Review previous lessons
2020
Jan 30, 2020
Lesson 2/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
Today is part 2 and perhaps the last lesson on the state and condition of university education. We'll start with a Breaking News English article about one black entrepreneur who made a real difference in the lives of the entire graduating class of one black college by paying off their student loans!!
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1905/190523-philanthropist.html
Cartoons for the Classroom
https://nieonline.com/cftc/pdfs/20190527loans.pdf
Jan 27, 2020
Lesson 1/5 45 Min
Is college worth it? part 1, April 12, 2018
1. Tucker reports that student loan debt is at $1.3 trillion
https://nieonline.com/cftc/pdfs/20180521debt.pdf
2. A third of students drop out and so have no good income to pay back their loans.
Admission to elite universities of minorities: African Americans, Jewish Americans and Asian Americans
Warren Buffett on the hiring practices of Benjamin
Graham. I haven't found the right video yet....
Hello Michael,
Today's topic: the preferential treatment of certain groups as they try to gain entrance into elite universities and prestigious professions. It's a big topic so we'll speak about it for more than one lesson. I have prepared questions for the first few videos.
Admission-for-pay scandal, Apr 10, 2019
1. I think it's significant that no famous names are being prosecuted in these cases. Your comment?
2. And I think there are many more than 16 parents that have been involved in such activities. What do you think?
Children of high-profile individuals gain admittance to prestigious universities, July 8, 2019
1. What do you think of Tucker's idea that the admissions process
should be transparent since taxpayer's pay for government research grants to universities?
2. I recently learned that colleges and universities are tax free!
Did you know that? That's another reason why the public has a right to know. Do you agree?
Jan 23, 2020
Lesson 5/5 45 Min
Jan 20, 2020
Lesson 4/5 45 Min
Jan 16, 2020
Lesson 3/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
Today we'll continue the topic of business attire with two Breaking News English articles.
Business suits and ties worn less and less
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190322-business-suit.html
Brown shoes could mean you fail a job interview
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1609/160906-job-interview.html
Jan 12, 2020
Lesson 3/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
We'll begin the New Year with a business topic concerning business attire.
Breaking News English gives us more to discuss:
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190322-business-suit.html
Dec 30, 2019
Lesson 2/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
Today we'll talk about passports around the world wth a Guardian lesson and a Breaking News English article, too!
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1812/181209-passport.html
Dec 26, 2019
Lesson 1/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
Today we'll discuss the moral problem in China again specifically crime, and the social credit system designed to tackle this widespread problem. The first video is a report produced by the Australian Broadcasting Company.
1. Ten million people have been blacklisted so far. What will they do?
2. People who are marginalized and blacklisted in a society sometimes organize themselves into criminal gangs like the Yakuza in Japan. Have you heard of them?
3. The journalist in the video was detained but finally released. This is positive. Why do you think they released him?
4. Xingang with it's Muslim majority is faced with detention camps. 500,000 faces have been scanned. Is their religion their crime?
5. One YouTube comment says: "This is NOT a government social credit system, rather, it is a private credit union by Alibaba. Clueless news." Your comment?
6. Scores are appearing everywhere! Uber is creating scores for its drivers and customers. And the EU has passed laws requiring cameras, microphones and facial recognition technology in all new cars. https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190330-speed-limiters.html And companies will soon have files the people who interview with them for jobs!
7. Have you heard of the pseudoscience called physiognomy which is based on Aristotle's book of the same name? Two Shanghai psychologist claim to be able to predict criminal behavior by scanning people's photos! https://www.rt.com/news/368307-facial-recognition-criminal-china/
The second video is one of many made by a British man from South Africa who is a computer engineer working in China. He is trying to help the Chinese people by exposing the "epic moral problem" in China today.
8. Which crime that he talked about was the most shocking to you?
9. The crime of kidnapping of marriageable young women is happening because of the 30 million shortage of women because of the one child policy 3o years ago. Child kidnapping is a big problem, too. Your comment?
