Academic English Class

Before class watch the above video about stress, then prepare a short presentation about it to give in class (3 to 5 minutes). The presentation should be about the video's theme, but you need to find and use one other source too. You will be asked questions about your presentation in class.

Before class, as usual please watch the video, but for this weeks class I would like you to think of ten questions to ask me. As long as there is a connection to the video, you can ask anything. Usually I lead the class with my questions, but this change in format allows you, the students to lead the  conversation in class.

Before class please watch the video and answer the questions. Does  Samina Ali fit your stereotype of a Muslim woman? Why or why not? Before watching the video how would you have defined hijab ?  Has that now changed? Does the history of Islam that she presents surprise you and if so, in what way? How do you feel about her reading of the actions of some modern "so called clerics"? Do you think other religion's or society's traditionalists use a false or misunderstood history to control the lives of women? What do you know about the lives of women in ancient Japan? Do you think that traditionalists in Japan have a bad effect on the lives of Japanese women now?

  Please follow the link to TED, watch the video  and then the answer the questions below TED Why should we believe in science? Why do a lot of people not believe in science? Is faith different to science? What is Pascal's wager and how do you feel about it? Are scientific claims a leap of faith? Does the scientific method guarantee the truth? Can false theories make true predictions? What is an auxiliary hypothesis? Does all science fit into the scientific method?  Is organized scepticism a good thing? Is science an appeal to authority? How can scientists become better communicators?    たくさんの日本人は真面目に英語を勉強するが、英語を話すチャンスの時、英語を言わない。話したいけど、早くいろいろな言い訳を考える。例えば．．．「私の文法が変」、「私の質問はあまり良くない」とか「発音は自信がない」。最近アメリカの作家、MEL ROBINSの本、五秒ルールを読んだ。もし何かがしたいチャンスが来て、でも自信がなかったら、心の中で五から一までをカウントダウンして、その事を早くした方がいい。カウントダウンの中で言い訳が出来ない。すごくいい心理的なトリック。だから、もし英語を話すチャンスが来たら、あなたの心の中で、五、四、三、二、一をカウントダウンして、英語を話す。英語を頑張れ。僕は日本語を頑張ります。  英語の単語「POLYGLOT」を知っている？意味はたくさんの外国語が出来る...

This lesson's theme is attention. The video has a lot of high level vocabulary, so I am going to explain some words, phrases and idioms below, but not all. To be honest, I did not know the meaning of every word in the video, but from the context I could understand the meanings and learn the words. Everyone who is listening to something or reading something in their native language has the ability to learn word or phrase meanings from context. This is a skill that can also be learned in a second language or foreign language. So pay attention to what is said around the unknown word or to any visual clues there are. Some vocabulary: Catch attention: This is a phrasal verb used at a time where suddenly you hear or see something and you start to concentrate on it. For example:  The beautiful flowers caught my attention. One step forward, two steps back: This is an idiom expressing frustration with your progress, you feel that you progress a little, but you fall back a lot. Use...

Before class watch the video and answer the questions. How do you rate this video? What is "dog fooding" and why is it prevalent in business?   Why is it less prevalent  in tech business? Do you think children's  exposure to technology should be limited? How do you feel about your amount of screen time? How does screen time improve your life? How does screen time badly effect your life? What are stopping cues? Do you have any stopping cues? How did you feel about the Dutch company's rising desks? What did you think about Daimler's policy of deleting email for staff on holiday? 

Please watch the video and answer the questions before class. How do you rate this video? How long do you think it takes to be an expert at something?  How long do you think it would take to learn the basics of a new skill?  How much free time do you have to learn a new skill? Why do you think that the learning curve flattens out? What new skill would you like to learn?  How would you deconstruct that skill? What would you need to do to be able to self-correct? What barriers to your practice would you need to remove? After practising for twenty hours, what level of competency would you like to have?