Just one week ago we published a documentary film on the Finnish educational system, allegedly the best in the world.
To follow up on the topic of education, our weekly extensive listening feature turns on a very different type of educational model, that of Khan Academy.
This is the way this CBS 13-minute segment starts:
"Take a moment and remember your favorite teacher - now imagine that teacher could reach, not 30 kids in a classroom, but millions of students all over the world. As we first reported last spring, that's exactly what Sal Khan is doing on his website Khan Academy. With its digital lessons and simple exercises, he's determined to transform how we learn at every level. One of his most famous pupils, Bill Gates, says Khan, this "teacher to the world," is giving us all a glimpse of the future of education."
Watch the segment, which CBS released in early September last year as part of the programme 60 minutes, and find out the ins and outs of Khan Academy and its founder, 35-year-old Sal Khan.
If you want to fully understand the clip you can activate the closed-captioned subtitles on the lower side of the embedded video or read the full transcript here.
Everybody is going to rub their hands with this video from EnglishVid, a site where a group of native English teachers regularly post video lessons on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, study skills and more. They have published upwards of 400 videos so far, and counting. In my opinion, EnglishVidis one of the best sites for English learners on the net.
In late February teacher James published the promising 4 Ways to understand more English, which is aimed at advanced students, I must say. This is the way he presented the lesson:
"Learn how to understand almost everything you hear right now in 4 easy steps! If you are an advanced English student, and you already know grammar and can understand what you read, but have trouble understanding when people speak in movies and in real life, watch this lesson to find out HOW to listen and UNDERSTAND!"
The video lesson is quite lengthy, around 13 minutes, which if anything will give us good listening practice. In addition, we can activate the YouTube automatic subtitles, which must have been cleaned up, because they are an accurate description of what James says. As an extra bonus, EnglishVid offers a quiz on their site so that we can check how much of the lesson we understood and make sure we got the gist of everything James said.
This is a Microsoft ad about the new Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 8.
Self-study activity:
Watch the ad and complete the blanks in the transcript with the missing words, some of which are related to computers.
The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
You might not remember us but we met in the 90s.
We are members of (1) ... ... , as in yin yang, yo-yo.
Life moved a little slower.
Disks were (2) ... .
Desktop (3) ... had personality.
Extra (4) ... ... was just a zipper away.
There is only one (5) ... ..., but most of your friends died of dysentery.
The only thing (6) ... in your pocket was a pet.
Until that died too.
But at least the troll was still a friend.
Lunch was a (7) ..., not a picture.
You were pumping jams, water, shoes.
You didn't have to worry about a (8) ... ... full of farm animals.
You were busy feeding wild animals.
A (9) ... didn't cost 60 dollars.
It cost four minutes.
You really had nothing to (10) ... .
Unless, of course, you were playing for keeps.
The future was (11) ... .
You grew up and so did we.
Key: 1) Generation Y 2) square 3) folders 4) storage space 5) social network 6) buzzing 7) puzzle 8) news feed 9) haircut 10) lose 11) bright
Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah tells us what being a member in the British army means for him, and he also talks about the diversity in the British army and in British society in general.
The video is a good follow-up to yesterday's talking point entry on war.
Self-study activity:
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students, although even students at this level may find it a bit daunting at times.
Use the questions in the activity as a guideline to follow what Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah tells us. For that reason, it is best to listen to the clip through once or twice before you attempt to answer the questions.
1 Where was Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah born?
2 When did he move to the UK?
3 How many men and horses does Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah command?
4 In what state visit did he first take part in?
5 What symbols of British life style does he mention as having a high regard for?
6 Is British life more casual or more formal than it appears?
7 Why does he compare his regiment to a modern-day United Nations?
For self-correction you can read the transcript below.
