In a new episode of the Speakout video podcast series, Pearson Longman, a group of passers-by answer questions on free-time activities.
What do you like to do with your friends?
What do you like to do on your own?
Do you go to concerts, plays or films in London?
Now you can answer the same questions about yourself.
You can read the transcript for the video here.
martes, 14 de mayo de 2013
lunes, 13 de mayo de 2013
Givers and Takers
Susan Dominus talks to psychologist Adam Grant about his new book, Give and Take, which takes a look at givers, takers and succeeding in the workplace.
Self-study activity:
The pace of delivery in this interview is really fast, and even strong intermediate students are going to find it difficult at times. However, I have decided to post the video because I found the topic interesting and because it may help us focus on an interesting exam strategy: The input we get through the questions in the task is very often an invaluable source of information about the content and a guideline that helps us to monitor what is being said.
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Giver, taker and matcher are the three main styles of worker.
2 Takers usually don't contribute much in an organization.
3 Most workers are takers.
4 Givers usually achieve great things.
5 Takers use the 'five-minute favour' strategy.
6 Most takers are successful in the end.
7 Gossiping through social media helps us identify the style of worker we are dealing with.
So everybody´s going to read this book and start going through their work like you know ok, giver, taker, matcher…
I actually think when people go around looking around their workplaces they are going to go giver, matcher, matcher, matcher, matcher, taker, matcher, matcher, matcher, giver, because most people are matchers. The book is called Give and Take and is about why people rise to the top or sink to the bottom in organizations. When I’ve found is there is these three sort of fundamental styles of interaction at work that exist in most industries, in most cultures around the world. And I called them ‘giver’, ‘taker’ and ‘matcher’. I think you’ve probably encountered your share of takers over the years. The takers are the people who are trying to get as much as possible from other people and contribute as little as they can in return. And then at the other end of the spectrum you have these people that I call givers, who actually enjoy contributing more to others than they receive in return.
How weird!
I know it´s very strange, who would do that, but there’s this breed of people who sort of walk around in their professional lives, making introductions, offering mentoring and providing help all without strings attached. Most people fall in the middle of that spectrum and I call them matchers. And a matcher is basically somebody who, who walks around trying to maintain an even balance of give and take.
In your book there are a lot of stories about people, you know, do achieve great things by being givers, and maybe you can talk me through a little bit about how that works because when I read that theory some friends of mine they all thought ‘that’s not the people I see at the top necessarily’.
So if you look at sales people or engineers or even medical students, the ones who are most inclined to help others are more likely to fail dramatically and also to succeed really big. One of the really big questions is what do the givers at the top do? A lot of it actually has to do with one of my favourite characters in the book, the five-minute favour. Looking for a low-cost to you but high benefit to others ways of contributing.
I love the idea of the five-minute favour its totally appealing, however, in my experience the five-minute favour tends to turn like a twenty-minute favour that day, and then there’s usually some follow-up.
This is something I´ve been trying to apply to my own life having learned it from a bunch of people in the book. When somebody asks me for help, instead of saying ‘yes, I will help you’ right away I will say ‘ok, is this something I can add unique value and helping with’. If not, let me see if I can connect you with someone else who can really contribute.
You are doing a favour to the person who needs the introduction but maybe you’re imposing on the person you are asking them to meet. I meet how does it all work?
I try to make those asked frequently are givers and I know often times what I hear back ‘hey, this is a meaningful opportunity for me to help, can you send me more like this?’ Sometimes also I’ll send those requests to people who I know are more like matchers, who I helped in the past. I wouldn’t recommend doing 5-minute favours for everyone, ok, I would ask first of all ‘are you trying to help somebody who is a giver, a taker or a matcher?’, and if the person is really a taker you may want to be a little bit more cautious.
So how is it that so many takers end up so successful?
A lot of takers succeed in the short run, but not in the long run, so, you know, trying to claim as much of value from other people as possible is often a really efficient way to get things done but it also tends to burn bridges. The world’s has gotten more connected, especially if you look at organizations and so, you know, there is this big relationship and reputation component of succeeding at work that perhaps was less salient before.
So as the world becomes more connected and social media are more prevalent, the reputational cost of being a taker are going to be spread more quickly than it maybe did twenty years ago, is that the idea?
That’s one of my predictions. Rob Wiley has some studies on this at Berkeley where he shows that people actually go around trying to punish takers, and one of the ways they do that is by gossiping and spreading negative reputational information to protect other people.
