What Would Kids Do If They Were Rich?

That is the question that some BBC reporters asked a few children back in 1979 for the programme Junior That's Life. The answer is this funny video clip about the perception of wealth by innocent children that can be found on BBC Archive. 

Some of the most interesting words you can come across in this video are: cabbages, lettuce, carrots, a platinum ball, a display cabinet, a pistol, miserable, a piggy bank, a booby, jolly [rich], to polish, silly me! This video with subtitles can be watched by B2 students and above.

This video can be used to end a class about the topic "Money" with a touch of humour.  Here you can find a speaking task to discuss "Attitudes to Money",  and you can add a split reading task about two historical figures of Capitalism in the USA, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, which come with a simple vocabulary matching task with a key entitled "The Birth of Capitalism (... and Philanthropy)".  All these tasks are suitable for C1 students and even for B2 students.

Some of the most interesting words you will find in the Rockefeller biography are: a business trust, a partnership, [wealth] to soar, targeted [philanthropy], the hookworm, a trustee, a clerk, a janitor, [to feel] righteous, [transportation] rebates, pitiless, a grasping [monopoly], the boom and bust [of the business cycle], to rack up [profits], a well, a pipeline, to top out, a breakup, stock, to be broken up, [the companies' combined net worth rose] fivefold.

And in the Carnegie text: steel [industry], parlance, a bobbin [factory], a bill logger, [two companies] to merge, a pension fund, an oil derrick, a bond, a rags to riches [story], a dispute, unrest, to peak, staunch [anti-union sensibilities], to lock [the union] out, a lockout, to crush, a pivotal [demonstration], strikebreakers, to be tied in [for an assassination attempt].

Londongrad: How the British Money Laundering Machine Works

Journalist Oliver Bullough has recently published the book "Butler to the World" where he describes how the City of London has become a safe laundering machine for the Russian oligarchs, who stash their fortunes in "Londongrad" with the help of bankers, lawyers, accountants and public relations managers and with the complacency of the British "hilariously under-funded" law-enforcement agencies. In this 44-minute "Fresh Air" interview, Terry Gross discusses with Mr Bullough the ins and outs of the banking and legal system that allows the so-called Russian "kleptocrats" to enjoy a luxury life in the financial heart of Europe. 

Although the interview can be followed with a full script, the description the financial and legal procedures to protect the oligarchs' dodgy business transactions from public scrutiny, will raise the level of this task to C2. An "extended listening" exercise can be set for homework with a simple speaking mini-task that can be found on this link.

In the interview you will come across interesting words like: accountant, kleptocrats, oligarchs, to launder money, to stash [money], ill-gotten [gains], layers of shell companies, to come down to [a pretty basic calculation], chunks, high-end [property], a [giant] safety deposit box, a looting [machine], to dip into, an incredibly tightly controlled dictatorial kleptocratic system, to wage war, the purse strings, the checks and balances, penalties, a state-run business, a knockdown price, to undervalue, to speak out against [Putin], an asset, to stand up to [Putin], unwise, real estate, [to have money] offshore, saving money for the rainy day, to put [money] aside, a current account, a deposit account, to step up, to look hard enough, courtiers, an [information] leak, astonishingly [wealthy], to call on [the wealth of the oligarchs], to scramble around for [funds], [skilled sanction] busters, [Iran has been] tapped, tough [sanctions], severe [sanctions], to circumvent [the sanctions], to end up with, to be reckoned, the sheer [volume], to upend [this calculation], bling, the law-enforcement [system], [shell companies] and trusts, [Putin's] enablers, to poison, to bring legal proceedings [against journalists], to cut [them] off [from the system], to whack-a-mole [individual enablers], to name and shame, to freeze [their wealth, their assets], to seize [money, wealth], to confiscate [money], to be heartened, embargo, boycott [of Russian oil], a [huge] hardship [for their economy], a [real] game changer, revenue stream, to undermine, to rely on [oil for their wealth], budget, to trace back [to 1956], disruptive, a [real] nadir [of British influence], [death] throes, [heavily] indebted, the legacy, [a huge] overhang [of debt], to stand its ground, to stagger along [in a very] diminished way, to thrash around, regulations, to open a hole in the global financial architecture, scrutiny-free, to bypass the onerous system, to single out [an individual oligarch], to sue [journalists who look into the wealth], to repurpose, at the forefront [of my mind], [really] niche, to abide by [certain regulations], [very] perilous, libel laws, to defame [someone], guilty, defamation, data protection grounds, to be on the hook [for millions of dollars worth of costs], to settle [cases against oligarchs], colossal [costs], to face up against [oligarchs], [the costs are] peanuts, vexatious [lawsuits], scary, a chilling [effect], to shut up, to pick [a fight], the cutting room floor, to be hacked, to warn me off, to tarnish [the oligarch's] reputation, a [fairly]-well trodden path, a philanthropist, a high-profile [oligarch], litigious [reputations], risk averse, to shield [oligarchs], to bolster [the system], the feds, dodgy [business], [hilariously] underfunded, to crack down on [dodgy practices], to be outmuscled [by the oligarchs], a scanty measure, offshore shell companies, gimmicky [measures]. 

Dubai's World Islands Private Mansion Tour!

 

Australian social media celebrity Supercar Blondie shows us round a luxury villa in Dubai with a snow room in the extreme heat of the desert. Check it out! If you have $24 million, you may consider buying it! This short video below (9':15") can be watched with subtitles and it is suitable for B2 students and above.

The language is cool and informal, and you will find few difficult words: to hang out, a desalination plant, sustainable, an irrigation system, stitching, the hustle and bustle, I feel like a million dollars, soak it up!, an infitity pool, tidal, super VIP, to wave [hello], inspirational [neighbours], a villa, solar power, the groceries, the mainland, make it happen!, a [Swedish] bunker, a sauna, a gym, a massage room, no way!, "glitzer" (a German word which means "glitter" or "purpurina"), ridiculous, layers.

Jaden Wolfiez Ashman, the Teenage Gamer Who Became a Millionaire

Jaden Wolfiez Ashman is a 15-year-old gamer from Essex who won $1,000.000 playing the Fortnite World Cup Finals.  He promised to buy his mum a house, and one year later he has fulfilled his promise.  The BBC Newsbeat video on this link tells us the story.  

Wolfiez talks with a teenager's working-class intonation and he uses colloquial words, which makes it a bit more difficult to understand him, but the subtitles will allow C1 students to follow it.  You will come across new words like: "e-sport, chill, quid, set-up, too fancy, step, mortgage, to frame, logo, to be plastered, to take pressure off me, childminder, living day-to-day, you are clock watching, to moan, to strive to do something".

If you want to watch an interview to Wolfiez and his mum one year before when he had just won all that money, you can click below on this "Good Morning Britain" video on ITV , which has subtitles and it is also suitable for C1 students:

Belinda Gates, a Female Philantropist

Belinda Gates, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, has published a book where she talks about how empowering women can bring about positive changes in society all over the world.  In this NPR interview, she talks about gender equality in the US and in her own relationship with Bill Gates, about philantropy and a fair tax system within the capitalist society and more.

This short interview (6':52'') with a script can be accessible to B2 students.

Peugeot Ready to Buy New Car Companies

The Peugeot family, one of the main shareholders of the PSA group (Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, Vauxhall) has stated that they are ready to support a new acquisition, if an opportunity presents itself.  Fiat Christler is a candidate for a merger, New Delhi TV reports.  This short article is classified as B2.

Reuters reports that shares of Fiat Chrisler jumped 5.2%  yesterday as a result of the Peugeot family announcement while shares of Peugeot also rose 2.7%.  Reuters mentions General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover as other ideal partners in a future merger.  This financial story contains more technical language, so it is classified as C2.

Best Tech of World Mobile Congress 2019

The World Mobile Congress in Barcelona whirled around 5G technology -which won't be widely available until 2020- while it showcased the latest in mobile phones, foldable smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Huawei Mate X or the Nokia 9 PureView -with more rear cameras than any other. But there were other gadgets on the Fira Gran Via floor:  Microsoft presented its HoloLens 2, a light mixed reality headset only available for enterprises right now.  The best camera zoom was the Oppo 10x and the biggest microSD card was the ScanDisk Extreme with 1TB of storage capacity.  Huawei launched a faster and more powerful laptop, the MateBook X Pro (2019). The prices of these devices match their top-notch quality, as you can read in this link to Mashable, which opens the door to the technology you will be using in the future.

Although the Mashable report above is short and it illustrated with photos, the density of the information and the technical vocabulary makes this text a C1 reading task.

If you still want to find out more about the organization of the WMC -the exhibitors, the speakers, the seminars, the programmes, the networking  possibilities and much more- you can click here on the official web page of the congress.  Reading this long and technical text could be a C2 task.

Crazy Rich Asians: a Hollywood Hit or a Flop?

Crazy Rich Asians is the first Hollywood release featuring an Asian and Asian-American cast since 1993's The Joy Luck Club.  It has been a box-office hit worldwide, making $230 million (Warner Bros invested $30 million in the movie). Film critic Richard Lawson describes it as a "fairy-tale romp, full of direct Cinderella references that has some muddied messaging about wealth.  Mostly it just whisks us away on a whirlwind tour of an almost fantastical world.  Crazy Rich Asians is breathless fun -but rather weightless too" (Vanity Fair). The richness of the language and the style make reading  this review a C2 task.

But in mainland China, the reception of the film has been quite different.  Katrina Yu, writing for Aljazeera, explains that Crazy Rich Asians has been a box office flop in China, it has only made $1.5 million, an "atrocious performance" according to independent China film industry consultant Jonathan Papish.  The film is not seen as "a celebration of Asian culture, but a demonisation of it", according to popular reviews on Chinese movie websites. This Arts & Culture report can also be recommended for C2 students.

Finally, you can listen to NPR and read a Fresh Air interview to Kevin Kwan, the writer of the best selling novel that the film is based on, where he talks about his upbringing in a wealthy family and his gradual exposure to Bohemian society in Singapore, and where he also responds to the criticism of the movie for starring Henry Golding, a half British, half Malay actor and model. This radio interview with a script could be accessible to C1 students.

The Coolest Gadgets for 2019

The CES 2019 at Las Vegas is the largest consumer technology fair in the world.  It showcases more than 4,500 exhibiting companies that present their latest gadgets.  Here you can find the coolest gizmos from this year's edition:  a rool-up TV screen, an electric Harley Davidson motorbike, a quantum computer, a headband for insomniacs, an instant water-heater for tea, the fastest tooth brush in the world and the most beautiful gaming monitor ever. 

CES 2019 displayed amazing innovations in TV technology.  Here you can watch a video and read an article about the latest trends in TV sets.