10. This young man thinks that the economic crisis will increase only increase the crime problem. What do you think?
if you're interested and have time, this man, Winston Sterzel, has many similar videos on his channel.
And I saw his most recent video was made just a few days ago, live streamed from the U.S. He and his wife have a new baby daughter!
December 23, 2019
Lesson 5/5 45 Min
Hello Michael,
Our topic today is the level of trust in Chinese food products.
This first video warns us with many examples of Chinese fake food.
1. What Chinese fake food had you heard about previously?
2. Which fake food in the video shocked you the most?
This news report gives a professional documentation
for the prevalence of fraud in Chinese foods.
3. What is your impression of China's food industry from this video?
4. Which food safety violation was the worst in your opinion?
In this environment of fake food, a young entrepreneur wants to fill the niche for the desire for pure food in China.
5. What's your opinion of Matilda Ho's business plan?
6. How does her zero tolerance for impurity sound?
7. How does her training as a magician help her?
December 15, 2019
Lesson 4/5 45 Min
Hi Michael!
Today, we'll go through our questions of last time again. This time we'll have more to discuss together with your comments on the videos.
December 9, 2019
Lesson 3/5 45 Min
Hi Michael!
The strong trends of online shopping and the spontaneous shopping in China help us to understand why the Chinese buy bottled air from Britain, and why young Chinese women spend large amounts of money on virtual boyfriends!
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1802/180205-dating-app.html
A very frightening development are
the disappearing millionaires in China. This 25 minute documentary on ARTES explains:
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/083456-000-A/china-the-disappearing-millionaires/?xtor=CS2-32-[CNN+Edition+%28Turner+International%29]-[CNN]
1. Had you heard about the disappearance of many super rich Chinese?
2. The ARTES video begins with billionaire Guo Wengui who explains that he has escaped from China and wants to raise awareness of this dangerous problem. What do you think of his YouTube campaign?
3. Some disappearances may be because of a crack down on corruption. Have you heard about this?
4. Some disappearances may be because of criminal actions against the super rich. Should the government be more
concerned about these disappearances (murder) than the corruption (stealing)?
5. I have read that many Chinese millionaires want to leave China. Have you heard this?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/more-than-a-third-of-chinese-millionaires-want-to-leave-china.html
6. The trade war has exacerbated the exodus:
7. So perhaps many super rich purposely "disappear" in order to have more freedom and to escape the high pollution.
What do you think? https://theconversation.com/as-incomes-rise-in-china-so-does-concern-about-pollution-65617
8. More than 100,000 Chinese millionaires have bought homes in Vancouver, Canada and moved there. Does this surprise you?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-20/vancouver-is-drowning-in-chinese-money
9. What do you know about China's immigration laws or Canada's laws which give permanent residency to big investors?
10. Recent immigration law reform makes it easier for foreigners to become permanent residents. Your comment?
December 2, 2019
Lesson 2/5 45 Min
Hi Michael!
Here's a ted talk about China and how it's changing the future of shopping.
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_wang_how_china_is_changing_the_future_of_shopping
What is your comment on the following points:
1. The title of this ted talk about China was misleading for me. What did you think?
2. It's seems just to be about the increase in online shopping. It's only a major event because there are more than a billion Chinese! Have you heard the old joke? 'If everyone in China jumps at exactly the same time, it will shake the earth off its axis and kill us all'?
3. The speaker spoke very excitedly but short-sightedly about the prospects of Chinese online shopping and especially overshopping without considering the sustainability and consequences of such behavior.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-25/un-merry-christmas-perverse-incentives-over-consume-and-over-spend
4. The first video was very interesting for me. The Chinese in this video are good consumers, very fashionable, ie. brainwashed. What did you think?
5. China has new concept stores, similar to AmazonGo, what do you think about that?
The strong trends of online shopping and the spontaneous shopping in China help us to understand why the Chinese buy bottled air from Britain, and why young Chinese women spend large amounts of money on virtual boyfriends!
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1802/180205-dating-app.html