do you wish you reacted to things when you were stressed about it in the past?
  5. How would you calm yourself now when you are stressed?

Twitter Feature to Flag Shadow Banning

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Shadow banning or comment ghosting is a way of suspending an account on social media networks like Twitter. The user thinks their posts are going through when in fact, their contents are not visible nor accessible to others.

Twitter is working on a feature that will show whether an account is shadowbanned and the reason behind it. In addition, it will show the users how to appeal for their accounts not to be shadowbanned.

Read the article and watch the video to know more about Twitter’s new feature that will determine whether an account has been shadowbanned.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/09/tech/musk-twitter-shadowbanning

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What is “shadow banning”? “Twitter is rolling out a new feature that will flag ‘shadowbanning.” Use it in your own sentence.
  2. What does “outcry” mean? “With that announcement, Musk, who has said he now votes Republican, prompted an outcry from some conservatives, who accused him of continuing a practice they opposed.” Give 1-2 synonyms of this word. Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does “thread” mean in this sentence, “Musk on Friday shared Weiss’ thread in a tweet and added, “The Twitter Files, Part Duex!!” along with two popcorn emojis.”? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are your thoughts on shadow banning?
  2. What do you think about Twitter’s new feature that will flag shadow banning?
  3. Should negative/hate tweets be de-boosted and demonetized? Explain your stand.

Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For years, scientists have been looking for alternative energy sources to end our dependence on fossil fuels.

American scientists have successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction.

Read the article and watch the video to know more about the ‘holy grail’ of clean energy.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/12/us/common-questions-nuclear-fusion-climate/index.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “breakthrough” mean? Give at least 3 synonyms of this word.
  2. What does “abatement” mean? Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does the phrase, “a race against the clock” mean? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is nuclear fusion and why does it matter?
  2. What are the pros and the challenges in generating nuclear fusion?
  3. What are your thoughts on this milestone?

The Fermi Paradox

B2 – Upper Intermediate

“If life on other planets exist, why haven’t we found any evidence of that? The galaxy is very large, so why haven’t we found any other life?” This question is known as the Fermi Paradox.

The Fermi Paradox is very interesting because each explanation to question has immense value within it.

To find out more, let’s watch this video.

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “paradox” mean?

2. What are “filters” in the context of this lesson?

3. Do you know the meaning of the word, “galaxy”?

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your answer to the Fermi Paradox?

2. Do you think we’d ever discover conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life? Why or why not?

3. Do you think we could travel to other universes, if so, do you think we could do it alone?

Bosses Silently Nudge Out Workers

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We’ve all heard of “quiet quitting”, in which an employed person does the barest minimum in order to keep their job. And now there’s a great deal of discussion about “quiet firing” and it is currently making waves.

Is it, however, a new concept? Do you or someone you care about have this problem?

Read the article about how some bosses quietly nudge their employees out.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221021-the-bosses-who-silently-nudge-out-workers

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “ marginalize ” mean? Use this word in a sentence.
  2. What does “nudge out” mean in this sentence,” An employee subtly nudged out the door isn’t without legal recourse, either.”? Use this word in a sentence.
  3. What does “rejection” mean? Mention some alternative words for this one.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are some common signs of quiet firing?
  2. Is quiet firing a constructive dismissal? Elaborate.
  3. How do you deal with unfair firing?
  4. How would you manage a boss who is not willing to bring the conversation of termination forward?
  5. Do you or someone you care about struggle with this issue? Share about it.

Separate the Art from the Artist

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Most people have a favorite artist and they know a lot about them, including their lifestyle, favorites, daily activities, and so on. But often, they naively believe that they know everything there is to know about them. Some even think their favorite artists aren’t capable of doing negative things. However, artists are human beings who are bound to make mistakes and have problematic sides, too.

What if their negative sides came to light? Would you ignore it or utterly stop supporting them?

