Kofi Annan, a World Peacemaker

Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, died in August 2018, he was called "the Epitome of Human Decency and Grace" "a Guiding Force for Good", "a Giant".  In 2012, he spoke to Matthew Bannister for the programme Outlook, of the BBC World Service, and he revealed the trouble he got into at school for challenging authority; he explained how he got organised when he was a single-parent, and he recalled how once he was mistaken for the actor Morgan Freeman. This interview lasts 22:51, Kofi Anna speaks a very clear English, but there is no script.

Two Feminists Have a Conversation

American broadcaster Terry Gross interviews British singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn, who has released the album "Record", which has been acclaimed by critics.  In a woman-to-woman conversation, these two feminists talk about the inspiration for her new songs, about a young woman's terror of getting pregnant, and her urgency to have children later in life; about Tracey's long-lasting relationship with Benn Watt, her music partner and life partner, about how feminism has changed over the years, and many more things.  The interview lasts 42:30, and there is a script for support.

You can watch some of her songs on YouTube:

Sisters, a song that was inspired by the feminist rally in March 2018 in London,  it says "I am a mother, I am a sister and I fight like a girl".

In Queen, she wonders "Am I queen? Do I ever find love? Or I'm still waiting".

In Air, she talks about growing up as a girl and she sings: Oh, oh, oh, I need some air/I need air/And I like the boys, the boys, the boys, the boys/I love the boys/But they like, the girly, girly, girly, girly, girls/And look straight through me/Like plate glass, like fresh air/Like I wasn't even there/I need air/I need some air/I need air.

In Guitar, she says: I wanted you, I watched you from afar/ And I thought you cool, because you played guitar/ But you were cool, maybe still are/ Thank God I could sing and I had my guitar/ Oh, I had my guitar. 

Emily Blunt, the New Mary Poppins

You can listen to and read here an NPR interview to Emily Blunt, the British actress who plays the title role in the new version of the classic Mary Poppins. She talks about her fear of heights, her ability to imitate different accents, and how she overcame a stutter when she was young, among other things. The interview lasts 44:26, but you have a script for support.

Roma, a film by Alfonso Cuaron

Here you can read an article and listen to an NPR radio report (with a script) about the Mexican movie Roma, by Alfonso Cuaron which has been recently released in Netflix.  A film that talks about Libo, the nanny and housekeeper in Cuaron's home when he grew up in Mexico City.

Aretha Franklin: An Interview, her Biography and Some Hits

Aretha Franklin passed away in August 2018. She was an extraordinary singer, songwriter and a civil rights activist, she was known as "The Queen of Soul" (Wikipedia). Some of her hits include "Respect", which became one of the hymns of the Civic Rights Movement, "(You make me feel like) A Natural Woman", which made so many people emotional, including President Obama in 2015, "I Say a Little Prayer" a declaration of eternal love, "Think", a black woman's liberation song, or her impromptu performace of "Nessum dorma" at the Amy Awards ceremony, which is reported here on ABC News.

***

She gave rare interviews, but in 1999 she talked to Terry Gross for Fresh Air on NPR, about her upbringing and her background in gospel, and her gradual exposure to jazz and pop music.  She also talked about her professional career in Columbia and Atlantic records, the recording of some of her major hits, like "Respect", her relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, and her work with opera arias.  On the webpage you can find a written summary of the interview, but you can also listen to the full interview (47:55), and read the transcipt for support.

Best Movies of 2018

Which were the best movies of 2018? Here your can find 3 different lists, from The New York Times,  The Guradian and Esquire Magazine.  You can choose which list to read, or you can compare lists, and you can finally make your own personal list of the best movies of 2018. Have you seen any of them? What's your opinion?

The New York Times Best Movies 2018: Roma, Burning, Shoplifters, Zama, Happy as Lazzaro, BlackKklansman, First Reformed, The Death of Stalin, Monrovia, Indiana and Colophone (for the Arboretum Cycle).

The Top UK movies of 2018, according to The Guardian are: Roma, Phantom Thread, Leave No Trace, Loveless, Private Life, Black Panther, Cold War, Widows, Coco and Hereditary.

Finally at the top of the list of the 2018 films, according to the Esquire, you can find: Mandy, Annihilation, Love After Low, The Rider, Cold War, You Were Never Really Hear, First Reformed, Zama, Eighth Grade and Thunder Road.

Best Songs of 2018 by NPR

Here you can find a compilation of the best songs of 2018 according to the staff of NPR.  Household names like Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Lana del Rey, David Byrne, Sade or Mariah Carey, together with less well-know artists like Jorja Smith, Peggy Gou, Tonina or Haley Heynderickxx make up this select list. Hip-hop, Latin, jazz, pop, singer-songwriters, a wide range of styles for people of great taste, like you.

Best Books of 2018 by the the New York Times

In the New York Times list of the best 10 books of 2018 you can find a roman à clef, whose prose is clean and lean, a novel about the AIDS epidemic and its repercussions over decades, a domestic thriller about the relationships between a mother and a nanny, a picaresque journey in search of identity, an insight into private prisons, a memoir of a Mormon girl who didn't go to school until she went to college and earned a PhD, the biography of Douglass, Abraham Lincoln's conscience, an essay about the history and science of Psychedelic drug experience, a memoir of Steve Job's daughter, and a tale about slavery, exploration and discovery.

Top Dog Names 2018

What are the most popular dog names of the year in the USA? Listen to this short news report (1:02) from NPR and find out. Is your dog's name in the list?

Art is Everywhere, 2018 by Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 6

This music radio show participates in the project "Art Is Everywhere" where listeners can send in their works of art, which are exhibited at a digital Gallery on the show's website.  Look at the pictures! Sure you can find one that you really love, and you can listen to the music and interviews on the radio programme at the same time.  The radio programme used to be broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 to 10:00 CET, but in 2019, Mary Anne Hobbs has a daily programme Monday to Friday on BBC radio 6 from 11:30 to 14:00 CET.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4FVJ1DZNKr41XsfcMmM5K8n/art-is-everywhere-2018

British Doctors to Prescribe Arts & Culture

The UK's Health Secretary has recently encouraged British doctors to prescribe Arts, Culture & Social Activities to improve the health and wellbeing of patients.

Below you can find a reading and speaking task for B2 students and upwards:

British Doctors To Prescribe Arts & Culture to Patients: “The Arts Are Essential to our Health and Wellbeing”

http://www.openculture.com/2018/11/british-doctors-prescribe-arts-culture-patients-arts-essential-health-wellbeing.html?fbclid=IwAR1twbVdGCZzrfDNOcf0ccrQuLHLPn3eqShV_BQu96GxCvylcl3MTM9J6a0

in Art, Health, Life | November 12th, 2018 

Photo by Adam Jones, via Wikimedia Commons

The arts and humanities are afterthoughts in many American schools, rarely given (0) ______ priority________ as part of a comprehensive education, though they formed the basis of one for thousands of years elsewhere. One might say something similar of preventative medicine in the U.S. (1) _______________________. It’s tempting to idealize the priorities of other wealthy countries. The Japanese investment in “forest bathing,” for example, comes to mind, or Finnish public schools and France's funding of an Alzheimer’s village.

But everyplace has its problems, and no country is an island, exempt from the global pressures of capital or hostile interference.

But if we consider such things as art, music, and dance as essential—not only to an education, but to our general (2) _________________ —we must commend the UK’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, for his “social prescribing” initiative.

Hancock wants “the country’s doctors to prescribe therapeutic art- or hobby-based treatments for ailments ranging from dementia to psychosis, lung conditions and mental health issues,” reports Meilan Solly at Smithsonian. The plan “could find patients enrolled in dance classes and singing lessons, or perhaps enjoying a personalized music playlist.”

In a speech Hancock delivered on what happened to be election day in the U.S., he referred to a quote from Confucius that represents one particularly ancient educational tradition: “Music produces a kind of pleasure, which human nature cannot do without.” (He also quotes the Rolling Stones' “Satisfaction.”) Hancock’s idea goes beyond aristocratic traditions of old, proclaiming a diet of the arts for everyone.

They’re not just a right in their own terms as the search for truth and expression of the human condition. We shouldn’t only value them for the role they play in bringing meaning and dignity to our lives. We should value the arts and social activities because they’re essential to our health and wellbeing. And that’s not me as a former Culture Secretary saying it. It’s scientifically proven. Access to the arts and social activities improves people’s mental and physical health.

We’ve (3) ____________________  all come across research on the tremendous health benefits of what Warnock calls “social activities,” maintaining friendships and getting out and about. But what does the research into art and health say? “The medical benefits of engaging with the arts are well-recorded,” Solly writes, citing studies of (4) ______ ________________ making great strides after performing with the Royal Philharmonic; dance lessons improving clarity and concentration among those with early psychosis; and those with lung conditions improving with singing lessons. Additionally, many studies have shown the emotional lift museum visits and other cultural activities of a social nature can give.

