13 May
Family
Do you think your parents are strict or overprotective?
Do you like your family? Why or why not?
Do you live with your parents?
Whom do you take after, your mother or your father?
Do your parents let you stay out late?
Whom are you named after?
How big is your family? Tell us about your relatives.
How often is your entire family together?
What is the best memory you have with your family?
How do you usually spend time with your family?
What is the best advice you have received from a family member?
What is something you learned from your grandparents?
Do you have any siblings? What is your relationship like with them?
How has your family influenced your personality?
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Related Words: parents, siblings, relatives, home, support, love, care, upbringing, childhood, tradition, bond, relationship, respect, guidance, values, heritage, ancestry, household, unity, togetherness, trust, protection, responsibility, connection, generation, grandparents, cousins, marriage, loyalty, belonging
Watch the video above and discuss what you learned from it during your Spoken Cafe session
A Surprising Fact About Coronavirus
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed our lives in many ways, affecting our health, our finances, and our social interactions. Many people faced financial struggles, psychological challenges, and a loss of their social lives as they navigated lockdowns and restrictions. The isolation and uncertainty caused by the pandemic left lasting impacts on millions of individuals worldwide. But here’s an interesting and surprising fact about the virus that changed everything: the total amount of viruses in the world could fit inside a Coke can.
Kit Yates, a maths expert from the University of Bath in the U.K., calculated that there are around two quintillions (that’s two billion billion) SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in the world at any given time. He did this by taking the average diameter of the virus, about 100 nanometers (100 billionths of a meter), and calculating the volume of the entire global collection of virus particles. While there are gaps between the virus particles because of their irregular shape, Yates found that the total volume of all the coronavirus particles worldwide would still fit inside a 330-millilitre Coca-Cola can.
While this fact might seem surprising given the immense global impact of the virus, it highlights just how small and numerous viruses can be. It also underscores the power that something so tiny can have on the world. The pandemic has shown us the importance of health, science, and the interconnectedness of our global community.
READ/SPEAK
How has Coronavirus changed your life? In which positive or negative ways has it affected your life? What did you do during the curfews? What did you like and dislike about being at home during the curfew?
Did you learn any new skills or hobbies during the pandemic?
How did you stay connected with family and friends during isolation?
What was the most surprising thing you learned about the virus?
Have you changed any health habits because of COVID-19?
What lessons did you learn from the pandemic that you will remember in the future?
A troubling or seemingly insoluble problem, issue, etc., that no one wants to handle
LEARN THE IDIOM AND SPEAK
Do you have a problem which is a hot potato? Why do you think it’s difficult to solve?