Restaurant Myths

 

1. How often do you eat out?

2. When choosing a restaurant, what criteria do you use? Is your choice based on the menu, the chef, the clientele of the establishment, the day of the week? How do you know if a restaurant is worth a visit? Do you read food reviews or rely on word-of-mouth recommendations from friends? Which is the most reliable?

3. If I were to visit the last restaurant you visited, what advice would you give me?

4. Do you agree with the following:

a) The customer is always right on how food should be served

b) Michelin stars are always an indicator of a restaurant's quality

c) Never order fish on a Monday

d) The service charge goes to the staff

e) Early sittings are best?

..........

5. Read article here: Restaurant Myth Reading

6. Do you have any questions on the language/cultural points used in the article?

7. Did your answers to question 4 (above) change after having read the article?

8. Are there any beliefs or misconceptions about restaurant dining in your country, such as the best time to book a table, the quality of the house wine, and the etiquette of tipping and complaining?

9. When is your preferred time to go to a restaurant and why? In your experience, are restaurants more relaxed earlier in the day, and more lively at night?

10. How do you choose a wine when you dine out? Do you have a favourite type or region? Do you ask the waiter/waitress for a recommendation?

11. How do you tip in restaurants? Do you follow a rule or a percentage? When you tip, are you tipping (in your mind) just the person who served you, or are you tipping everybody i.e. the cleaners, the marketing staff etc?

12. Have you ever complained in a restaurant? What was the reason and how did the staff handle it? Do you prefer to complain after leaving the restaurant (on social media etc.)?

13. Have you ever seen/heard of people complaining in order to get a discount or freebies? What effect can a loud complainer have on other diners/staff?

14. Have you ever seen/heard of staff complaining about customers' behaviour?

15. Is taking photos of your food in a restaurant acceptable behaviour?

16. Are there any restaurant critics in your country that have quite a lot of power/influence over eating establishments?

..........

Situation

You host a podcast on gastronomy/eating out. You've invited a London-based restaurant critic (your teacher) to your show to talk about restaurant 'myths'. Ask him any questions you or your listeners might have.

..........

Discuss quotes

"If I can't eat a meal in a restaurant, and the waiter asks, 'Is everything all right, Madam?', I tell them that I'm on a diet."

--- Cilla Black

"You can put the greatest seafood restaurant next to an average steak house in an urban area, and that steak house will do more business than the seafood place. If you go to the seaside, you can put an average seafood place next to the greatest steak house, people are going to eat seafood.

--- Tilman J. Fertitta

"Although a great restaurant experience must include great food, a bad restaurant experience can be achieved through bad service alone. Ideally, service is invisible.

 You notice it only when something goes wrong."

--- Dana Spiotta

A: "Do they allow tipping in this restaurant?

B: Yes, sir.

A: Have you got two fives?

B: Oh, yes, sir.

A: Then you won't need the ten cents I was going to give you."

--- Groucho Marx

“What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”

― Maya Angelou

Student Handout PDF: Restaurant Myth

Photo: Mikkel Bendix

Management Books

1. Are you familiar with self-help books of the genre 'How to Unlock Your Confidence' or 'Don’t Wait For Your Ship to Come In. . . Swim Out to Meet It'? Have you read any? Which were useful to you; which weren't? Did any of the books affect the way you go about your life? If so, in what way? Do you have any recommendations for a book or an author? 

2. Have you read any personal development books for managers? What titles do they typically have? Are they popular amongst managers in your country? Which authors specialise in this genre? Who is a typical self-help book author (both domestic and international)? Do you have any criticisms of this particular genre?

3. Read article here: Management Books Reading

4. Did your criticisms match those of the author of the article?

5. Below are some of the constants that management advice books have, and their actual outcomes (according to the author). Do you recognise any of them? Have you seen any examples of them in your industry?

a) Human behaviour is changeable. (Then why do we spend years receiving therapy?)

b) The manager will bring about change. (Company infrastructure outweighs any individual.)

c) Everybody in the company will benefit from the changes. (Outcomes are different for different workers.)

d) The new technique is universally effective. (Cultural or sectoral differences stop this.)

e) Positive case studies that prove the technique works. (Negative case studies are avoided.)

f) Managers are heroes. (Adoption of folk tales doesn't help.)

6. Why do you think that the market for management self-help books exists? Isn't it in the interests of companies to train their own managers and not rely on managers doing it themselves? Is there something missing from a manager's learning journey (leave university, get an entry-level job, then promotion)?

7. Modern authors sometimes borrow classical works and adapt them to modern business environments - I'm thinking of Lao Tzu's 'Art of War' - to arrive at something like 'Lao Tzu's Art of Accountancy'. What is the appeal of using texts from the past for the basis of a self-help book, do you think?

8. Could common sense replace a lot of the advice given in self-help books, or do you think that they contain real insights?

9. In what situation would you face 'myriad challenges'?

10. Does your language have an equivalent for 'herding cats'?

..........

Situation

The CEO of AndrewCorp (your teacher) wants to reduce the costs of the employee training programme: most employee training is done in-house by training contractors who teach IT, software programmes, and some foreign languages. His idea is to give each employee a small training budget which they should use for the purchase of books which are relevant to the employee's position in the company. 

You are the head of HR. Make your opinion known on the use of self-help books for employee training - in which areas will it be effective/non-effective? Make recommendations on the types of training you think will be needed.

..........

Discuss quotes

"Self-help books for women are part of a multibillion-dollar industry, sensitively attuned to our insecurities and our purses."

--- Harriet Lerner

"Self-help books are for the birds. Self-help groups are where it's at."

--- Janice Dickinson

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.”

— Agha Hasan Abedi

“Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich.”

