Tag: video

Swap Homes for Holidays

B2 – Upper Intermediate

If you’ve seen the movie The Holiday you may be familiar with the concept of “Home Exchange”.

Read the article below to know more about this kind of accommodation.

https://www.thelocal.es/20141101/travel-live-like-a-local-with-home-exchange-tlccu-2/

Discussion Questions:

1. Is Home Exchange interesting to you? Why or why not?
2. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of participating in this kind of service?
3. What accommodations do you prefer when you travel?

Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration

B2 – Upper intermediate

Immigration is a complex political issue worldwide. US President Obama announces an executive order that would help pave the way for enacting actions on immigration issues.

Obama to Announce Executive Order on Immigration

Discuss:

1. Does your country have problems with undocumented immigrants?
2. What are ways to solve a country’s problem on illegal immigration?
3. Do you think that parents who are undocumented should be deported?
4. What are the advantages of deportation?

*click on the title get an update on Obama’s immigration actions: The U.S. Supreme Court and Obama’s Immigration Actions

Illegal Job Interview Questions

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Job Interview – B2 – Upper intermediate

Finding a job is hard. But perhaps harder is passing a job interview, especially if competition is tough. Always let a job interview show the best of you and avoid being pressed for unnecessary information about yourself that could lead to discrimination.

Here are some questions that employers may ask applicants that are actually stepping on their boundaries.

Five Illegal Job Interview Questions in the US

Discuss:

1. Share your job interview experiences. What kind of questions were you asked?
2. Has an employer ever made you uncomfortable answering their questions?
3. What was the most outrageous question that you were asked in a job interview?
4. Aside from the questions mentioned above, what questions during job interviews do you think shouldn’t be asked?

Prison Bank

B1 – Intermediate

Banks are where we keep our savings. We always ensure our money is kept in good hands. What if the bank you choose as your partner is run by inmates and the manager himself is a convict? Find out more about this one of a kind “Prison bank”.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the things you consider in choosing a bank?
2. Can a convict trust a fellow convict?
3. Will you entrust your savings to a criminal?
4. What is the advantage of giving responsibilities to inmates?
5. In your country, do the prisons have programs for inmates?

Self-Building Robot

B1 – Intermediate

Scientists have created a robot that can build and fold by itself in just 4 minutes. A researcher suggested that the self-building robot could be applied to a variety of different problems.

http://www.newsinlevels.com/products/self-building-robot-level-3/

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you think this robot can be useful in space explorations?
2. What do you think of robots in general?
3. How else can this robot be useful?

Lego Ends Ties with Shell

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Lego had a partnership with Shell and made toys that had Shell logo on them. There were over a million people who emailed Lego asking it to end its deal with Shell that brought pressure to finally end its contract with the oil company.

Read the article about Lego ending its tie-up with Shell.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1410/141012-lego.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Give your opinion about Greenpeace’s move to pressure Lego from ending their contract with Shell.
  2. Do you think that parents have a responsibility in choosing the right toys to educate their children about preserving the environment?
  3. Are there specific projects to tackle environmental issues in your country? Talk about some that you know of.

Bridging the Technology Gap

B1 – Intermediate

We are in the high technology age. Technical devices get upgraded almost every time.

However, did we consider those people still living in the past? If they have the same knowledge of technology as the people of this generation?

This article contains a video and an audio clip. Feel free to to watch and listen.

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/teen-senior-bridge-technology-gap/2451596.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Should we consider this gap a social issue?
  2. Is it easy to bridge this gap between your own grandparents or older parents?
  3. In your household, is everyone very knowledgeable when it comes to tech gadgets and devices?
  4. What domestic appliances do you have that are very modern?

Fear

B1 – Intermediate

Fear is an emotion observed by living things particularly among humans and animals. Fear may take place in response to a certain stimulus or that provokes response.

Find out what some people are afraid of:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/expressenglish/2011/10/111031_ee_fear_page.shtml

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your greatest fear?
2. How do you usually respond to fear? Can you think of good ways to handle fear?
3. Do you think psychiatric intervention is necessary to address issues concerning fear?
4. Share some of your scary experiences.

Jealousy

B1 – Intermediate

Jealousy is an emotion which is often comprised of negative thoughts, possessiveness, anxiety and fear. It is also often referred to by people as ” green-eyed monster”.

Jealousy

Discuss:

1. Have you ever been jealous? How do you manage such emotion?
2. Is being jealous okay? When is it wrong to be jealous?
3. Would you consider yourself to be an emotional person?

Too Fat to Fight

B2 – Upper Intermediate

About 27 percent of youngsters is deemed ineligible due to obesity and overweight. According to Mission: Readiness Report, young Americans are “too fat to fight”.

Discover some reasons that are causing this problem and its impact military enlistment.

https://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/20/military.fat.fight/index.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your general opinion of the article?
  2. What do you think are the risks of having unhealthy service men? What are ways to help combat this problem?
  3. Are the men in service in your country very fit (police officers, soldiers, firefighters, EMT)? Why do you think this is important?