Read the article to know if it’s really possible or impossible to separate the art from the artist.

https://www.theslateonline.com/article/2022/10/the-slate-speaks-can-you-separate-the-art-from-the-artist#:~:text=It%20is%20possible%20to%20separate,the%20actions%20of%20the%20artist.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “nuance” mean, “There’s a lot of nuance (hence why there’s plenty of books written on the subject).”? Use this word in a sentence.
  2. Explain the meaning of “heinous” in your own words. “But something like the Harry Potter books have themes that are so intertwined with J.K. Rowling’s heinous and ignorant world view that it’s almost impossible to separate the two.” Use it in a sentence.
  3. What does “mainstream” mean, “You can’t say Michael Jackson didn’t impact pop music and the presence of black artists in mainstream media, and you can respect that.”? Give some synonyms of this word.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you have a favorite artist? If yes, do you know a lot about him/her?  How would you react if you learned about your favorite artist’s negative side?
  2. What do you think about thinking too highly of an artist?
  3. Do you think it’s possible to separate the art from the artist? Elaborate. How can it be done?

Man Wins after Being Fired for Not Being Fun

B2 – Upper Intermediate

There are employees who decide to have some good times to ease themselves from a long-day of working.

Most of them plan for team building activities or have after-work drinks.

However, what if an employee does not join in any of these activities? Is it right to fire him for being ‘boring’?

Read this article to know about this issue.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/man-wins-4600-after-being-fired-for-not-being-fun-004904815.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIwXIqeja7zEhXhAKd_8qFJhQW_LMvh0oa44QDeXJbapTEdK9MdknWo0aiyDFoidpLnY1ifxfvGKaI6N7Khs535gId76brNT1YtT2y2Zg1fMcZWa1ufqS-BcxUPM2-apOh1A9sDq4L0Pleq0Ids-7nNmRWW38zE1bJ_G2-xX4wqd

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you think that it was only right to fire Mr. T for being boring? Explain.
  2. Will you consider your co-worker as “boring” when he/she does not join in team building activities? Explain.
  3. What do you think of the team building activities in your company?
  4. What do you think about going out for drinks every week with co-workers? Is it a good idea?

Hate the Sound of Your Own Voice

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We all have probably heard our own voices in audio recordings or videos, and most people cringe when they hear their own voices. We can’t stand hearing our voices because they sound really weird to us. But why exactly don’t we like hearing the sound of our voice?

Read the article and watch the video to learn the reasons why.

https://time.com/4820247/voice-vocal-cords/

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you like hearing your voice in audio recordings or videos? Why or why not?
  2. What’s your usual reaction when you hear your voice?
  3. According to the article and video, why do people hate the sound of their voices? Personally, what do you think are the reasons why people hate hearing their voices?
  4. What do you do when you don’t like the voice of the other person you are speaking or listening to?
  5. What would you do if you don’t like your own voice?

Britain’s Four-Day Workweek Shows No Loss in Productivity

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Once the trial is over, Britons need not wait for Friday anymore. If employees start their work week on Monday, the last day of work is Thursday.

If it sounds interesting, read the full article below.

https://www.optimistdaily.com/2022/09/britains-four-day-workweek-trial-shows-no-loss-in-productivity/

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. Give 2 synonyms of the word “expansive“, “More than 3,300 employees in Britain’s banking, marketing, health care, financial services, retail, hospitality, and other industries are participating in the trial, making it one of the most expansive studies to date. Use them in your own sentences.
  2. What does the expression “to give rise to” mean, “However, the rise of remote and hybrid labor due to the coronavirus epidemic gives rise to questions regarding other areas of employment.”? Use this expression in your own sentence.
  3. What does the phrase “to lag behind” mean, “That said, some critics express concern about increased expenses and decreased competitiveness, especially since many European businesses lag behind competitors in other countries.”? Use it in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does the article make you feel?
  2. In your opinion, is it necessary to work for five days? Why or why not?
  3. What is the relationship between productivity and shorter work week?
  4. Is the concept of a four-day work week suitable in your country? Explain your answer.
  5. If people will only work for four days, how can they better spend the remaining three days?