martes, 9 de abril de 2019

Grit: The Key to Success

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.

domingo, 7 de abril de 2019

Men's & Women's Brains

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:

"Men & Women", a set of controversial statements which students can discuss, first in pairs and then, as a class.

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: