English Conversation Course

  Nowadays technology is going further and furter, it’s impossible that at some point humanity will reach level that will allow us to play with human conciuosness and eternal life. I would like you to watch a video about this and discuss this topic.   1.        Do you think that human mind is made for immortality? Have you ever thought how would your life look like if you were immortal? 2.        Do you find uploading your mind to a computer ethical? 3.        If you could upload your mind to the INTERNET, would you do that? Why?

  202O was a crazy year, no doubt about it. At the time when we all were thinking that 2021 will be easier and more peacufull year we had to be proven that we are totally wrong. On Wednesday 6th of January while Congress was about to confirm   Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in American election, the angry crowd of Trump-supporting people was gathering outside the building.    First fights started at 13:10 local time, when the crowd was stealing metal barricades from the police. The atmosphere was getting heavier every minute, not only because of all the anger around but also because of tear gas and pepper spray.   It was all used as a last restort to keep crowd from breaking police barricades. Peace was never an option in this scenario. Once the protestors forced their way through barricades on the Capitol Plaza and moved on to the main entrance, the chaos started. Senators were forced to abandon the process of confirming Joe Biden's victory and whole building ...

Time makes sense being divided into small chunks but with the whole of its range , it can be overwhelming. Did you know that Mr Miso Okawa’s - the longest living p erson’s birthday - is closer to Napoleon than to the current day? The video shows the supremacy of time and surprises with how small chunks are the times we live in. Questions: What was your first impression after watching the movie? Have you ever thought that the times we get used to (Modern era with electricity, internet and a lot of comfort) are that short? Do you think that our generatio n’s achievements would make its timestamp on the time graph like a few showed in the video?  What do you think about the time our planet needed for each of these breakthroughs pointed in the video?

  Source: https://fatsoma.imgix.net Silent disco is a concept of a party where there is one or a few channels with different kinds of music and everyone has wireless headphones on, instead of listening to loud music played from the speakers system. When there are multiple channels there is a popular concept of making headphones blinking different colors of specified music type which makes it possible to join people grouping together dancing to one playlist without even talking or gesticulating. By that the final effect of that party is a lot of people dancing and having fun together with different vibes in complete silence. The concept was used on many festivals where there were numerous live DJ’s with different styles on each of the available channels instead of playlists prepared before the party began. It allowed a lot of people to quickly switch between those artists. There are a lot of advantages of organizing party like that, the main one we can point out to be avoiding a pr...

  How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals People can do great things. Painting great pictures in detail, speaking several languages, climbing different heights is just one of the many things people can do. Each of us would like that, but it seems to us that it is not possible. But are you sure? In the video below, you will learn the secrets of achieving great goals by people like us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE&ab_channel=TEDxTalks Questions: Are you a motivated person? Do you always achieve your goals? What do you think about the method of achieving the goals presented in the video? Do you think you could apply it in your life? What's your most ambitious goal for the new year? How do you want to achieve it?

  Chess combined with the League of Legends universe? Meet Teamfight Tactics – auto chess game https://teamfighttactics.leagueoflegends.com/pl-pl/ If you have thought more than once that chess is an interesting game, but a bit boring because of its conventions, I can assure you that you are not alone in this statement. Teamfight Tactics was created for people like us. Although the game with chess itself has a few common features, it is very different from them. Auto chess / auto battler Let's start with what auto chess is. Auto chess is a subgenre of strategy video games that features chess-like elements where players place characters on a grid-shaped battlefield during a preparation phase, who then fight the opposing team's characters without any further direct input from the player. By using your favorite characters to beat the ones you don't like, trust me it's great fun. Teamfight tactics is based on the dota auto chess game. Which is based on the Dota 2 universe.  ...

Honey has been used by people for thousands of years. For some, it is a substitute for artificially produced sugar, and for others, a delicious snack or an addition to dishes. Below you will find a film about how honey is produced: Questions: Do you like honey? If so, what do you add it to? Are you afraid of bees? If not, would you like to work as a beekeeper? Do you have any idea how we can protect bees from extinction? Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbfiJHW-LP4&feature=share&ab_channel=DiscoveryUK

     In the 1960s, a mother and a daughter - Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, developed a theory of 16 personality types. They divided a person's personality into four key dimensions, which categorize people: Introversion vs. Extraversion Sensing vs. Intuition Thinking vs. Feeling Judging vs. Perceiving   https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types Nowadays, this theory is well developed into web applications with funny graphics, many descriptions, advice for each type and famous people ’ s quotes. All of these make it easy to use and learn. You can even get to know movie characters or fictional heroes who behave in a similar way to you. In order to determine which type of personality a person has, he or she must complete a test. It refers to issues such as: how we interact with our environment, where we direct our mental energy, how we make decisions and cope with emotions, it reflects our approach to work, planning and decision-making and how...

  Minimalism is becoming more and more popular these days. It is a term describing a specific approach in life, which considers owning fewer possessions as a way to better life. Consumptionism surrounds us. It isn't all bad, but we need to use it with a sense.    I wouuld like to present you a short video about minimalism:        Questions: What do you think about minimalism phenomen? Why is it becoming so popular? Do you consider minimalism as a good approach in life? What is the most important for you in life?       Source: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ Image: https://www.suttonandgrove.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Less-is-More.jpg    

  I would like to share my recent youtube discovery - Slidebean: Startups 101. The host presents business cases for various companies, typically focusing on why they’ve failed. I could recommend any video on his channel, but for our English course, I picked something that can be easily relatable - a video about skype. We all know and used it in the past, right? Have you ever wondered why such a VOIP giant failed to startup companies like Zoom? I hope you will find this material interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzsuYrptwKk Questions: How did you use (or are still using) Skype? What do you usually use it for? (in case you actually have never used skype - pick any other VOIP program you used in the past, like TeamSpeak for instance). What made you stop using Skype in favor of other software? Do you have any specific dealbreaker (that was or wasn’t mentioned in the video above)? What’s your opinion on shifting education from schools/universities to e-learning, like we are cu...

  In this portrait by Maika Elan, we see Ikuo Nakamura, 34, a hikikomori who has locked himself in his room for seven years (Credit: Maika Elan, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190129-the-plight-of-japans-modern-hermits ) Origin Hikikomori is a medical term describing extreme social withdrawal. Originating from Japan, thus Japanese sounding name - meaning literally “pulling inward, being confined”. It can be used both to describe the condition and an ill person.  Tamiko Saito, a psychiatrist who proposed the term in mid 90’, noticed a recurring behavior pattern of his young patients - locking themselves in their room and limiting social interactions to the absolute minimum. Soon after the very first Saito’s publication on the issue, there was multiple media coverage of felonies committed by people who could be diagnosed as hikikomori. It didn’t help to raise healthy social awareness of the problem and only in recent years the topic is approached in a supportive and unders...