Our "Słówko Dnia" theme for last week was "Language for Musicians". A popular Youtuber -- TheNeedleDrop -- posts a new music album review a couple of times a week.
He's a good source of new music for me, as he recommends and reviews different genres of music.
Here is his latest review of an album by a California-based producer: Tycho.
The review is full of interesting, music-related vocabulary. Here are some of the keywords:
Jeff Bezos--the CEO and founder of Amazon--has come up with a brilliant plan to gain advantage over his competitors by implementing drone delivery. His Octocopters will deliver quickly and efficiently to the subscribers of the Amazon Prime program.
The possible advantages of this solution include:
gaining independence from delivery companies
taking advantage of impulse shoppers
further increasing market share
Here's a short video that presents his visionary idea:
In an emotional (and a little chaotic) presentation, Chris Lonsdale talks about how to learn a language quickly and efficiently.
Interestingly, many of those principles are a direct import from the communicative method of learning languages (more info here). But still he makes a good point:
Because his delivery is rather chaotic, here's the summary of his main points:
5 Principles:
Attention-Meaning-Relevance-Memory (make it relevant to you)
Tools (use your language as a tool every day)
Understand the message (focus on comprehension, not grammar)
Physiology (hear the sounds, make the sounds)
Be happy (because if you're not, you won't learn)
7 Actions:
Listen a lot (expose yourself to the language)
Get the meaning first (use body language, context, guessing)
Start Mixing (go out there and be creative)
Focus on the core (focus on the most frequently used words)
Get a Language Parent (someone who understands and communicates with you)
Copy the face (pay attention to how people speak)
Connect words to mental images (it's just more efficient)
Tomorrow's Women's Day, so today we have a short reading/listening comprehension task about one of the most successful women in business: Marissa Mayer.
Here's a link to wikipedia article about Marissa.
Read the text below and listen to a film. Then, answer the questions.
Work From Home Ban
Marissa Mayer finally spoke out about the most controversial decision she's made so far since becoming Yahoo CEO last August: her ban on working from home. At a conference for human resources professionals in Los Angeles, Mayer said "people are more productive when they're alone, but they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together." According to Fortune's Christopher Tkaczyk, Mayer said Yahoo's new weather app was built by two engineers who work in an office together.
In February, Yahoo HR boss Jackie Reses sent out a memo banning employees working from home. Mayer decided on the ban after spending months frustrated at how empty Yahoo parking lots were and consulting Yahoo's VPN logs to see if remote employees were checking in enough. Inside Yahoo, some employees reacted to the ban negatively, but most agreed with it, recognizing that Yahoo's culture needs a change. Outside of Yahoo the ban quickly became a national news story. Lots of people around the country and world work from home these days, and many of them – particularly mothers – seemed to view Mayer's ban as a threat on their way of working. As the story exploded, Mayer declined to react to it.
Now, answer the following 6 questions. When ready, click submit and check your anwers using the google link. Compare your answers with the correct answers using the "edit form" function:
