Dioxin, Duplicity and DuPont video discussion

Here's an interesting video documentary by the Sierra Club about the DuPont plant in DeLisle Mississippi. The documentary goes into dioxin pollution and its effects. You can find it at the Sierra Club or watch it here:



You can find the discussion activity here:

Dioxin, Duplicity and DuPont Video Preview

Enjoy the lesson!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

New France 24 Mobile App for Smartphones

I just discovered last week that France 24 has just developed a new mobile app so you can get live streaming news (or highlights) on your mobile (iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry, and more). You can select between coverage in English, French and Arabic. France 24 has been pushing hard to gain marketshare from CNN, BBC World and Al Jazeera. France 24's definitely not my first choice on cable tv, but I've been using this app quite a bit. They have also developed a desktop widget as well. Most of my students have mobile internet access so I've been recommending they download it so they can practice their listening comprehension when they have time, anywhere they are. And you circumvent the extra cost of TV over 3G.

Mobile app:  http://www.france24.com/en/mobile
Widget:  http://www.france24.com/en/widget/home-stay-connected-with-france-24-widgets-windows-gadget


Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Coca-Cola and the Fall of the Berlin Wall

With the recent 20th anniversary celebrations of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, I went looking for articles to use. And I found a great one that had a unique business angle. You can find the article here:
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/09/coca-colas-berlin-wall-blitz-lessons-in-leadership-20-years-later/

You can find the discussion activity here:
Coca-Cola and the Berlin Wall

Enjoy the lesson!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

One of my ad agency contacts sent me a link to this video by Jonathan Jarvis. (Thanks Mia!) I thought it was well worth turning into an actual discussion. The video runs 11:10. Very short, easy to follow language with simplified explanation of a complex problem.

You can watch the video here or at Vimeo:


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

You can get the discussion activity here.

Crisis of Credit Visualised    

Enjoy the lesson!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

The Dangers and Opportunities of Google Sidewiki

There has been a lot of buzz in the advertising and marketing community lately over the launch of the Google Sidewiki in September 2009. This new free Google toolbar app allows anyone to leave comments on websites that other Sidewiki users can later read. Thus, in one fell swoop, Sidewiki creates a whole new era of company transparency and consumer feedback, both positive and negative. Companies will not have ownership over their website's Sidewiki information which means they will need to do an even better job at managing their customer relationships. 

Advertising Age was one of the first media outlets to warn companies about this powerful new social media tool. The article is available here:

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=139768

You can find the discussion activity here:


Dangers and Opportunities of Google Sidewiki    

You can see a short introductory video here:



Enjoy the discussion!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Offshore Tax Haven Considers Taxation

I think most people have heard of the tax loophole created by offshore tax havens. As this article suggests, it has been a source of intrigue and an important subplot in many crime novels like John Grisham's "The Firm."  However, an interesting phenomena has occurred as a result of the global economic crisis. Some tax havens are actually considering direct taxation to meet mounting financial debt.

You can find the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/business/global/04cayman.html
You can find the discussion activity here:
Offshore Haven Considers Taxation

Enjoy the lesson!

Maurice
Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Breaking the Bank - The US Financial Meltdown of 2008

Level: Upper Intermediate to Advanced students

Well, it's been one year since the financial meltdown. If you have banking students as I do, I think it's really worth presenting them with an activity on the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

I'm a bit of a news junkie so I tend to follow links to new and varied sources. The PBS documentary news series - Frontline - is certainly among the best and one of my favorites. They have 83 full-hour documentaries available online. (I've watched at least 20 of them already) The episode regarding the meltdown is called Breaking the Bank which you can find here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/breakingthebank/view/


You can get the PBS teacher's guide with discussion questions here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/meltdown/meltdown.pdf

Tip: I will sometimes ask students to watch videos for homework and sometimes show them videos in class. You need to gauge whether you think they will actually do the homework or not. Many of my business students are very busy people so it is understandable if they don't manage the time outside of class. However, without putting too much of a point on it, you should always try to encourage them to do more outside of class to expand their contact time with the second language. (And then again, it's often a nice change of pace for students to get to watch the occasional video in class.)

Enjoy the lesson!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi