St. Patrick's Day

With social restrictions in place because of COVID19, St. Patrick's Day is going to be celebrated differently again in 2021, but, it is still going to be a worldwide online celebration.  To join in the fun, and feel the spirit of Paddy's Day, here you can watch a selection of videos and a quiz.

The first video comes from The Economist, and it explains the history and relevance of St. Patrick's Day as a celebration of the brand "Ireland" and "Guinness", Ireland's main export to the world. The video is only 2':22" long, the pace of the narrator's voice is not fast, and there are good subtitles, so it is suitable for B1 students and above.

For a more institutional version of the "Ireland" brand, you can watch this serious 2021 video produced by the Irish Foreign Ministry, which lasts 3':06", and has subtitles, but whose language and background music, make it more suitable for B2 students and above.

SmarterTravel shows a tourist view of St. Patrick's Day celebration in the streets and pubs of Dublin back in 2018, in this 1':13" video with big, simple text and no voice, which is also suitable for B1 students.

C1 students and above can visit the webpage of the Irish Times and do a general knowledge test about Irishology.

And finally, to rejoice your heart, you can tap your foot to the catchy rhythm of an Irish song and enjoy this cute video by Jess Glynn, published in 2014, which can be recommended for B1 students and even for lower levels. Happy Paddy's Day!

Abelone Kelley March 16, 2021 0

Oral Presentations and Public Speaking Tips

December is a good month for oral presentations. Students have a long bank holiday in Spain and not many university exams yet, so they can prepare a short, five-minute presentation about a topic of their choice. This activity takes only three lessons, one to give them encouragement and basic guidelines and two lessons for the presentations themselves, all in all, from 5/ 6:30 hours of classroom time and the results are always impressive.

Here you can find a Lesson Plan for B2, C1 and C2 students which revolves around an Interactive Exercise that was originally published by Allyn & Bacon Public Speaking (www.abpublicspeaking.com, but this link is no longer available on the web), which has been adapted for B2, C1 and C2 students. You can also find the Key to the Interactive Exercise, which the teacher can use to give students the main guidelines for the task, and an Oral Presentation Checklist to help the teacher assess the presentations. 

You can also find three more handouts: 10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills by Marjorie North from Harvard Extension School, Oral Presentations from Duke University Writing Studio, and a glossary with Useful Language for Oral Presentations, that my colleague Mar C. once passed me, which can be a really useful vocabulary list. In addition, C1 and C2 students can also watch this 14':46" video with subtitles by Thomas Frank and listen to his 9 Public Speaking Tips:

YouTube is loaded with videos to help students start speaking in public, here you can find two more links: Presentations in English, How to Give a Presentation by Oxford Online English, which is suitable for B2 and less experienced students, and 6 Public Speaking Tips to Hook Any Audience, by Mohamed Qahtani, which can be interesting for C2 students who want to incorporate basic acting techniques to present longer monologues and engage their audiences. And the best models for modern, oral rhetoric  can currently be found at TED Talks.

Some of the words you will find in the Interacative Exercise Key are: to churn, to wring [wet], to spell disaster, to dispel, the flow [of your points], setting, reservations to overcome, the adrenaline rush, to tighten, self-defeating, to discard, time constraints, time slot, to disrupt, an issue, to undermine, to strive [for comfort], a cap with a bill, overly loose clothing, blousy sleeves, smooth, to mar [the flow of speech], to interject, to stare, to scan, to dwell, the prevailing [norm], to avert from [direct eye contact], to pace [back and forth], to sway [to and fro], the culprit, to set up [a display table], a slide show, to enhance [my presentation], to engage [the audience], a rule of thumb, the razzle and dazzle, a back up [plan], a [computer] crashes, a bulb blows, overhead [transparencies].

Abelone Kelley December 11, 2020 0

The Future of Jobs: the Most Valuable Skills for 2021-2025

In the challenging economic scenario of a global pandemic, which has brought about confinements, telework, shop closures, furlough schemes, but also new business opportunities for pharmaceutical or computer companies, what are the top job skills that thriving companies are seeking in their new recruits? Here you have a collection of four articles that list the most highly demanded soft and tech skills in the corporate world.

