Accent

18 Oct How is China “Making” Athletes for the Olympics?

Posted at 12:15h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, British, Management, Partial Lesson Plan, Popular Culture, Sport, The Economist

With 400,000 children in special Olympic schools, China has the biggest mass recruitment and training programme in the world. This lesson plan has not been developed but you can follow a simple “listen, summarise, compare and contrast” formula....

18 Oct How McDonald’s Really Makes Money

Posted at 11:25h in B1 - Intermediate, Business, North America, Partial Lesson Plan, Polymatter, Popular Culture

McDonald’s is, first and foremost, a real estate company. Glancing at its 2019 balance sheet, one number, in particular, should grab your attention: $39 billion. 85% of its restaurants are owned by someone who essentially ‘leases’ the McDonald’s name and brand, in exchange for a...

18 Oct How Rwanda is Becoming the Singapore of Africa

Posted at 11:08h in B2 - Upper-intermediate, Business, CNBC International, Economics, North America, Partial Lesson Plan, Politics

Africa is often viewed quite poorly on the world stage. The continent holds plenty of violent, corrupt, and unstable nations and the majority of world’s least developed countries, but Africa is big. There are 54 countries there and not all fall into the generalizations of...

14 Oct Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam

Posted at 11:53h in B1 - Intermediate, Business, Funny, North America, Partial Lesson Plan, Popular Culture

People may think of the diamond engagement ring as a timeless symbol of love but it turns out this ancient tradition was invented less than a century ago by the De Beers diamond corporation. ...

06 Oct Corruption is legal in America

Posted at 11:48h in B2 - Upper-intermediate, Business, Economics, North America, Partial Lesson Plan, Politics

For this powerful video on lobbying, you can “compare and contrast” with life in Europe and the influence of Big Corps here. ...

The simple reason things always go wrong: the Peter Principle

04 Oct Why seemingly smart people make stupid mistakes

Posted at 11:53h in B2 - Upper-intermediate, British, Funny, Partial Lesson Plan, Popular Culture, Problem Solving, Psychology

This is an amusing (and well made) video about seemingly intelligent people make mistakes. It follows "The Peter Principle", which is the theory that everyone gets promoted until they end up doing a bad job and don't get promoted anymore. ...

28 May Why Scooter Startups Are Worth Billions

Posted at 15:58h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Polymatter, Technology

Scooters (patinetes) have been getting a lot of bad press recently (these headlines are real) and they are incredibly popular so there should be a lot of opinions on the subject. This lesson is quite easy for vocabulary and the narrator speaks VERY slowly and clearly. It can...

26 May Secrets The Lottery Doesn’t Want You To Know

Posted at 17:37h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Popular Culture, Psychology

This lesson is based on the potential downsides of winning the lottery (yes, really!). The lesson can be approached in several different ways and adapted to suit your students and it is in “chapters” so you can also pick and choose depending on interest, time and...

26 May How Winning An Oscar Became About Money

Posted at 17:14h in B2 - Upper-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Popular Culture

The video talks about the influence and somewhat dirty tactics of Harvey Weinstein, who has been in the spotlight for a few years now due to his abuse of power and rape cases. This is obviously a lesson to be timed before or after the...

21 May Why Does China Care So Much About The Moon?

Posted at 16:51h in A2 - Pre-intermediate, Business, Complete Lesson Plan, North America, Politics, Polymatter, Technology

This lesson is based around the latest space race kicked off by China recently landing on the far side of the moon. The narrator at this Youtube video channel, PollyMatter, speaks particularly slowly and clearly so should be good for intermediate students while still being a good one for...