I am Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. I was born in Ghana but I now live in the United Kingdom. And this is "See Britain Through My Eyes." I moved to the United Kingdom in 1982 with my family. I was the first black officer commissioned within the Household Division and into the Household Cavalry itself. It's the most senior regiment in the British Army. I command 120 men and 120 horses here in London. As a young child watching Her Majesty the Queen's birthday parade on the television, I would have never ever imagined that one day I would command the regiment which I had fallen in love with on that day. We serve on operations in Afghanistan. We do that in light armored vehicles, for want of a better word, tanks. We are modern soldiers at the forefront of British operations, who have served with the most modern equipment. I think this symbolizes one of the best things about being British, the ability to have one eye on the past but also looking to the future. My first ever venture into the state ceremonial side of our regiment was for the Ghanaian state visit. Having to escort Her Majesty the Queen and also the President of Ghana was an incredible privilege for me. Also, we had lots of Ghanaians in the crowd so there was lots of drumming, shouting and cheering. You can't see anything like this anywhere in the world except in the UK. Household Cavalry! And here I was, a Ghanaian who joined the British Army who has now become part of that culture, and it's then personified by that parade, which is the highest respect we can pay to any foreign dignitary when Her Majesty receives them and allows them to travel in the carriage with her to Buckingham Palace. And it truly is an amazing day. So that respect goes both ways. From the Commonwealth to Britain, and then in return from Britain to the Commonwealth. Those of us from Commonwealth countries generally tend to idolize a British way of life and British culture. So it's placed on a pedestal. So everything, from bowler hats and umbrellas, having afternoon tea, going to church on Sundays, is held in high regard. Even though it's still the last bastion of standards, when you start working and living in Britain from day to day, you realize that things aren't as rigid as they appear. Life is slightly more casual than you'd expect to see it. We can't always be on show. At the end of the day, we're still normal people. A good example would be in the way that the public can mock members of Parliament or even the Royal Family. It's open season for making whatever comments you wish to make about people. And it says to people that we're comfortable in the way we live, and that is the basis of a democracy. Simply looking around, this regiment appears to be very traditional and very British, projecting that one image. But really, you simply have to look around and you realize that it is a synthesis of different cultures. The regiment really can be compared to a modern-day United Nations. And here we have a Swedish officer, we have an Indian officer, we have myself from Ghana, we have an officer of French and Arab descent and a Zimbabwean, and officers from so many different backgrounds all mixed together as one. From where I sit and the things I've seen in the United Kingdom, cultures really do mix and intermingle. And if I'm not a good example of that, I really don't know what is.
This week's talking point revolves around the topic of war.
Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below to get acquainted with the topic, look up some information and deal with some vocabulary problems you may come across.
What major wars or conflicts can you name?
When were they?
What were the reasons for them?
Which wars has your country been involved in?
How has war changed through the ages?
In what ways hasn't war changed through the ages?
What are the worst consequences of war?
What might the benefits of war be?
How are the following events related to war? Nuclear arms , genocide, war on terror, arms trade, landmines
To illustrate the topic of war you can watch this New York Times video, Six Years Gone For a Soldier's Family, Mourning but Moving, and read the accompanying New York Times article A Soldier’s Requiem, Never Fading Away.
There’s more good days than bad days. For me a good day is when I wake up and it doesn’t feel like I’ve been sucked in the stomach. My husband Paul was killed in Iraq in 2006. Emily was 8 years old, Caroline was 6 years old, and Julia was 4 years old. Things don’t really make me like sad any more very much, something to do but the kid bullies me or something, I don’t really care, because I’ve gone through harder things than that. Under my pillow every night I have a laminated picture of him. I still think about him and sometimes I miss him. When people start talking about when their dads are coming home or oh my that’s been away for so long, I miss him so much, in the back of my mind I’m kind of thinking ‘suck it up, three months isn’t as long as forever.’ I have more challenges with Julia now than I did when she was four, five and six because the whole idea of dad was hard for her to understand. Now as she’s older she gets ‘oh, he’s not really gonna be here. Caroline she was always attached to her dad. It took a good two years just to see a smile on the child’s face. Emily just wanted things to be normal. She wanted to get back to school, she wanted to get back to her activities, so she did. One thing that Paul’s death has muddied it up for parenting is how much sometimes the stuff is just average kid stuff, teen stuff or girl stuff, and how much of it is, ok this was, this was about Paul today. I struggle and I try really hard that his death doesn’t define them. I don’t want them ever to feel held back by memories, because memories can do that sometimes, even the best of memories. I don’t want them ever to hesitate oh God but I need to be here for mum. Maybe part of me likes to hide behind being so busy, so I don’t have to be so sad. I tell them, I talk to your dad all the time, I’ll say, ‘ok, Paul, what do I need to do with this. This is what your daughter is facing. What do we do? I miss my friend, and I miss my friend being here to help raise our children together. But I think, they seem to be doing ok, I think we’re ok.
