Speakout starter: Things

In another episode of our Speakout series, from Pearson Longman, people in the street are asked these two questions:

What’s in your bag?
What are your favourite clothes?

The video is an excellent opportunity for Básico 1 and Básico 2 students (elementary) to get familiar with the name of everyday objects and clothes.

After you have watched the video several times, try to answer the two questions above about yourself.



You can read the transcript here.

The science of love

How does love work? Why does love work? We seem to know very little about this emotional state which seems to have wondered philosophers, scientists, writers and the ordinary man in the street since the world is world.

Canadian-born singer, actor and biology student Mitchell Moffit has compiled a fast-paced two-minute video where he analyses this feeling and tries to explain it from a scientific point of view.

Self-study activity:
The difficulty of the video is quite high, which means that even strong intermediate students will find it difficult. So I would recommend watching it a couple of times at least to get familiar with Moffit's accent, the topic and ideas, and the communicative value of the images.

Then you can go over the transcript below and complete the blanks with the missing words.

Remember that you can quickly look up the meaning of unknown vocabulary items by double-clicking on the word you don't understand.



From philosophers and historians, to poets and scientists alike, love has (1) ... our imagination and curiosity for centuries. Many have experienced the rush of falling in love for the first time, or the deep feelings of love for your children, family and friends. But what is love from a biological perspective? No doubt it’s intertwined with the evolutionary survival of our (2) ... . After all you come from an unbroken line of organisms reproducing from the very first microbe that split in two, to your ancestors who have all successfully mated since the dawn of time.
Sadly, if you fail to have children this perfect streak comes to a halt. But while we’re driven to reproduce, we’re also driven to make sure our (3) ... survive.
Though we often associate love with the heart, the true magic can be seen inside the brain.
It may not be entirely surprising to find out that the brain of somebody in love looks awfully similar to one on cocaine. Cocaine acts on the pleasure centers in the brain by lowering the (4) ... at which they fire. This means that you feel really good a lot easier. We see the same thing in the brains of those in love, but it’s not just the cocaine or the love that makes you feel good it’s the fact that anything you experience will now more easily (5) ...   ...  pleasure centers and make you feel good.
Because of this you not only fall in love with the person, but begin to build a romanticized view of the world around you. Interestingly nearby pain and aversion centers begin to fire less, so you become less (6) ... by things. Simply put we love being in love.
So what chemicals are at work to make all of this happen? Both during orgasm or by simply looking at photos of a loved one, there is a surge of dopamine and norepinephrine from the ventral tegmental area. This not only (7) ... sexual arousal in your racing heart, but gives you the motivation, craving and desire to be with a person more and more. You see, romantic love is not simply an emotion, it’s a drive from the motor of the mind. And this motor brings about intense energy focused attention and (8) ... . The pleasure centers are part of the brains reward system. The mesolimbic dopamine system. If you stimulate this region while learning, learning becomes much easier because it’s pleasurable and perceived as a reward. We also see a surge in the neuromodulator oxytocin from the nucleus accumbens. Sometimes called the 'commitment neuromodulator' because in mammals it helps to (9) ... bonding or attachment. When prairie voles are injected with either oxytocin or vasopressin they will instantly find a (10) ... to pair a bond with.
Finally, studies have shown that people in love have low levels of serotonin, which is similar to people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is likely cause of our obsession and infatuation during early love. Amazingly, these areas associated with intense romantic love can remain active for decades, and while there are many other physiological and psychological components that add to the mix, the truth is, science still knows very little about exactly why or how love works. And yet somehow, we all seem to know it when we feel it. Got a burning question you want answered? Ask it in the comments, or on facebook and twitter. And subscribe for more weekly science videos.

And this is the video Mitchell Moffit submitted for the Best job in the World competition a few years ago now. He seems good fun.



Key:
1 captured 2 species 3 offspring 4 threshold 5 set off 6 bothered 7 triggers 8 elation 9 reinforce10 mate

Extensive listening: Antoni Gaudi's glorious vision

Architect Antoni Gaudi's vision for the Sagrada Familia, a church under construction for over 130 years, is depicted in this twelve-minute segment of CBS's 60 Minutes.

Watch the clip and find out the ins and outs of the building, its architect and the reasons why it is taking so long to finish.

You can read a transcript of the video here but you can also activate the CC subtitles on the lower side of the screen.

Learning English Matters

We are devoting our Saturday's posts to a kind of  hotchpotch which includes vocabulary, reading, online games, grammar and so on. We are also trying to draw your attention to interesting sites for students to learn.

A few weeks ago I got wind of Learning English Matters. Canadian-born Cristina (Crissy) Faita is the person behind this blog. She lives in Italy, where she works as an English teacher, but she also works with people from all over the world thanks to distance learning.

Learning English Matters is about "learning a little English every day", as the blog motto claims. Here you will find 'pills' to keep your English going (almost) effortlessly on a regular basis.

Learning English Matters posts deal with vocabulary, songs, audio files, videos, conversation topics, you name it! The content of the posts, like the good food, always come in small doses, which means they won't keep you busy for long, which is always an asset in this time and age.

Make a point of dropping by Learning English Matters and judge for yourself.

