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Zuckerberg Presents AI Assistant Jarvis

C1 – Advanced

Mark Zuckerberg, creator and CEO of social media giant Facebook, has been working on developing his very own AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistant for a year now.

Watch the video and read the article as he introduces ‘Jarvis’ to the world.

Zuckerberg Presents AI Assistant Jarvis

Discuss:

1. Talk about Jarvis.
2. Do you feel comfortable talking to your mobile phone? If yes, what do you usually ask your AI assistant to do? If not, kindly explain the reason why.
3. What other functions would you like AI assistants to be able to carry out?
4. What other ultra advanced technology would you like to be able to see and use in your lifetime.

Rules That Make Employees Want to Quit

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Every workplace needs rules. They discourage employees from coming to work late, getting drunk at their desks, and most importantly, are intended to ensure efficiency. However, a lot of companies have rules that frustrate employees because they sometimes cross the line into ridiculousness.

Read the article below then express your thoughts about it.

http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/10-dumb-rules-that-make-your-best-people-want-to-quit.html?utm_content=buffer49014&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Discussion Questions:

1. Do agree with the items listed? why or why not?
2. Give examples of “dumb rules” you’ve encountered.
3. Why do you think rules are necessary?

Speaking Activity : Tourism

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B2 – Upper intermediate

Tourism is travelling for pleasure. It also involves the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, as well as the business of operating tours.

People will always want to travel. The tourism industry has been growing in the past years and travelling has been a lot of people’s passion and hobby.

Answer the questions below and be ready to have a discussion about tourism and travelling.

Discuss:

1. How important is tourism in your country?
2. What is the biggest tourist destination in your country?
3. What are the benefits of international tourism? Are there any drawbacks?
4. Do you prefer tourism package tours or do you prefer to plan your own vacations? Why?
5. Is it better to go to popular tourist destinations or lesser known tourist destinations? Why?
6. Should a government try to improve domestic tourism or try to attract international tourists instead? Why?
7. What’s the best way to travel when you visit a country? Train, car, bicycle, bus?
8. If you could create a tourism slogan for your country, what would it be?
9. What’s the best way for a country to bring in more tourists?
10. How do you feel about tourists who visit your country?

Speaking Activity : Childhood

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B2 – Upper intermediate

Childhood is a moment in life when children enjoy their time with friends, parents and teachers in school. A moment when they should feel safe from violence and abuse. A time when they can learn and grow.

How would would describe your childhood? Answer the questions below and be ready to practice your sentence construction.

Discuss:

1. What was the best thing about your childhood?
2. What do you miss most about being a child?
3. Do you think that children these days have a better or worse childhood than your generation? Why?
4. What do you think is important to have a happy childhood?
5. Where did you grow up? How did that affect your childhood?
6. What were some of your favorite activities when you were a child?
7. Who, besides your parents, had the biggest impact on your childhood?
8.What do you want to provide your children that you didn’t have when you were growing up?
9. What was your experience at school like? (elementary, junior high, or high school)

Animal Rights

C1 – Advanced

Animal rights is the idea that some, or all, non-human animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives and that their most basic interests—such as the need to avoid suffering—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings.

Read the article below and be ready to practice your reading comprehension.

Ethics Guide: Animal Rights

Discuss:

1. What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘animal rights?
2. How are animals rights viewed in your country?
3. What rights do you think animals have?
4. What rights do humans have that animals should also have?
5. What do you think of testing cosmetics and medicines on animals?
6. Should we all be vegetarians and not kill animals for food?
7. What do you think of killing animals for fur?

Speaking Activity : Adoption

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B2 – Upper intermediate

Adoption brings a child into a new family. Birth parents have a number of reasons for placing children for adoption. Overall, they want better lives for their children. Children who are eligible for adoption come from many different settings. Some are in foster care while others live in orphanages or with birth relatives until they can be adopted.

Answer the questions below with your next teacher and be ready to practice your sentence construction.

Discuss:

1. How is adoption viewed in your country?
2. How does being adopted affect a child’s view of themselves?
3. What are some of the reasons people adopt children?
4. What are some of the reasons people give children up for adoption?
5. What do you think about couples that adopt children from different countries?
6. What qualities make a couple or a person qualified to adopt a child?
7. Should the adoption process be more or less difficult than it is now?
8. Should people be able to decide what type of children they want to adopt? For example: boy or girl, hair color, age, etc.
9. How much should the government be involved in the adoption process?
10. What are orphanages like in your country?
11. Would you ever adopt a child?

Drinking to Excess

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Alcoholism is when you drink so much that your body eventually becomes dependent on or addicted to alcohol. When this happens, alcohol becomes the most important thing in your life.

Read the article below to know more about drinking too much.

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Sep2014/Feature1

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you drink alcohol? What kind of alcoholic drink do you usually have and how often do you drink?
2. What do you think causes alcoholism? How can a person prevent it?
3. What are the symptoms of alcoholism? How can you tell if the person is alcoholic?
4. What are the risk factors of alcoholism?

Amazon Opens Convenience Store with a Twist

B2 – Upper intermediate

Amazon is opening a physical store in Seattle where purchases are automatically completed using a phone app. There will be no cashiers, no checkout lines. Just grab what you want, scan it, and walk out.

Read the article below to know more about Amazon Go – the convenience store with a twist.

http://www.voanews.com/a/mht-amazon-opens-physical-convenience-store-with-a-twist/3623667.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Would you be concerned with this kind of service getting hacked or is there no difference than buying online?
  2. If this works do you think more stores will do this since they wouldn’t need to hire so many employees and could save money lowering the price of items?
  3. Would you rather shop in a store where you could just walk in, grab what you want and walk right out instead of waiting in a line or would you be willing to keep things the way they are so people could keep their jobs?

Google Will Use Renewable Energy

B2 – Upper Intermediate

In an attempt to reduce the impact of global warming, many organizations are looking at using renewable energy. Google is one of them.

Google wants aims to shift to renewable energy by 2017 in order to power all their data centers and offices.

Read the article below and be ready to talk about technology. Share your thoughts as well.

https://www.voanews.com/a/mht-google-says-will-use-100-percent-renewable-energy/3625221.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the benefits of using renewable energy?
  2. What are the disadvantages of using renewable energy?
  3. Do you think more companies will follow once a large company like Google shows that it is possible not to rely on fossil fuels? Why or why not?
  4. With wind farms and solar panels being expensive for its initial cost, do you think it would be cheaper in the long run for companies to do this? Explain.
  5. Is there a push in your country to go with renewable energy sources and electric vehicles? Why do you think this is the case?

Eating Junk Food Is Not Good

B2 – Upper intermediate

Junk food isn’t actually made of garbage. People use the term junk food to describe a food that has few of the nutrients your body needs, and a lot of fat, sugar and salt, which your body can easily get too much of.Potato chips, candy, and soft drinks are often considered junk food. If you like these snack foods, the trick is to eat them in small portions so that you still get the nutrients you need each day.

Reasons Eating Junk Food Is Not Good

Discuss: 

1. What springs to mind when you hear the term junk food?

2. How often do you eat junk food?

3. Do lots of people eat junk food in your country?

4. What is it about junk food that is so bad for us?

5. Are parents who feed junk food to their children irresponsible?