phone english blogB2 – Upper Intermediate
Have you ever landed a job that you felt you didn’t deserve? How about a score on a term paper that you think you got out of luck despite all the hard work you put in?
Watch the video and find out why we sometimes doubt what we accomplished.
Discussion Questions:
1. What is the imposter syndrome?
2. How does it hinder one from reaching his full potential?
3. How can one overcome these feelings of inadequacy?
4. Have you ever doubted your capabilities?
B2 – Upper intermediate
In the world of business and even in our day to day interactions, we will meet with and talk to people with different personalities. Understanding other people’s personality traits can completely transform your communication skills with others in any setting.
Learn about the four personality traits in the video below.
Discussion Questions:
1. Explain the four personality types and how to deal with them in a business transaction.
2. What personality do you think you have?
3. What personality type/s do most of your clients have?
4. How can we de-escalate or resolve personality clashes with a friend, family, and co-worker?
C1 – Advanced
One of the tested rules to success is to love and trust one’s self but when is loving or admiring one’s self excessive?
Narcissism is the extreme interest and admiration in oneself.
The video below explores narcissism’s history, types of narcissistic disorder, and how the way we live now tends to foster it.
Discussion Questions:
C1 – Advanced
Envy is defined by Cambridge dictionary as the feeling that you wish you had something that someone else has. Do you ever feel envious when you see someone like a neighbor getting a new furniture? Do you ever wonder why this feeling overwhelms you? Is it normal to have an impulse of comparing yourself to others?
https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/can-envy-be-good-for-you
Discussion Questions:
1. Is there something we need to learn about envy?
2. How are envy and admiration different?
3. When is envy good?
4. How do you deal with envy?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Retail therapy is the act of shopping and spending to improve one’s mood. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as “comfort buys”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-171207
Discussion Questions:
1. What do you do to feel better when you are sad?
2. Do you believe in retail therapy or is it just an excuse to go binge shopping?
3. When is retail therapy unhealthy?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Has anyone stripped you of your happiness before? As the saying goes ‘Don’t let the silly little things steal your happiness’. Similarly, we should not let toxic people drag us down. Take note of these negative people and avoid interacting with them.
Read this article on different kinds of toxic people you could encounter on a rather regular basis.
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/8-types-of-toxic-people-you-should-always-avoid.html
Discussion Questions:
1. Share your experience about an interaction with a toxic person.
2. What could be best ways to deal with these eight types of toxic people?
3. Among these eight types of toxic people, which do you consider the most crippling?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
One of the most common and serious work issues is work burnout. It is often confused with stress. But there is a big difference between the two.
Listen to the audio and read the transcript to find out more about occupational blues.
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/podcasts-for-professionals/work-burnout
Discussion Questions:
1. What’s the difference between stress and burnout?
2. What are ways to fight work blues?
3. Share any story about being burned-out.
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Do you get energized when in an outer world or inner world? Are you outgoing or inward? Do you prefer a wide range of friends or are you reflective? Or maybe, you could do both things and be one and the other at the same time. Watch the video to get down pat.
Discussion questions:
1. What are the differences of extroverts and introverts?
2. Do you think one personality is better than the other? Give the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of personalities.
3. Do you consider yourself an extrovert, introvert, or ambivert?
Try this personality test with the student: https://www.quietrev.com/the-introvert-test/
4. What do you think the world would be like if extroverts were the only ones living in it? Only introverts?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Times are hard these days. Something most people think that can help make things so much better is getting very fortunate one day and winning the lottery.
The million dollar question is, “Will winning the lottery make you happier?”.
Watch the video to find out.
Discussion Questions:
B1 – Intermediate
For most people, friends are just as important to them as their families while others can easily choose one over the other.
A study shows that one between these two types of relationships is a better predictor of health and happiness, so which one do you think is it?
Let’s find out:
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/health-lifestyle-friends-or-family/3952739.html
Discussion Questions: