Jonna Jinton is a Swedish artist who decided to move from the city to a remote little village in the North of Sweden with "no plan, no money and no job", to follow her dream and live close to nature. In the middle of the forest, she became a photographer, an artist, a blogger, and, finally, an influencer. In this beautiful video, she tells the story of her life in her slow, crystal clear English, which is subtitled, so the document can be accessible to B1 students and above.
Thanks to my student Cristina L., who sent me this link.
But in these times of global confinement, there is also a positive side: the spread of memes, jokes, and parody songs that give us sound advice with a pinch of humour. Some of the key words you'll come across: allergies, flu, hand sanitize, shivers, social isolation, the flat curve, scrubbing, sneeze, droplets, crappy, latex gloves, tissue, mask. Here, you can watch three videos. Which one do you like best?
The Beatles' "I Gotta Wash My Hands!"
Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence", in Alvin Oon's version.
Hugh Laurie (Doctor House) and Stephen Fry (Peter's Friends) became popular in the 1980's with the sketch comedy "A Bit of Fry & Laurie". Here you can watch a parody of football coaching.
This video, with subtitles, is quite visual, but there is a lot of language too, so it can be suitable for C1 students and above.
And if you are really interested in the topic, here you can find a special programme from ITV News Central on the impact of storms Ciara and Dennis. It is a 29 minute long video, and although you can use subtitles, this material is more suitable for C1 and C2 students.
Greta Thunberg is a 16 year-old girl who has become worldwide famous for her campaings to raise awareness against climate change and other environmental issues. She is very articulate in English and an excellent communicator.
Above, you can watch the emotional speech that she gave at the Climate Summit at the UN, which she reads slowly and clearly, but has no subtitles (C1) and below, you can see an interview on the Daily Show where her discourse becomes more natural and colloquial, even humorous at times, which can be accessible to B2 students.
Gender violence is a growing concern all around the world. This NPR story reports on the state of affairs in Turkey, where feminist groups are leading the protests in the streets against male violence, they are fighting for women's rights in the courts and they are volunteering to create more women's shelters to protect the victims of domestic violence.
This report could be classified as C1for its extension and vocabulary.
Angela Lee Duckworth left a high-flying job in consulting for a more demanding job as a 7th Grade Maths teacher in a New Yourk public school. Then, she left the classroom to go to graduate school and study the best predictor for success in students, rookie teachers, West Point Military Academy cadets, competitive sales people, and she found that the best predictor for success was not social intelligence, good looks, physical health or IQ, it was grit. Grit is "the passion and perseverance for very long-term goals", it is "having stamina". "Grit is living life like it is a marathon, not a sprint".
This short TED Talk video (06:12) with subtitles can be seen by B2 learners.
Are there gender differences between men and women or are we just talking about sterotypes? Are there biological differences between men's and women's brains or are the differences social and cultural? Many English coursebooks for adults use this topic to raise debate in the classroom: Gender or individual differences? Nature or nurture?
Here you can find a selection of materials to teach a lesson about gender issues, which I have used to expand the reading "How Men and Women Argue" on p. 64 of Christina Latham-Koenig's & Clive Oxenden's, English File Upper-Intermediate, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press:
Some links to TED Talks videos that could be given for listening/oral homework (students are assigned one video, they watch it at home, take notes and in the first 15 minutes of the next class they share the information in pairs):
1) John Gray, the author of the book "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" at TEDxBend
2) Daphna Joel at TEDxJaffa: Are Brains Male or Female?
3) Paul Zak, at TEDxAmsterdamWomen: The Differences Between Men and Women. This video contains more technical words, so it is more suitable for C1 or C2 students:
4) Finally, Mark Gungor, a male comedian, uses men's and women's stereotypes to make a wide audience laugh about the misunderstandings that frequently occur between men and women:
It's Nowruz, Persian New Year, a celebration of Spring for more than 300 million people around the world, including Iran, Tajikistan, Russia, Turkey, India and Iraq.
Find out more about the celebrations, Persian style, in this short BBC video with subtitles which is accessible from B2 level.
This short video is a perfect example of British comedy at its best, with Stephen Fry (Peter's Friends, etc) and Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) in "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", a BBC production. An absurd humorous sketch starting from a couple of simple questions at a police station: "What's your name? and What's your address?"
Humour is always a challenge for learners of a foreign language, but the subtitles can be invaluable help, so this video is classified as a B2 link.
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.
This story from Animalkind, a USA Today video franchise, talks about Pip, a cute street cat that was adopted by a family in the summer resort of Ocean City, Maryland, and has become a local celebrity. Pip is a restless, adventurous cat that has helped some people overcome loss and sadness and has put a smile on the face of those who have seen him playing around.
The speed of delivery in the speech and the vocabulary are challenging, so, this short video can be classified as C1, although the subtitles can make it accessible to lower level students.
The language in the interview is rather technical at times, so the interview is classified as C2, but the music Jon Batiste plays can be enjoyed by anyone at any level.