The first article comes form HR Vision, it quotes the recently published World Economic Forum report, "The Future of Jobs", which predicts that by 2025, in the summit of a digital and biological revolution -the 4th Industrial Revolution- companies will be seeking candidates with communication and interpersonal skills, the so-called "soft skills", like "complex problem solving", "critical thinking", "creativity", "people management" or "emotional intelligence" to outperform robots and get things done in a changing business environment. The complexity of the vocabulary makes this article suitable for C2 students.

You will come across words like, self-driving cars, quantum computing, on the cusp of [the Fourth Industrial Revolution], lightning speed [advancements], [a] mind-bloggling [change], to earmark, genomics, to thrive [in this brave new world], to survey, leading [companies], to strap yourself, to rev up, flux capacitator, a balance beam, to swing, to leap, to twirl, back and forth, limber, to shed [new] light, nimble, to flex [our cognitive muscles], to take up, try your hand at [an art class], to glaze over, the comfort zone, to embrace, to flag, for the time being, to be high up [on the list], to shine a spotlight on [consumers], carbon footprint, food safety, labour standards, a grip on [service oritentation], to step into [the minds], the knack [for strong decision-making skills], to nab [seventh spot], sheer [volume], to amass, to sift through, to figure out, to set aside [time], overwhelming, skillsets, to give a boost, to play off, to piggyback, artsy, seemingly, to unleash, on a regular basis, to wander, to weigh up [the pros and cons], savvy, to give [humans] a run for their money, to top [the list], settings, in a nutshell, at breakneck speed, core [skills], to zero in, to be honed, the holy grail, to keep apace [with the changes].

ToolBox, quotes various sources to list the top 10 technical skills in demand for 2021: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) top the list, followed by Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing -dominated by market leader Amazon AWS, which is building three new data processing centres in Aragon- and Data Analytics. This article contains a lot of technical jargon, so it is classified above C2 and it is recommended for Experts (level Ex).

Here, you will find words such as [IT] openings, fierce [competition], high-paying [jobs], [the most] sought-after [tech skills], to grab [top-paying jobs], in-demand, pegged, core, to mine [data], insights, pro, neural networks, natural language processing, robotics, deep learning, chatbot, in the wake of [pandemic recovery], [top technology] trends, to range from, ethical hacker, a prospective [employer], a sexy [job], to rule the roost, to rely on [data], highly valued, to crown as [the top emerging in-demand role], data wrangling, k-means clustering technique, software developers, shortcomings, latency, edge computing, to bypass, the Internet of Things (IoT), to fit in, versed in, embedded systems, rampant, to focus on, scrum, to pursue [excellence], to reckon, to pair, to advance [a career], to open up, back-end [framework skills], the job [outlook], to spruce up, double-digit [growth], to qualify [for a position], to upgrade, to match [your career goals], 

LinkedIn Learning lists the top skills needed in 2020, and the courses where you can learn those skills (for free only up to February 2020). At the end of the article, you can also watch a short promotional video with automatic subtitles (1':00"). This text is slightly easier, so, it can be read by C1 students above.

In this article you will find words and expressions like: to surface, timely [data], in-demand, to stand out, to unlock, to hone, highly sought after [skills], to dive into [the list], to make or break, to take on [new opportunities], to top [the list], soft skills, [top] spots, evergreen, to gravitate towards, to fall off [the list], to advance [your career], to brush up, stakeholders, [follow your] lead, to embrace [reality], to show up, stressful, to underscore, blockchain, to highlight, workforce, asset, to be run, [to uncover] insights, to augment, to harness [the power of AI...], the [average] attention span], expertise, a must-have [hard skill], to leverage, [to be] hyper-targeted, to be hard pressed, [the sales] funnel, insatiable [appetite for video content], to cultivate [essential soft skills], to be empowered, 

Finally, here you can read the list of the top job skills for 2025 from the World Economic Forum webpage, and an estimate of how long it will take employees to reskill.  This article is suitable for C1 students.