— Robert H. Johnson

Student Handout PDF: Management Books

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

Identity Cards

 

1. How many different types of card do you use in your daily life? Do they make things easier or more difficult?

2. Do people in your country have to have identity cards? If so, when were they introduced?

3. In what ways are identity cards a good idea?

4. What personal details do you think should not be stored on personal identity documents?

5. Identity cards may be introduced in Britain soon. Some members of the public object strongly to this. What do you think their reasons are?

6. If you have an identity card, is it worded uniquely in your language, or does it also have translations? Does anyone object to the translations?

..........

7. Read article here: Identity Card Reading

8. What is your reaction? Do you understand the Académie Française's desire to protect the French language? If not, what is driving the demand for all-French wording on official travel documents?

9. Clément Beaune, France's European Affairs Minister, said 'We are going to stop the decline of the French language.' How do you know if a language is in decline? What criteria could you use to judge that?

10. Is there a sentiment in your country that your language is being menaced by foreign languages? Who expresses this sentiment? Is there an institution like the Académie Française designed to protect the language? What measures has it taken? If not, would you like to see such an institution created?

11. Can you think of any examples of people from your country using foreign words even though a perfectly good native word already exists? Do you know any foreign words that English has borrowed?

12. According to UNESCO, 230 languages went extinct between 1950 and 2010. Does this lend support to the idea of protecting languages? Is a language's importance related to the number of speakers it has, or the concepts it can describe?

..........

Situation

You are writer and musician Etienne Liebig (see article). You have been invited to take part in a radio discussion on language in the 21st century. Make your viewpoint known and answer the host's (your teacher) questions.

..........

Discuss quotes

"I am absolutely opposed to a national ID card. This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about. The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don't need a national ID card."

--- Ron Paul

"Nations which don't find their national identities will be preyed upon by other nations."

--- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

“Teachers are powerful enough to kill indigenous languages: they are not powerful enough to bring them back to life.”

― Andrew Dalby

"He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Student Handout PDF: Identity Card

Photo: Jackmac34

Family Business

1. Have you ever worked for a family-run business? What was your experience? If you haven't, what do you think working for a family-run business is like? What are the pros and cons?

2. Are there any famous family-owned businesses in your town/city? What relationship do they have with their employees, do you think?

3. Has anyone in your workplace ever said 'We are just one big family here'? How did you react?

Read article here: Family Business Reading

4. Do you recognise any of the the three downsides given to trying to create a family atmosphere at work (blurred work-life boundaries, exploitation of committed employees, departing employees treated as traitors)? Give an example from a time when you have seen these things.

5. Does your current company provide free breakfasts, meditation classes, happy hours, or other benefits in order to keep employees satisfied? If not, should it?

6. Do you keep in touch with former colleagues? Is this encouraged/discouraged/not addressed by your current company? 

7. How aware are you of your company's purpose? Does your company have a mission statement? Do you know what it is? 

8. Would an out-of-hours email ban, a four-day week, or taking all of your holiday allowance make you a more efficient employee? If not, what would?

9. What other ways are there to creating loyal employees? In times of economic hardship, do employers need to worry about this?

10. What typically happens when a colleague leaves a company in your country? Would you ever consider returning to a former company? Do people from your country, in general, ever do this?

..........

Situation

You are an employee at Andrew Corporation. You work long hours for little reward and are thinking of leaving the company. In an effort to reduce staff turnover, the CEO (your teacher) has introduced free meditation classes, free dry-cleaning, and happy hours - but this has had little effect. As the employee representative, approach the CEO with some of your ideas on how to improve staff/company relationships.

..........

Discuss quotes

"People who build family businesses are not classically trained. They have to deal with an enormous amount of politics. You think corporate politics are tough? Go work for your dad or mom."

 – Gary Vaynerchuk

"Starting a business with your brother either ends business or ends brotherhood."

 – Amit Kalantri

"You have family-owned businesses that have been around for over 500 years. You cannot name a corporation that survives in fact for even a few decades."

 – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.”

--- Tim Ferriss

"Maybe it was because my resignation letter was well written, and this attracted the attention of the factory supervisor. They kept me on and gave me a promotion to head up my own newly created department."

--- Zhou Qunfei

Student Handout PDF: Family Business

Photo: Tatutati

Track Your Health

1. How do you know when you are not in good health? What are the first signs that you might be coming down with something?

2. Is your health your responsibility alone, or are there other stakeholders involved e.g. an annual check-up at the doctor's for the purposes of health insurance?

3. What technology do you use to monitor your health? Do you have a thermometer, or a blood pressure monitor? Do you have any wearable technology that measures the number of steps you take, heart rate, or blood sugar? If not, would you consider using them? Are they necessary?

4. In terms of privacy, do you think your health should be the concern of your employer?

.........

Read article here: Track Your Health

5. What is your reaction? Do you think that the Cleveland Clinic is right to increase health insurance premiums to staff members who don't participate in "wellness programmes"? Do you think that questioning employees on their marital status is appropriate, or is it justified in an age where data collection is the norm?

6. Which of the following questions would you object to if they were part of a workplace questionnaire?

a) Do you plan to start a family?

b) Have you recently been through a divorce?

c) Which social groups do you belong to?

d) How many units of alcohol do you consume in a week? 

Is there a less confrontational way of finding out this information?

7. If you were offered a position with your 'dream' company and they asked such questions, would you go there or walk away?

8. How would you describe the attitude of the author of the article? Is she hostile towards this type of monitoring? Do you not think that in an age where everything can be measured, there is nothing sinister here, and that if anyone's privacy has been infringed, it can be taken into account by an understanding employer?