So in this way gossip turns out to be an incredibly healthy productive office activity.
It can be, yes, so Rob is calling actually, talks about pre-social gossip and the idea that you can contribute to others through sort of protecting them or at least encouraging them to keep their guard up when somebody has been so really self-absorbing in the past.
Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F 7T
Self-study activity:
The pace of delivery in this interview is really fast, and even strong intermediate students are going to find it difficult at times. However, I have decided to post the video because I found the topic interesting and because it may help us focus on an interesting exam strategy: The input we get through the questions in the task is very often an invaluable source of information about the content and a guideline that helps us to monitor what is being said.
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Giver, taker and matcher are the three main styles of worker.
2 Takers usually don't contribute much in an organization.
3 Most workers are takers.
4 Givers usually achieve great things.
5 Takers use the 'five-minute favour' strategy.
6 Most takers are successful in the end.
7 Gossiping through social media helps us identify the style of worker we are dealing with.
So everybody´s going to read this book and start going through their work like you know ok, giver, taker, matcher…
I actually think when people go around looking around their workplaces they are going to go giver, matcher, matcher, matcher, matcher, taker, matcher, matcher, matcher, giver, because most people are matchers. The book is called Give and Take and is about why people rise to the top or sink to the bottom in organizations. When I’ve found is there is these three sort of fundamental styles of interaction at work that exist in most industries, in most cultures around the world. And I called them ‘giver’, ‘taker’ and ‘matcher’. I think you’ve probably encountered your share of takers over the years. The takers are the people who are trying to get as much as possible from other people and contribute as little as they can in return. And then at the other end of the spectrum you have these people that I call givers, who actually enjoy contributing more to others than they receive in return.
How weird!
I know it´s very strange, who would do that, but there’s this breed of people who sort of walk around in their professional lives, making introductions, offering mentoring and providing help all without strings attached. Most people fall in the middle of that spectrum and I call them matchers. And a matcher is basically somebody who, who walks around trying to maintain an even balance of give and take.
In your book there are a lot of stories about people, you know, do achieve great things by being givers, and maybe you can talk me through a little bit about how that works because when I read that theory some friends of mine they all thought ‘that’s not the people I see at the top necessarily’.
So if you look at sales people or engineers or even medical students, the ones who are most inclined to help others are more likely to fail dramatically and also to succeed really big. One of the really big questions is what do the givers at the top do? A lot of it actually has to do with one of my favourite characters in the book, the five-minute favour. Looking for a low-cost to you but high benefit to others ways of contributing.
I love the idea of the five-minute favour its totally appealing, however, in my experience the five-minute favour tends to turn like a twenty-minute favour that day, and then there’s usually some follow-up.
This is something I´ve been trying to apply to my own life having learned it from a bunch of people in the book. When somebody asks me for help, instead of saying ‘yes, I will help you’ right away I will say ‘ok, is this something I can add unique value and helping with’. If not, let me see if I can connect you with someone else who can really contribute.
You are doing a favour to the person who needs the introduction but maybe you’re imposing on the person you are asking them to meet. I meet how does it all work?
I try to make those asked frequently are givers and I know often times what I hear back ‘hey, this is a meaningful opportunity for me to help, can you send me more like this?’ Sometimes also I’ll send those requests to people who I know are more like matchers, who I helped in the past. I wouldn’t recommend doing 5-minute favours for everyone, ok, I would ask first of all ‘are you trying to help somebody who is a giver, a taker or a matcher?’, and if the person is really a taker you may want to be a little bit more cautious.
So how is it that so many takers end up so successful?
A lot of takers succeed in the short run, but not in the long run, so, you know, trying to claim as much of value from other people as possible is often a really efficient way to get things done but it also tends to burn bridges. The world’s has gotten more connected, especially if you look at organizations and so, you know, there is this big relationship and reputation component of succeeding at work that perhaps was less salient before.
So as the world becomes more connected and social media are more prevalent, the reputational cost of being a taker are going to be spread more quickly than it maybe did twenty years ago, is that the idea?
That’s one of my predictions. Rob Wiley has some studies on this at Berkeley where he shows that people actually go around trying to punish takers, and one of the ways they do that is by gossiping and spreading negative reputational information to protect other people.
So in this way gossip turns out to be an incredibly healthy productive office activity.
It can be, yes, so Rob is calling actually, talks about pre-social gossip and the idea that you can contribute to others through sort of protecting them or at least encouraging them to keep their guard up when somebody has been so really self-absorbing in the past.
Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F 7T
domingo, 12 de mayo de 2013
Extensive listening: Asia’s illegal animal trade
Photographer Patrick Brown, as stated in his bio on World Photo, was born in Sheffield, England, although he spent his childhood moving to the Middle East and Africa before his family finally settled in Perth, Australia.
On leaving school, Brown taught himself photography while working as a set builder for theatre and ballet. However, he found himself increasingly drawn into documentary photography and decided to return to Africa, where he spent six weeks in Malawi documenting the work of an Australian surgeon who had once saved his own life.
Returning home, his photos soon became a major exhibition, raising thousands of dollars for charity and winning the Australian Kodak Photographer of the Year award.
Inspired by this success Patrick left for Asia in 1999. He has since made Thailand his base, devoting himself to documenting critical issues across the Asia region. His major project on the illegal trade in endangered animals won a World Press Photo award in 2004 and a multimedia award from POYi in 2008.
In this short film Patrick Brown talks about his book, Trading to Extinction, which documents the illegal trade of endangered animals in Asia.
To fully understand the documentary, you can activate the YouTube CC subtitles on the lower side of the screen.
On leaving school, Brown taught himself photography while working as a set builder for theatre and ballet. However, he found himself increasingly drawn into documentary photography and decided to return to Africa, where he spent six weeks in Malawi documenting the work of an Australian surgeon who had once saved his own life.
Returning home, his photos soon became a major exhibition, raising thousands of dollars for charity and winning the Australian Kodak Photographer of the Year award.
Inspired by this success Patrick left for Asia in 1999. He has since made Thailand his base, devoting himself to documenting critical issues across the Asia region. His major project on the illegal trade in endangered animals won a World Press Photo award in 2004 and a multimedia award from POYi in 2008.
In this short film Patrick Brown talks about his book, Trading to Extinction, which documents the illegal trade of endangered animals in Asia.
To fully understand the documentary, you can activate the YouTube CC subtitles on the lower side of the screen.
sábado, 11 de mayo de 2013
Nature works everywhere
Towards the end of March I got wind of Nature works everywhere through Richard Byrne on his excellent Free Technology for Teachers.
On Nature works everywhere we can find a number of resources for both teachers and students to get acquainted with nature and conservation: Nature works everywhere gives teachers, students and families everything they need to start exploring and understanding nature’s fantastic factory — videos, interactive games, and interactive lesson plans.
Some of the topics which are dealt with on the site are dirt, reforestation, pollinators, cleaning water, fighting fire, urban trees, the salmon, coral reefs, forests, grasslands, oyster reefs.
We also have the opportunity to meet the scientists through a number of videos.
On Nature works everywhere we can find a number of resources for both teachers and students to get acquainted with nature and conservation: Nature works everywhere gives teachers, students and families everything they need to start exploring and understanding nature’s fantastic factory — videos, interactive games, and interactive lesson plans.
Some of the topics which are dealt with on the site are dirt, reforestation, pollinators, cleaning water, fighting fire, urban trees, the salmon, coral reefs, forests, grasslands, oyster reefs.
We also have the opportunity to meet the scientists through a number of videos.
viernes, 10 de mayo de 2013
Three unique attractions in Tokyo -video activity
Tokyo is one of the world's most offbeat cities, with a character of its own. Watch this Lonely Planet video to check out three unique experiences in Japan's quirky capital.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for (strong) Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
1 Why are the girls dressed in French maid outfit?
2 What ancient Japanese tradition are maids compared to?
3 When was Pachinko first designed?
4 Who was Panchinko originally designed for?
5 When did the first Capsule Hotel open?
6 Who are the main customers of Capsule Hotels?
7 What can you find in a standard 'bedroom' or capsule in this type of hotel?
8 How much does a night cost?
For correction, you can read the transcript below. Remember to double click the vocabulary items you don't know.
Tokyo likes to do things differently. At first glance everything may seem pretty normal, but scratch the surface and the city’s true character soon begins to emerge. Here’s our top three unique experiences in Tokyo.
