Pre-intermediate

A cat named Forbes disappeared in 2011. Its owners were trying to find the cat for months. They made posters and went door-to-door asking about the cat. The cat’s owner said, “We'd had him from when he was a kitten and we had such a special bond. He was such a unique and friendly character, we absolutely adored him.” After almost eight or nine months of constant searching, they lost hope to find Forbes. 

Music can connect people everywhere. It can cross languages, countries and cultures. It can raise your mood, calm you down or give inspiration. But have you ever wondered when your music taste was formed?

A recent New York Times analysis of Spotify found out that the music we listen to when we are teenagers sets our musical preferences for the rest of our lives. 

Our world is unequal. The distribution of the vaccines shows that. Rich countries have more doses than they need, while poor countries can’t buy enough. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says that this situation is slowing global economic recovery. Economists predict that low-income countries will lose at least $38 billion of their GDP in 2021 because of low vaccination rates. 

Low vaccination rates also put a lot of pressure on the healthcare systems of poor countries. Hospitals can’t treat other illnesses because of Covid.

Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies was only five years old when she needed to flee home because of the Vietnam War. She and her family spent eight months in a refugee camp in Malaysia. Then an Alberta church sponsored their immigration to Canada.

Nhung arrived in Canada on a boat with 300 other refugees. She remembers it was nauseating and suffocating. 

At the airport gate, a little Canadian girl called Adrienne gave a doll to Nhung. 

Did you watch the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony this year? Chances are you didn’t, and you weren’t alone. The 2021 edition was the least viewed and lowest rated in the award show’s history, according to Nielsen Ratings. Take a look at this graph from CNBC below: 

Decoding cryptograms is a great way to sharpen your English. A cryptogram with a simple substitution code is fairly easy to decipher, but it forces you to think carefully about spelling and vocabulary. As your English improves, you can move on to harder codes, like ones that don't put spaces in between the words so you have to figure out yourself where one word ends and the next begins.

This simple code uses the English alphabet. Letters are swapped for letters:

When computer games appeared, men were their target consumer. Games were created for men, and the main characters in games—protagonists—were mostly men too. Women were mostly presented as characters who needed help. For instance, Mario and Princess Peach. 

Recently, the gaming industry has started targeting women too. More female protagonists are appearing.

Look at the graphs below and discuss them with your teacher.

Since smartphones first connected us to the Internet, the time we spend on our phones has been increasing. 

Vaccines can be a controversial issue in some cultures. For instance, according to the Washington Post, in the United States, 9 per cent of adults oppose vaccinating children against measles. Also, many people believe that the coronavirus vaccines are not safe.

Countries have different policies regarding whether it should be mandatory to vaccinate children. Have a look at the map below and discuss what you see with your teacher.

When I was a child, my mother wanted me to be elegant. She sent me to dance class. I didn’t like it. I cried before the class because I didn’t want to do it. But my mother didn’t allow me to quit. After five years of dancing, I finally stopped going to the classes. I never participated in any concerts, even though everyone else from this dance club did several times. I wasn’t good enough. I felt like a failure.

After dancing, I didn’t come back to sports until I was in university.

Here in Melbourne, Australia, we are heading into the colder months. 

Daylight Saving has just ended, so we moved our clocks back an hour. On the plus side, we all got an extra hour of sleep over the weekend. But it also means the sun sets an hour earlier. 

If I want to catch the daylight, I have to walk the dog earlier. I also have to put better lights on my bicycle because I'm cycling more often around twilight and dusk.

The life expectancy of people in Japan has been increasing for the past 65 years. Life expectancy means the prediction of how long people are expected to live. There are many reasons for the increase in life expectancy, such as better food, cleaner water and improved medicine.

Please have a look at the chart below and discuss what you see with your teacher.

People around the world follow different religions. We use specific words to describe them.

Crossing the street is very easy in most countries. You simply wait for the crosswalk light to turn green. The cars stop and let you walk safely to the other side.

However, in Hanoi, Vietnam, crossing the road is an adventure. There are few traffic lights, and the cars and motorbikes will never stop for you. You need to just walk into the street and the vehicles will go around you. It can be very scary, but that is the only way to cross the street in Vietnam. You have to trust the drivers not to hit you.

This year has certainly been a rollercoaster. There were highs and lows, not to mention a lot of uncertainty—sometimes all you could do is throw your hands up and hope for the best. 

Looking back on 2020, there are a few things that changed. 

According to the India Times, in May 1968, a British traveler named Andy Stewart was looking to make his way home to London from Sydney, Australia. So he bought a double-decker bus and converted it into a mobile home, nicknamed "Albert". That October, he set off with 13 others on Albert the Bus for a 16,000-kilometre journey from Sydney to London via India. The journey took 132 days to complete.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported in 2018 that a private zoo in Alberta, Canada, was charged after a bear from the facility was taken through a Dairy Queen drive-thru in a pickup truck and fed ice cream through the vehicle's window.

Many businesses are asking their employees to work from home to help stop the spread of COVID-19.  Suddenly workers need to use telecommuting networks all day long. It’s putting a huge demand on internet services. 

Also, many schools have been closed. So children are home doing classwork online and watching videos or playing games. In Italy, internet usage went up by 90% in March when schools were closed. 

I’m from Canada, where Christmas is a big deal. The minute Halloween is finished, the Santa decorations go up in stores, Christmas songs start playing on the radio, and the fuss of holiday shopping starts in earnest. For me, one of the most nostalgic parts of Christmas is the food. I love a plate of roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce with some pumpkin pie, all with a frosty glass of eggnog to drink.

One of my favorite economists, Dan Ariely, tells this story about a locksmith. When the locksmith was new at his job, when he was an apprentice, he took a really long time to open a lock. And people saw him working away, struggling, really having a hard time. And often they'd end up giving him a tip. But then when the locksmith got better at his job, when he got so good at his job he could open pretty much any lock in just a minute or two, then his customers started complaining. They were like, you want $200 for that? This took you, like, 30 seconds. And you can see why, right?