Your ESP Coach • English for Specific Purposes: WEEKLY PICKS

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WEEKLY PICKS - 28 - READ and LISTEN SPECIAL

This is a weekly selection of free online self-study materials and resources for you to further improve your English language skills and have fun – ENJOY!

👓+ 🎧THIS WEEK ⇒ READ + LISTEN SPECIAL!

These are not typical reading and listening comprehension exercises. On these websites, you will find a list of podcasts or recordings that you can listen to while reading transcripts. Reading and listening is an easy and effective way of developing your listening skills, improving your pronunciation and building up on your vocabulary at the same time.

📌AMERICAN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

👉GO TO FULL LIST (128 short listening + reading articles)

📌BUSINESS ENGLISH POD ⇨ SKILLS 360

Skills 360 – Levels of Formality in English (Part 1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Levels of Formality in English (Part 2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Communicating Clearly in English (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Communicating Clearly in English (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Leading Group Decision-Making Meetings (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Leading Group Decision-Making Meetings (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Getting the Most out of a Conference (Part 1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Getting the Most out of a Conference (Part 2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Teleconferences (Part 1) (Free resources: Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript | Mobile Quizzes)
Skills 360 – Teleconferences (Part 2) (Free resources: Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript | Mobile Quizzes)

👉All Busines s English Skills 360 Lessons (Learn business English skills for communicating effectively at work. All Skills 360 lessons are listed on this webpage by the date published, with the more recent lessons at the top.)

📌 VIDEOS

925 English Lesson 9 - How to Talk about your Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (9:57 minutes)

925 English Lesson 10 - How to Agree with Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (9:27 minutes)

925 English Lesson 11 - How to Disagree with Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (10:00 minutes)

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 27

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 TRAVEL: How France created the metric system, by Madhvi Ramani. It is one of the most important developments in human history, affecting everything from engineering to international trade to political systems. (Continue reading)

From BBC CAPITAL: Can you make money selling your data? By Sam Harrison. Tech giants make billions from our data, but what if there was a way to claw some of that control back – and make some money in the process? (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

Why is yawning contagious? - Claudia Aguirre (4:28 minutes)

6 Types of Loneliness (1:29 minutes)
How does your brain respond to pain? - Karen D. Davis (4:57 minutes)
How misused modifiers can hurt your writing - Emma Bryce (3:20 minutes)
Ireland | Galway City (4:10 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

Body Language in an Interview - 3 Tips (9:05 minutes)

How An Igloo Keeps You Warm (5:16 minutes)
Vampires: Folklore, fantasy and fact - Michael Molina (6:56 minutes)
What is the psychology of envy? [Interview] (7:48 minutes)
How NOT to give COMPLIMENTS: British English Speaking Practice (6:30 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

The Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9 (10:30 minutes)

Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1 (12:11 minutes)
10 Foods under $1 in Saigon, Vietnam - Street Food Dollar Menu (13:57 minutes)
Phrasal Verbs and Expressions about FOOD (10:17 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

Learners' Questions: Assure, ensure, insure (3:22 minutes)

Make or Do?
-ed/-ing adjectives – adjectives from verbs (3 DIFFERENT EXERCISES)
Farther, farthest or further, furthest? (Brief explanation from Cambridge Grammar Today) ⇒ Exercise: Quiz: Further & Farther
Collocations 2 (Some words are often used together: Click on the buttons until you find the correct collocation)
Adjectives to nouns - Match nouns to adjectives
Adjectives to nouns - Match nouns to adjectives 2

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

Learners' Questions: 'When', 'if' and 'in case' (3:06 minutes)

Past simple, past continuous, past perfect (3 DIFFERENT EXERCISES)
Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs (3 DIFFERENT EXERCISES)
Quiz: Adjective or Adverb?
Word order 2 (Click on the correct answer)
Phrasal verbs 1 - missing preposition
Out (Phrasal Verbs)

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 26

📜 READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC TRAVEL: Italy’s ‘practically perfect’ food, by Amanda Ruggeri.

Pound for pound, Parmigiano-Reggiano can compete with almost any food for calcium, amino acids, protein and vitamin A – and is prescribed by doctors to cure ailments. It’s also a dairy product… that can be eaten by the lactose-intolerant. (Continue reading)

From BBC CAPITAL: The cost of free public transport, by Marc Auxenfants.

