Interactive Lesson - The Fermi Paradox

1. The Fermi paradox was named after Italian physicist, Enrico Fermi.

But what is a "paradox"?

a) a scientific theory

b) a contradiction

c) an exploding star

2. The original version of the Fermi paradox can be reduced to one sentence:

              "Where is everybody?"

Who do you think he was talking about?


3. Watch the first 35 seconds of the video and decide whether your answer was correct.

4. Before watching the rest of the video, discuss the following questions and try to justify your opinions.

i) Do you believe that there is other intelligent life in the universe?

ii) Do you think that aliens have ever visited planet Earth?

5. Now read the following questions and then try to answer them as you watch the video.

i) Can we search the whole universe for signs of life or are we limited to looking at a small part of it?

ii) Why was the early Milky Way not a good place for life?

iii) What type of civilization do we have here on Earth?

iv) How long would it take to colonize the whole galaxy?

v) What could stop a civilization from advancing?

6. Do you still agree with the opinions you expressed in part 4? Why / why not?


7. Imagine you were asked to give a short lecture on The Fermi Paradox.

i) Watch the video again and take notes.

ii) Organise your notes into a maximum of 10 important points.

iii) Now, find someone who you think would be interested in this kind of thing and explain it to them. 

100 Mistakes #26 - Must or Should?

On your flight confirmation from Bryanair, it says:

Not your plane

"You must arrive 30 minutes before the flight."

Why, who says?

The airline. This is the airline's point of view.

If you arrive late, they won't let you on the plane. The airline's opinion is pretty important in this context.

- - - - -

must is a modal verb. But what is a modal verb?

It's a verb that presents points of view.
It is not the language of fact. It is the language of opinion.

Let's look at two modal verbs: must and should

You must arrive an hour before the flight - there is no other option
You should arrive an hour before the flight - this is what I believe is right

The castle must be right behind that hill - there is no other possibility (we don't need to look)
The castle should be right behind that hill - this is what I believe is right (but we need to look)

     must = there is no other option/possibility
     should = I believe that this is right (but there are other options/possibilities)

should is a softer, more flexible version of must.
must is a stricter, exaggerated version of should.
should stresses that this is only a belief. It opens up alternative options.

Many grammar books say that must is obligation or deduction, and should is recommendation or supposition - which is true - but it doesn't show the link between the ideas; it doesn't show what must and should really are in the minds of English speakers.

- - - - -

Grammar should unite ideas not divide them!
I believe that it is right that grammar unites ideas.

She must be here in a few minutes.
There is no possibility that she won't be here.

She should be here in a few minutes.
I believe that she will be here in a few minutes.

You mustn't talk like that.
Talking like that is not an option.

You shouldn't talk like that.
I believe it is right that you don't talk like that.

- - - - -

We can also use modal verbs to talk about the past.

     must have = There was no other option/possibility. I believe it happened.
     should have = this is what I now believe was right but it didn't happen.

I saw him on the platform. He must have seen me.
I should have taken the bus.
I saw him on the platform. There is no possibility that he didn't see me.
I now believe it was right to take the bus (but I didn't)

- - - - - 

If someone says that you must do something, and you do something different, you are showing that in reality, there was another option.

For example:

Monday
John says: You must be at the bus station at 8am tomorrow.
There is no other option, from John's point of view.

Tuesday
I arrived at 8:30am. In reality, there was another option.
I should have arrived at 8am. I believe it was right to arrive at 8am.

Not: I must have arrived at 8am.)
must have shows that you believe that you arrived at 8am.
But this is not true. You know you arrived at 8:30am.

- - - - -

Now you try...


Wearing a uniform is the only option.
You ______ wear a uniform.

I think that it's right that you can take food in your hand luggage.
You ______ be able to take food in your hand luggage.

I think that it's right that you talk to your mum at least once a week.
You ______ talk to your mum at least once a week.

Calling my mum tonight is the only option.
I ______ call my mum tonight.

Do you think it's right to go to the concert tonight?
Do you think I ______ go to the concert tonight?

I think that seeing the new Star Wars film is the only option!
You ______ see the new Star Wars film!

I now think that hitting John was the right thing to do but I didn't hit him.
I ______  ______  hit John.

I believe that I hit John.
I ______ ______ hit John.

I now think that hitting John was not the right thing to do but I hit him.
I ______ ______ hit John. Clue: you will need to use a negative!

- - - - - 

Answers in the comments!

100 Mistakes #25 - Look, Watch and See

When you look, you direct your eyes in one direction or another.

You can look at a painting.
You can look under a bed.
You can look behind the sofa.
You can look at an elaborately painted door (go on!)




When you watch, you focus your eyes on things that are changing, or things that you think are going to change.

You can watch a football match.
You can watch the TV.
You can watch the door (if you're expecting it to open.)

You see things that are in front of your eyes.

If you look somewhere, you will see whatever is there (unless it's too dark.)
If you watch something, you will see the developments that take place while you are watching.

So we use watch or look to talk about what a person is doing intentionally.
We use see to talk about what happens in front of their eyes.

- - - - -

Let's look at some sentences:

Did you see Game of Thrones / the match last night?
Did you watch Game of Thrones / the match last night?

These questions are asking the same thing: if you watched it, then inevitably, you saw it.

An English speaker might sometimes say something like:

I saw it, but I wasn't really watching.

This means that Game of Thrones / the match was on the TV but that the speaker was not really paying attention.

- - - - -

Now you have a go.

Choose between see, look at, and watch. Make sure you choose the correct form of the verb!
Sometimes, more than one answer is correct.

1. I ________ the Star Wars prequels and thought they were rubbish.

2. Have you ________ train times to London?

3. Did you remember to ________ lamps?

4. ________ that guy in the pink hat!

5. Did you ________ elephants in India?

6. ________ very carefully. It's very quick!

7. I haven't ________ him in ages.

8. I've never ________ Game of Thrones and have no intention of doing so!

9. Yes, I ________ the Mona Lisa but there were too many people to ________ it properly.


You can find the answers in the comments!

Interactive Lesson - Drones

Task 1 - Speaking

Discuss these questions with a partner:

What is a drone, and what are they used for?
Do you think the skies will soon be full of them?


Task 2 - Reading 

Below, you will find four BBC news articles involving drones.

Work individually.
Read one of them and make notes under these headings:

• Summary of story (maximum 3 sentences)
• Advantages of using drones
• Problems arising from using drones
• If I was Prime Minister, I would pass legislation (make a law) which said...

Here are the links to the news articles:

Bears       Knock Out       Airspace       Sea Gulls


Task 3 - Vocabulary Check

After making your notes, go back and underline any difficult words or phrases in the article (maximum 4 examples).

Discuss these with a partner without showing them your notes.

Modify your notes if you need to.


Task 4 - Presenting 

Use your notes to explain your news stories to your group.

While you listen, make notes under the same four headings: summary, advantages, problems, if I was prime minister...



Task 5 - Discussion and Writing

With a partner, look at all the different laws that the whole group came up with.

Agree and write down one law that covers all the situations.

Include penalties for breaking the law.



Task 6 - Testing Your Law

Is this man breaking the law? Should he be punished?
What do you think of his "invention"?

Task 7 - Internet Research (homework)

Find out what you can about Zano drones.

• What is the concept of Zano drones? What are they designed to do?
• Zano is a modern company, funded by Kickstarter. What is Kickstarter?
• What problems has the company experienced?
• Do you think that Zano drones will be a success?

100 Mistakes #24 - The order of questions

Let's look at a question:

What eats chickens?

This is a perfectly good question but is the answer foxes or corn?

The position of the words "eat" and "chickens" is important here.

If part of a sentence says:
"... chickens eat...", I know that chickens eat something. These chickens are doing something. So the chickens are the subject of the verb.

If part of a sentence says:
"...eat chickens...", I know that something eats chickens. So these chickens are the object of the verb. The chickens are now a type of food.

You can't put the subject after the main verb because I will think it's the object!

So... what eats chickens?

Foxes.
Foxes eat chickens.
(Subjects eat objects.)

This question was a "tell-me-the-subject" question.

- - - - -

But what question should I ask to get the answer corn?
What if I want you to tell me the object?

Well, we know that the order has to be "... chickens eat..." because chickens eat corn.

So we could try... What chickens eat?

But... English is a language of auxiliaries.

We need the auxiliary verb, do:

What do chickens eat?

Corn.
Chickens eat corn.
(Subjects eat objects.)

This question was a "tell-me-the-object" question.

- - - - -

Fantastic. So how do I know when I need to use an auxiliary?

As a general rule, in most tenses, you need an auxiliary.
But in the present simple and simple past, we can sometimes drop (delete) the auxiliary.

Let's break it down into positive and negative statements, and a series of questions:

(+) Chickens eat corn.
(-) Chickens don't eat corn.
(?) Yes or No: Do chickens eat corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What do chickens eat?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What eats corn?

So, in the PRESENT SIMPLE:

• you don't need the auxiliary 'do' in the positive statement and "tell-me-the-subject" questions.
• for the other forms (negative, yes/no questions, "tell-me-the-object" questions and other questions: why, how, where...), you need the auxiliary 'do'.

The SIMPLE PAST is very similar:

• you don't need the auxiliary 'did' in the positive statement and "tell-me-the-subject" questions.
• for all other forms (negative, yes/no questions, "tell-me-the-object" questions, and other questions: why, how, where...), you need the auxiliary 'did'.

(+) The chickens ate the corn.
(-) The chickens didn't eat the corn.
(?) Yes or No: Did the chickens eat the corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What did the chickens eat?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What ate the corn?


But the present simple and simple past are special.
Other tenses need auxiliaries in every form.

Here's the PRESENT CONTINUOUS:

• you need the auxiliary 'be' in every form.

(+) The chickens are eating the corn.
(-) The chickens aren't eating the corn.
(?) Yes or No: Are the chickens eating the corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What are the chickens eating?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What is eating the corn?

- - - - -

So here are a few questions that I've heard from my students. They are not English sentences because there are mistakes in the structure. But where did my students go wrong?


1. What means "overwhelming"?

2. Where the concert takes place?

3. You like Barça?

4. When started the lesson?

5. What we do today?

6. When you came to Spain?

7. You go to England in August? 

100 Mistakes #23 - This is the news

The word news is an uncountable noun.

That means that you cannot have one, two, three, four, seventeen, ninety-three or two-hundred-and-sixty-eight "news".

I saw a new about it this morning.

No you didn't, you saw a report or you read an article.

new is an adjective but it is not a noun

news is a noun but it is not plural

You can watch or read the news - the latest information about local or world events - but you can't watch a new or read a new.

So why the hell does it have an 's'?

Well, the 's' is there because it has an 's' in French. (It's probably easiest to blame the French for everything.)

Also, news is usually about more than one thing: "the news" is made up of individual news stories, news items or news reports.

We often use "the news" to refer to the news programme itself, so it's quite natural to say: yes, I saw it on the news.

Now watch Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan make a complete mess of the news.
(This bit is for advanced students really.)

Peter, you've lost the news!

100 Mistakes #22 - Journey, Trip and Travel

Jeff has just arrived in London.

Me: How was the journey, Jeff?
Jeff: Oh, not too bad. There was a bit of traffic coming into London but apart from that...

Jeff has just been on holiday.

Me: How was your trip, Jeff?
Jeff: Amazing! The temples in Cambodia blew my mind.

Jeff is in an English class.

Me: So Jeff, what do you do in your free time?
Jeff: Well, I enjoy reading, going cycling in the mountains, music - mainly rock - and travel.

- - - - -

In the above examples, journey, trip and travel are all nouns.

journey = from A to B (by train, plane, bus, car etc.)

trip = the journey + everything you did at your destination

travel = the field of interest; the category (in a bookshop, for example)

We don't say the travel or a travel because travel is a category and categories do not have an article: music, rock, travel, psychology, linguistics...

- - - - -

travel is also a verb, so Jeff could say:

I don't like travelling by bus; it makes me feel sick.

trip is a verb too but it means experiencing the effects of psychedelic drugs:

Jeff: Wow, look at the lights. They're like tubes. It's beautiful.
Me: You're tripping, Jeff.

Now over to you:

Which of these is journey, trip, or travel?
(You may have to change the form if it's a verb.)


After the disastrous ________ last summer, _________ is the last thing on my mind.

I wasn't really expecting the _________ to take this long. I thought we'd be there by seven.

I've ________ to over 30 different countries.

I never thought we'd actually get to ride an elephant. This is the best _________ I've ever been on.

I don't like to take too much with me when I _________ .