Updated TED talks schedule

 6 Dec         Ken Robinson Schools kill creativity (2006)

13 Dec        Alain deBotton    Atheism 2.0  (Jul 2011) 

20 Dec       Brett Hennig What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people                              (2018)

 3 Jan         Hans Rosling The best stats you’ve ever seen (2006)

Vocabulary revision

Below is the wordlist with most of the vocabulary we have covered this term. Make sure you can use these phrases to talk about the issues and topics we have talked about in class.

Reflections 5

Megyn Kelly, a host on an NBC morning programme, said on air, in a panel of exclusively white people, that she didn’t understand why children couldn’t wear blackface as part of their Halloween costumes. In other words, it is ok for a white person to paint their face black to pretend they are a black person. Her remark was interpreted as racist all over the States and widely criticised. She is likely to lose her job over this (albeit not without a multimillion-dollar compensation).

If you do not know the context, you could probably see nothing racist in painting your face to pretend you’re someone else. But it’s enough to look at the relevant Wikipedia page to see what connotations ‘blackface’ has in order to understand the outrage the comment triggered among black Americans. (“Blackface is a form of theatrical make-up used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes”)

On a few cable channels that covered this story, white hosts consistently turned to their black colleagues to ask for comment. As if white people don’t know if a remark is racist? And it turns out they were right. We don’t. As one of them explained – you don’t ask the attacker if what he did hurts the victim, you ask the victim. So you should ask a person of colour if a comment was racist, you should ask a gay person if someone’s words felt homophobic and you should ask a Jew whether a joke sounds antisemitic. Only the attacked have the right sensitivity to decide whether some words are harmless or offensive. It is not for Harvey Weinstein to decide if the women he invited to his hotel rooms under false pretences felt sexually abused. We have to ask the women!

We live in a relatively homogenic community of white Poles, just like Megyn Kelly probably lived in a white middle-class environment where casual racism goes undetected or seems innocent enough. What if, just like her, we lack the sensitivity necessary to see when we offend others? Especially others we are not very familiar with.

Article to read for Monday 22 Oct

Here is the article we'll discuss on Monday, 22 October (the whole class together). Make sure that you understand the words in bold.
Do animals have morals
And here is the link to the video referred to in the text of monkeys in India rescuing their mate.
Monkey Rescue

Reflection 4

A teacher friend was running his first lesson with a new class and, while he was going through some organisational things, a student said „Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?!”

This sounds vastly inappropriate to me. First, even if it was a breach of good manners not to introduce yourself to a new class, this remark is plain rude and not the way to correct anyone’s mistake (whoever this person is). Second, what has happened to respect and trust that we owe people who are supposed to teach us? The teacher may later turn out to be incompetent or unfair and then we can treat them accordingly. But during our first encounter the natural attitude should be positive expectations, not aggression.

This incident is also one of many examples of the general collapse of authorities. We are told that we are all experts and we do not need to respect and rely on other people’s knowledge and opinions. Even if these people have spent their entire lives studying an area of knowledge. For example, against the unanimous opinion of the medical community, we know better that vaccines can hurt our children even if this claim is based on some anecdotal evidence and a rigged study whose author admitted he had faked the results and was sentenced by a UK court.

Reflection 3

A friend of mine spent her holidays in Switzerland. She lived in a friend’s flat and had first-hand experience of Swiss customs. It turns out each community has very strict rules regarding parties, guests, noise, recycling (you sort rubbish into about ten categories), the times when you can take a shower, flush the toilet or run the washing machine (not after 10 p.m.). If you break the rules, your neighbours can and will call the police. My friend was delighted with the clarity and precision of these rules and the order they imposed on people’s everyday lives. Well, I am not so sure…

The rules governing people’s coexistence in communities like blocks of flats or housing estates can’t be too oppressive and inflexible. What if I have a sick child who cries all night? Or food poisoning, which makes me use the toilet every ten minutes? Do I really have to wait till morning to flush it? Or can’t I have my eighteenth birthday party at home? It’s once in a lifetime after all!

House rules should be based on mutual respect and common sense. It should be obvious that we try not to disturb our neighbours with loud noise, nasty smells or other offensive stimuli. But we should be forgiven if, once in a while, we take a shower in the middle of the night because our child threw up on us.