9. Does your country have any legislation on the recording and usage of your health data? If not, should it? In the UK, most (all?) data is anonymised before being given to third parties involved in research - isn't this enough to safeguard your privacy?

10. Shouldn't employment healthcare be a win-win situation for both employer and employee? Healthcare costs were reduced for BP (see article) and Bates College employees lost weight using wearable trackers. Why would we push back on something that is designed to make us healthier?

11. Does your employer provide healthy food options in its canteen/restaurant? Does it offer gym membership? Are there any facilities for showering at your workplace? If your company proposed a treadmill desk, would you or your colleagues use them? Would peer pressure be enough for you to use/not use them?

12. Do you agree that what is driving the desire to monitor employees is 'big tech' companies, and not necessarily employers seeking to reduce costs? (After all, humans have been employees for thousands of years without the need for intrusive monitoring)

..........

Situation

In an effort to reduce employee absenteeism through ill health at AndrewCorp, the CEO (your teacher) wants to introduce wearable health trackers to the workforce as a means of improving productivity and employee health. As the chief representative of said employees, make your concerns known to the CEO.

..........

Discuss quotes

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

― Lao Tzu

"A consultant starts by offering a 'solution' and creates a problem.”

--- Nassim Taleb 

"The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free."

--- Nassim Taleb

"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."

--- Alfred North Whitehead

“If you read someone else's diary, you get what you deserve.”

― David Sedaris

Student Handout PDF: Track Your Health

Photo: Pearlsband

Your Own Currency

 

1. What does the centre of your town/city look like? Does its shops/cafes/restaurants resemble those found in other towns and cities? (Every UK town/city has the same chains, making it difficult to distinguish between different places) If it looks the same as every other town/city in your country, why do you think this is?

2. Do you prefer to give your patronage to local businesses, or do you appreciate the uniformity of service/product quality provided by national chain stores?

3. What form does your patronage take? Do you always lunch at a certain eatery, or recommend a certain tradesperson?

4. Have you always used your national currency when buying a product/service locally? What financial alternatives do people have available when money weakens as an exchange mechanism? Gold? Silver? Are these viable alternatives?

5. Read article here: Own Currency Reading

6. Would the idea of a local currency appeal to you? Why/why not? The Brixton (London) Pound has the image of David Bowie on its notes - who would you choose for your local currency?

7. According to you, what would be the minimum number of participating businesses needed to make a local currency worthwhile? How difficult would it be to get businesses in your area to adopt a local currency, do you think? What means would you use to promote it?

8. Bristol's Pound is app-based which allows for digital transfers to be made - given the travails of various cryptocurrencies, does a digital currency reassure or worry you?

9. How did people in your country feel about banks pre/post-2008? Would having local currencies address any of the lack of trust surrounding large banks? How important is it to know the bank manager at your local branch? How often do they change? Do you think it's a good policy to change the manager regularly?

10. Do you think that local currencies (if sufficient in number) might support the national currency in times of high inflation/economic downturn? Or might they undermine it?

11. Do you have/use loyalty cards? Where do you use them? Is your wallet/purse stuffed with them? Do you, like me, find them bothersome, and prefer to use straight cash instead? Does their usage clash with digital transactions as well?

12. Do you think schools should teach basic financial concepts? Would people be more careful of their financial situation if they knew more about how financial institutions work? Would that benefit the world economy? The economy of your country?

..........

Situation

You are currency expert Edgar Kampers. You are appearing on a radio show to promote awareness and the use of local currencies. Put forward your ideas and answer the host's questions.

..........

Discuss quotes

"The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency."

--- Vladimir Lenin

“Our greatest currency is our time and we cannot save it. Spend it wisely and never waste another's or your own.”

― Kyle Barger

“The world can run without money and currencies but not without business and trade.”

― Amit Kalantri

“Treat others with respect and you will always be wealthy, because your community is your real currency.”

― Bryant McGill

“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy”

― Groucho Marx

Student Handout here: Own Currency

Photo: Cottonbro Studio

Career Advice

 

1. What was the best piece of career advice you were given? Did you follow it? Have you yourself given career advice to someone else? What was it?

2. Have recent economic events caused you to find ways of saving money/diversify your income? What areas of expenditure would you like to reduce?

3. Would you be tempted by a change of career if your new career provided for a lot of the non-fiscal things that you currently need?

..........

Read article here: Career Advice Reading

4. What is your reaction? Does the author's suggestion of joining the military seem far-fetched? Would it have been considered just as far-fetched if he had written the piece 100 years ago?

5. How attractive would having accommodation, a profession, and disposable income be to a young person today (assuming they could avoid front-line action)?

6. Is your country subject to the same pressures that might make joining the military seem a reasonable idea i.e. a shortage of affordable homes, a mountain of student debt, and personal debt?

7. Do you think that the military's "solutions" to these problems could be replicated in a non-military setting e.g. car pooling/sharing, apprenticeships instead of going to university, more house building? How would people in your country view the above strategies?

8. Are there any other institutions that provide for your immediate/future needs in a similar way to joining the military? Can labour shortages be addressed by offering good global packages to potential employees? Do you know of any examples?

9. If you could modify your current job with only one of the following elements, which would you choose?

a) The use of nearby accommodation

b) Increased non-specialisation training 

c) Subsidised public transport/use of company car

d) A less intense working regime that allowed personal projects

10. Daniel Younan's text contains one or two errors that make certain idioms appear non-idiomatic - can you spot them?

..........

Situation

You are a careers advice officer for a local college. Give your counterintuitive advice to a student (your teacher) who has yet to decide on his/her future career.

..........