In any other city you think girls donned in French maid outfits will be heading to a costume party, but in Tokyo they are on the street to promote the latest Maid Café. These surreal cafés appeal to Japanese otaku, a subculture composed of obsessive comic, anime, video game and manga fans.
Maids pamper, serve and play games with male customers in what some consider to be a contemporary twist on ancient Geisha tradition.
The Pachinko Parlour is one of the noisiest places in a noisy city, and that’s how the locals like it. Pachinko was designed in the 1920’s as a children’s toy but quickly moved into an adult pastime.
The Capsule Hotel is Japan’s unique contribution to budget accommodation. The first Capsule Hotel opened in 1979 and quickly became popular with Japanese businessmen working late at the office. This simple space-age sleeping beds, contain a bed, small television and reading lamp and are still primarily used by men. While some visitors find them claustrophobic, capture hotels are a novel experience and at around 45 dollars a night, they certainly won’t break the bank.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for (strong) Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
1 Why are the girls dressed in French maid outfit?
2 What ancient Japanese tradition are maids compared to?
3 When was Pachinko first designed?
4 Who was Panchinko originally designed for?
5 When did the first Capsule Hotel open?
6 Who are the main customers of Capsule Hotels?
7 What can you find in a standard 'bedroom' or capsule in this type of hotel?
8 How much does a night cost?
For correction, you can read the transcript below. Remember to double click the vocabulary items you don't know.
Tokyo likes to do things differently. At first glance everything may seem pretty normal, but scratch the surface and the city’s true character soon begins to emerge. Here’s our top three unique experiences in Tokyo.
In any other city you think girls donned in French maid outfits will be heading to a costume party, but in Tokyo they are on the street to promote the latest Maid Café. These surreal cafés appeal to Japanese otaku, a subculture composed of obsessive comic, anime, video game and manga fans.
Maids pamper, serve and play games with male customers in what some consider to be a contemporary twist on ancient Geisha tradition.
The Pachinko Parlour is one of the noisiest places in a noisy city, and that’s how the locals like it. Pachinko was designed in the 1920’s as a children’s toy but quickly moved into an adult pastime.
The Capsule Hotel is Japan’s unique contribution to budget accommodation. The first Capsule Hotel opened in 1979 and quickly became popular with Japanese businessmen working late at the office. This simple space-age sleeping beds, contain a bed, small television and reading lamp and are still primarily used by men. While some visitors find them claustrophobic, capture hotels are a novel experience and at around 45 dollars a night, they certainly won’t break the bank.
jueves, 9 de mayo de 2013
A disastrous year for bees
America's beekeepers have struggled for nearly a decade with a mysterious disease called colony collapse disorder that kills honeybees in large numbers. However, this year the situation seems to have gone out of control..
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How many bees have died since last fall?
2 What do bee-keepers think is the reason for the death of bees?
3 What is the Environmental Protection Agency doing?
4 Why are a lot of families devastated'
5 To what extent does America's diet depend on honeybees?
6 Is the situation new to farmers?
For correction, you can read the transcript below.
The bees they are dying. We can’t keep them alive.
California’s commercial bee keepers are ringing alarm bells over record die offs from their hives. Since last fall they fear they have lost forty to fifty percent of insects on average to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. William Dahle is one of them.
When the honey bee starts dying off is similar to the canary in the mineshaft. When he canary died everybody knew to run. When honey bees die off, it’s serious.
Despite intense studies scientists have not drawn any conclusions as to the cause of the honey bees’ deaths. But many bee-keepers think they believe the swift adoption of new neonicotinoids, a new class of pesticide, plays an important role.
Right now we aren’t really sure what we are facing. We think it might be viruses, you know, have a lot to do with it. And also there’s a chemical world where they are coming out with new insecticides all the time and they seem to be detrimental to everything we do.
Manufacturers say pesticides are safe but the Environmental Protection Agency has accelerated its review of the chemicals impact on the bees and other wild life.
You have insecticides that last several weeks when they used to last just one or two days, so when the bees are out foraging even after the crops have been sprayed they still bring the insecticides home with the pollen that they carry and the nectar that they carry, they deposit that in the hive, the bees eat that and they die off.
I see it every day with every family that comes in here, I hear every story from the families… they are devastated. They are going to lose everything they’ve got.
The honeybee losses can have a significant impact on the nation’s food supply. A quarter of America’s diet depends on honeybees for pollination. Fewer bees can mean smaller harvests and higher food prices.