In this article, you will encounter words like: to reskill, to top [the list], resilience, to require, double-disruption, to take hold, to map, to track, at our disposal, the bounty, to be leveraged, to unleash, to upskill, to deploy [safety nets], to be displaced, destitution, bespoke, to thrive, to estimate, a shift, in-demand [skills], gaps, core [skills], to track, granularity, cross-cutting [skills], to pick up [new skills], a sharp [rise], trend, a fourfold [increase], to seek out [opportunities], fivefold, ninefold, funding, to purse [new opportunities].

Abelone Kelley November 29, 2020 0

Display Copy: Old Clothes are the Newest Thing in Fashion

Display Copy is a new fashion magazine that just features vintage and thrifted items from second hand and charity shops like eBay, Etsy or the Salvation Army, but pictured by top-notch models and photographers. "The idea was to make used clothes desirable", says Brian Hemingway, editor of the magazine.  The New York Times reports that "upcycling" is gaining momentum in the fashion industry, and well-established brand names like Miu-Miu, Levi's, Maison Margiela, Patagonia, Gucci, Stella McCartney or Burberry have launched collections of recycled clothes and have set up second life stores.  This article is suitable for C1 students.

You will come across words like: disposablility, chic, a host of big brands, joy, upcycling, the cover [of a magazine], to feature, to debut, newsstands, a plus-size model, inclusivity, glossy shoots, vintage, secondhand, thrifted, pre-loved, for resale, a stream of [mostly] on-line shoppable [content], collectible, sustainable, [upcycled] apparel, 18-karat gold, to scour flea markets [for inspiration], to embrace, to tweak, to refashion, to jazz up, to unveil, a buyback [program], denim, to follow the footsteps, garments, charity shops, to deconstruct, to rework, to double down on [the idea], to come in the wake of, pioneer, attire, partnership, second life store, samples and pieces, to gather [dust], closet, to sell off, embellishment, tags, one-off, quasi-couture, to plot, to reissue, a cape, premier, to put the spotlight on, conventional wisdom, to addle [their senses], to risk [losing their attention], [wallet] share, to turn out, short term, to reek of [insecurity], to rely on [freneticism], white noise, to boost sales, a glut [of stuff], the value proposition, to hang on to [a garment], to be done with [something], to grapple with [the impact of..., the problem], [systems] weren't in place, housedress, leftover fabric, pandemic, lockdown, mills, deadstock, to prompt [Farfetched to expand], on-site [credit], the landfill [problem], to bolster, the [much] heralded [growth], to hit [$ 6 billion], to turn away from, to price out of [something], accessories, to co-opt, to gross out, to move on, to open a new realm [of possibility].

If you want to read on, you can try this Refinery29 article about Fall 2020 fashion trends, which includes streams of technical jargon to describe the garments in detail as well as pictures. The vocabulary of this report is suitable for C2 students.

Abelone Kelley October 24, 2020 0

100,000 Mink to be Culled in Aragon

The BBC reports that 100,000 mink are going to be culled in a farm in Puebla de Valverde (Teruel) because they have been infected with coronavirus, after Joaquín Olona, agriculture minister for the Aragon region, announced the decision yesterday.  The outbreak was discovered back in May, when the wife of a farm worker was infected with the virus.  It is not clear, though, if transmission from animals to humans and viceversa is possible.  Similar cases have been found in the Netherlands and Denmark, major producers of mink for their fur. Click here if you want more details of the story.

This report is suitable for B2 students.  You will find interesting words and expressions in context like mink, to be culled, an outbreak, to contract the virus, to test positive, to be bred for their fur, hotspots, to stress [an idea], unwittingly, an unsubstantiated theory, to pass on a disease, to be slaughtered.

Abelone Kelley July 17, 2020 0