WELCOME! Sejam muito bem-vindos ao blog de LÍNGUA INGLESA do Núcleo Pedagógico da Diretoria de Ensino - Região Assis (DERA). Foi criado para subsidiar Professores de Inglês que lecionam nas escolas da rede estadual em nossa região, com materiais relacionados aos objetos de conhecimento e habilidades da BNCC e do Currículo Paulista, além de diversas propostas de atividades e reflexões sobre o idioma de Shakespeare, a fim de fortalecer o trabalho docente e a aprendizagem dos estudantes.
Como é que se diz ABÓBORA em Inglês? Para começar, a palavra é PUMPKIN. Simplesmente isso, não tem segredo nenhum! Agora, se você quiser falar abóbora de Halloween no idioma de Shakespeare, aí vai ter de dizer Halloween pumpkin ou usar o nome mais tradicional que é jack-o’-lantern pumpkin. Em alguns países de Língua Inglesa, há um bolo muito famoso conhecido como pumpkin cheesecake. Além desse bolo, eles também tem pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup e até mesmo pumpkin spice drinks. Ah! Você sabia que pumpkin é também um termo carinhoso usado entre pessoas próximas (namorados, casais, familiares etc.)? Quando usado dessa forma, nós dizemos que se trata de um term of endearment.
Diferentes tipos de pumpkins Só para acrescentar mais conhecimento a tudo isso, saiba que há vários tipos de pumpkin disponíveis no mercado. Alguns dos mais comuns são:
traditional orange pumpkins, usadas em decorações e para fazer a abóbora de Halloween;
pie pumpkins, usadas para fazer bolos e tortas;
giant pumpkins, que costumam aparecer em competições;
lumina pumpkin ou a pequena baby boo pumpkin, geralmente usadas para decorações também.
Caso queira conhecer mais tipos de abóboras na Língua Inglesa, leia o texto Pumpkins – All American Selections, no site da Universidade de Illinois. Por fim, anote aí que para dizer ABOBRINHA, em Inglês, há duas maneiras. Os britânicos pegaram a palavra do Francês, COURGETTE. Já os americanos pegaram a palavra do Italiano, ZUCHINNI. Nos States, há também o termo SMALL SUMMER SQUASH.
The present perfect form can be particularly challenging for teachers to teach and students to learn. This is because in many other languages, the present perfect tense functions differently than it does in English. The main goal when teaching the present perfect tense to English language learners is to get them to understand its two main usages. Follow this easy step-by-step guide on how to teach the present perfect tense and your students will be using it confidently in no time.
How to teach the Present Perfect Tense Step 1: The two main uses To begin the lesson, explain to students that there are two main uses of the present perfect tense; to talk about finished past actions, and to talk about an action that started in the past and continued to the present. Write these two uses as headings on the board and draw a simple timeline below each heading. Students will likely not quite understand what you mean at this point, so it’s time to give them lots of examples to help them grasp these uses of the present perfect tense.
Step 2: Finished past actions A great way to demonstrate this first usage of the present perfect tense is to talk about your past experiences. For example, you can tell students “I have visited many countries”, “I have been to South Korea and Japan”, “I have climbed Mt. Fuji” etc. Write these examples on the board. Next, elicit from students the fact that these actions/events took place in the past and finished in the past. For example, you can ask students “Am I in Japan now?”, “Am I still climbing Mt. Fuji?” etc.
Step 3: Actions that started in the past and continue to the present Once students have grasped the first usage, it’s time to teach them the second usage of the present perfect tense. To do this, you can elicit many examples from students. For example, you can ask students how long they have lived in the current country/city you are in (“I have lived in England for 5 years”), how long they have studied English (“I have studied English for three years”), how long they have known their best friend (“I have known Kelly for 7 years”) etc. Write all these examples on the board so you can refer to them later.
Step 4: Present Perfect Tense structure
Next, show students the following present perfect structure:
subject + have/has + past participle
You may need to explain what ‘subject’ and ‘past participle’ refer to. A great way to do this is to use the examples on the board from steps 2 and 3 and have students identify the subject and past participle in each sentence. Once students understand the present perfect tense structure, swap out the subjects and verbs in each sentence to make new sentences.
Step 5: Ask and answer using the Present Perfect Now students understand the main uses and the structure of the present perfect tense, teach students how to ask and answer questions in the present perfect tense. For example,
T: “Have you been to France?” S:“Yes, I have.” / “No, I haven’t.”
T:“What other countries have you been to?” S:“I have been to Spain, Germany, Thailand, and Vietnam.”
T:“How long have you studied English?” S:“I have studied English for 3 years.”
T:“How long have you lived in this town?” S:“I have lived here for 2 months.”
Once students understand, have them practice asking and answering present perfect questions with their partner. After 10 minutes, stop the class and ask some students to tell you what their partner said. This way, students can practice changing the subject in the sentence, i.e. “He/She has studied English for 3 years.”
Step 6: Review with a QUIZ
Finally, it’s time to review what students have learned with a fun quiz. You can use the above quiz video or you can use these free present perfect exercise worksheets:
Worksheet 1 - This present perfect tense worksheet is a practice exercise. Students should use the words in the brackets to make a present perfect affirmative sentence.
Worksheet 5 - This activity worksheet is a ‘find somebody who’ activity worksheet to practice the present perfect tense. Students should talk with their classmates and ask them present perfect questions. Then complete the worksheet with their classmates’ answers.
Worksheet 6 - This activity worksheet is a set of ‘find your partner’ cards. There are 8 positive present perfect sentences and 8 negative sentences. Students should find their partner to make a matching pair of positive and negative sentences.