We use bees for pollinating watermelons, to the cantaloupes, to all your melon crops, which are a lot here in this valley. Your cherries we pollinate, your apples, I mean all your seed crops. We had, you know, a few years back we had the same sort of situation but nothing nearest as much as it has been this year. It’s bad.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How many bees have died since last fall?
2 What do bee-keepers think is the reason for the death of bees?
3 What is the Environmental Protection Agency doing?
4 Why are a lot of families devastated'
5 To what extent does America's diet depend on honeybees?
6 Is the situation new to farmers?
For correction, you can read the transcript below.
The bees they are dying. We can’t keep them alive.
California’s commercial bee keepers are ringing alarm bells over record die offs from their hives. Since last fall they fear they have lost forty to fifty percent of insects on average to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. William Dahle is one of them.
When the honey bee starts dying off is similar to the canary in the mineshaft. When he canary died everybody knew to run. When honey bees die off, it’s serious.
Despite intense studies scientists have not drawn any conclusions as to the cause of the honey bees’ deaths. But many bee-keepers think they believe the swift adoption of new neonicotinoids, a new class of pesticide, plays an important role.
Right now we aren’t really sure what we are facing. We think it might be viruses, you know, have a lot to do with it. And also there’s a chemical world where they are coming out with new insecticides all the time and they seem to be detrimental to everything we do.
Manufacturers say pesticides are safe but the Environmental Protection Agency has accelerated its review of the chemicals impact on the bees and other wild life.
You have insecticides that last several weeks when they used to last just one or two days, so when the bees are out foraging even after the crops have been sprayed they still bring the insecticides home with the pollen that they carry and the nectar that they carry, they deposit that in the hive, the bees eat that and they die off.
I see it every day with every family that comes in here, I hear every story from the families… they are devastated. They are going to lose everything they’ve got.
The honeybee losses can have a significant impact on the nation’s food supply. A quarter of America’s diet depends on honeybees for pollination. Fewer bees can mean smaller harvests and higher food prices.
We use bees for pollinating watermelons, to the cantaloupes, to all your melon crops, which are a lot here in this valley. Your cherries we pollinate, your apples, I mean all your seed crops. We had, you know, a few years back we had the same sort of situation but nothing nearest as much as it has been this year. It’s bad.
miércoles, 8 de mayo de 2013
Talking point: Dogs and pets
This week's talking point revolves around the topic of pets in general and more specifically on dogs, and how to behave towards them in this time and age. In preparation for your talking session, go over the questions below, so that you can sort out vocabulary problems beforehand and ideas flow easily when you get together with your friends.
Have you ever had a pet? If so, what's your experience like?
If not, does anyone in your close circle have a pet? What's their experience like?
What can you say about these animals? Cats, dogs, canaries, snakes, turtles, hamsters
Would you choose any of them to be your pet?
Discuss these points, all of which are related to pet-keeping:
• Do pets serve a useful function?
• Pet-owner relationships
• Keeping an animal at home: pleasures and duties
• The cost of keeping a pet
• Keeping exotic/dangerous animals at home
• Problems pets cause to people who are not their owners: dogs off a lead, dog mess, visitors at a home with a dog
• People who abandon their pets
• Animals that help people
To gain further insight into the topic, you can go over the following resources:
The Guardian article on a Wigan girl who was killed by dogs.
List of dogs banned in the UK.
You can also watch this video by Battersea Dogs and Cats home where we get to know everything we should know about dogs and how to feel safe around them.
Have you ever had a pet? If so, what's your experience like?
If not, does anyone in your close circle have a pet? What's their experience like?
What can you say about these animals? Cats, dogs, canaries, snakes, turtles, hamsters
Would you choose any of them to be your pet?
Discuss these points, all of which are related to pet-keeping:
• Do pets serve a useful function?
• Pet-owner relationships
• Keeping an animal at home: pleasures and duties
• The cost of keeping a pet
• Keeping exotic/dangerous animals at home
• Problems pets cause to people who are not their owners: dogs off a lead, dog mess, visitors at a home with a dog
• People who abandon their pets
• Animals that help people
To gain further insight into the topic, you can go over the following resources:
The Guardian article on a Wigan girl who was killed by dogs.
List of dogs banned in the UK.
You can also watch this video by Battersea Dogs and Cats home where we get to know everything we should know about dogs and how to feel safe around them.
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