Similar trials have taken place in Canada, but the UK project is “simultaneously more (5) ___________________ and less fleshed-out,” aiming to encourage everything from cooking classes, playing bingo, and gardening to “more culturally focused ventures.” The proposal does not, however, fully address funding or accessibility issues for the most at-risk patients. Hancock’s rhetoric also perhaps heedlessly pits “more prevention and perspiration” against “popping pills and Prozac,” a characterization that seems to trivialize drug therapies and create a false binary where the two approaches can work well hand-in-hand.

Nonetheless, a shift away from “over-medicalising” and toward preventative and (6) _______________________ has the potential to address not only chronic symptoms of disease, but the non-medical causes—including stress, isolation, and sadness—that contribute to and worsen illness. The plan may (7) __________________ a rigorously individualized implementation by physicians and it will "start at a disadvantage," with 4% cuts per year to the NHS budget until 2021, as Royal College of Nursing public health expert Helen Donovan points out.

Those (8) ______________ aside, given all we know about the importance of emotional well-being to physical health, it’s hard to argue with Hancock’s premise. “Access to the arts improves people’s mental and physical health,” he tweeted during his November 6th roll-out of the initiative. “It makes us happier and healthier." Art is not a luxury, but a necessary ingredient in human flourishing, and yet "the arts do not tend to be thought of in medical terms," writes professor of health humanities Paul Crawford, though they constitute a "shadow health service," bringing us a kind of happiness, I’d argue with Confucius, that we simply cannot find anywhere else.

1.- Vocabulary:    Fill-in the gaps with one of the words or phrases below.

priority	comprehensive	likely
stroke survivors	healthcare system	challenges
holistic approaches	well-being	require

2.- Reading Comprehension

1.- What does Matt Hancock want British doctors to do?

2.- What does research say about the medical benefits of art?

3.- Can you explain what the phrase in paragraph 8 “create a false binary” means?

4.- How is this proposal going to be funded?

3.- Speaking:  Discuss the following statements

1.-"Access to the arts improves people's mental and physical health".

2.- "More perspiration against popping pills and Prozac".

3.-"The proposal does not fully address funding and accessibility issues (#8).

The Most Expensive Ham in the World

How much are you prepared to pay for the top-notch leg of Spanish ham? This BBC report talks about the most expensive Spanish ham in the world.

Paul Nicklen, a Conservation Photographer

Paul Nicklen is a conservation photographer that has taken the most spectacular pictures of wildlife in the Artic and Antarctic.  Here you can read an interview where he talks about the risks and the fascination of his work.

If you want to see some of his pictures, please, click here.

Manal al Sharif, a Women's Rights Activist

You can read here an interview to Manal al Sharif, the Saudi woman who led a women's rights movement by driving a car.

Andy Goldsworthy, an Ephemeral Artist in Nature

Here you can find an NPR interview to Andy Goldsworthy, a sculptor who uses nature to make ephemeral works of art.

You can see more examples of his art if you click here.

Why We Sleep

Here you can watch a short video with subtitles with 5 tips to help you sleep peacefully by professor Mathew Walker, a neuroscientist at University of California, Berkeley, and the author of the book Why We Sleep. Link B2.

If you want further information, you can listen to a radio interview (with the script) to Matthew Walker on NPR's programme Fresh Air.(Link C1)

Finally, you can also read an article  about the book from The Guardian.(Text B2)

"Free-Range" Parents

How much freedom or supervision should children be brought up with? This NPR story talks about an incident that sparked the old debate, once again.







Reading Comprehension Task
Read the text and answer the following questions:
 1.- What are "free-range" parents?
 2.- What happened to Danielle and Alexander Meitiv?

Listening Comprehension Task
Now listen to the radio version of the story and compare the views of the two experts, Katie Arnold and Denene Millner who are discussing the case.

Speaking Follow-up Task
If you can talk to another English speaker, now you can express your opinion about the controversy.

The Sixth Extinction

You can read here an NPR interview to Elisabeth Kolbert, author of the book The Sixth Extinction, which talks about the loss of biodiversity as a result of human activity.

Leonard Cohen: Príncipe de Asturias Awards

This is the acceptance speech that Leonard Cohen made for the Príncipe de Asturias Awards in Spain, 2011.

Shape of You by Ed Sheeran

This is the second video you are going to watch. It is by Ed Sheeran, please find more information about Ed Sheeran here.

Welcome to English News and Culture!

Welcome to this blog where you can find texts, audios, videos, songs and pictures for advanced learners of English (levels B2, C1 and C2 of the Council of Europe, and my own mishmash level Ex for "Experts", teachers and higher levels).  I hope you can find something to your liking, you linger for a while, and come back some time in the future with a friend or a colleague.

J. Ignacio Bermejo
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas nº 1, Zaragoza.