College vs university: What’s the difference? 🎓 🤔
In the US, “college” and “university” are both used to refer to higher education institutions. This can be confusing for international and home students alike! 🤔
⚠️ “College” is also used as a general term in the US to talk about any education after high school. ⤵️
| “College was the best four years of my life!” – a Computer Science graduate from the University of Washington. |
Becoming an autonomous learner 👩🏻💻 📚
Your academic calendar will look very empty because you will be expected to be an “autonomous learner“.
This means you will be expected to spend the majority of your time self-studying and planning your own study schedule. 📅
Building your academic vocabulary 🏗️📖
Using an academic word list (AWL) is a great way to develop your academic vocabulary as it will contain the most frequent words found in academic texts. 📚
An AWL will typically contain over 2000 words… but don’t panic! In this lesson, we’re only going to focus on some of the most frequent words to get started. 🏁
The famous snow monkeys of Nagano
This video from The New York Times looks at a group of monkeys living in the mountains of Nagano, Japan. Check out the following words from the video and make sure you understand them. Then, as you watch the clip, consider why the monkeys love bathing. Is it just to keep warm?
| a primate (a type of animal like monkeys, gorillas, or apes) |
| a hot spring (a body of water that is naturally hot) |
| to investigate (to try and discover the truth about something) |
| behaviour (the way you act around people) |
| a hot tub (a jacuzzi or hot bath) |
| a habit (an action that you often do) |
| to bathe / to soak (to sit in a bath of water) |
| an attraction (something that tourists visit) |
| an assumption (something you think is true without any proof) |
| stress (feelings of worry or anxiety) |
| generation (a group of people who all share about the same age) |
It’s likely the macaques bathe to stay warm, but that’s just an assumption. Research shows that bathing also reduces their stress levels.
These animals have developed their own kind of culture, passed down from one generation to the next.
School: Not just for children. 🚸 🐟
English has lots of collective nouns for groups of animals.
As we’ve just heard, the phrase “school of fish” is used to describe a group of the same fish species. 🐟🐟
Lots of these names are not used or not known by native speakers. Here are some fun collective nouns that are less commonly used:
| a shiver of sharks 🦈🦈 |
| a scurry of squirrels 🐿️🐿️ |
| an army of frogs 🐸🐸 |
| a memory of elephants 🐘 🐘 |
| a leap of leopards 🐆🐆 |
It’s a very well-thought-out, precision operation.
Shark rodeo: real or metaphor? 🤠 🦈
A metaphor is a word or phrase used to compare qualities of someone or something.
In the video, the speaker says that moving sharks is not like a “shark rodeo” (a rodeo is a dangerous event where people risk their lives to catch animals with ropes).
In reality, shark transportation is an organised and well-thought-out process. Can you think of a good metaphor to describe these qualities?
First, the shark needs to be corralled into a sling.
to get your hands on something
Example
We don’t get our hands on these sharks very often.
to settle in
Example
It’s time to settle in.
to cramp
Example
My hands cramp at night and feel very sore.
wear and tear
Example
The most wear and tear for a window cleaner is in the knees.
a knee replacement
Example
I’ll be ready for a knee replacement.
The video has some “movie-specific” vocabulary (words that are common when discussing the world of film). Here are some definitions before we watch:
| an editor (n): someone who decides the final content of a movie, book or magazine |
| montage (n): the technique of creating a scene from pictures, text, or music |
| a pan (n): a movement of the camera across a horizontal or vertical scene |
| a layout (n): the way a scene is arranged |
| ILM (n): Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm’s special effects and animation studio |
| relatable (adj): you feel an emotional connection with a “relatable” character |
“So, this is the battle of Crate…”
Unlike the more formal film reviews you wrote in a recent lesson, the director’s oral description of the battle scene contains many features of informal, spoken English, which often don’t add meaning to the sentence. 💬
We heard the examples below in the video:
so
Often used to signal the start of a story or explanation.
“So, this is the battle of Crate…”
just
Used for emphasis, with a similar meaning to “simply”.
“It just feels like our brave heroes going into battle.”
you know
Sometimes used like “um” when thinking about what to say next.
