phone english blogB2 – Upper Intermediate
Receiving an email from your boss could either mean good news or bad news. But how would you react if you receive an email similar to the article below?
Read and express your thoughts about it.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think the boss did the right thing? Why or why not?
2. What can you say about the alleged behavior of the flight attendant?
3. Where do you think should employers draw the line when it comes to monitoring their employees’ activities outside work?
C1 – Advanced
The prophecy of the Mayan Calendar became such a hype when it predicted the end of the world in 2012. Thus, a Siberian company cashed in on the panic and came up with a survival kit.
Read this article from 2012 and express your thoughts about it.
Discuss:
1. How did you react when you heard about the Mayan Prophecy of the world ending on the 21st of December 2012?
2. Should people preoccupy themselves with predicting when the world will end?
3. If you knew the exact date the world would end, would it change the way you live? If so, in what ways? If not, why?
4. If you had to prepare your own Doomsday kit, what would be in it?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
We always try to do our job well. Who would want to be caught slacking off or doing something you aren’t supposed to during your shift.
Check out the article and video below then share your thoughts on the employee’s actions.
Discussion Questions:
C1 – Advanced
Getting tired and working too hard is now being equated to productiveness. And there is a growing sense of pride in being too busy to do anything else but work. Should this be the case? Is this the better choice?
Read the following article and express your thoughts about it.
Discuss:
1. What is Professor Brown’s attitude toward work?
2. Does she think it’s possible to achieve work-life balance? What do you think?
3. With the range of office technology available to workers, are we truly able to do more with less?
4. Why does Brown think giving five minutes of feedback spells a difference in today’s office culture?
5. If you had full control over your schedule, what changes would you make? What items in your timetable would you prioritize?
C1 – Advanced
Daylight Saving Time is the practice of advancing standard time by one hour in the spring of each year and of setting it back by one hour in the fall in order to gain an extra period of daylight during the early evening. Many countries observe this change.
Let’s try to know more about its history and significance. Watch the videos and listen to the audio clips with the transcript.
Every year billions of us around the world observe the familiar ritual of winding our clocks forward in the spring and turning them back again in the autumn.
To the joy of some and the annoyance of others, this biannual time-tampering first steals 60 minutes of our sleep, then gives us all an ‘extra’ hour in bed. Of course, in reality we are neither losing nor gaining time. By shifting an hour of sunlight during the summer months we’re merely making better use of the daylight temporarily available to us in the evenings.
There are many countries worldwide that do not observe daylight saving time (DST) – and in those that do it has had a somewhat chequered and quirky history. Are those of us who meddle with our clocks making time or killing time?
In the UK we observe Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the winter months, and advance an hour during British Summer Time (BST). From time to time Parliament has debated the idea of adopting BST throughout the year, but a permanent change is yet to happen.
Those in favour of year-long BST say it would benefit our health and well-being. A 2014 study of 23,000 children in nine countries suggested their activity levels were 15-20% higher on summer days. The Automobile Association estimates that around 100 lives each year would be saved by avoiding traffic accidents on dark evenings.
Year-round BST would also bring the UK into line with Central European Time, helping us to do business with the continent. In the view of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions this would increase domestic tourism earnings by £2.5-3.5bn.
Meanwhile, an extra hour of evening sunlight in winter could save £485m a year in electricity bills, as households would require less energy to heat and light their homes.
Those against a permanent change to BST say it would delay sunrise in northern Scotland until 10am in the winter months. This would leave children at increased risk of accident walking to school in the dark.
Farmers, postal workers and the construction industry have also traditionally supported lighter mornings.
Some say that even if we did move onto BST all year round, we may still end up changing the clocks twice a year. Proposals have been made to adopt GMT+1 during the winter and introduce GMT+2 in summer.
1. What is the resource saying about Daylight Savings Time?
2. Do you see a drawback to having to adjust your clocks on specific seasons?
3. Do you, personally, think that adjusting is a waste of time? Or is this needed?
4. What is the longest night time you have experienced?
C1 – Advanced
Although TV viewing has dropped, the dramatic increase of children glued to a screen has been observed. They are even using multiple screens. This phenomenon can be accounted for the availability of different media.
Read the article below to know more about the facts regarding children and their screen time.
Discuss:
1. What are the popular tools being utilized by children these days?
2. Do these media post greater threat than good?
3. In your country, how are kids now different from kids then?
4. Do you have any rules for your children when using gadgets?
B2 – Upper intermediate
Confidence is knowing and implying what you’re good at, your value to other people, and acting in a way that shows that to others. Our level of self-confidence can convey in many ways: our behavior, body language, how we speak, and what we say.
Read the article below to know more on how we can be confident in ourselves.
Discuss:
1. Do you agree with what the article says about being more self-confident?
2. How do you confront your fears?
3. What do you do to make sure you’re taking good care of yourself?
4. Do you believe in pep talk?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Multicultural marriages have been more popular than ever. Many reasons have been attributed in seeking partners from another country.
Let’s know more about real people’s accounts. How are they managing their relationship?
Discussion Questions:
1. How are interracial and multicultural marriages viewed in your country?
2. Do you have friends or know anyone who married someone of a different race or culture?
3. In your opinion, what are some of the challenges that couples of mixed marriages face?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Whether you are on a vacation or on a business trip, one of the things that is on the top of your list is a nice play to stay at where you can relax after a long day of city tour and shopping or after an intense meeting with a client.
A new hotel has just opened in the city of New York in the U.S. Find out below what makes it different from the rest.
http://www.english-online.at/news-articles/travel/yotel-tiny-hotel-rooms-in-manhattan.htm
Discussion Questions:
B2 – Upper Intermediate
The future is now. That is, if we go by the timeline set by the iconic sci-fi movie “Back to the Future.” So where are all the flying cars? According to Professor Missy Cummings in this BBC feature, there are only a few hurdles to the development of personal air vehicles. And technology is not one of them.
Watch the video then read the article and be ready to express your thoughts about the topic.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131031-a-flying-car-for-everyone
Discussion Questions:
1. Would owning a personal air vehicle simplify or complicate our lives?
2. What are the hurdles that prevent the full realization of the flying car?
3. If personal air vehicles will essentially be robots, what can be done to ensure that they will be hacker-proof?