Man builds 65 ft whale-shaped boat called 'Moby' to sail across the Atlantic.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions.
1 What was Tom Mclean's job?
2 What does '3,500' refer to?
3 What is Mclean's objective with his journey?
4 What is Tom Mclean's job now?
5 How old is he?
Thankfully this isn't another beached whale on the British coastline… This is a rather unusual boat shaped like a whale and named Moby of all things after its namesake novel by Herman Melville. Former SAS soldier Tom Mclean has spent a mammoth 100,000 pounds and 2 decades building the 65 foot boat in preparation for a 3,500 mile voyage across the Atlantic. The big question is why?
Yeah, maybe why not, I would say. I’m the first man to have rowed the North Atlantic alone and I’ve sailed it and I’ve crossed it in a bottle boat. You can go in many shapes, and I thought, well, why not a whale. I want to clean up the planet, and environmental companies want to be involved with me and well, here we are, Moby.
The boat with the big environmental message will sail down from Loch Nevis in Scotland to London and then New York in stages next year. And it’s guaranteed to be a whale of a time for the retired serviceman.
I’m 73. I feel good. You could say I’m mad but I’m happy with that, I’m getting on doing things. I’m getting off my backside and doing things rather than sitting and watching the telly.
The Loch Ness may have its monster but we reckon Loch Nevis' whale is giving it stiff competition.
Key:
1 (SAS) soldier
2 3,500 mile voyage across the Atlantic he intends to make
3 to clean the planet
4 he's retired
5 73
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Achievement. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Achievement. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, 20 de octubre de 2016
martes, 7 de junio de 2016
Angela Duckworth on grit
More Americans are likely to single out "natural talent" as the best predictor of success, but psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that talent is overrated in our society. In her new book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she explains why they are wrong.
Angela Duckworth on grit from Parroyo on Vimeo.
1 Society praises talent over effort.
2 Gritty people change from one activity to another.
3 Gritty people direct their thoughts to the people around them rather than to themselves.
4 Angela loves tattoos.
5 People from a lower social class have to work harder to succeed.
6 Colleges and universities want talented students.
7 Quitting in the early stages of life is understandable.
8 Talent is specially important in sports.
9 You can teach grit.
What drives a person to become successful? That question fuels the research of psychologist Angela Duckworth. The 2013 Macarthur genius grant fellow learned that grit is the best sign. She explained this in her popular TED talk.
One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. It wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future. Day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality.
Angela Duckworth’s first book, Grit: The power of passion and perseverance, is published by Scribner. Angela, good morning. So great to meet you. I’ve been reading about your work for a while. So this is terrific. We praise talent. We have shows called America’s got talent, but what is more important in success, talent or effort?
I think we overrate talent in our society. We’re obsessed with whether our kids got picked for the gifted and talented program or do we have the X-Factor. Really, what matters in it the long run is sticking with things and working daily to get better at them.
So what do gritty people do specifically?
So gritty people do at least four things. One is rather than skipping around in their interests, you know, oh, I’ll click over here and it will be something new, they deepen their interests. The second thing is they submit themselves to the hardest kind of practice. It’s called deliberate practice. It’s what really makes you better, which is largely working on your weaknesses with feedback. The third thing that they do is they find some other centered purpose. Even when you study people who are gritty and seemingly do selfish things it like wine tasting or an individual sport, you know, where they’re the one who wins the gold medal, they’re actually extraordinarily other-centered. They try to think about how their work is important to people other than them. And finally, when they are knocked down, they get up again. They’re resilient.
They fall down seven times but get up eight. Nothing keeps them down.
There’s an expression in Japanese, fall seven, rise eight. And truly, if I were ever going to get a tattoo, which I’m not, that’s what I would get.
Why not?
The other day Charlie said he was thinking about getting a tattoo.
Maybe you should get a tattoo.
Let’s all think about it. Here’s my question. Does it have anything to do with socioeconomic groups? In other words, if you’re born poor, are you more likely to have the grit to understand that’s the way you pull yourself up?
You know, people have asked me this question on both sides. I haven’t examined that myself in my data, but I can tell you this. From working with kids across the socioeconomic spectrum, people are more the same than they are different. I’ve never met someone who says, because I was born in this situation, I didn’t need to work hard.
Are colleges now looking more and more at grit and what is called the x-factor rather than simply test scores and IQ scores?
One of the people that I interviewed for my book was my own college admissions officer, Bill Fitzsimmons. He’s still the director of admissions for Harvard University. If you ask people like Bill, what do colleges really want, they say that they want kids who work hard and who have a passion about something, who aren’t just, you know, faking their way through school looking like they look, you know, checking off boxes. I did this, I did this, I did this. But truly and in a sincere way trying to get better at something that they care about.
You say gritty people don’t quit but, on the other hand, you say for kids sometimes you should quit. It seems to be a bit of a contradiction. Help me understand what the point is you’re making.
Early in life you don’t know what you want to do. I don’t know about you, guys, but for me it took me until I was 32 to really figure out that I wanted to be a psychologist, and a psychologist who would help improve the lives of kids. So what was I doing before I was 32? I was quitting things. I was quitting being a speech intern at the White House. I was quitting my job as a consultant. I was quitting being a teacher in the classroom. Importantly, in that quitting, I was trying to find something. It wasn’t just quitting for quitting’s sake, but quitting so I could find something, that I could be loyal to the rest of my life and I finally did find that.
We all love sports so much at this table. We talk about a lot, and I think when we look at great athletes we think, wow, they were born with some natural talent. But you actually go through studies, including one called The Mandate of Excellence, which is that really success in sports is a series of small achievements.
Sport is such a great example because if you turn on a sports broadcast, you will invariably hear the world talent within a minute. We just love to anoint our most successful athletes as prodigiously talented. And one of the things that I learned in my research is from talking to a sociologist who lived from swim teams for six years, all the way from club team around the corner to Olympic hopefuls. And the summary conclusion of his work is that excellence really is mundane. It’s a thousand little things, each of which you could practise, each of which you could improve upon. You put them together and it’s dazzling.
But some people do have more hand-eye coordination than others.
Speaking someone of someone you know?
No, I’m just think it’s a fact that some people have a certain skill they’re born with. But then those that achieve the ultimate are those who simply exercise that particular skill.
And quickly. Can you teach grit?
Yeah, I would say this. While we are not all born with the same amount of talent for different things, I do believe grit is enormously important and absolutely teachable.
All right. It’s such a great book, Angela. Thank you so much. And Grit goes on sale today.
Key:
1T 2F 3T 4F 5F 6F 7T 8F 9T
Angela Duckworth on grit from Parroyo on Vimeo.
1 Society praises talent over effort.
2 Gritty people change from one activity to another.
3 Gritty people direct their thoughts to the people around them rather than to themselves.
4 Angela loves tattoos.
5 People from a lower social class have to work harder to succeed.
6 Colleges and universities want talented students.
7 Quitting in the early stages of life is understandable.
8 Talent is specially important in sports.
9 You can teach grit.
What drives a person to become successful? That question fuels the research of psychologist Angela Duckworth. The 2013 Macarthur genius grant fellow learned that grit is the best sign. She explained this in her popular TED talk.
One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. It wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future. Day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality.
Angela Duckworth’s first book, Grit: The power of passion and perseverance, is published by Scribner. Angela, good morning. So great to meet you. I’ve been reading about your work for a while. So this is terrific. We praise talent. We have shows called America’s got talent, but what is more important in success, talent or effort?
I think we overrate talent in our society. We’re obsessed with whether our kids got picked for the gifted and talented program or do we have the X-Factor. Really, what matters in it the long run is sticking with things and working daily to get better at them.
So what do gritty people do specifically?
So gritty people do at least four things. One is rather than skipping around in their interests, you know, oh, I’ll click over here and it will be something new, they deepen their interests. The second thing is they submit themselves to the hardest kind of practice. It’s called deliberate practice. It’s what really makes you better, which is largely working on your weaknesses with feedback. The third thing that they do is they find some other centered purpose. Even when you study people who are gritty and seemingly do selfish things it like wine tasting or an individual sport, you know, where they’re the one who wins the gold medal, they’re actually extraordinarily other-centered. They try to think about how their work is important to people other than them. And finally, when they are knocked down, they get up again. They’re resilient.
They fall down seven times but get up eight. Nothing keeps them down.
There’s an expression in Japanese, fall seven, rise eight. And truly, if I were ever going to get a tattoo, which I’m not, that’s what I would get.
Why not?
The other day Charlie said he was thinking about getting a tattoo.
Maybe you should get a tattoo.
Let’s all think about it. Here’s my question. Does it have anything to do with socioeconomic groups? In other words, if you’re born poor, are you more likely to have the grit to understand that’s the way you pull yourself up?
You know, people have asked me this question on both sides. I haven’t examined that myself in my data, but I can tell you this. From working with kids across the socioeconomic spectrum, people are more the same than they are different. I’ve never met someone who says, because I was born in this situation, I didn’t need to work hard.
Are colleges now looking more and more at grit and what is called the x-factor rather than simply test scores and IQ scores?
One of the people that I interviewed for my book was my own college admissions officer, Bill Fitzsimmons. He’s still the director of admissions for Harvard University. If you ask people like Bill, what do colleges really want, they say that they want kids who work hard and who have a passion about something, who aren’t just, you know, faking their way through school looking like they look, you know, checking off boxes. I did this, I did this, I did this. But truly and in a sincere way trying to get better at something that they care about.
You say gritty people don’t quit but, on the other hand, you say for kids sometimes you should quit. It seems to be a bit of a contradiction. Help me understand what the point is you’re making.
Early in life you don’t know what you want to do. I don’t know about you, guys, but for me it took me until I was 32 to really figure out that I wanted to be a psychologist, and a psychologist who would help improve the lives of kids. So what was I doing before I was 32? I was quitting things. I was quitting being a speech intern at the White House. I was quitting my job as a consultant. I was quitting being a teacher in the classroom. Importantly, in that quitting, I was trying to find something. It wasn’t just quitting for quitting’s sake, but quitting so I could find something, that I could be loyal to the rest of my life and I finally did find that.
We all love sports so much at this table. We talk about a lot, and I think when we look at great athletes we think, wow, they were born with some natural talent. But you actually go through studies, including one called The Mandate of Excellence, which is that really success in sports is a series of small achievements.
Sport is such a great example because if you turn on a sports broadcast, you will invariably hear the world talent within a minute. We just love to anoint our most successful athletes as prodigiously talented. And one of the things that I learned in my research is from talking to a sociologist who lived from swim teams for six years, all the way from club team around the corner to Olympic hopefuls. And the summary conclusion of his work is that excellence really is mundane. It’s a thousand little things, each of which you could practise, each of which you could improve upon. You put them together and it’s dazzling.
But some people do have more hand-eye coordination than others.
Speaking someone of someone you know?
No, I’m just think it’s a fact that some people have a certain skill they’re born with. But then those that achieve the ultimate are those who simply exercise that particular skill.
And quickly. Can you teach grit?
Yeah, I would say this. While we are not all born with the same amount of talent for different things, I do believe grit is enormously important and absolutely teachable.
All right. It’s such a great book, Angela. Thank you so much. And Grit goes on sale today.
Key:
1T 2F 3T 4F 5F 6F 7T 8F 9T
domingo, 29 de mayo de 2016
Extensive listening: The Virtuoso Marcus Roberts
Who's the greatest American musician most people have never heard of? To many people, it's Marcus Roberts.
The Virtuoso Marcus Roberts was the title of a CBS 60 Minutes segment back in 2014.
"Marcus went blind when he was 5 years old. And soon began trying to make sense of life in the darkness. He was unusually curious, and even tore his toys apart just to find out how they worked. Roberts developed a powerful, analytical intelligence, capable of producing music that will move your mind as well as your body. The story of his genius begins with a precious gift from his parents: a piano."
You can read the full transcript here.
The Virtuoso Marcus Roberts was the title of a CBS 60 Minutes segment back in 2014.
"Marcus went blind when he was 5 years old. And soon began trying to make sense of life in the darkness. He was unusually curious, and even tore his toys apart just to find out how they worked. Roberts developed a powerful, analytical intelligence, capable of producing music that will move your mind as well as your body. The story of his genius begins with a precious gift from his parents: a piano."
You can read the full transcript here.
viernes, 20 de mayo de 2016
Man Builds a House In a Cave
Watch this video where Angelo Mastropietro explains how he went from being a successful businessman to build his own house in a cave.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 How much has Angelo spent on his cave house so far?
2 How old is he?
3 What condition was he diagnosed with?
4 How old are the sandstone cliffs near the Wyre Forest?
5 Who has done the most demanding work on the cave?
6 How did he excavate the 70 or 80 tons of rubble?
7 Where is the heating in the shower room?
8 How deep is the hole he gets water from?
9 What does Angelo use the house for?
10 How does Angelo feel about his achievement?
My life before I became a caveman was really quite different.
The pressures of modern life mean that most of us have probably dreamt at one time or another of fleeing to the hills. But Angelo Mastropietro has made his hermit dream a reality by spending over £160,000 making a house out of the cave.
I am 38 years old and I’m a caveman. You know, I love a challenge. I mean, I guess coincidentally my surname actually means Master of the Stone. So you know, maybe it’s kind of in my blood.
He did most of the work himself, even more incredible when you consider the only a few years ago, the businessman was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I had a lapse that left me paralysed essentially which was really the catalyst to make a review where I was at, where I was going and obviously my lifestyle. The rock house kinda came along, you know without a shadow of a doubt. I was as passionate about that as I was about setting up my company.
The 250-¬million-¬year-¬old sandstone cliffs near the Wyre Forest are said to have inspired Tolkien when he was writing Lord of the Rings. It was here that Angelo spent £62,000 on this 700-¬year-¬old abandoned cave which he would turn into his very own hobbit hole. With a renovation budget of £100,000, Angelo set about doing most of the physically demanding work himself.
In the end, I had spent somewhere round about 1,000 hours basically breaking rock, cutting rock, burrowing rock. You know, total somewhere around about 70 or 80 tons of rubble that I excavated out of this rock house by hand, and really proof of that is the whole of the terrace outside, is literally 100 square meters of terrace out there. None of that was there when I started. So that is all of the rubble that I have excavated.
The completed rock house’s impressive features are anything but Stone Age. It even has Wi¬Fi.
One of the things that’s kind of impressive about the restoration is really what you don’t see. We’ve put ventilation channels in the floor. One of the things that I was quite passionate about doing was trying to retain the integrity of the rock house by not cutting the many casings into the hard wires. This could originally have been the bedroom. These little nooks either side which I have lit up to give the illusion of kind of light channels kind of casting light down. Coming through into the shower room. So we have got under floor heating in here. One of the biggest kind of engineering feat. This is where I have excavated this kind of shelf and then subsequently I dug down and created this shower.
All of the fresh running water, comes from Angelo’s own borehole which he sank 18 metres into the ground.
This was originally two separate spaces. So the first task was that I’ve excavated this doorway. Start off at the top and literally cut down, repeat the process so that the whole of the area that you are looking to remove was set into stripes, and then remove the sections of rock, and just literally repeat, repeat, repeat. 11 days later, it kind of made my way through.
Although the cave house was originally built as a holiday let, Angelo still harbours the ambition of one day living full time in his unusual property.
When you’re actually here, when you see it in person, you get a feel for the place. Literally had people in tears. You know, I feel incredibly happy, very proud, very honoured. Yeah, it’s been a very inspiring chapter I think.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 How much has Angelo spent on his cave house so far?
2 How old is he?
3 What condition was he diagnosed with?
4 How old are the sandstone cliffs near the Wyre Forest?
5 Who has done the most demanding work on the cave?
6 How did he excavate the 70 or 80 tons of rubble?
7 Where is the heating in the shower room?
8 How deep is the hole he gets water from?
9 What does Angelo use the house for?
10 How does Angelo feel about his achievement?
My life before I became a caveman was really quite different.
The pressures of modern life mean that most of us have probably dreamt at one time or another of fleeing to the hills. But Angelo Mastropietro has made his hermit dream a reality by spending over £160,000 making a house out of the cave.
I am 38 years old and I’m a caveman. You know, I love a challenge. I mean, I guess coincidentally my surname actually means Master of the Stone. So you know, maybe it’s kind of in my blood.
He did most of the work himself, even more incredible when you consider the only a few years ago, the businessman was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I had a lapse that left me paralysed essentially which was really the catalyst to make a review where I was at, where I was going and obviously my lifestyle. The rock house kinda came along, you know without a shadow of a doubt. I was as passionate about that as I was about setting up my company.
The 250-¬million-¬year-¬old sandstone cliffs near the Wyre Forest are said to have inspired Tolkien when he was writing Lord of the Rings. It was here that Angelo spent £62,000 on this 700-¬year-¬old abandoned cave which he would turn into his very own hobbit hole. With a renovation budget of £100,000, Angelo set about doing most of the physically demanding work himself.
In the end, I had spent somewhere round about 1,000 hours basically breaking rock, cutting rock, burrowing rock. You know, total somewhere around about 70 or 80 tons of rubble that I excavated out of this rock house by hand, and really proof of that is the whole of the terrace outside, is literally 100 square meters of terrace out there. None of that was there when I started. So that is all of the rubble that I have excavated.
The completed rock house’s impressive features are anything but Stone Age. It even has Wi¬Fi.
One of the things that’s kind of impressive about the restoration is really what you don’t see. We’ve put ventilation channels in the floor. One of the things that I was quite passionate about doing was trying to retain the integrity of the rock house by not cutting the many casings into the hard wires. This could originally have been the bedroom. These little nooks either side which I have lit up to give the illusion of kind of light channels kind of casting light down. Coming through into the shower room. So we have got under floor heating in here. One of the biggest kind of engineering feat. This is where I have excavated this kind of shelf and then subsequently I dug down and created this shower.
All of the fresh running water, comes from Angelo’s own borehole which he sank 18 metres into the ground.
This was originally two separate spaces. So the first task was that I’ve excavated this doorway. Start off at the top and literally cut down, repeat the process so that the whole of the area that you are looking to remove was set into stripes, and then remove the sections of rock, and just literally repeat, repeat, repeat. 11 days later, it kind of made my way through.
Although the cave house was originally built as a holiday let, Angelo still harbours the ambition of one day living full time in his unusual property.
When you’re actually here, when you see it in person, you get a feel for the place. Literally had people in tears. You know, I feel incredibly happy, very proud, very honoured. Yeah, it’s been a very inspiring chapter I think.
domingo, 15 de mayo de 2016
Extensive listening: The key to success? Grit
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school.
She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.
You can read the transcript here.
A few days ago Angela Duckworth was invited to CBS This Morning to talk about his latest book.
She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.
You can read the transcript here.
A few days ago Angela Duckworth was invited to CBS This Morning to talk about his latest book.
miércoles, 17 de febrero de 2016
Talking point: Heroes
This week's talking point is heroes. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
Which of these people is the most heroic? Say why.
1 A climber who reaches the top of Mt Everest without oxygen.
2 A nurse who has never had a day off sick in 25 years.
3 A businessperson who has created thousands of jobs.
Can you think of a self-made man or woman you feel admiration for?
Who would you say are some of your heroes or heroines? Why do you admire them?
What is the difference between a celebrity and an icon?
Which modern icons do you admire?
Can you think of an unsung hero you know? What are they like?
Can you think of a hero you used to admire but who had feet of clay?
What fallen idols can you think of? What happened to them?
What folk heroes are there in your country?
Who are some of your country’s national heroines?
Do you think their heroic status is justifi ed?
Have you ever had a moment of glory?
What characteristics do you think a modern-day hero should have? Choose from the list below or add your own ideas.
have a sense of humour
avoid conflict
be open to bribery
be compassionate
give up easily
be resilient
be courageous
be truthful
show humility
To illustrate the topic you can watch the press conference Australina Jessica Watson gave after completing a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Do you think she is a hero?
I then, you know, I can do this, yeah, you know it was a waste of, all the boys did it, so can I!
What was it like, how daunting was it for you as you were sailing through the Heads?
I haven’t seen a person for almost seven months and suddenly seeing people everywhere, you know, faces, so much colour, so much noise, so much everything, you know, all I have seen for so long, is just empty waves, so it was just amazing and very overwhelming.
How do you feel keeping the First Minister of Australia waiting for three hours?
I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting. All I can say is that I was honestly having an amazing sail out there.
Just wondering what was the best moment of the entire journey, would you say?
You know, it’s a tough question what was my favourite part because obviously, you know, Cape Horn and today was absolutely amazing, but I think the thing I loved most about it was just like every day, you know, is simple and like just sailing alone, just getting a kick out of the small things, I suppose.
There was some divide whether you went up high enough, whether you followed the correct course. Give us your thoughts on that and also on whether you’re going to be spending any more energy fighting those sorts of crowds?
No, it’s really simple. I mean, if I haven’t sailed around the world I’d be lost the world I’d spent the last seven months doing so it’s not something that worries me because there always have been and there always will be, you know, some people who don’t choose to acknowledge the record and for me it was never was actually about the record, so I’m not worried at all.
I’m just wondering, did you have moments of doubt and when were they and how did you deal with that?
Yeah, obviously there were definitely moments of doubt, I mean, it’s pretty expected and before, but obviously then I had an amazing team of people around me and later when I was out of the water. I actually did mentally a lot better than I ever thought I would. I thought, you know, that would be one of the biggest challenges but amazingly I just enjoyed it much, much more than I ever thought I would and handled all the challenges better than I thought, which is, yeah… bonus I suppose, just you don’t actually have a choice, in the middle of a storm you’ve been knocked down, what are you gonna do, you can’t fall apart, you just have to keep going and get through.
Just wondering, what do you have to say to young women your age that are aspiring to do such amazing things that you’ve just done?
Yeah, it’s really simple. I mean, it’s just… you just have to believe in that anything is really possible if you want it enough and you put the effort in it, whatever it is you can go and go for it.
I know you said you want to get your driving licence next but what other adventures might be in store for you? Climbing Mount Everest, any other adventures around the world?
No, I definitely love to do a little bit more sailing, tons of sailing, and some impossible racing I’d love to get into that, but for now I’m really just happy to do some more slightly normal things, have a quiet few years to finish school, that sort of thing. We’ll see where sailing takes me after that.
How have you changed, how do you think you’ve changed on this voyage since you’ve been away?
Interesting one. Yeah, I suppose I really thought about it tons, yeah, but I’m definitely growing up, I mean, you know, I’m a year older… I suppose I’m much older and some of the experiences I’ve had obviously changed me a little bit but I think the one thing I also learnt is that it’s definitely about having fun and just don’t take it too seriously.
Yes, she really is a remarkable girl.
It’s been such an emotional and triumphant day for Jessica, her family and her supporters. And what a wonderful welcome home she’s had.
Which of these people is the most heroic? Say why.
1 A climber who reaches the top of Mt Everest without oxygen.
2 A nurse who has never had a day off sick in 25 years.
3 A businessperson who has created thousands of jobs.
Can you think of a self-made man or woman you feel admiration for?
Who would you say are some of your heroes or heroines? Why do you admire them?
What is the difference between a celebrity and an icon?
Which modern icons do you admire?
Can you think of an unsung hero you know? What are they like?
Can you think of a hero you used to admire but who had feet of clay?
What fallen idols can you think of? What happened to them?
What folk heroes are there in your country?
Who are some of your country’s national heroines?
Do you think their heroic status is justifi ed?
Have you ever had a moment of glory?
What characteristics do you think a modern-day hero should have? Choose from the list below or add your own ideas.
have a sense of humour
avoid conflict
be open to bribery
be compassionate
give up easily
be resilient
be courageous
be truthful
show humility
To illustrate the topic you can watch the press conference Australina Jessica Watson gave after completing a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Do you think she is a hero?
I then, you know, I can do this, yeah, you know it was a waste of, all the boys did it, so can I!
What was it like, how daunting was it for you as you were sailing through the Heads?
I haven’t seen a person for almost seven months and suddenly seeing people everywhere, you know, faces, so much colour, so much noise, so much everything, you know, all I have seen for so long, is just empty waves, so it was just amazing and very overwhelming.
How do you feel keeping the First Minister of Australia waiting for three hours?
I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting. All I can say is that I was honestly having an amazing sail out there.
Just wondering what was the best moment of the entire journey, would you say?
You know, it’s a tough question what was my favourite part because obviously, you know, Cape Horn and today was absolutely amazing, but I think the thing I loved most about it was just like every day, you know, is simple and like just sailing alone, just getting a kick out of the small things, I suppose.
There was some divide whether you went up high enough, whether you followed the correct course. Give us your thoughts on that and also on whether you’re going to be spending any more energy fighting those sorts of crowds?
No, it’s really simple. I mean, if I haven’t sailed around the world I’d be lost the world I’d spent the last seven months doing so it’s not something that worries me because there always have been and there always will be, you know, some people who don’t choose to acknowledge the record and for me it was never was actually about the record, so I’m not worried at all.
I’m just wondering, did you have moments of doubt and when were they and how did you deal with that?
Yeah, obviously there were definitely moments of doubt, I mean, it’s pretty expected and before, but obviously then I had an amazing team of people around me and later when I was out of the water. I actually did mentally a lot better than I ever thought I would. I thought, you know, that would be one of the biggest challenges but amazingly I just enjoyed it much, much more than I ever thought I would and handled all the challenges better than I thought, which is, yeah… bonus I suppose, just you don’t actually have a choice, in the middle of a storm you’ve been knocked down, what are you gonna do, you can’t fall apart, you just have to keep going and get through.
Just wondering, what do you have to say to young women your age that are aspiring to do such amazing things that you’ve just done?
Yeah, it’s really simple. I mean, it’s just… you just have to believe in that anything is really possible if you want it enough and you put the effort in it, whatever it is you can go and go for it.
I know you said you want to get your driving licence next but what other adventures might be in store for you? Climbing Mount Everest, any other adventures around the world?
No, I definitely love to do a little bit more sailing, tons of sailing, and some impossible racing I’d love to get into that, but for now I’m really just happy to do some more slightly normal things, have a quiet few years to finish school, that sort of thing. We’ll see where sailing takes me after that.
How have you changed, how do you think you’ve changed on this voyage since you’ve been away?
Interesting one. Yeah, I suppose I really thought about it tons, yeah, but I’m definitely growing up, I mean, you know, I’m a year older… I suppose I’m much older and some of the experiences I’ve had obviously changed me a little bit but I think the one thing I also learnt is that it’s definitely about having fun and just don’t take it too seriously.
Yes, she really is a remarkable girl.
It’s been such an emotional and triumphant day for Jessica, her family and her supporters. And what a wonderful welcome home she’s had.
miércoles, 22 de julio de 2015
Talking point: Hopes and dreams for the future
This week's talking point is hopes and dreams for the future. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand:
What are you looking forward to in the future?
Is there anything you aren’t looking forward to?
People say that your school days are the best days of your life. Do you think that’s true?
P: Hi. I’m really excited about the next few months. I’m DJing on the banks of the River Thames in the heart of London and I’m playing some beach parties. Today I’ve come to Covent Garden to find out how people feel about their lives. What are you looking forward to in the future?C: I’m looking forward to having a family: I don’t have a family right now. I’m looking forward to buying a house – I actually live in the United States right now and I haven’t bought a house there, so I’m looking forward to that. And I guess I’m looking forward to more travel.
T: Finding a job that I’m really passionate about.
L: Near future, I’m looking forward to a holiday next year. I’m going to Vegas a family that I haven’t been away with for about five or six years now.
D: Getting a good job. Finishing university.
Do: Nothing really. I’ve kind of enjoy my life at the moment. I live in Australia now and I’ve got things the way we like them at home and life’s good.
R: Starting a new job next summer.
P: Is there anything you aren’t looking forward to?
T: No, no there’s nothing I can think about that I’m not looking forward to in the future.
L: The one thing that I’d have thought most people say is dying. Quite serious, but, other than that, no – I kind of embrace life to the full; look forward to most things.
Ch: I have to say, the premise of getting older and with getting older you have more responsibilities, so that’s one thing I’m not looking forward to.
C: Well, I’m not looking forward to retiring: I like my job and I like working and I think I’ll be a little bored when I retire.
D: It’s quite stressful looking for jobs and going to job interviews, so I do get nervous about that.
Do: Getting older. Your body starting to fall to bits. Not looking forward to that, but it’ll happen.
P: People say that your school days are the best days of your life. Do you think that’s true?
T: Absolutely. I do, yes, because you’re, the world is your oyster. You have so much hope, so many dreams and you believe you can achieve anything. So yeah, definitely, I think so, yeah.
Do: No. School days were hell on Earth for me. It was the worst days of my life.
D: They’re quite stressful because you have exams, but I do think they’re fun: being able to be with your friends every day. So I do think that school days are good days in your life.
C: Looking back on it, I had a great time at school. I’m sure at the time it seemed a little difficult, you know, trying to fit in, but now when I look back on it, they were fun days and, you know, I look at them very fondly.
R: For me, personally, my school days were my favourite because I’ve still got friends from, going back twenty-odd years.
Ch: That’s when I’ve created the most valuable relationships I have in my life.
L: For most people, yes, but when I left school at sixteen I was a fulltime footballer at Ipswich Town football club for two years. So, living away from home with friends and doing, kind of, the best thing I could do in my life, were the best two years of my life.
- What do you think you will have achieved in five years’ time?
- What do you think you will be doing this time next year?
- What do you think you will be doing in ten years time?
- In the future, in what ways do you hope to be developing your career?
- Is there anything about the future that doesn’t bother you in the slightest?
- What were your dreams and ambitions for the future when you were a child?
- Have you achieved your childhood dreams?
- What kinds of ambitions and dreams do young people have in your country?
- ‘Anything is possible if you’re prepared to chase your dreams.’ Do you agree?
- Rank the factors to make your dreams come true in order of importance. Give your reasons.
hard work
family support
determination
self-confidence
money
talent
luck
family support
determination
self-confidence
money
talent
luck
What are you looking forward to in the future?
Is there anything you aren’t looking forward to?
People say that your school days are the best days of your life. Do you think that’s true?
P: Hi. I’m really excited about the next few months. I’m DJing on the banks of the River Thames in the heart of London and I’m playing some beach parties. Today I’ve come to Covent Garden to find out how people feel about their lives. What are you looking forward to in the future?C: I’m looking forward to having a family: I don’t have a family right now. I’m looking forward to buying a house – I actually live in the United States right now and I haven’t bought a house there, so I’m looking forward to that. And I guess I’m looking forward to more travel.
T: Finding a job that I’m really passionate about.
L: Near future, I’m looking forward to a holiday next year. I’m going to Vegas a family that I haven’t been away with for about five or six years now.
D: Getting a good job. Finishing university.
Do: Nothing really. I’ve kind of enjoy my life at the moment. I live in Australia now and I’ve got things the way we like them at home and life’s good.
R: Starting a new job next summer.
P: Is there anything you aren’t looking forward to?
T: No, no there’s nothing I can think about that I’m not looking forward to in the future.
L: The one thing that I’d have thought most people say is dying. Quite serious, but, other than that, no – I kind of embrace life to the full; look forward to most things.
Ch: I have to say, the premise of getting older and with getting older you have more responsibilities, so that’s one thing I’m not looking forward to.
C: Well, I’m not looking forward to retiring: I like my job and I like working and I think I’ll be a little bored when I retire.
D: It’s quite stressful looking for jobs and going to job interviews, so I do get nervous about that.
Do: Getting older. Your body starting to fall to bits. Not looking forward to that, but it’ll happen.
P: People say that your school days are the best days of your life. Do you think that’s true?
T: Absolutely. I do, yes, because you’re, the world is your oyster. You have so much hope, so many dreams and you believe you can achieve anything. So yeah, definitely, I think so, yeah.
Do: No. School days were hell on Earth for me. It was the worst days of my life.
D: They’re quite stressful because you have exams, but I do think they’re fun: being able to be with your friends every day. So I do think that school days are good days in your life.
C: Looking back on it, I had a great time at school. I’m sure at the time it seemed a little difficult, you know, trying to fit in, but now when I look back on it, they were fun days and, you know, I look at them very fondly.
R: For me, personally, my school days were my favourite because I’ve still got friends from, going back twenty-odd years.
Ch: That’s when I’ve created the most valuable relationships I have in my life.
L: For most people, yes, but when I left school at sixteen I was a fulltime footballer at Ipswich Town football club for two years. So, living away from home with friends and doing, kind of, the best thing I could do in my life, were the best two years of my life.
jueves, 28 de mayo de 2015
Stories from Holiday Inn® Hotels: Casey Gerald
Each summer MBAs Across America recruits MBAs from the top colleges to work and learn with visionary entrepreneurs all across the country to help change lives. Here's Casey Gerald's story.
Just in that moment that I accepted that I was about to die, everything slowed down and there was peace. I've got my hands tied behind my back and a gun to my head. If that night had been my last nobody would have asked me "What was your after tax income?"
First time that I saw... what mattered really wasn't what I was able to get but what I was willing to give.
We launched MBAs Across America last year. We recruit teams of MBAs from top business schools. And they dedicate their summer to spending six weeks in six cities working with an entrepreneur in each city.
What we're doing is reasserting the American Dream by working with visionary entrepreneurs to create new jobs and change more lives.
So we went to Holiday Inn because we heard about this thing that they had right? This "Journey to Extraordinary". This program wouldn't exist without Holiday Inn, to be honest with you. We didn't have the money. We didn't have the support.
I never imagined I'd be sitting here talking about 32 MBAs, 48 entrepreneurs, 26 cities. "Journey to Extraordinary" is not just a slogan. It's an alignment of the spirit of a company.
I grew up in your typical inner city. Everybody was broke. Everybody had issues at home. By the time I was in the seventh grade, both of my parents were out of my life.
Growing up in Texas football is everything. And so I had big dreams, you know, of playing in the big leagues. One day my junior year a guy showed up. He said "Hey do you want to play football at Yale?" Folks started hearing about this kid from Oak Cliff, Texas being recruited by Yale. And I'd go to church and old ladies would be crying, they say "Oh man you really... you got to do this."
From the time I was a freshman to the time I was a senior was really a transformation. To see that there was this whole world of opportunity. Totally changed my view of what was possible.
We're in Detroit this week with six of our eight teams.
It was here where we met Sebastian Jackson. He uses his barber shop to really make a second chance for his city.
Jeff and Cassandra with Sweet Potato Sensations, they have built a business that is one of the most successful small businesses in Detroit.
Veronica Scott at the Detroit Empowerment Plant, the fact that she would come up with a product that is so warm as a coat and so durable and so versatile that it can double as a sleeping bag to help people survive on the streets in Detroit is incredible. But then you think about her commitment to hiring women who used to be homeless and might not have gotten a second chance.
If you just looked at the material balance sheet of Detroit, it'd be bankrupt. But what's not seen are all the people that give a damn. I've seen change in the individual. When all the signs say "You ought to leave," they stayed to build businesses not just because of profit but because of purpose. What if business leaders had been baptized in the spirit of America. Had see what our fellows have seen in communities like Detroit. I think those organizations would be far better.
What we're doing is going into the American Dream's corner and saying get back up. Not just in the major hubs, not just for the chosen few, but for everybody.
That's the plan.
Just in that moment that I accepted that I was about to die, everything slowed down and there was peace. I've got my hands tied behind my back and a gun to my head. If that night had been my last nobody would have asked me "What was your after tax income?"
First time that I saw... what mattered really wasn't what I was able to get but what I was willing to give.
We launched MBAs Across America last year. We recruit teams of MBAs from top business schools. And they dedicate their summer to spending six weeks in six cities working with an entrepreneur in each city.
What we're doing is reasserting the American Dream by working with visionary entrepreneurs to create new jobs and change more lives.
So we went to Holiday Inn because we heard about this thing that they had right? This "Journey to Extraordinary". This program wouldn't exist without Holiday Inn, to be honest with you. We didn't have the money. We didn't have the support.
I never imagined I'd be sitting here talking about 32 MBAs, 48 entrepreneurs, 26 cities. "Journey to Extraordinary" is not just a slogan. It's an alignment of the spirit of a company.
I grew up in your typical inner city. Everybody was broke. Everybody had issues at home. By the time I was in the seventh grade, both of my parents were out of my life.
Growing up in Texas football is everything. And so I had big dreams, you know, of playing in the big leagues. One day my junior year a guy showed up. He said "Hey do you want to play football at Yale?" Folks started hearing about this kid from Oak Cliff, Texas being recruited by Yale. And I'd go to church and old ladies would be crying, they say "Oh man you really... you got to do this."
From the time I was a freshman to the time I was a senior was really a transformation. To see that there was this whole world of opportunity. Totally changed my view of what was possible.
We're in Detroit this week with six of our eight teams.
It was here where we met Sebastian Jackson. He uses his barber shop to really make a second chance for his city.
Jeff and Cassandra with Sweet Potato Sensations, they have built a business that is one of the most successful small businesses in Detroit.
Veronica Scott at the Detroit Empowerment Plant, the fact that she would come up with a product that is so warm as a coat and so durable and so versatile that it can double as a sleeping bag to help people survive on the streets in Detroit is incredible. But then you think about her commitment to hiring women who used to be homeless and might not have gotten a second chance.
If you just looked at the material balance sheet of Detroit, it'd be bankrupt. But what's not seen are all the people that give a damn. I've seen change in the individual. When all the signs say "You ought to leave," they stayed to build businesses not just because of profit but because of purpose. What if business leaders had been baptized in the spirit of America. Had see what our fellows have seen in communities like Detroit. I think those organizations would be far better.
What we're doing is going into the American Dream's corner and saying get back up. Not just in the major hubs, not just for the chosen few, but for everybody.
That's the plan.
viernes, 1 de mayo de 2015
Stories from Holiday Inn® Hotels: Majora Carter
Social entrepreneur Majora Carter is a woman on a mission to end poverty in the US. She's shared her story on this video.
I lived through the era that was called the Bronx is Burning. Landlords were torching their own buildings, to collect insurance money, because that was more profitable. The buildings at either end of my block burned down, and my brother was killed in a gang related murder. Overnight, tons of people that I knew were just gone and I never saw them again. That's when I started planning my escape. I knew I was a pretty smart kid, and I knew that education was a pathway out. I was going to go someplace big and I was never going to look back at this neighborhood.
This is the block I grew up on. I went to Wesley University, but I was really broke and had to move back in with my parents. It was one of the worse feelings of defeat I have ever experienced in my life. All the things I thought about my community and thus myself, that it was somehow just inherently wrong, and bad, and worthless. One way to really put a stake in the ground, was developing a park that was on a waterfront that was formerly used as a dump.
She said, "I'm doing all of this work restoring the Bronx River, we're turning this old vacant lot into a beautiful park, we need people to use it." I said, well that's amazing because we are trying to build boats but we don't have a body of water to put them in. We are a youth and community development organization in the South Bronx. It's not about teaching kids how to build boats, its about using these tools as mediums to help them grow and empower responsible adults and successful people.
For all of my life my home was blocks away from the river but I had never seen it.
She brought me down here, I checked it out, I was like oh my God! This is the spot.
I remember feeling that this was the way to go, developing this community. This corner, where there used to be a burned down building, now holds Startup Box. Startup Box South Bronx is a technology entrepreneurship project. Right now in low income communities, what you often find is lots of people using technology but not making it. We can train people to do quality assurance in the games industry. It's a good idea, I want to take it and spread that message so my being able to travel allows me to spread all the good news that I get and do it in a good way.
I probably spend about a third of the year on the road. A lot of hotels. What I look for is a place that clearly somebody cared about when they designed it. This is going to be your home away from home. Is this the neighborhood I want to live in? For that night, that's my neighborhood, and I want to feel indelved by this sense of calm, and that's a great hotel for me. When you don't want to leave, you know you've got something great to go to. That's what I'm trying to do, create these happy, healthy communities where folks feel as though they can afford to be productive, and gracious, and kind, and loving to themselves and to other people.
I know what it feels like to feel as though you don't matter. All I really want to do is help people understand that they do
I lived through the era that was called the Bronx is Burning. Landlords were torching their own buildings, to collect insurance money, because that was more profitable. The buildings at either end of my block burned down, and my brother was killed in a gang related murder. Overnight, tons of people that I knew were just gone and I never saw them again. That's when I started planning my escape. I knew I was a pretty smart kid, and I knew that education was a pathway out. I was going to go someplace big and I was never going to look back at this neighborhood.
This is the block I grew up on. I went to Wesley University, but I was really broke and had to move back in with my parents. It was one of the worse feelings of defeat I have ever experienced in my life. All the things I thought about my community and thus myself, that it was somehow just inherently wrong, and bad, and worthless. One way to really put a stake in the ground, was developing a park that was on a waterfront that was formerly used as a dump.
She said, "I'm doing all of this work restoring the Bronx River, we're turning this old vacant lot into a beautiful park, we need people to use it." I said, well that's amazing because we are trying to build boats but we don't have a body of water to put them in. We are a youth and community development organization in the South Bronx. It's not about teaching kids how to build boats, its about using these tools as mediums to help them grow and empower responsible adults and successful people.
For all of my life my home was blocks away from the river but I had never seen it.
She brought me down here, I checked it out, I was like oh my God! This is the spot.
I remember feeling that this was the way to go, developing this community. This corner, where there used to be a burned down building, now holds Startup Box. Startup Box South Bronx is a technology entrepreneurship project. Right now in low income communities, what you often find is lots of people using technology but not making it. We can train people to do quality assurance in the games industry. It's a good idea, I want to take it and spread that message so my being able to travel allows me to spread all the good news that I get and do it in a good way.
I probably spend about a third of the year on the road. A lot of hotels. What I look for is a place that clearly somebody cared about when they designed it. This is going to be your home away from home. Is this the neighborhood I want to live in? For that night, that's my neighborhood, and I want to feel indelved by this sense of calm, and that's a great hotel for me. When you don't want to leave, you know you've got something great to go to. That's what I'm trying to do, create these happy, healthy communities where folks feel as though they can afford to be productive, and gracious, and kind, and loving to themselves and to other people.
I know what it feels like to feel as though you don't matter. All I really want to do is help people understand that they do
viernes, 27 de febrero de 2015
Holiday Inn® Hotels: Scott Rigsby
This is the story of Scott and the way an accident changed his life forever.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for (strong) intermediate 2 students.
