The bare necessities
The students at the biotech company I teach at work veeeery hard, and I’m just translating a study on biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in Munich that is super interesting, so you’d think that’s what we’ll be discussing next lesson, right? Wrong. There was a request, you see, to compare the German and the English text of […]
Susan Boyle Sings on Britain’s Got Talent
Britain’s got Talent! As for the opening act of the season, we were told as children: Don’t judge a book by its cover. The old “freakshow” is alive and well, and it’s still got morals for the masses. The embedded video doesn’t run, so see it here. What I’m doing with this A group of […]
Peace! and laughter
Easter is traditionally associated with peace. Here’s a wonderful old news reel. It’s September 1943, in the middle of WWII, and Mrs. Eleanore Roosevelt, the First Lady, is standing on a stage, in uniform, telling a humanitarian joke. http://www.archive.org/details/1943-09-30_Mrs_FDR_Tells_One “Just as the Marines were in order to leave Guadalcanal, an officer found a private (Gefreiter), […]
Pub talk and Lisa Hannigan
I know you need it to break the ice but… I hate small talk. I love pub talk. Life is jut too short to waste on banal subjects, and it is just so marvellous to meet people and find common interests. That’s why I enjoy going to the pub to meet friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Eamonn […]
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Feeling a bit out of sorts with your job or looking for orientation? That’s a good time to do a questionnaire like MTBI, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. That’s a test HR managers and headhunters love to use. It’s based on C. G. Jung’s analysis of how we make decisions, with its opposite pairs: thinking […]
The origins of acceptance speeches
Armstrong and Miller What I’m doing with this My business English class tonight will get this video and the “Cromagnon English” text below and use it as a scaffold (Gerüst) to give a speech on something they have accomplished with their team. We give thanks to mighty warrior Ug, – Slayer of cave beast – […]
The origins of small talk
Armstrong and Miller