Discuss quotes

“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”

 – Latin Proverb

“Desperation works in job search as well as it does in dating. ”

– Darrell Gurney

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. ”

– Confucius

“Where military service begins, logic ends.”

― Turkish Proverb

"A man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten."

- Oscar Wilde

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments."

- Earl Wilson

Student Handout PDF : Career Advice

Where Would We Be Without Coffee?

 

1. Do you drink coffee? How much? Have you ever tried to abstain from drinking it; how long did you go without? What effects did you notice as a non-drinker; what effects did you notice when you drank your first cup? Did it have an effect on your concentration levels? Were you functional?

2. Could you talk about a cup of coffee for fifteen minutes?

3. Watch video here: Coffee Video

What is your reaction? What surprised you the most?

4. At approximately 1min 50s, Michael Pollan states that a lot of people are in a caffeinated state most of the time - a state of some form of addiction. Is this a good thing? If it isn't, should we look to return to a non-caffeinated state?

5. How do you feel about coffee's socio-cultural importance? Pollan mentions the arrival of tea/coffee in Europe as being the trigger for the Enlightenment in France, and the Age of Reason in England - he also mentions coffee's earlier arrival in Arabia as a driver for science and literature as well as maths and astronomy. Do you think this is plausible? Do you know of any other periods of time associated with the consumption of a substance (good or bad)?

6. If caffeine can bring about a 'golden age' for a civilisation, can it also do so for an individual? Did you have a golden age when you started to drink tea/coffee?

7. Do you think Pollan's characterisation of the pre-1600s as being a time of 'drunkenness' is fair? Having cider for breakfast and 'beer breaks' while working seems to suggest a society prone to debauchery. What do you think was the then justification for giving alcohol to children? Do you think we became healthier as a result of the switch to coffee? When did coffee drinking become widespread in your country? Were there any noticeable changes associated with its consumption?

8. Do you think that caffeine is the fuel for capitalism? Pollan cites the examples of 'escaping the sun's rhythm', allowing night work, and the coffee break, a period of time given to employees, so that they might consume this 'productivity drug'. Do we need a modern alternative to caffeine - something that increases our creativity/productivity without worrying about 'addiction'? 

9. When you are at work, when is your break timed for? Do you notice any peaks/dips in your performance in relation to your break times? If you could customise them, when and how long would you have them for? Would you share this information with your boss? 

10. As far as I know, there aren't any serious health concerns regarding moderate use of coffee, but if we wanted to be cautious in its use, could we look to do as Pollan mentioned, and have something like 'coffee only on Saturdays'? Could you do that? Would it be easy?

..........

Situation

It is 1651, you are a trader in sugar, spice, and tobacco. You have just accepted your first shipment of this new drink, coffee. Convince your trading partner, your teacher, who is the owner of several inns in London, of the benefits of this new elixir.

.........

Discuss quotes

“Coffee is a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your older self.”

― Terry Pratchett

“Police work wouldn't be possible without coffee," Wallander said.

"No work would be possible without coffee."

They pondered the importance of coffee in silence.”

― Henning Mankell

“The powers of a man's mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks.”

― Sir James Mackintosh

"Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break."

--- Earl Wilson

"Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second."

--- Edward Abbey

Student Handout PDF: Where Would We Coffee

Photo: Stas Knop

Fall From Grace

 

1. What do the following people/things have in common?

Richard Nixon

Napoleon Bonaparte

Blackberry

Boris Johnson

2. Match the following statements to the above personages:

a) "Did you know that his code provides the basis for current French law? There is that."

b) "Credit where it is due, he was well informed of his opponents' intentions."

c) "Like it or not, he did get Brexit done."

d) "They did make it very easy to check your emails."

3. Do you know of any famous people - who ostensibly worked for the social good - but who came 'unstuck' due to 'weaknesses of character'? Do you know of any companies that had a large part of market share, but came to grief because of shortsightedness? 

4. Read article here: Fall From Grace Reading

5. Were you already aware of Carlos Ghosn? Do you know how he escaped the clutches of the Japanese legal system (he was originally in custody in Tokyo)? What do you know of the Japanese legal system? Do you think it is fair and transparent?

6. What is your reaction to the article? Is Ghosn unethical or criminal in the things he has done? Or does he - as the article seems to suggest- have a 'blind spot' regarding how others see him? Do you think he is unlucky, in that he is neither French nor Japanese, and thus can fall into behaviour that neither French nor Japanese cultures can accept?

7. Are multinational companies more likely to see this kind of behaviour, in that they operate across cultural borders? Do multinational companies need to employ 'larger than life' leaders?

8. Does not success for the greater number of people absolve any small wrongdoing? If a leader has fulfilled his mandate, shouldn't we be in a position to turn a blind eye to any personal excesses?

9. Do you accept that there is always a risk of misdemeanour when we appoint larger than life characters to fulfil a function? And that if we want extraordinary results, we should accept some of the downsides too?

10. In Greek tragedy, the hero falls as a result of 'hubris' (this word means excessive pride). After being set up for the fall, we expect a moment of 'anagnorisis' in which the hero makes an important discovery, often realising the error of their ways. Ghosn is currently in his native Lebanon where he cannot be extradited to Japan. Do you think people such as Ghosn, Nixon, and Johnson can ever change their ways?

11. Can we ever use other people's falls from grace as lessons in our own lives? Is it useful to do so? Have you ever experienced hubristic behaviour from management at work? Have you yourself ever indulged in hubristic behaviour at work?

..........

Situation

You are Carlos Ghosn's press secretary. You are meeting with Carlos (your teacher) in Tripoli to redact a press release which will hopefully assuage public opinion regarding the events at Nissan during Carlos's reign. Advise him on the content of the press release.

..........

Discuss quotes

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”

- William Shakespeare

 “You can’t leave a footprint that lasts if you’re always walking on tiptoe.”

- Marion Blakey

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

 - Pericles

“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, but to leave behind something that will.”

- Chuck Palahniuk

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

- Benjamin Franklin

“What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”

- Bob Dylan

Student Handout PDF: Fall From Grace

Photo: Michel Ojeda

Porch Parcel Theft

 

1. Watch video here: Parcel Advert Video

2. What is going on? What has happened? Why is it funny?

3. Have you had any problems in receiving online deliveries? How do you get around them? Have any of your friends/neighbours had problems in this area? What options are open to you for receiving a parcel?  Tell me about home delivery, collection points, leaving parcels with neighbours. If a parcel doesn't arrive, what action can you take?

4. Read article here: Parcel Theft Reading

5. What is your reaction? Porches tend to be a feature of American homes (they are rare in the UK). What do you understand the function of a porch to be? Do you have them with your homes? Is parcel theft common in your country?

6. Do you have a video doorbell or security camera on the front of your property? Do you find them reassuring or do they create unease? The author of the article cites the example of constant text updates to her mobile phone as a source of worry - would this bother you?

7.  Do you know all your neighbours? Do you have a 'Norma' amongst them? The UK did have (It still exists in some areas) a scheme called 'Neighbourhood Watch', where neighbours would meet once a month to discuss local crime. Do you have something similar in your district? Would you like to have such a scheme?

8. There is no limit to what you can buy online - the most esoteric items can be purchased. What is the thief's motivation for stealing unknown packages? The article cites the author's example of having gardening soil stolen - in terms of risk and reward, why would you steal items that have very little worth?

9. Who is the prototype parcel thief? Are they career criminals? What do you imagine the interior of a parcel thief's house looks like?

10. Would you contact your local police force if you had a parcel stolen? How would they react, do you think? Are there alternatives to alerting the police?

11. Watch video until 2 mins 48 secs: Exploding Parcel Video

12. What is your reaction? Is Mark Rober's invention a serious solution? Could it be modified to make it even more useful? Should we look to modify our homes so that parcels can be received safely?

13. Are there any other 'contemporary' crimes that bother you? Do you think that crime will evolve with technology, or will it be more difficult to behave criminally?

..........

Situation

You are a home security advisor. You've been invited on to a radio show to give advice on protecting parcel deliveries. Tell the host/listeners about these areas: giving delivery instructions/time of day/package size/package visibility/home's distance from the road/cameras,gates/vehicle parked on drive suggesting someone is home.

..........

Discuss quotes

“As a business owner anywhere on earth, if you fail to do what's needed by putting the right structure and processes in place, you have used your own hands to open doors for thieves and rogues to come in.”

― Bamigboye Olurotimi

“My neighbour signed for my £300 package and claims she DOESN’T have it – I’m so angry."

--- Comment often seen on social media

"Love your neighbour as yourself; but don't take down the fence."

--- Carl Sandburg

"When one neighbour helps another, we strengthen our communities."

--- Jennifer Pahlka

"You can be a good neighbour only if you have good neighbours."

--- Howard E. Koch

Student Handout PDF: Parcel Theft

Photo: Mikhail Nilov

Personal Space

1. Which of these situations do you dislike the most? Rank them in order from 1 (most disliked) to 6

(least disliked).

a. being on a crowded bus

b. waiting in a queue at a post office or bank

c.  sitting in the middle seat on a plane

d. waiting to cross a busy road

e. being stuck in a traffic jam

f. waiting at home for a delivery to arrive

Read article here: Personal Space Reading

2. Have you ever experienced any of the situations mentioned in the article? Has it changed the way you behave now ? For example, do you no longer fly economy, or do you refuse to shop at a particular store?

3. Which of the below sectors have the worst customer service:

- air travel

- in-store clothes shopping

- public transport?

4. Have you personally witnessed any instances of incivility while using the above?

5. Are there any particular nationalities/cultures for whom personal space is more important?

6. Does the article focus too much on first-world problems? Are there countries where these features would not be considered problems?

7. Do people in your country need a lot of 'elbow room', or are they happy enough to co-exist in crowded conditions? How do you say 'elbow room' in your language?

8. How can the following help with sharing a small space: etiquette, empathy, being rich?

9. Is this really all the fault of capitalism? Do other types of social order not experience these types of problems?

10. Are cramped conditions the price we pay for having cheap air travel, cheap clothes etc?

11. If you wanted to complain about service, and you cannot get satisfaction from a company, what other means could you use to make your voice heard?

..........

Situation

You are an airline representative. A video showing a man repeatedly hitting the back of the seat of the woman in front of him has become a social media hit, and it took place on one of your flights. Explain your company's reaction to this incident - what your policy is, and give advice to future passengers. A local journalist (your teacher) will ask you questions.

..........

Discuss quotes

"My mother taught me that your employees come first. If you treat them well, then they treat the customers well, and that means your customers come back, and your shareholders are happy.”

— Herb Kelleher

"These days no one can make money on the goddamn airline business. The economics represent sheer hell."

— C.R. Smith, former CEO of American Airlines

"If the Wright brothers were alive today, Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs."

— Herb Kelleher

“The opposite of anger is not calmness.  It’s empathy.”

 – Mehmet Oz

“You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.”

– John Steinbeck

“It's a universal law-- intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.”

― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Student Handout PDF: Personal Space

Pandemic Travel

Pandemic Travel Reading 

1. Which would worry you the most during a pandemic?

a) riding the subway

b) flying

c) using the restroom at a petrol station

d) visiting a national park

e) holiday on a cruise ship

2. Which of the following are the most/least effective? Why?

a) temperature check

b) face coverings

c) negative COVID-19 test

d) 14-day quarantine

e) a tracking app

f) vaccinations

g) immunity passports

h) social distancing

i) intensive cleaning of public places

j) 72-hour vacancy between room bookings

3. Which company/supermarket/local authority has impressed/not impressed you recently with the measures they have taken?

4. Have your cleaning routines changed at home/work? What do you do differently?

5. When will you finally know that it is safe to travel? Choose from the following:

a) The government says so.

b) Friends have already travelled.

c) Travel agencies start advertising holidays again.

d) The WHO gives the green light to travel.

6. What are you most looking forward to doing once the current pandemic is over?

7. Has the crisis brought about a change in how you see life? Are you more risk averse now?  Will you be bringing certain events forward once travel bans have been lifted? Have you added any events or activities to your 'bucket list'?  Or have you removed anything from your list?

8. Will you revisit your previous holiday destinations?

..........

Situation

The pandemic is nearly over. Your friend (your teacher) is planning his/her next holiday - They have the choice between a road trip on Route 66, using Airbnb, or alternatively, a city-tour holiday, which involves flying to Singapore, Tokyo, and Adelaide. Give them your best advice regarding risk and safety precautions.

..........

Discuss quotes

“You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun.”

― Shaun Hick

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”

― William Faulkner

"A world with a sudden limit on air travel would be tremendously different from the one we live in now."

- Charles C. Mann

“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.”

― Henry David Thoreau

"A smile abroad is often a scowl at home."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Student Handout PDF: Pandemic Travel

Photo: Anna Shvets

Dutch Retirement Home

1. How easy is it to find accommodation for young people in your region/country?

2. Is there an age gap between young and old in your country?

3. Is there a shortage of senior-care provision where you live?

4. What attitudes towards ageing do people in your country have? What attitudes do people in the UK have, do you think?

Read article here: Dutch Retirement Home Reading

5. Would students/senior citizens in your country be happy to go along with the ideas mentioned in the article?

6. Do you see any possible problems coming from this arrangement?

7. Is this a great idea or a symbol of western society's failure to look after its old?

8. Would you like/have liked to spend your university years living in a retirement home?

9. Would you like to live in a home like this when you retire?

10. Should universities and the senior-care sector come together to replicate this project in other areas?

..........

Situation 1

Your teacher is a first-year student at Moscow University looking for affordable accommodation. You work in the student welfare dept. Persuade him of the benefits for this type of accommodation.

Situation 2

You are the care-home manager. Inform your teacher of the rules and regulations that he needs to obey as a student/carer.

..........

Discuss quotes

"I'm kind of comfortable with getting older because it's better than the other option, which is being dead. So I'll take getting older."   

--- George Clooney                                                                                                                 

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm."

--- Aldous Huxley

"The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles."

--- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed."

--- Arthur Schopenhauer

Student Handout: Dutch Retirement

Stay Interviews

 1. Have you heard the expression 'The Great Resignation'? What does it mean? Why are we hearing it now?

2. As a period of employment ends, companies sometimes conduct 'exit interviews' - what is the goal of these interviews?  Have you ever had an exit interview? What were you asked? How did you reply?

3. How are 'stay interviews' supposed to address the turbulent jobs market at the moment?

Read article here: Stay Interviews Reading

4. In the article, Matthias Spitzmuller says, "We’re in a different society than we were at the beginning of the pandemic, and that will mean changes in employment preferences." Is this true in your country? Are people reassessing life/work? Are people more prepared to see if the grass is greener elsewhere?

5. Here are four questions taken from the article - how would you answer them if they were applied to your company/organisation?

a) Which types of employees should companies target with stay interviews?

b) Who should conduct the stay interview?

c) What should be discussed in a stay interview?

d) The pandemic has shifted how some employees want to work. Should those issues be brought up in stay interviews as well?

6. Here are five questions taken from a 'What should be discussed' section - are these questions useful? If not, what else could you ask?

e) What’s your frame of mind today?

f) Who do you feel connected to at work?

g) What barriers can I remove for you?

h) What new thing do you want to learn that will excite you and help you grow?

7. Does the concept of stay interviews only really apply to large organisations? Why? Does the concept come from the notion of wanting to quantify everything?

8. Does money solve most of the issues associated with people wanting to leave their jobs? In your previous employment, would you have stayed with a company/organisation if they had simply increased your salary?

9. Are there any downsides to using stay interviews? Tell me about inaction, overpromising, extra cost.

10. What alternative ways are there of getting feedback from staff?

..........

Situation

A long-term employee (your teacher) doesn't seem as motivated as usual, and you've heard rumours that he is looking at leaving your organisation. Arrange a stay interview for him, and try to keep him on board at your company.

..........

Discuss quotes

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

― Tom Stoppard

"There should be exit interviews for dating. Just a brief evaluation of the highlights and challenges of the relationship, and maybe a few questions like "So what exactly was it that motivated you to dump me?"

--- Devan Sipher

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”

--- Marcus Aurelius

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all – the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.”

--- Randy Kosimar

"You can always tell when a man's well informed. His views are pretty much like your own."

Student Handout PDF: Stay Interviews

Photo: Sora Shimazaki

Mystery Shopper

1. Which store/brand/company offers the best customer service in  your country? Who has a reputation for poor service?

2. Is there an established mystery shopping industry in your country? Does it have a positive image?

3. Is being a mystery shopper something that you would consider doing? What aspects of the job appeal to you?

4. What character traits should a successful mystery shopper have? What kind of wardrobe do they need?

5. Who benefits most from these visits - companies or customers? Or is it win-win?

6. Which government agencies can benefit from the use of mystery shoppers? Can you think of any examples?

Read article here: Mystery Shopper Reading

7. Do you think the article gives an accurate portrayal of life as a mystery shopper? Is it really all free lunches and meeting interesting people?