Battersea Power Station Project

Architect Rafael Vinoly, walks us through his design for the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and the extended site.

Self-study activity:
Watch the 5-minute video clip through in the first place to get acquainted with the ideas Rafael Vinoly sets out and to absorve some of the visual information.

Watch the video again and answer the questions below.

The video is suitable for intermediate 2 students.



1 How many residential buildings are planned?
2 What does 'three main avenues' refer to?
3 What is the main reference throughout the site?
4 What is the 'prospect'?
5 How will vehicles gain access to the site?
6 How big are the turbine halls?
7 What does 'two thousand' refer to?
8 How big is the office space?
9 What type of energy will the power station produce?

You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.

I’m Rafael Vinoly. I’m the master planner for the new project for the redevelopment of the Battersea Power Station site. The most important object of the site is, of course, the power station, which remains the central focus of the plan. The power station is then framed by two residential buildings and that guides the view towards its heart that is the main public space.
To the south of the station we are creating a hotel and an office block and two residential blocks. The access to this site then from the south is achieved through three main avenues.
The high street links the new tube station with the town square and it is a two-level pedestrian thoroughfare that is activated by retail frontages, cafes, and art galleries creating a very active urban life.
Imagine you’re exiting from the tube below. The upper level is very much linked to the lower level. From here you start seeing the architecture of the buildings that define the space of the high street leading towards the power station in the back, so the power station always remains as a main reference to orient yourself through the site.
The second and perhaps most spectacular point of access is what we call the ‘prospect’. The main purpose of the prospect is to link the lower community to the site to enable people to have a clear view of the power station from Battersea Park Road. It’s activated again by a series of cafes and opportunities for people to enjoy the space itself. It’s lined by trees highlighted by this reflecting pool that drips down into the public space to maximize the presence of the building and the whole experience of walking through the site.
Hotel Lane is a tree-lined boulevard that is the main point of entrance into the site for vehicles and main access to a new building which is a hotel that opens into a larger square which is open to the sunlight from the south.
The part will become a leisure destination for visitors, it will be a resource for the use of residents but also for the public at large.
Pathways through the open park land reflect the historic pattern and the  typical tradition of London public spaces.
All of these public spaces lead you to the experience of reencountering the power station renovated again into a very important attraction.
Both turbine halls are also going to be renovated. Each of them is the size of the Tate Modern Gallery.
Invading the centre of the power station there is a huge conference center with a wonderful two-thousand seater for banquets and events of many kinds linked directly to the access from a series of cascading stairs.
At the top of the building there are six floors of office space punctuated by a series of atriums that bring
natural light to the spaces.
The important story behind this is that the power station returns to its original function. It will become again a power station producing carbon-neutral energy venting water vapor through the original stacks.
This is a very well balanced solution for a site with an enormous set of opportunities and challenges. It will revitalize a view of the power station to create a new destination for London.

That's what I heard you say -Sony ad

I heard about this ad and poem from Kieran Donaghy through the lesson Love at first sight on his extraordinary blog Film English.

I have been tempted to devise a short gap-fill listening task about the ad, but on second thoughts, I have decided to do nothing, as I feel it is enough that we simply enjoy the sheer beauty of the images, the music and Leonard Cohen's poem without any distractions.

Once you are familiar with the poem, you can try to shadow-read it, that is, recite the poem at the same pace as Leonard Cohen. That way you English pronunciation will improve, especially as far as the rhythm is concerned.

If you have any difficulty with the vocabulary, you can double click on the word you don't understand and the meaning will immediately pop up on screen.

That's What I Heard You Say

Don’t matter if the road is long

Don’t matter if it’s steep

Don’t matter if the page is gone

It’s written that we’ll meet.

I loved you when you opened

Like a lily to the heat

And I love you when it closes

A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me

I know you had to cheat

You learned it on your father’s knee

And at your mother’s feet.

But did you have to fight your way

Across the burning street

Where all our vital interests lay

A thousand kisses deep

Leonard Cohen

Talking point: What makes you happy

This week's talking point deals with happiness. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, most of which written by KATHERINE SCHULTEN for The New York Times Learning Blog, and think about the answers. Also, try to think about any vocabulary problems you may have and try to work out your queries before the talking session starts.

• What makes you happy? Be as specific as you can in listing at least five things that make you happy. (For instance, if “home” makes you happy, say what details about it are so happy-making.)
• How could you be happier than you are now?
• How closely is money related to happiness?
• What problems may prevent people from feeling happy?
• What do you do to make others happy, whether on purpose or not?
• Have you ever made a big sacrifice for another person?
• How do other people make you happy?
• Do you think your nation should be like the Kingdom of Bhutan and have a Gross National Happiness Index? 
• If so, do you think that would measure prosperity better than income does?
• Do you agree with Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, that “when we contribute to the common good, we ourselves are enriched”? 
• Have you ever had the experience of being made happy by helping someone else?
• Do you ever literally “count your blessings,” ie, focus on the good things in your life instead of the bad? If so, what’s on your list right now?

To gain further insight into the topic you can read Harvey Morris's article for The New York Times Happy International Happiness Day.

You can also watch this Matt Morris film, Mr Happy Man, that we posted on our blog in August last year.

You can  read the transcript here.