Tag: video

Steve Jobs’ Motivational Speech 

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Steve Jobs gives the listeners a reason to care. He talks about his own experience and is not ashamed to share his failure with his audience. He uses intriguing and provocative questions about getting fired from a company he himself founded. The question sparks the audience’s strong feelings such as confusion, annoyance, or even anger.

Watch this Steve Job motivational speech.

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “devastating” mean? Use it in a sentence.
  2. What does this statement mean “Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick.”?
  3. What does the expression “to dawn on (someone)” mean? Use it in a sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Does the speaker use intriguing, provocative questions? Why does he use them?
  2. What do you find interesting/useful/helpful or useless/boring about the speech? Why?
  3. What does failure teach you?
  4. Share your thoughts on this statement, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”.

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?

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?

The Economics of IKEA 

B2 – Upper Intermediate

IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer with a unique business model. They have designed a minimalist flat-pack furniture and customers have to assemble it. One of the secrets of IKEA’s success has been identified as “The IKEA Effect”. It simply states that when you help build something, you are more attached to it.

Watch the video to learn more and be able to answer the questions that follow.

Discussion Questions:

  1. According to the video, what is The IKEA Effect? What do you think of it?
  2. Do you agree that people tend to love an item more when they have put effort into creating it? Explain.
  3. Is flat-packing an effective retail strategy? Why or why not?
  4. How do you feel about IKEA? Share some of your shopping experiences.
  5. What things have you built on your own and are attached to?

Developing a Growth Mindset

B2 – Upper Intermediate

People have polar opposite reactions when they are confronted with a difficult challenge.

Some tend to react to it in a positive way and think it’s a great opportunity to learn. And then, there are those who instantly think that it is nothing but a test to shake their core intelligence.

Watch the video about the difference between the growth mindset and the fixed mindset perspective.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do you normally react to a challenge? How do you take on difficult challenges?
  2. What are the benefits of growth mindsets?
  3. What are ways to develop a growth mindset?
  4. How does growth mindset affect people?
  5. What else do you want to learn at this point?

Grit: Passion and Perseverance

B2 – Upper Intermediate

If one is put in a situation where they have to go after an impossible dream, how do they keep pushing through?

In the face of very challenging situations, how can one say they are successful? What might have been the key factors to this success? Is it their stamina to keep going or their innate talent?

Watch the video about grit or the power of passion and perseverance.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Share your thoughts on this statement, “Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
  2. What is your opinion on this, “Grit is unrelated to talent.”?
  3. Talk about your biggest professional challenge. What did you learn from the experience?
  4. Share about a goal that you’ve worked toward, personally or professionally and how you got there/you’re getting there?
  5. How do you decide if and when to stop pursuing a goal?

Draw Electrical Wires with Conductive Paint

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Liquids and electricity are probably the last thing you’d think you could pair up. 

Bare Conducive has created a paint that conducts electricity.

Watch the video about conductive paint.

https://mashable.com/video/conductive-paint-studio-london

Discussion Questions:

  1. Describe the conductive paint. What are its good and bad points?
  2. What are your thoughts on this 
  3. Which groups do you think could benefit the most with these bare conductives?
  4. Would you be interested to use this paint? Why or why not?