Dexway English Magazine: B2 – Edition 7
English as a World Language
ENGLISHMANIA
Jay Scott Walker is an American inventor and entrepreneur. He is the chairman of Walker Digital, a developmental business systems laboratory. The company specialises in creating applications for mobile phones and the internet.
In one of his TED talks (an annual conference attended by many important and influential people from all industries to share ideas), he talks about the English mania sweeping the world. Two billion people are trying to learn English world-wide, his talk focuses on China who is believed to one day become the largest English speaking country. Walker states that it is ‘not America pushing English but the world pulling it’. He believes there are more opportunities to find a job, have a better life, and get better schooling knowing English. He thinks learning English will make you become part of a large global conversation much like mathematics and music. English is the language of global problem solving; a common language to solve common global problems.
One language that is still a runner up to English is Esperanto. It was developed by Polish doctor and linguist L.L. Zamenhof in 1887. The goal of the inventor was to create a politically neutral language that transcends nationalities and is very easy to learn. It is estimated that about 2 million people speak it. In February 2013, a petition was put forth to make it one of the official languages of the European Union. What problems do you think should be addressed in English by a global community? What if there was one European language, would you learn it? Would you use it at work and in your day to day life? What do you think of the dream of Doctor Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof of Esperanto being learned by the world?
Our emotions: Anger
MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL!
Most women describe anger for them as slow building while most men say it is like a fire that is raging inside. Chemicals like adrenaline and noradrenaline pump through the body giving us a “fight or flight” response. The amygdala, a part of our brain that deals with emotions, is activated when an event starts to trigger an angry response from us. Blood flow is increased to the frontal lobe which regulates reasoning, located right above our left eye. The brain response to anger lasts about two seconds, which is why many people say count to 10.
People who are always angry have constantly activated this region of the brain and it starts to cause damage. It makes it so their body does not produce enough acetylcholine, a hormone that works against adrenaline. Angry people´s nervous systems are constantly working and this leads to a weakened heart and stiffer arteries. It can lead to liver and kidney damage, high cholesterol, depression and anxiety. The key to better health is finding what triggers your anger and not letting it set you off. There is a well-known phrase “anger won´t solve anything” which is true. How well do you handle anger?
Gardeners theory of Multiple Intelligences
Some of these intelligence types include: Bodily kinaesthetic, verbal- linguistic, visual – spatial and musical intelligence. Why have I chosen these traits? It just so happens that these 4 intelligences are found both in Gardeners theory and in the theory of learning styles written by….by….well nobody actually, a specific theory of learning styles has not been written! Fleming put forward the VAK model in 2009 which suggest that there are 4 “learning” styles which shares a base with Gardener’s theory, VAK model claims that we are stronger in one category then we are in the others and in theory that’s how we learn best but not how we should be teaching best!
Despite the critic’s of learning styles, Gardener is one of the biggest, as students there is something important here. You need to discover your learning style because with that information we can start to answer the question which computer in my head is dominate, therefore is it better to learn by reading, doing, watching or listening or in other words; see one, do one, teach one.
Water on Mars
WATER, WATER
The principle objective of the exploration of Mars was to search for life, but later on that objective changed when scientists began to find evidence of water on the Red planet.
Early exploration discovered river valleys and fossil lakes as well as frozen water at the poles. Later exploration showed seasonal black lines appearing between the equator and the poles which scientists believe to be flowing brine – brine is a mixture of water and salt.
Water is a prime building block for life and scientist think life may, at some point been present on Mars. Not Martians but in the form of microbiological life, they say that there is enough water locked in the ice caps to cover the whole planet to a depth of 18 metres. The results of exploration suggest that is only the tip of the iceberg and that at one point Mars would have mostly been water.
But what happened to all that water, scientists now think that the Sun is slowly stripping the atmosphere from Mars. Currently Mars is one big desert it is cold and dry and windy and doesn’t have any atmosphere to protect the planet from sun radiation.
Yet NASA and the European Space Agency are pouring money into preparations to send a manned space craft to Mars, they are aiming for 2030 and have already started a recruitment drive for new astronauts. The presence of water will be a major step forward for them as water will allow food to be grown, oxygen to be made and also fuel for that all important return journeys.
Chasing our dreams
AMBITION
Would you call yourself an ambitious person? The dictionary says that ambition is a desire to achieve success, wealth, property and general happiness through determination and hard work. If we are happy and content in our lives does that means we lack ambition? Ambitious is a term often used to describe entrepreneurs, people who sacrifice everything to start a business or a new venture, putting everything at risk on a throw of a dice, after all, Fortune favours the brave.
Ambition is held at the same level as sloth, gluttony, envy and pride, all negative states of mind. Many people view ambitious people as self-serving or unrealistic and it’s sometimes used as a nice way of saying “you’re going to fail”. If you ´re ambitious clearly for yourself, it may corrupt you but if you try to achieve something outside of yourself then it should be viewed as a noble ambition, shouldn’t it? We need ambition don’t we? What else motivates us? What gets us out of bed in the morning? I would argue a healthy dose of pride, envy and ambition does, of course with the help a strong cup of coffee!
Is it in our genetics? Are we predisposition to have that fire in our belly, or do circumstances light the fire we all have inside? Is it genetics, culture, our family, influences or something else? Most people are not just content with their basic needs met, they want more… but only few actually put the work, time and sweat into getting to that next level…. while others just sit back and whine that the world owes them.
Brownies!
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch chunks
- 1¼ cups pure cane sugar
- ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder or very finely ground coffee (optional)
- 2 cold large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup white whole wheat flour (or flour of choice)
- 2 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped (or ⅓ cup chocolate chips)
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the lower third of the oven. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with two criss-crossed pieces of parchment paper, making sure that the paper is long enough to go up the sides a couple of inches. Grease the parchment paper.
- Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, while whisking constantly, until it’s a pale golden brown and the particles suspended in it are reddish brown. This usually takes me about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sugar, cocoa powder, sea salt, baking powder and espresso powder. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula after each one. When the mixture looks thick, shiny and well blended, add the vanilla extract and the flour. Stir until you no longer see streaks of flour. Then beat vigorously (put those arm muscles to work!) for 50 strokes with the wooden spoon or spatula.
- At this point, the mixture should be no more than slightly warm (if not, let it cool for a few more minutes). Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.
- Spread the batter in the lined pan, then use a knife to make light swirls in the top of the batter. Bake on the lower rack for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Cool the brownies in the pan on a baking rack.
- Once the brownies are completely cool, lift the edges of the parchment paper and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the brownies into 16 or 25 squares.