8. Fifty thousand mystery shopping trips are carried out each month in the UK - does this figure surprise you?

9. Is it reasonable to use the information from a mystery shopper to determine staff bonuses?

10. "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." How can a budding mystery shopper decide on which opportunities are real or fake?

11. Mystery shopping agencies often ask their mystery shoppers to adopt either an 'experienced shopper' profile, or an 'inexperienced shopper profile'. What do these descriptions mean? How would they be manifested in the following situations: a housewife seeking car advice at a garage, someone  from the provinces seeking financial advice at a bank?

12. Could a mystery shopper be used in your line of work? What areas could they provide useful feedback on?

13. Do you think technology will remove the need for mystery shoppers in the future?

..........

Situation

You are a supervisor at a popular mystery shopping agency. Your new client is a bank that wants to check the quality of advice from its customer advisors. Brief your mystery shopper (your teacher) on what he should do and say.

..........

Discuss quotes

"A man without a smiling face must not open a shop."

- Chinese proverb

"Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. They'll just walk away."

- Marylin Suttle

"When the customer comes first, the customer will last."

- Robert Half

"Solve it. Solve it quickly, solve it right or wrong. If you solve it wrong, it will come back and slap you in the face, and then you can solve it right. Lying dead in the water and doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without risk, but it is an absolutely fatal way to manage a business."

- Thomas Watson

Student Handout PDF: Mystery Shopper

Lent

1. What religious festivals do you know? Which days, if any, are religious holidays in your country?

2. Do they ever require you to give something up?  Have you ever given something up for a fixed period of time?

3. Who is the most prominent religious leader in your country? What other worldwide religious leaders do you know?

4. Do your heads of religion make pronouncements on public life? How are these pronouncements received? Do you listen?

5. Who could persuade you to give up TV and mobile phone use for a weekend?

Read article here: Lent

6. Does the article (especially its headline) accurately reflect Pope Francis's position? Does the author have his own agenda here? What is it?

7. Do you agree with the following? Why?

a) "It's only right that the church should move with the times, and involve itself more with social media."

b) "Social media should be renamed 'anti-social media', as it would more accurately reflect its nature." 

8. Do you think it is a good thing that religious/spiritual leaders have a presence on social media? Is their message weakened by the hostility/salaciousness of other people's messages?

9. Who is the most civic-minded person you know?

10. Who do you admire most on social media: someone who sticks to their guns despite controversy, or someone who admits to making a mistake, and is ready to learn?

11. How do you strike the right balance between righteous behaviour and righteous anger when online?

..........

Situation

You have been appointed chief moderator by your local church/mosque/temple for its new online platform. Explain your policies to a local journalist (your teacher), who is curious to know how you will balance the 'Wild West' of the internet with your pastoral duties.

..........

Discuss quotes

“It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.”

- Abraham Lincoln

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”

― Ambrose Bierce

“Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.”

― Brian Tracy

“Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.”

― Lou Holt

Student Handout PDF: Lent

Elements Of Persuasion

1. Are you easily persuaded/a good persuader? What are the key elements to being a good persuader?

2. Who is the most persuasive person that you know? What do they do?

3. Persuasion is often thought of as deception and manipulation, but when is persuasion necessary for good and ethical outcomes?

4. Is rhetoric good or bad? Why?

5.  Discuss the rhetorical styles of your friends. How do you persuade each other? What are the rules, patterns, and expectations? 

Read infographic here: Elements Of Persuasion Reading

6. Did anything surprise you? Were you already aware of these techniques?

7. How would you paraphrase reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, and consensus as illustrated in the infographic? Have you seen these techniques used in real life? Give an example of each.

8. Is the list of 6 factors complete? Is there anything missing?

9. How could an online teacher use these factors to increase his/her number of students?

10. How could you/your company use these factors to improve your/their business?

..........

Situation

You run a small gym and you want to boost customer numbers by using some/all of the six techniques. Call a staff meeting to propose/discuss the measures you want to use.

..........

Discuss quotes

"Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion."

- Aristotle

"Persuasion has become a kind of force. The more the advertiser knows about what consumers want, and the more desires the product and packaging seek to fulfil, the more coercive the force."

- Virginia Postrel

"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

- Desmond Tutu

"He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense."

- Joseph Conrad

"The tongue can paint what the eye can’t see." 

– Chinese Proverb

"Those that will not hear must be made to feel."

– German Proverb

"If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend."

– Abraham Lincoln

Student Handout PDF: Elements

School Sports

1. What sports did you practise when you were at school? Do you know these sports:

volleyball, cross-country running, cricket, rugby?

2. Do you have fond memories or bad memories of those sports?

3. Did you participate in any other sport outside of school?

4. Are there any sports that you practise now but used to hate doing when you were younger? Did school or PE teachers colour your attitude towards physical activity?

5. Is there a stereotypical PE teacher? Is it a positive or negative stereotype? Did they favour particular pupils?

Read article here: School Sports Reading

6. What is your reaction? Do you recognise your own experience in any of the stories mentioned in the article? Was your choice of sport/your enthusiasm ever affected by a random comment from a PE teacher?

7. In the article, the director of Youth Sport Trust said that sport should not focus on competition. In the UK, competitive sport at school is now frowned upon - it's now more important to be inclusive and to favour participation rather than winning. What's the situation in your country - are children encouraged to be competitive?

8. Most adult sporting activity is done for health/fitness/social purposes -  do you think that school sport should reflect this e.g. aerobics instead of athletics, gym work instead of team sports?