From March next year, commuters in Luxembourg will not be charged for trips on its trains, trams and buses. What’s the cost of such a move? (Continue reading)

BBC Reel: The amazing houses that build themselves At the touch of a button, these incredible homes of the future can self-deploy and build themselves in less than 10 minutes. (Go to videos + full article)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

What Is the Sunday Evening Feeling? (4:58 minutes)

Student Life – Academic writing (4:19 minutes)
Study Skills – Reading difficult texts (3:07 minutes)
How stress affects your brain - Madhumita Murgia (4:15 minutes)
Learning Circles - Bus: Vocabulary and phrases to help you travel on a bus (2:35 minutes)
Ireland | Guinness Storehouse (2:49 minutes)
What Does Your Accent Say About You? (3:25 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

How parasites change their host's behavior - Jaap de Roode (5:13 minutes)

How to ... give bad news (6:03 minutes)
The history of tattoos - Addison Anderson (5:16 minutes)
Why We Need Global Solidarity More Than Ever with Elif Shafak (6:51 minutes)
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray ► Animated Book Summary (6:41 minutes)
Digital literacy – Presentations (5:26 minute)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

Inside The Lives Of North Korean School Children (12:31 minutes)

Winter Holidays Around the World That Definitely Demand a Celebration (12:34 minutes)
10 WEIRD Holiday Traditions From Around The World (11:51 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

Learners' Questions: Assure, ensure, insure (3:22 minutes)

Collocations 1 (Some words are often used together: Click on the buttons until you find the correct collocation.)
Historic or historical? (Click on “Next Test” for a new set of questions.)
Economic or economical?
Lightening or Lightning? (Both different from ‘lighting’= the lights that light a room, building, or street, or the quality of the light produced.)
Jewelry or Jewellery?
Collectable or Collectible?

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

Intermediate English grammar - Verb patterns, (verb + ing, verb + to) gerunds and infinitives (8:56 minutes)

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 25

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC FUTURE: Pork fat is rated as healthier than kale
In a list of the top 100 nutritious foods, pork fat came in eighth place – higher than peas, cabbage and kale. Apparently, pork fat is a good source of B vitamins and minerals.
The world’s most nutritious foods – After analysing more than 1,000 raw foods, researchers ranked the ingredients that provide the best balance of your daily nutritional requirements – and they found a few surprises. (Continue reading)

From BBC FUTURE: January is the best time of year to apply for a job, by Amanda Ruggeri and Miriam Quick. Google searches for "jobs" peak in January, but few people actually apply. Companies usually get their new hiring budgets for the year, and annual bonuses often pay out in December, so a lot of people wait until then to change jobs.
When it comes to life events like applying for a job, buying a house or even getting married, certain months are more advantageous than others. Want to ‘hack your year’? Here’s how. (Continue reading)

BBC Reel: A hairdresser created a substance that could withstand 75 nuclear blasts. Reported by Lee Johnson, produced, filmed and directed by Adam Proctor.
Maurice Ward invented a world-changing fire-resistant plastic called Starlite, refused to sell it or have it patented in fear of someone stealing the recipe, and died in 2011, taking the material’s secrets to his grave. (Continue reading)

🎧 LISTEN & READ the TRANSCRIPTS:

Budgeting ⇨ Liz Waid and Ryan Geertsma look at budgeting. They look at how to make a money plan, and how to know where your money goes.
The History of Money ⇨ How did modern money develop? What are the earliest kinds of money? Christy Van Arragon and Katy Blake look at money.

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

Management tutorial: Exploring manager roles | lynda.com (4:28 minutes)

Why Our Best Thoughts Come to Us in the Shower (4:02 minutes)
What is fat? - George Zaidan (4:21 minutes)
How to stop absorbing other peoples' energy (3:51 minutes)
The science of spiciness - Rose Eveleth (3:54 minutes)
Writing an email – 18 – English at Work has the words for perfect emails (4:03 minutes)
A day in the life of a Roman soldier - Robert Garland (4:59 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

How to... be vague (6:00 minutes)

Talking on the phone – 15 – English at Work has the top tips for you (5:10 minutes)
What Is The Most Common Crime In Different Countries? (6:36 minutes)
Why do we dream? - Amy Adkins (5:37 minutes)
Stop Being BORING in English | The 10 Most Amazing English Expressions In The World! ! (8:38 minutes)
How to Talk About Your Free Time and Hobbies in English - Spoken English Lesson (9:09 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

Silent Letters: When NOT to pronounce B, D, and L in English (13:06 minutes)

Visit Canada - 10 Things That SHOCK Tourists about Canada (12:55 minutes)
Intro to Psychology - Crash Course Psychology #1 (10:53 minutes)
SEX VOCABULARY | Learn English | British Culture (24:13 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

Learners' questions: 'How are you' and 'how do you do'? (2:28 minutes)

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

Apostrophe s (Are these sentences correct?)
Conjunction 2 (Click on the buttons until you find the correct answer)
Conjunctions (Click on the buttons until you find the correct answer)
Prepositions
a lot-much-many exercise
at-on-in exercise
Transitive and intransitive verbs 1
Phrasal Verbs with PUT
in case-unless exercise

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 24 - CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!

🎄🎅CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!🎅🎄Below is a 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 CULTURE: Where Christmas is a way of life, by Megan Snedden

What it’s really like to live in North Pole, Alaska and Santa Claus, Indiana.

Every morning, Paul Brown waves to Santa Claus, who occupies an office downstairs from his own, conveniently located on Saint Nicholas Drive in North Pole, Alaska. (Continue reading)

🎧LISTEN & READ the TRANSCRIPTS:

Fireworks: A Global Celebration ⇨ Joshua Leo and Liz Waid look at one way that people celebrate - with beautiful, bright, exploding fireworks!
The Christmas Story ⇨ In today’s Spotlight, we tell one of the most famous stories in the world: the story of Christmas, and the birth of Jesus Christ.
Babushka’s Christmas Legend ⇨ Colin Lowther and Liz Waid share a story from Russia. It tells about an old woman who gives up the chance of a lifetime.
Christmas Cracker of Christmas Traditions ⇨ Anne Muir and Adam Navis share a Christmas cracker of stories and customs from Christmas around the world.
Christmas Food Around the World ⇨ Spotlight looks at traditional Christmas food from places all around the world. These foods have special meaning.
A Christmas Carol ⇨ Nick Page and Marina Santee present "A Christmas Carol". Spotlight retells this famous Christmas story by Charles Dickens.
Saint Nicholas, The Christmas Saint ⇨ Santa Claus? Father Christmas? Bruce Gulland and Liz Waid look at the stories about Saint Nicholas. Who was this man and why do we remember him?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ⇨ Spotlight tells the famous Children’s Christmas story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
The Joy of Christmas Music ⇨ Colin Lowther and Christy Van Arragon look English Christmas songs. They look at their history, and why they are so popular.

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

This Is Why The Holidays Can Suck! (2:50 minutes)

Why do we kiss under mistletoe? - Carlos Reif (4:41 minutes)
To have all your Christmases come at once: The English We Speak (3:04 minutes)
Do you play Secret Santa with your friends or colleagues? (1:00 minutes)
American Christmas Traditions: Postcard from the USA (4:14 minutes)
The Must Eats of German Christmas Markets (4:22 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

Learn to talk about the perfect Santa in 6 minutes (6:33 minutes)

Why should you read Charles Dickens? - Iseult Gillespie (5:16 minutes)
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or Merry Xmas? What to say to Americans? (10:00 minutes)
American Christmas Stories: 4 Famous Villains (6:15 minutes)
European Christmas Traditions You Might Not Have Heard Of (7:10 minutes)
Unique European Christmas Traditions (7:13 minutes)
European Christmas - 5 Love & Hates of Traveling Europe at Christmas (7:05 minutes)
The Don'ts of Visiting Christmas Markets (7:54 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

American Christmas Traditions for a very American Christmas (10:14 minutes)

December Holidays around the World 🎄 A Special English Vocabulary Lesson (11:55 minutes)
Christmas Travel - 5 Things You Will Love & Hate About Traveling Abroad at Christmas (10:16 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

🎅🎄💡 MORE ONLINE CHRISTMAS EXERCISES!!

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 23

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC CULTURE: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Portraits of a complex marriage, by Kelly Grovier. Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera painted each other for 25 years: those works give us an insight into their relationship, argues Kelly Grovier.

Seen side-by-side in photographs, they struck an almost comic pose: his girth dwarfing her petite frame. When they married, her parents called them ‘the elephant’ and ‘the dove’. He was the older, celebrated master of frescoes who helped revive an ancient Mayan mural tradition, and gave a vivid visual voice to indigenous Mexican labourers seeking social equality after centuries of colonial oppression. She was the younger, self-mythologising dreamer, who magically wove from piercing introspection and chronic physical pain paintings of a severe and mysterious beauty. Together, they were two of the most important artists of the 20th Century. (Continue reading)

From BBC TRAVEL: The country with 11 official languages, by Denby Weller. Before coming to South Africa, the last thing an Australian would think is that there might be language difficulties.

[...] Discussion of the evolution of the colonial languages of South Africa is controversial, not least because they are just two of the 11 official languages in use today, and neither one is the first language for the majority of South Africans. In the 2011 Census, IsiZulu emerged as the language most spoken at home, followed by IsiXhosa. Afrikaans was a first language for 13.5% of South Africans, while English was spoken in just 9.6% of homes. Yet it is English that has emerged as the lingua franca – albeit a unique, local dialect enriched by the company of the many languages of the land. (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

What causes antibiotic resistance? - Kevin Wu (4:34 minutes)