“Because, you know, in a PG 13 Star Wars movie you can’t…”
basically
Used just before an explanation, even if it’s not basic!
“They’re in, basically, rolling lawnmowers.”
location tracking
Example
If you have location tracking turned on, Facebook collects an enormous amount of location data.
They use this information to target ads at you.
to target someone
Example
Social media companies use location tracking and personal data to target users with specific advertisements.
to classify
Example
Facebook uses nearly 100 different data points to classify your interests and activities.
to determine
Example
Facebook uses many different signals of what it knows about you to determine who else you might be connected to.
“Facebook collects an enormous amount of location data, about where you’re going, where you came from, where you live, where you work, what restaurants and businesses you tend to go to.”
If you “tend to” do something, it means you do it regularly.
to tend to do something
Example
Facebook knows all about the places you tend to visit, and the type of TV shows you tend to watch.
a transaction
Example
If you buy a burrito with your credit card, Facebook can know about that transaction.
controversial
Example
One of the most controversial parts of Facebook data collection is a feature called “People you may know”.
Did you notice?
Both the words “transaction” and “controversial” contain the sound “-sh” (/ʃ/) even though they have different spellings.
The combination of t + i and s + i can sound like “sh” (/ʃ/) when followed by another vowel. Practise saying these words! 💬
Taking notes ✍️
When we take notes, we write down what we think are the important parts of something we are reading or listening to. 💡 We take notes for various reasons: we might be listening to a lecture at university, in an important meeting at work, or studying at home.
Generally, the notes we take are short and concise to make it easier for us to remember the main ideas. We can use “bullet points“, like below:
| Facebook: |
| – uses location tracking |
| – targets users with adverts |
| – knows about our transactions |
Who wants to be a billionaire? 💰 🤑 💰
In this lesson we’ll take a glimpse into the life of a billionaire and explore some different viewpoints about the super wealthy.
Billionaires are much more common than they used to be, but not all wealthy people come into their money (become rich) in the same way.
Let’s face it – billionaires in the 21st century tend to fall into two broad (general) categories. Let’s see how we can describe them…
an heir / an heiress
Example
An heir or heiress is someone whose wealth is passed down from their older relatives.
An interesting expression from the video…
In the video, Aerin shows us a piece of art she created and tells us “I’ve taken that idea and run with it“.
Let’s see this expression again on the next screen and see how we can use it…
to take an idea and run with it
Example
Mark Zuckerberg didn’t even set out to start a business – he just took a good idea for a website as a student and ran with it!
Idiom: to take an idea and run with it…
We use this expression in situations where we have an initial idea for something and then further develop it in a much bigger way.
Let’s see how Aerin uses it in the video…
| “My son’s first pair of sneakers. My mom gave them to me in a lucite box. Since then, I’ve taken that idea and run with it.” | Aerin has used this idea and developed it so that she has now put other things with sentimental value into lucite boxes to put on display. |
Most self-made billionaires were able to succeed because they had a clear vision and were willing to take risks. They took a great business idea, ran with it and their efforts paid off.
Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, didn’t come from a rich background. He’s a self-made billionaire.
When we aren’t confident or certain of our opinion or a statement we’re making, we can use the expression “I would/wouldn’t + verb” to appear more cautious.
Remember, to sound more natural we use the contracted form “I’d” instead of “I would“.
| more cautious | more confident |
| I wouldn’t limit someone’s ability to earn money, as it disincentivises business. | We mustn’t limit someone’s ability to earn money, as it disincentivises business. |
| I’d say (that) failing to raise more tax from billionaires is a missed opportunity. | Failing to raise more tax from billionaires is a missed opportunity. |
I’d argue…
Example
I’d argue that very few billionaires out there are truly self-made, they’ve usually had financial help from someone…
How do people really feel about billionaires?
In the next part of the lesson we’re going to hear two friends, Lyndsay and Shawn chatting about billionaires. Before we listen, consider your own opinions:
🤔 Do billionaires deserve to have so much more money than everyone else, or should they be made to pay higher rates of tax?
🤔 Might the way in which someone becomes a billionaire influence how you feel about them?
Now let’s hear what Lyndsay and Shawn think…