This is a weekly selection of reading articles, free online exercises, YouTube videos, games, quizzes and resources for you to further improve your English language skills and have fun – ENJOY!📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:
From BBC CAPITAL: How similar you are to your partner can affect your happiness, by Christian Jarrett. Researchers have found that how similar you are to your partner can affect your happiness – but it’s complicated.
Among many
monogamous species, from cockatiels to cichlid fish, studies have revealed a
clear pattern: it helps to be more similar to your mate. When mating pairs are
behaviourally similar, their reproductive success tends to be higher.
In human terms, this would imply it’s better to be similar
to your partner. Indeed, for a
long time psychologists and others have argued that similarity is probably
beneficial – after all, then we will be more likely to enjoy the same pursuits,
values and outlook on life.
But no matter how intuitive the idea seems, for decades
nearly every study has failed to support it.
Now, though, a team of
psychologists at the University of Amsterdam think they know why. They have taken
a far more sophisticated and nuanced look at the issue than in previous
research. (Continue reading)
From BBC REEL: Reel: The oldest coffee in the world. From huts in remote villages to internet cafes in the capital city, coffee ceremonies are the centre of social life and hospitality in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. (Continue reading)
🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:
LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:
How to show annoyance (4:11 minutes)
- Bill Gates' Top Book Recommendations - #FavoriteBooks (3:17 minutes)
- Britain’s food waste problem (3:46 minutes)
- Digital Literacy – Troubleshooting (4:24 minutes)
- A brief history of banned numbers - Alessandra King (4:42 minutes)
- Ireland | Blarney Castle (4:11 minutes)
- Situational irony: The opposite of what you think - Christopher Warner (3:11 minutes)
- Is it bad to hold your pee? - Heba Shaheed (3:57 minutes)
5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:
Salary Negotiation: 6 Tips on How to Negotiate a Higher Salary (9:56 minutes)
- How to ask for directions and how to give directions (6:15 minutes)
- New York City vs London - City Comparison (8:33 minutes)
- How long will human impacts last? - David Biello (5:29 minutes)
- Are Intelligent People More Lonely? (5:04 minutes)
- Martin Luther King Jr. - A 5 Minute Biography (5:53 minutes)
- Why is Herodotus called “The Father of History”? - Mark Robinson (5:02 minutes)
A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!
HISTORY: CONSUMERISM (10:52 minutes)
- Medieval China: Crash Course History of Science #8 (12:22 minutes)
- British Pubs | Join The Girls & Learn About The British Pub | British Traditions & Culture (19:06 minutes)
- London Accents: RP | Cockney | Multicultural London English (12:10 minutes)
💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:
VOCABULARY: Words with more than one spelling (6:16 minutes)
- Collocations 1 (Some words are often used together: Click on the buttons until you find the correct collocation.)
- Collocations 2 (Some words are often used together: Click on the buttons until you find the correct collocation.)
- Do vs. Make (List) ⇒ Exercise: DO or MAKE?
- make-do exercise
- make/do
- Business Expressions 1
- GV022 - General Vocabulary Sentences
- Exercise on Asking and Giving Directions
- Exercise on Asking and Giving Directions
- Vocabulary For ESL
- Parts of a Car (The names of different parts of a car)
💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:
Learn English: "last year" OR "in the last year" (8:26 minutes)
- Can't have and Must have
- Abstract Nouns test.
- Adjectives followed by prepositions
- Adjectives followed by prepositions 2
- Quiz: Articles - 'The' with Place Names
- Adjectives and adverbs
- Adjectives with -ed or -ing
- Present Perfect & Past Simple: Right or Wrong? (Which of these sentences are correct and which contain errors?)
- Present Perfect & Past Simple: Right or Wrong? 2 (Another exercise where you need to find which of these sentences are correct and which contain errors?)
- Past simple or present perfect? (4 DIFFERENT EXERCISES)
- Phrasal Verbs using UP
- Singular or plural? (Are these sentences correct?)
MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!