1 How old was Scott when he had the accident?
2 What question did he ask the doctor while he was recovering?
3 What addictions and health issues did he fall into as a result of his condition?
4 What does ‘3 times a day’ refer to?
5 What adjectives does the doctor use to refer to Scott?
6 How does Julie, a member from the staff from Holiday Inn in Panama City, Florida, describe her grandma?
7 What analogy does Scott use to describe Julie’s contribution to his recovery process?
My life radically changed in nine seconds. I was an 18-year-old kid (1) sitting on the back of a pick-up truck. This 18-wheeler clipped our vehicle, I got knocked off. That was the last day that I had my legs. I was thinking about girls and going off to college and being with my friends. I asked that doctor if I'd be able to run ever again (2) and he told me, "No." Then, I was gripped in a state of fear and doubt and uncertainty.
This is the prosthetic foot, and I'm going to take it off...
Here's a young guy that lost his leg, so it's really critical, it's a big deal. And Scott was having kind of a hard time.
Depression and alcoholism and drug addiction (3). I really didn't want to live anymore.
Scott just needed someone to come along and say, "It's going to be OK."
My rehab nurse checked me in to their Holiday Inn in Panama City, Florida. My legs were getting made here, and when I met Julie, her staff at the Holiday Inn Resort, they became my family, they became my rehab center.
Scott had so many strikes against him, many times over, he just kept getting up.
I was in a wheelchair, so I ate meals here 3 times a day (4). All my clothes were washed here. I continued to stay week after week after week until it was thousands of dollars. Now, I didn't have enough money, but Julie never put any pressure on me. If Julie had not helped me, then I would have been homeless.
We really didn't know what was in store for Scott.
I sat in this hotel room and I dreamed about running, swimming in the ocean again, thinking about being able to ride a bike.
Scott was always a winner. He grabs life with gusto. He's very eager, he's very motivated, he's not afraid. He's a very strong (5) individual.
I was the first double amputee in the world to ever finish the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon when I never was supposed to run, ever. I got the right team to help me on this journey of hope and healing and restoration.
All people who've achieved great things don't do it alone. You have help along the way. Perhaps, it goes back to my grandmother who was a real people person (6). That's what this business is all about. You can have all the beautiful buildings in the world, but if you don't have people who really care and express that to others, then you really have very little.
Hey, Scott.
Hey. You look good, yeah.
I'm glad you're here.
Scott is an inspiration to all of us.
You've seen fathers take their young kids and hold the bike while they're trying to ride it (7). They held me while I was trying to live life. Julie allowed me the opportunity, and sometimes, that's all we need is an opportunity because that produces hope.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for (strong) intermediate 2 students.
1 How old was Scott when he had the accident?
2 What question did he ask the doctor while he was recovering?
3 What addictions and health issues did he fall into as a result of his condition?
4 What does ‘3 times a day’ refer to?
5 What adjectives does the doctor use to refer to Scott?
6 How does Julie, a member from the staff from Holiday Inn in Panama City, Florida, describe her grandma?
7 What analogy does Scott use to describe Julie’s contribution to his recovery process?
My life radically changed in nine seconds. I was an 18-year-old kid (1) sitting on the back of a pick-up truck. This 18-wheeler clipped our vehicle, I got knocked off. That was the last day that I had my legs. I was thinking about girls and going off to college and being with my friends. I asked that doctor if I'd be able to run ever again (2) and he told me, "No." Then, I was gripped in a state of fear and doubt and uncertainty.
This is the prosthetic foot, and I'm going to take it off...
Here's a young guy that lost his leg, so it's really critical, it's a big deal. And Scott was having kind of a hard time.
Depression and alcoholism and drug addiction (3). I really didn't want to live anymore.
Scott just needed someone to come along and say, "It's going to be OK."
My rehab nurse checked me in to their Holiday Inn in Panama City, Florida. My legs were getting made here, and when I met Julie, her staff at the Holiday Inn Resort, they became my family, they became my rehab center.
Scott had so many strikes against him, many times over, he just kept getting up.
I was in a wheelchair, so I ate meals here 3 times a day (4). All my clothes were washed here. I continued to stay week after week after week until it was thousands of dollars. Now, I didn't have enough money, but Julie never put any pressure on me. If Julie had not helped me, then I would have been homeless.
We really didn't know what was in store for Scott.
I sat in this hotel room and I dreamed about running, swimming in the ocean again, thinking about being able to ride a bike.
Scott was always a winner. He grabs life with gusto. He's very eager, he's very motivated, he's not afraid. He's a very strong (5) individual.
I was the first double amputee in the world to ever finish the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon when I never was supposed to run, ever. I got the right team to help me on this journey of hope and healing and restoration.
All people who've achieved great things don't do it alone. You have help along the way. Perhaps, it goes back to my grandmother who was a real people person (6). That's what this business is all about. You can have all the beautiful buildings in the world, but if you don't have people who really care and express that to others, then you really have very little.
Hey, Scott.
Hey. You look good, yeah.
I'm glad you're here.
Scott is an inspiration to all of us.
You've seen fathers take their young kids and hold the bike while they're trying to ride it (7). They held me while I was trying to live life. Julie allowed me the opportunity, and sometimes, that's all we need is an opportunity because that produces hope.
martes, 16 de abril de 2013
Real English series: Achievement
Our Real English video series is coming to an end today after twenty-three weeks. We haven't dealt with all the videos on the Real English site by any means, but I feel that most of the remaining clips and lessons are oriented to advanced learners and touch on topics like English learning, poverty, homelessness, music, and so on that we have already posted about on the blog.
The main purpose of the 'Tuesday's posts' is trying to provide English learners at lower levels with some kind of listening input that helps them in their learning process, and I am really grateful to Michael Marzio and all the staff behind Real English for all the work they have put it on the site and for their generosity in sharing their work with all of us.
Today's videos revolve around the topic of achievement, which is just fine for us as language learners as we are trying hard to learn English and improve day by day. That's a really remarkable achievement, and a difficult one to accomplish if you don't live in an English-speaking country.
Passers-by are all asked the same question, with some small variations, and depending on the answer there are some other follow-up questions:
What do you hope to achieve before you die?
What do you expect to accomplish before you die?
What do you hope, or want to achieve before you die?
What do you want to be remembered for when you die?
Is there anything in particular that you hope to achieve before it's all over?
The videos are suitable for strong intermediate 2 and advanced students, although some speakers can be understood by the average intermediate student.
This is the first part of the video.
You can read a transcript for the video on the Real English site here.
This is the second part of the video.
You can read a transcript for the video on the Real English site here.
The main purpose of the 'Tuesday's posts' is trying to provide English learners at lower levels with some kind of listening input that helps them in their learning process, and I am really grateful to Michael Marzio and all the staff behind Real English for all the work they have put it on the site and for their generosity in sharing their work with all of us.
Today's videos revolve around the topic of achievement, which is just fine for us as language learners as we are trying hard to learn English and improve day by day. That's a really remarkable achievement, and a difficult one to accomplish if you don't live in an English-speaking country.
Passers-by are all asked the same question, with some small variations, and depending on the answer there are some other follow-up questions:
What do you hope to achieve before you die?
What do you expect to accomplish before you die?
What do you hope, or want to achieve before you die?
What do you want to be remembered for when you die?
Is there anything in particular that you hope to achieve before it's all over?
The videos are suitable for strong intermediate 2 and advanced students, although some speakers can be understood by the average intermediate student.
This is the first part of the video.
You can read a transcript for the video on the Real English site here.
This is the second part of the video.
lunes, 7 de enero de 2013
Felix Baumgartner’s jump: Video activity
Felix Baumgartner made history on 14 October 2012 by jumping off a balloon more than 39km up in the stratosphere.
This is a CBS report recorded after his big achievement. It may be a bit difficult for students at an intermediate level, but the questions below will give them a good opportunity to revise numbers and focus their attention while listening and trying to get the main ideas in the interview.
Self-study activity:
Watch the CBS video and answer the questions.
1 How many times has the jump been watched on YouTube?
2 How long did it take him to go up into the sky in a balloon?
3 How long would it take him to die if something went wrong?
4 How old is Felix?
5 How long did Felix have to find a solution when problems started?
6 How fast was he going?
7 When had the old record been set?
8 What was the main problem Felix had to overcome?
9 How long did he have to spend in his suit?
10 Who helped him to overcome his fear?
11 What’s the second problem that they mention?
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking space jump has now been watched more than 52m times on YouTube. Well on Sunday the Austrian native became the first skydriver, skydiver I should say, to break the speed of sound. Now only on CBS this morning he tells Ben Tracey what it felt like and why he did it.
[Landing on the parking lot everything has to go real quick.]
Felix Baumgartner has jumped off the tallest buildings in the world, raced an airplane through the sky, and crossed the English Channel with a wing strapped on his back.
[There’s the release!]
But this past Sunday as he spent two and a half hours riding a 55 story balloon 24 miles into the sky, he admits his nickname ‘Fearless Felix’ did not fit.
People referred to you as fearless Felix. I imagine fear has to creep in at some point.
You would not be human if you would not have fear. And up there, if something goes wrong, you're dead in 15 seconds.
[There’s a world up there…]
When the capsule door opened, 43-year-old Baumgartner was on the biggest high of his life, 128,000 feet in the air. In Los Angeles Thursday, Baumgartner took us through a replay of his jump.
That door opens up. What does it look like, what does it sound like?
It is overwhelming. I mean, that view, and also the fact that when you're standing there, there's not a single person on the whole planet who have experienced this moment. It's unique.
He uttered four more words: "I'm going home now," and jumped into the stratosphere.
So you jump off and everything looks great and then all of a sudden you start to tumble, right there. What does it feel like?
It starts ramping up, really violent, and then I knew, 'OK, now I have to come up with something,’ and I had to find a solution, and I only had 40 seconds because then it's all over.
All over because he'd hit thicker air and that would slow him down and prevent him from reaching the speed of sound. But instead, he regained control, free falling for four minutes and 20 seconds, hitting Mach 1.24, 834 miles per hour.
You get to the point where you’re travelling at the speed of sound, but you’re also in this suit. So physically do you have a sense of how fast you’re going?
In the beginning because the air is so thin, you don't have that noise, so you have almost no sensation of speed. You know you're fast, but you don't feel it.
They were feeling it in Mission Control where 84-year-old Joe Kittinger watched Baumgartner break the height and speed records he set back in 1960.
This three-hour spectacle took five years of planning. It was not a fear of heights that Felix had to overcome, but rather claustrophobia.
The only way to go up to the altitude is you have to use a pressure suit, otherwise you're gonna die. And just the thought of spending seven hours in the suit, which is pretty much a whole day, starts freaking me out. It's not supersonic speed, it's not the height that was the problem. It was the suit. Nobody anticipated that.
A psychiatrist helped him deal with that. But there was another adjustment: his attitude.
At one point you had a reputation as a bit of a hot head, how have you changed?
Well, I think I’ve changed a lot. I think you're changing with age, become more quiet, maybe a little bit smarter. You have to become a little bit more humble.
Even if you create the sonic boom heard round the world.
It’s the only supersonic boom created from the human person that exists in the whole world.
And what does it mean to you to know you’re a boom?
It means a lot.
Because jumping from the heavens it’s not without being without fear, it’s about diving right into it.
This is a CBS report recorded after his big achievement. It may be a bit difficult for students at an intermediate level, but the questions below will give them a good opportunity to revise numbers and focus their attention while listening and trying to get the main ideas in the interview.
Self-study activity:
Watch the CBS video and answer the questions.
1 How many times has the jump been watched on YouTube?
2 How long did it take him to go up into the sky in a balloon?
3 How long would it take him to die if something went wrong?
4 How old is Felix?
5 How long did Felix have to find a solution when problems started?
6 How fast was he going?
7 When had the old record been set?
8 What was the main problem Felix had to overcome?
9 How long did he have to spend in his suit?
10 Who helped him to overcome his fear?
11 What’s the second problem that they mention?
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking space jump has now been watched more than 52m times on YouTube. Well on Sunday the Austrian native became the first skydriver, skydiver I should say, to break the speed of sound. Now only on CBS this morning he tells Ben Tracey what it felt like and why he did it.
[Landing on the parking lot everything has to go real quick.]
Felix Baumgartner has jumped off the tallest buildings in the world, raced an airplane through the sky, and crossed the English Channel with a wing strapped on his back.
[There’s the release!]
But this past Sunday as he spent two and a half hours riding a 55 story balloon 24 miles into the sky, he admits his nickname ‘Fearless Felix’ did not fit.
People referred to you as fearless Felix. I imagine fear has to creep in at some point.
You would not be human if you would not have fear. And up there, if something goes wrong, you're dead in 15 seconds.
[There’s a world up there…]
When the capsule door opened, 43-year-old Baumgartner was on the biggest high of his life, 128,000 feet in the air. In Los Angeles Thursday, Baumgartner took us through a replay of his jump.
That door opens up. What does it look like, what does it sound like?
It is overwhelming. I mean, that view, and also the fact that when you're standing there, there's not a single person on the whole planet who have experienced this moment. It's unique.
He uttered four more words: "I'm going home now," and jumped into the stratosphere.
So you jump off and everything looks great and then all of a sudden you start to tumble, right there. What does it feel like?
It starts ramping up, really violent, and then I knew, 'OK, now I have to come up with something,’ and I had to find a solution, and I only had 40 seconds because then it's all over.
All over because he'd hit thicker air and that would slow him down and prevent him from reaching the speed of sound. But instead, he regained control, free falling for four minutes and 20 seconds, hitting Mach 1.24, 834 miles per hour.
You get to the point where you’re travelling at the speed of sound, but you’re also in this suit. So physically do you have a sense of how fast you’re going?
In the beginning because the air is so thin, you don't have that noise, so you have almost no sensation of speed. You know you're fast, but you don't feel it.
They were feeling it in Mission Control where 84-year-old Joe Kittinger watched Baumgartner break the height and speed records he set back in 1960.
This three-hour spectacle took five years of planning. It was not a fear of heights that Felix had to overcome, but rather claustrophobia.
The only way to go up to the altitude is you have to use a pressure suit, otherwise you're gonna die. And just the thought of spending seven hours in the suit, which is pretty much a whole day, starts freaking me out. It's not supersonic speed, it's not the height that was the problem. It was the suit. Nobody anticipated that.
A psychiatrist helped him deal with that. But there was another adjustment: his attitude.
At one point you had a reputation as a bit of a hot head, how have you changed?
Well, I think I’ve changed a lot. I think you're changing with age, become more quiet, maybe a little bit smarter. You have to become a little bit more humble.
Even if you create the sonic boom heard round the world.
It’s the only supersonic boom created from the human person that exists in the whole world.
And what does it mean to you to know you’re a boom?
It means a lot.
Because jumping from the heavens it’s not without being without fear, it’s about diving right into it.
lunes, 5 de noviembre de 2012
At Niagara Falls
Nik Wallenda has become the first man to walk over the Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip and say what the following refers to. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
25
550
5
33
Grand Canyon
To correct the activity, you can read the transcript below.
25 minutes and 550 metres which made stunt history. Daredevil Nik Wallenda has become the first man to cross the high winds and mist of Niagara Falls, on a 5-centimetre-wide tightrope, even running and praying along the way.
Arriving on the Canadian side, he hugged his family and greeted border officials, who jokingly asked for the 33-year-old American’s passport and asked the purpose of his visit. Nick’s clearly delighted at his success:
Thank all of you for being here. I feel like I’m on Cloud Nine right now. As everyone knows, this is something that I’ve dreamt of for a long, long time, and it just became a reality. The impossible is not quite impossible, if you set your mind to it.
And his next trick? A little hole in the ground called the Grand Canyon. Watch this very large space.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip and say what the following refers to. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
25
550
5
33
Grand Canyon
To correct the activity, you can read the transcript below.
25 minutes and 550 metres which made stunt history. Daredevil Nik Wallenda has become the first man to cross the high winds and mist of Niagara Falls, on a 5-centimetre-wide tightrope, even running and praying along the way.
Arriving on the Canadian side, he hugged his family and greeted border officials, who jokingly asked for the 33-year-old American’s passport and asked the purpose of his visit. Nick’s clearly delighted at his success:
Thank all of you for being here. I feel like I’m on Cloud Nine right now. As everyone knows, this is something that I’ve dreamt of for a long, long time, and it just became a reality. The impossible is not quite impossible, if you set your mind to it.
And his next trick? A little hole in the ground called the Grand Canyon. Watch this very large space.
martes, 28 de agosto de 2012
US astronaut Neil Armstrong dies: Video listening activity
On 25th August astronaut Neil Armstrong died. We have been flooded with news and reports about this sad event. I think that this BBC video clip is more than suitable for a listening activity intended for intermediate students.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip by clicking on the picture or the BBC link and answer the questions below.
1 What was the problem the Apollo 11 had to face right before landing on the Moon?
2 When did Neil Armstrong start flying?
3 What did he do before becoming a test pilot?
4 What negative characteristic of his personality is mentioned?
5 What characteristics made him suitable to command the Apollo mission?
6 What did he do after his return from the Moon?
7 What was happening while President Obama was talking to the Apollo 11 crew?
8 What was the positive effect of the moon landing for mankind?
To check your answers you can read the transcript below.
If you wish to find out more about Neil Armstrong and the first landing on the moon, you can watch this BBC4 documentary. It is really long, one hour, and unfortunately there are no subtitles available.