In our Real English series we feature three video clips to constrast the difference between the present perfect and the past simple.
In the first video, a very pleasant couple answers several personal information questions. The questions mainly deal with the past simple and present perfect tenses. However, it's funny to notice the way the interviewer combines the two uses of the present perfect in his questions:
(1) Present perfect to talk about experiences, news or changes (similar to the use of present perfect in Spanish).
(2) Present perfect to talk about a situation which started in the past and continues up to the present (here we usually use a present form in Spanish)
Where were you born?
Was that a long time ago?
Were you good at school?
What did you do yesterday? What other towns have you lived in apart from New York? (1)
When did you live in Paris? Has anything ever happened to you? (1)
How did you meet? How long have you known each other? (2)('¿Cuánto hace que os conocéis?')
What do you hope to achieve before you die?
You can watch the same video with English subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do an interactive exercise on the Real English site here.
In the second video the interviewer asks the question: What have you done this morning? to ask passers-by about activities they have been involved in during the morning (use 1 of the present perfect above to talk about experiences and give news). As the interviewer is asking the question in the present perfect, we must infer that the interviews are taking place at some time during the morning, ie, before 12am.
The second question is what did you do yesterday?, where we can see the use of the past simple to talk about activities done in a finished period of time.
It's funny to notice the way a lot of the interviewees answer the question What have you done this morning? in the past simple. That is due to the fact that Americans (I think the video was recorded in New York) generally prefer the past simple to give news, whereas in Britain the present perfect is generally used to give news, the same as in Spanish.
You can read the transcript of the video clip on the Real English site here.
In the third video, we keep emphasizing the difference between past simple and present perfect. Again, it's funny to check the way the girl answers in the past simple a question she was asked in the present perfect. Remember the differences between American and British English in this respect.
What did you do yesterday?
Where did you get married?
What have you done this morning?
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do an interactive exercise on the clip on the Real English site here.
This is an old MSNBC footage about the celebration of Earth hour in 2008 round the world, but the content is even more valid because as time has gone by, more and more cities have taken part in this initiative, which was held on 23 March this year.
Self-study activity:
Watch the news clip and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitable for Intermediate students.
1 The first Earth hour is being held this year.
2 From eight to nine million switches will be turned off this year.
3 The Earth hour doesn’t really save energy.
4 400 buildings will go dark in Atlanta’s city centre.
5 Atlanta is suffering a drought.
This is the Earth Hour official video for 2013.
On the Earth Hour site you will also be able to find lots of environment-related initiatives, videos and ideas.
And this is the number playing in the background, David Guetta 'Without you', in case you're wondering.
Tonight our series Our Planet, and some well-known skylines and landmarks around the world that are going dark. We get the story from NBC’s Ron Moore. Bright lights, big city. The two go hand in hand except for a brief spell tonight when darkness falls in more ways than one as it did in Sydney Australia. From Down under to Thailand, to Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco non-essential lights are being turned off for Earth hour. Turning off a switch is just one step that we hope will lead individuals, and governments, and businesses to make much bigger commitments to reduce energy the rest of the year. The first Earth hour last spring involved one city, Sidney, and drew an estimated 2 million participants. Today, hundreds of cities and ten million people around the globe are expected to flip the switch between 8 and 9, saving between 5 and 10 per cent of a typical Saturday night energy usage. Doing one little thing we can do something really big. In Atlanta, a fast moving fast growing metroplex with big energy needs they´re fired up about 400 downtown buildings going dark, a feat easier said than done, even for the man who lit the town for the world during the 96 Olympics. In some cases it’s very simple on the computer in order cases you actually got to go and manually turn switches off in order to turn the lights off. We are worse off this year than we were last year. Conservation is conversation for the mayor here whose city is battling a record drought. Atlanta is really excited about being a part of the greening of America. And this way we think it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that every person can make a contribution. So what do you do for an hour in the dark? Well organizers say ¨use your imagination¨. Light some candles and enjoy a romantic dinner, open a magazine or a book, maybe even play a board game or go all out and tell one another stories.Whatever you do, officials hope you do it with gusto and fewer watts.