9. If you were the headmaster/headmistress of a school, how much of the timetable would you give to sporting activity, and what activities would you favour?

10. If you were looking to start doing sport, would you choose a team sport or an individual one? Why?

11. If you were looking for a coach/personal trainer/fitness guru, what type would you choose: a 'drill sergeant' type, or someone more easygoing? If you go to a gym/class, what sort of atmosphere is there? Is it competitive, or something more collegial?

12. "Schools hire coaches whose objective is to win rather than to instil a love of sport." Do you agree?

13. Does your company have interdepartmental sports leagues/teams? Which disciplines are represented? How seriously are they taken?

..........

Situation

You are the headmaster/headmistress of a secondary school who wants to modernise the school's sporting curriculum. You're interviewing for a new PE teacher to help you do this. Decide on whether you want the school to be competitive in its sports, or more inclusive in its approach to physical activity.

Interview the candidate (your teacher), outlining what you expect from the new recruit.

..........

Discuss quotes

"If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?"

- Vince Lombardi

"One man practising sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it."

- Knute Rockne

"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.

 In other words, it is war minus the shooting."

- George Orwell

"Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Student Handout PDF: School Sports

Queuing: Chat And Cut

1. How do you feel about queuing? What was your longest wait? Which institutions in your country are notorious for long waits?

2. How do you feel if someone pushes in? When is pushing in justified?

3. Has mobile technology made queuing (looking at your phone etc.) more tolerable?

4. What positive events generated queues in your country?

Watch video here: Chat And Cut Video

Read script: Chat And Cut Script

5. What happened? What is chat and cut? Is it something you have ever seen yourself? Is it something you have done (maybe with a genuine friend). Have you seen anyone caught doing this?

6. When queuing for food in school canteens, teaching staff are often advised by management to push into queues for lunch - is this form of hierarchical queue jumping acceptable? Does this sort of thing happen at your workplace with senior management?

7. Do you feel comfortable correcting people in public? Do you always do it, or are you prepared to let things go?

8. Would you act on your own, or would you prefer to be a part of a group complaint?

9. Do you know someone who is good at calling out minor social injustices? What characteristics do they have? What is their technique? Larry (video) is seemingly eloquent when accusing someone, but much less so when he is the accused - how important is it to be eloquent when calling out bad behaviour?

10. What are the downsides of being known as a person who is strict on etiquette?

11. Complete the sentence: "If people have made an honest mistake, ..."

12. Rate the following advice for correcting people : useful or useless?

a) Ask yourself the question: "Can he or she handle the truth?"  If the answer is an unqualified 'Yes,' let them know they're wrong, right there and then. If "No," then say nothing.

b) Trying to soften criticism with qualifications like "With all due respect," "No offence," or "Don't take this the wrong way" only confuses your message.

c) Focus on behaviour, not character (if you know them). You should focus on the facts and not your opinion of that person.

d) Show them the way. Criticism without an action plan is worthless. Give them direction or keep quiet.

..........

Situation

You are queuing at your company restaurant for lunch. The queue is lengthy. You see your teacher attempting a chat and cut ahead of you: Deal with the situation using the appropriate techniques.

..........

Discuss quotes

"Waiting is so unusual that many of us can't stand in a queue for 30 seconds without getting out our phones to check for messages or to Google something."

--- Julian Baggini

"Life's greatest comfort is being able to look over your shoulder and see people waiting in line behind you."

--- Chuck Palahniuk

"Waiting in line is a great opportunity to meet people, daydream, or play."

--- Patch Adams

"It is strange that the years teach us patience; that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting."

--- Elizabeth Taylor

“I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.”

― E. V. Lucas

Student Handout PDF: Chat And Cut

Move To Another City: Try Before You Buy

1. Which town/city/country would you choose to live in from the following?

Candela (Italy)

Detroit (US)

Antikythera (Greece)

Read article here: Try Before You Buy Reading

2. Do you think that Gorlitz, Detroit, and Candela are at the beginning of a new dawn, or at the end of an era? Is it inevitable that some towns/cities will always 'fall off the map'?

3. "Gorlitz's project will only help young liberals working in IT dependent industries." Do you agree?

4. Do you think that technology can help slow down migration from regional towns and cities towards capital cities?  Or do we need something else e.g. infrastructure, devolution, regionalism, traditional industries?

5. Are there any cities in your country that are trying to attract newcomers or hold on to their citizens? How are they doing it? Have some succeeded or failed at this?

6. Could you work remotely at your current job? Could you work remotely in a foreign country? Would you want to?

7. Could you perform your daily tasks solely from a computer or a phone? Would you be happy sitting on a tropical beach, a drink in your hand, with a laptop doing your work?

8. "Working 9 to 5 in an office/factory/shop with colleagues provides a rhythm to life, a security that remote working can never match." Do you agree?

9. Are you a self-starter?

10. Do you need validation to feel successful?

...........

Situation

You represent the town of XYZ, a town that has seen a decrease in the size of its population. You have an interview with a journalist (your teacher) from a prestigious newspaper. Explain to him/her your town's policies on rejuvenating the population.

..........

Discuss quotes

“When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin

"I would rather be the only horse in a one-horse town than be the third horse in a big city."

- David Lichtenstein

"It is not in some sort of retreat that we will find ourselves: it is in the city, in the midst of the crowd, a thing among things, a man among men."

- Jean-Paul Sartre

"The city has a face, the countryside has a soul."

- Jacques de Lacretelle

"Live in the countryside for you, instead of living in the city for others."

-  Latin proverb

Student Handout PDF: Try Before You Buy

Photo: Ketut Subiyanto