In July 1969 the world watched in awe as Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
“It’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The commander of the Apollo 11 mission had earlier manually piloted the lunar module to a suitable landing site with just seconds of fuel to spare…
“Listen… The Eagle has landed.”
… to the obvious relief of mission control.
“You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.”
Tonight his family said “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hopes that it serves as an example to young people around the world.”
And a man who walked beside him on the lunar surface issued his own tribute.
“I was fortunate enough to be one of those crew members and to fly with an outstanding test pilot, Neil Armstrong, and accompany him in the Lunar Module Eagle. We’re missing a great spokesman and leader in the space programme.”
A pilot from the age of 16, Neil Armstrong flew 78 missions during the Korean War before working as a test pilot flying rocket powered aircraft at Edwards Airforce Base. He was chosen as an astronaut for the Gemini Programme bringing his Gemini spacecraft safely to earth in March 1966 after it got out of control while reentering the atmosphere. Though painfully shy his professional approach and coolness under pressure, shown here when he ejected during training on a lunar landing module, made him a natural choice to command the Apollo mission.
Following his return from the moon, Neil Armstrong avoided publicity and became a professor at Cincinnati University. On the 30th anniversary of his historic landing he made a rare public appearance which summed up his view of the moon landings.
“The important achievement of Apollo was the demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited.”
Ten years later the Apollo 11 crew were feted by President Obama to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their mission, but as hands were being shaken the White House was making plans to scrap the Space Shuttle Programme ending the US’s man space programme. When I met Neil Armstrong later that year he wouldn’t speak out publicly against a decision that angered him and many of his Apollo astronauts, but when I spoke to him 15 years ago he was confident that one day astronauts would follow in his footsteps back to the Moon and maybe on to Mars.
“The dream remains, the reality has faded a bit but it will come back in time.”
Although the flag was American, it was a moment that belonged to the world, bringing together a warring planet and showing us all what humanity could achieve.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip by clicking on the picture or the BBC link and answer the questions below.
1 What was the problem the Apollo 11 had to face right before landing on the Moon?
2 When did Neil Armstrong start flying?
3 What did he do before becoming a test pilot?
4 What negative characteristic of his personality is mentioned?
5 What characteristics made him suitable to command the Apollo mission?
6 What did he do after his return from the Moon?
7 What was happening while President Obama was talking to the Apollo 11 crew?
8 What was the positive effect of the moon landing for mankind?
To check your answers you can read the transcript below.
If you wish to find out more about Neil Armstrong and the first landing on the moon, you can watch this BBC4 documentary. It is really long, one hour, and unfortunately there are no subtitles available.
In July 1969 the world watched in awe as Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
“It’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The commander of the Apollo 11 mission had earlier manually piloted the lunar module to a suitable landing site with just seconds of fuel to spare…
“Listen… The Eagle has landed.”
… to the obvious relief of mission control.
“You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.”
Tonight his family said “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hopes that it serves as an example to young people around the world.”
And a man who walked beside him on the lunar surface issued his own tribute.
“I was fortunate enough to be one of those crew members and to fly with an outstanding test pilot, Neil Armstrong, and accompany him in the Lunar Module Eagle. We’re missing a great spokesman and leader in the space programme.”
A pilot from the age of 16, Neil Armstrong flew 78 missions during the Korean War before working as a test pilot flying rocket powered aircraft at Edwards Airforce Base. He was chosen as an astronaut for the Gemini Programme bringing his Gemini spacecraft safely to earth in March 1966 after it got out of control while reentering the atmosphere. Though painfully shy his professional approach and coolness under pressure, shown here when he ejected during training on a lunar landing module, made him a natural choice to command the Apollo mission.
Following his return from the moon, Neil Armstrong avoided publicity and became a professor at Cincinnati University. On the 30th anniversary of his historic landing he made a rare public appearance which summed up his view of the moon landings.
“The important achievement of Apollo was the demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited.”
Ten years later the Apollo 11 crew were feted by President Obama to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their mission, but as hands were being shaken the White House was making plans to scrap the Space Shuttle Programme ending the US’s man space programme. When I met Neil Armstrong later that year he wouldn’t speak out publicly against a decision that angered him and many of his Apollo astronauts, but when I spoke to him 15 years ago he was confident that one day astronauts would follow in his footsteps back to the Moon and maybe on to Mars.
“The dream remains, the reality has faded a bit but it will come back in time.”
Although the flag was American, it was a moment that belonged to the world, bringing together a warring planet and showing us all what humanity could achieve.
martes, 28 de febrero de 2012
Speakout Intermediate: Trying new things (success)
How do you feel about trying new things?
What stops you from trying new things?
What have you achieved in your life that makes you feel proud?
Who do you admire for their achievements and why?
These are the questions today's interviewees answer in the new installment of Speakout Intermediate, Longman.
Now it's over to you. If possible, get together with an English-speaking friend or relative and answer the questions above about yourself.
You can read the transcript here.
What stops you from trying new things?
What have you achieved in your life that makes you feel proud?
Who do you admire for their achievements and why?
These are the questions today's interviewees answer in the new installment of Speakout Intermediate, Longman.
Now it's over to you. If possible, get together with an English-speaking friend or relative and answer the questions above about yourself.
You can read the transcript here.
viernes, 27 de mayo de 2011
First female marine pilot
Self-study activity:
Watch this short profile about Jennifer Grieves, the first woman marine one pilot, and complete the transcript below with the missing words.
To me it’s really not about being a woman. It’s just about being a Marine and I think that, I think I’ve always had that (1) ... . And I flew as a co-pilot for a couple of years and then I got qualified as a what's called the White House Aircraft (2) ... . And then 14 months ago I got designated as a Marine One so I’ve been allowed to fly the President for a while now which has been pretty, pretty honoring.
The guys came off from their (3) ... to fly with me yesterday in the other aircraft which I thought was kind of exceptional, and it meant the world to me.
When I first flew President Bush, it was the first female who would ever sat in the right (4) ... of this helicopter so, he came on board, and he walked in and he went to shake my hand and he kind of did a (5) ... and he said, good morning, ma’am, and I said, good morning and he smiled at me, and I knew, I kind of felt what he was thinking, and he walked back to the back, and he was great ever since. So, just like President Obama, I think the fact that they both have daughters makes it a little more special for them and, I’ve been very proud to serve for both former President Bush and currently President Obama.
He always comes on board and says hi, he’s very friendly. He came in, he said hello, he said, hello to Major Marino and then he walked back to the back. And then we flew over to Andrews Air Force Base and he walked up the front and he gave me one of his personal (6) ..., and then he said he was very proud of us. He said he’s always felt like he was always in good (7) ... with all of us. He said he’s very, very grateful for the armed services and our service.
I tried very hard not to smile, and you know, I tried to be a very cordial one and I think the moment was (8) ... and it was a very special day for me, and then he said goodbye, and he walked off and he flew to New York and he did, uh, he did his job.
Key:
1 focus 2 Commander 3 day-off 4 seat 5 double-take 6 coins 7 hands 8 overwhelming
Watch this short profile about Jennifer Grieves, the first woman marine one pilot, and complete the transcript below with the missing words.
To me it’s really not about being a woman. It’s just about being a Marine and I think that, I think I’ve always had that (1) ... . And I flew as a co-pilot for a couple of years and then I got qualified as a what's called the White House Aircraft (2) ... . And then 14 months ago I got designated as a Marine One so I’ve been allowed to fly the President for a while now which has been pretty, pretty honoring.
The guys came off from their (3) ... to fly with me yesterday in the other aircraft which I thought was kind of exceptional, and it meant the world to me.
When I first flew President Bush, it was the first female who would ever sat in the right (4) ... of this helicopter so, he came on board, and he walked in and he went to shake my hand and he kind of did a (5) ... and he said, good morning, ma’am, and I said, good morning and he smiled at me, and I knew, I kind of felt what he was thinking, and he walked back to the back, and he was great ever since. So, just like President Obama, I think the fact that they both have daughters makes it a little more special for them and, I’ve been very proud to serve for both former President Bush and currently President Obama.
He always comes on board and says hi, he’s very friendly. He came in, he said hello, he said, hello to Major Marino and then he walked back to the back. And then we flew over to Andrews Air Force Base and he walked up the front and he gave me one of his personal (6) ..., and then he said he was very proud of us. He said he’s always felt like he was always in good (7) ... with all of us. He said he’s very, very grateful for the armed services and our service.
I tried very hard not to smile, and you know, I tried to be a very cordial one and I think the moment was (8) ... and it was a very special day for me, and then he said goodbye, and he walked off and he flew to New York and he did, uh, he did his job.
Key:
1 focus 2 Commander 3 day-off 4 seat 5 double-take 6 coins 7 hands 8 overwhelming
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)