Reflection 2

A student asked me the same question that I had already answered a few minutes earlier. In another class another student asked about the meaning of the word that I had just spent two minutes explaining. Are they deaf? Or dumb? Or am I so boring that they can’t be bothered to pay attention?

If I optimistically assume that I am not the most boring teacher in the world, the root of this problem must be some attention issues. We can blame the Internet, smartphones, the fast pace of living and the incredible amount of (often completely unimportant) information we have to process every minute. It may be true that our brains have changed and now can’t focus on one thing for more than a few minutes. We need to be constantly entertained to pay attention. And the tragedy is that without deep focus and deliberate attention serious learning just won’t happen. In order to properly understand and/or remember something, we need to pay attention. So please let’s not waste more time on unnecessary explanations and clarifications – pull yourselves together and focus the first time round!

Reflection 1

The other day I was travelling on the underground and I couldn’t help hearing a few people in my carriage talking on their phones. I was forced to listen to a girl chatting with a friend about their boyfriends, a man doing business on the phone (and possibly disclosing some confidential corporate info) and a woman planning a weekend away with someone.

Somehow these people found it acceptable to share their personal and professional lives with complete strangers. I find it difficult to understand on at least two levels. On the one hand, I don’t wish random people to know what I do at weekends and what I think about my boss (and what if one of the unwitting listeners happens t be my boss’s cousin?). Why on earth would anyone want to share such ins and outs of their life with strangers? On the other hand, I am not interested in knowing about random people’s love lives and shopping habits and I’d rather they kept them to themselves.

Privacy seems to be a thing of the past, which I find deeply disturbing.

Welcome back!

I hope everybody's had good holidays and you are all ready to get back to work. 
This term your homework is going to involve, among other tasks, watching some selected TED talks. You are expected to:
1. watch the talk, preferably without subtitles, and definitely without translation
2. take notes concerning the main points the speaker made and other interesting facts or thoughts that caught your attention
3. put down key vocabulary and any collocations/idioms you found interesting
4. be ready to discuss the talk in class

Here is the viewing schedule (the dates refer to the classes in which we will discuss the talk): 

2b 2018 / 2019 – viewing schedule 1^st term  Source: www.ted.com

20 Sep	1.      Amy Cuddy Your body language shapes who you are (2012)
27 Sep	2.      Barry Schwartz On the paradox of choice (2005)
4 Oct	3.      Kathryn Schulz on being wrong (2011)
11 Oct	4.      Dan Pink The puzzle of motivation (2009)
18 Oct	5.      Frans De Waal Moral behaviour in animals (2011)
25 Oct	6.      Celeste Headlee 10 ways to have a better conversation (2015) CANCELLED
8 Nov	7.      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The danger of a single story (2009)
15 Nov	8.      Ben Goldacre Battling bad science (2011)
22 Nov	9.       Dan Gilbert Why are we happy? (2004)
29 Nov	10.  Brett Hennig What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people (2018)
6 Dec	11.  Ken Robinson Schools kill creativity (2006)
13 Dec	12. Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend (2013)
20 Dec	13.  Jonathan Haidt Can a divided America heal? (2016)
3 Jan	14.  Hans Rosling The best stats you’ve ever seen (2006)

Group 2-BLOG questions

Dear Group 2. Here is the list of all the questions you were supposed to write answers to.
I' m waiting patiently till the 10 th of June.

1.Should money be spent on space exploration?
2. Why do people believe in supernatural things like magic, astrology etc. if they have science?
3.Who or what is to blame for obesity in today's world?
4.Is the fact that things last much shorter nowadays really so bad?
5.Would you like to spend a week in The Mandarin Oriental?
6.Would you consider going vegan?
7.What does it mean to be a real man in the 21st century?
8.A letter of application.
9.Does  art need to be beautiful?
10.What do we learn about modern society from "The Joneses"?

Please write overdue posts.
Regards
A.Rożyńska

Dear Group 2
Watch the Columbian Exchange.Crash Course World History for Thursday 10th May.
Your English Teacher-Agnieszka Rożyńska :)

Vocabulary revision

Below is the list of words and expressions we have covered so far this term. To make it even easier for you to recall and revise the vocabulary, each box represents a video you have watched. I assume you'll be ready with this after Easter.

giant to trick sb into an ingredient quirky coffee chains to take (sth) over to rot gradually fascist independent to drive sb out of business high streets see-through to get sth / nothing in return tax	consciousness-raising (exercise) speed dial, sexual assault drag, unconscious,  fiancée,  elevator , to suspend to punch, deeply rooted in, masculinity, peer culture, sweep in under the carpet, speak up, to redefine	an incident every now and then whipped cream to sink to apply to suspend indignant to his credit to intend to scoop to float skimmed milk to come up with to verify to confirm confirmation bias	divisive in/at one stroke to be/ go out of date to go back (for) …  years to congratulate sb on sth to call sth into question a fatal blow to be faced with / to face sth to orbit to be for the chop gravity to put sth to the vote spherical a dwarf
exquisite fleeting (beauty) don’t be fooled a blight on a constant reminder of a throwaway society landfill take years to do sth to decompose to hoard sth tend to. to catch up with sb  charge take sth for granted to alter icon disposable a handkerchief	overseas wealthy top notch quintessential Middle Eastern to oversee to look immaculate to pick sb up to drop sb off a parking bay a chauffeur temporary to extend to renew to move up the career ladder arrogant a shift cultural awareness	a molecule a cell to replicate to diversify a descendant to stiffen an internal rod segments hard protective skin rigid(ity) to  venture meanwhile to gulp air fleshy scaly skin, to exterminate vacant insulated algae sponges amphibians reptiles mammals	diabetes heart disease obesity carbohydrates taste buds flavours bitter sour unripe, to crave sth / cravings to domesticate sth on a large scale to have a sweet tooth variety

Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower

Watch this interview with Christopher Wylie, who describes the practices of Cambridge Analytica, a company involved in data gathering and analysis, as well as political campaigns. The interview is conducted by Carole Cadwalladr, a journalist who uncovered the scandal.
Cambridge Analytica Files

"The Tree of Life" task

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH   “The Tree Of Life”

Answer the questions 1-5. If possible, use the words below in your answers.

1.      What are the characteristics of these groups of organisms: algae, sponges, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals?

2.      How are these organisms related in the process of evolution?

3.      How can the process of evolution explain the following: the birds’ wings, amphibians’ legs, birds’ feathers, skulls and backbones?

4.      What happened on earth

a) 450 mln years ago?

b) 375 mln years ago?

c) 65 mln?

5.   Why did mammals manage to dominate the Earth?

a molecule

a cell

to replicate

to diversify

a descendant

to stiffen

an internal rod

segments

hard protective skin

rigid(ity)

to  venture

meanwhile

to gulp air

fleshy

scaly skin,

to exterminate

vacant

insulated

Viewing schedule for the spring term

Below is your viewing schedule for the next term. For each video, do the following:

1. Watch the video as many times as you need to understand. If necessary, check the words and facts you don't know. Try not to use the 'subtitles' function if possible!
2. In your notebook, take notes about things you have learned from the video and put down key words and interesting expressions. Do this on your own! Don't copy the text from anywhere or ask anyone for extensive help.
3. Get ready to report on the content of the video in class and to discuss the issues raised in the film.
4. After the lesson in which we discuss the video, on your blog, answer the question asked by the teacher. Do it  in one paragraph of 80 - 100 words.

	video to watch	to be discussed on
1	Why is Pluto not a planet? BBC News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIk29MnzZWA	6 Feb
2	Is Sugar a Drug? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAHWGa_UYLI&list=PLsmqeqKj7M-pINcPqJd8d1eRKlqm6QVjA&index=14	13 Feb
3	Neil Degrasse Tyson - The scientific method  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FvSXI2iBcA	20 Feb
4	Will plastic bags go out of fashion? BBC News www.youtube.com/watch?v=thLoTj8rCVY	27 Feb
5	A Very British Hotel Episode 1 (45 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEKfiZg-Mg4&list=PLDJIWiwfNABlPf_AEx3LIt0fO4UXGqlWk	6 Mar
6	David Attenborough Tree of Life video HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6IrUUDboZo David Attenborough on Darwin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz7U4k522Pg	13 Mar
7	Jackson Katz: The Macho Paradox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP7g0Kn7WrY	20 Mar
8		27 Mar
9	What If The World Became Vegan? - Earth Unplugged https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytFwytWK1Bw	10 Apr
10	BBC Modern Masters 1of4 -Andy Warhol (59 min) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Egsj1n3O6I	17 Apr
11		24 Apr
12	The Columbian Exchange: Crash Course World History #23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPA5oNpfM4	10 May