The invasion of Ukraine has lasted for over a month now. On March 2, the BBC reported on the ongoing battles for Kharkiv, Kherson and Kyiv: the chaos, the rubble, the dispair of peaceful Ukrainians in the bomb shelters, the tears of refugee families parting into exile... This distressing report, which is introduced by Clive Myrie, an experienced BBC foreign correspondent and TV presenter, is suitable for B2 students and above.
You will come across interesting expressions like: "in broad daylight, to leave a trail of destruction, the aftermath of a deadly missile attack, the target [is] an airbase, in the rubble, to keep myself together, shooting, to have captured, sirens wail, [deserted streets] echo fear and dread, [the children made] pistols [to kill the enemy], as war closes in, to put on a brave face in, the national anthem, hit by sustained rocket fire, airborne troops, [planes] shot down, distressing images, [calm] in the wreckage [of people's homes], to hide in basements and bunkers, made a dash, to make it onto a train, to go back and forth, to refuse to be cowed, shoving forward, chaos, desperate to get on board, to swear at [all those who have caused the suffering], to flee abroad, to break down".
In the next BBC News report (29/03/22), Iryna Babich, a refugee English teacher, explains how she has found peace of mind in a Romanian monastery "Only here, at the monastery, I stopped hating. Last Sunday, I even prayed for Putin", Iryna says while she sadly misses her husband who is delivering fuel back in the besieged city of Kharkiv. This short interview can be followed by B1 students and above and you will find expressions like: "a place of retreat, prayer, meditation, my [lovely] van, just to smell [my husband, my house], stayed behind [...] delivering fuel, [a city] under Russian siege, [they can stay] as long as they wish, [I wished Putin] to become wiser, to feel sympathy to Russian troops, sunflowers in the yard, to breathe [this beautiful mountain air], they fled Ukraine, they might be home by Easter, their best hope is by summer".
One teaspoon of turmeric a day to prevent inflammation, accumulation of toxins, pain, and the outbreak of cancer. Yes, turmeric has been known since 2.5 centuries ago in India, as a plant anti-inflammatory / inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and also have a good detox properties, now proven to prevent Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Turmeric prevents inflammation: For people who
It's the Catch-22 of clinical trials: to protect pregnant women and children from the risks of untested drugs....we don't test drugs adequately for them. In the last few decades , we've been more concerned about the harms of research than of inadequately tested treatments for everyone, in fact. But for "vulnerable populations," like pregnant women and children, the default was to exclude them. And just in case any women might be, or might become, pregnant, it was often easier just to exclude us all from trials. It got so bad, that by the late 1990s, the FDA realized regulations and more for pregnant women - and women generally - had to change. The NIH (National Institutes of Health) took action too. And so few drugs had enough safety and efficacy information for children that, even in official circles, children were being called "therapeutic orphans." Action began on that, too. There is still a long way to go. But this month there was a sign that
Video is often used in the EFL classroom for listening comprehension activities, facilitating discussions and, of course, language work. But how can you exploit silent films without any language in them? Since developing learners' linguistic resources should be our primary goal (well, at least the blogger behind the blog thinks so), here are four suggestions on how language (grammar and vocabulary) can be generated from silent clips. Split-viewing Split-viewing is an information gap activity where the class is split into groups with one group facing the screen and the other with their back to the screen. The ones facing the screen than report on what they have seen - this can be done WHILE as well as AFTER they watch. Alternatively, students who are not watching (the ones sitting with their backs to the screen) can be send out of the classroom and come up with a list of the questions to ask the 'watching group'. This works particularly well with action or crime scenes with
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