English Conversation Questions

Learning

Questions

1. When do you think we first start learning?
2. What is the best learning experience you’ve had?
3. What kinds or methods of learning do you like best?
4. When you learn new things, is there always a steep learning curve?
5. What tips on learning would you give to other people?
6. What good and bad experiences have you had learning English?
7. ‘Thought without learning is perilous.’ Do you agree?
8. Do you think we ever stop learning? Are we ever too old to start learning something new?

Videos

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for

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the first time.

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Category:  Psychology
Keywords: Accidents | Learning | Life | Planes
English is fast becoming the world’s universal language, and instant translation technology is improving every year. So why bother learning a foreign language? Linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter shares four

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alluring benefits of learning an unfamiliar tongue.

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Category:  Education & Language

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks — but that saying might not be as trustworthy as you’d think.
Hosted by: Olivia Gordon

Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Age | Dogs | Learning | Tricks

How do all the algorithms around us learn to do their jobs?

Category:  Technology
How long did it take you to learn how to ride a bicycle? How long do you think it would take you to un-learn how to ride a bicycle? Is it true that you can never forget how to ride a bicycle? How do these biases in your brain

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actually work? With the help of a group of welders, engineer Destin Sandlin created an experiment using a “backwards” bicycle to explore these very questions.

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Category:  Psychology | Science
Keywords: Bicycles | Brain | Learning
Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to

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learn from children as much as to teach.

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Category:  Education & Language
Imagine you’re a shipwrecked sailor adrift in the enormous Pacific. You can choose one of three directions and save yourself and your shipmates — but each choice comes with a fearful consequence too. How do you choose?

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In telling the story of the whaleship Essex, novelist Karen Thompson Walker shows how fear propels imagination, as it forces us to imagine the possible futures and how to cope with them.

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Category:  Psychology
Keywords: Fear | Imagination | Learning

Vocabulary:
cove
secluded
float
shore
anchor
lighthouse
greenhouse
handsaw
hammer
power tool
nail
board (noun)
ton
land sick
biomass
canoe
paddle
real estate
prosper
fulfilled

Expressions:
subsistence living
hon

Vocabulary:
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word

Expressions:
expression
expression
expression
expression

Vocabulary:
prestigious
involuntary
swindler
fraudulence
unwarranted
concern
unfounded
impostor
syndrome
faculty
pervasive
prevalent
disproportionately
underrepresented
downplay
abnormality
self-esteem
spiral
accolade
threshold
susceptible
voice (verb)
peer
dismiss
excel
ease
mentor
competence
banish
frank

Expressions:
nagging doubt
shake a feeling
put something to rest
surefire way

Vocabulary:
filmmaker
principle
handcuff
clown
distill
underdog
aspect
familiar
unfamiliar
chopsticks
keyboard
organic
grounded
clarity
stuntman
steady
gag
perfectionist
rhythm
distinct
continuity
elbow
bunch
flail around
unlike
invincible
impressive
humanize
asset
payoff
relentlessness
finale

Expressions:
kick ass
going above and beyond
get smacked in the face
sell a joke

Vocabulary:
explosion
smoke (noun)
engine
unique
pilot
route
unemotional
terror
instant
reach out (to someone)
postpone
urgency
purpose
regret
humanity
ego
reflect
eliminate
frame (verb)
artistic
talent
bawl
miracle

Expressions:
bucket list
brace for impact
mend fences
make sense
connecting dots