Nesta postagem vamos abordar duas palavras que muitos falantes de Língua Portuguesa fazem confusão: pretend e intend. Esses dois termos são o que chamamos de false friends (ou falso cognato, em Português), que são palavras em dois idiomas estrangeiros que parecem ou soam familiares, mas tem um sentido muito diferente uma da outra. À primeira vista, o que você acha que pretend significa? E intend? Bem, vamos confirmar logo abaixo. Pretend é um dos falsos cognatos mais confusos para os estudantes de Inglês, porque parece com o verbo ‘pretender’, em Português. Só que pretend é um verbo que quer dizer fingir. Se quisermos dizer que pretendemos ir à praia no fim de semana, aí sim, usaremos intend, que quer dizer justamente isso: pretender.
Começaremos com alguns exemplos com o verbo pretend no presente. Lembre-se que essa palavra que dizer fingir:
We were never going to make the marriage work, so why pretend? (Nós nunca íamos fazer o casamento funcionar, então por que fingir?)
I’m sorry, but I can’t just sit back and pretend nothing happened. (Me desculpe, mas eu não posso apenas me sentar e fingir que nada aconteceu.)
It was useless to pretend innocence. (Era inútil fingir inocência.)
Como pretend é um verbo regular, seu passado é pretended. Vamos ver alguns exemplos:
She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. (Ela fechou seus olhos e fingiu estar dormindo.)
He pretended he didn’t mind, but I knew that he did. (Ele fingiu que não se importava, mas eu sabia que sim.)
I pretended that I’d forgotten it was his birthday. (Eu fingi que eu tinha esquecido que era aniversário dele.)
They’re pretending they’re astronauts again. (Eles estão fingindo que eles são astronautas de novo.)
The little girl was pretending to be a lion. (A menininha estava fingindo que era um leão.)
[Acima temos o past continuous, que mostra que algo foi feito durante algum tempo no passado.]
She’s not really hurt – she’s only pretending. (Ela não está realmente machucada, ela está apenas fingindo.)
Bem, agora que vimos vários exemplos com pretend, vamos ver com intend, que tem o sentido de pretender (ter a intenção de) fazer algo:
What do you intend to do about this? (O que você pretende fazer sobre isso?)
I intend using the report as evidence to support my case. (Eu pretendo usar o relatório como evidência para sustentar meu caso.)
We intend to go to Australia next year. (Nós pretendemos ir para a Austrália ano que vem.)
I’ve heard that she intends to leave the company. (Eu ouvi que ela pretende deixar a empresa.)
Exemplos de intend no passado:
He intended to tell her exactly what had happened. (Ele pretendia dizer a ela exatamente o que tinha acontecido.)
I’m sorry – no offense was intended. (Me desculpa, nenhuma intenção de ofender.)
She wondered what he intended by that statement. (Ela se perguntava o que ele pretendia com aquela declaração.)
I spent much more than I intended to. (Eu gastei muito mais do que eu pretendia.)
Clique AQUI para baixar o PDF com as frases acima. Clique AQUI para baixar a gravação com todas as frases em Inglês.
Quando aprendemos Inglês ou outro idioma, é normal nos depararmos com palavras parecidas às que conhecemos em Português, mas que têm significados completamente diferentes: são os famosos falsos cognatos ou false friends. Essas palavrinhas ‘falsianes’ costumam trazer aos alunos alguma confusão na compreensão de textos ou na hora da prática escrita e falada, gerando uma mensagem diferente da pretendida. Esse é o motivo da dúvida existente entre os verbos pretend e intend, afinal, à primeira vista, pode-se pensar automaticamente que pretend tem alguma relação com “pretender”, em Português. A seguir, vamos abordar as diferenças entre eles e exemplificar com algumas frases práticas do dia a dia.
PRETEND (fingir, simular)
Pretend é um verbo que envolve a ação de representar ou simular algo que não é verdadeiro, muitas vezes com o propósito de enganar ou criar uma ilusão. Essa ação pode ser usada para criar um cenário imaginário, fingir ser outra pessoa ou, em alguns casos, para evitar situações desagradáveis ou difíceis.
She pretended to be a famous actress. (Ela fingiu ser uma atriz famosa.)
The spy pretended to be a janitor to gain access to the facility. (O espião fingiu ser um zelador para ganhar acesso às instalações.)
The students enjoyed pretending to be characters from their favorite books during class. (Os alunos se divertiram ao fingir ser personagens de seus livros favoritos durante a aula.)
She often pretends to be an expert in the subject, but her knowledge is limited. (Ela frequentemente finge ser uma especialista no assunto, mas seu conhecimento é limitado.)
Sarah pretended to have a headache to avoid going to the party. (Sarah fingiu ter uma dor de cabeça para evitar ir à festa.)
When caught in a lie, he had to pretend he didn't know what they were talking about. (Quando pego em uma mentira, ele teve que fingir que não sabia do que estavam falando.)
INTEND (pretender, ter intenção de)
Intend é um verbo na Língua Inglesa que reflete a intenção de realizar algo ou a finalidade de uma ação futura. Pode abranger uma variedade de áreas, desde planos de carreira e projetos até objetivos pessoais. Ou seja, é o verbo que corresponde ao “pretender” da Língua Portuguesa.
I intend to study abroad next year. (Pretendo estudar no exterior no próximo ano.)
As a family tradition, she intends to start her own business. (Como tradição de família, ela tem a intenção de começar seu próprio negócio.)
They intended to visit the museum today, but it was closed. (Eles pretendiam visitar o museu hoje, mas estava fechado.)
He didn't intend to hurt your feelings with his comment. (Ele não tinha a intenção de magoar seus sentimentos com seu comentário.)
We intend to finish the project by the end of the month. (Pretendemos concluir o projeto até o final do mês.)
Sarah intends to become a doctor and help people. (Sarah pretende se tornar médica e ajudar as pessoas.)
O Halloween, celebrado no dia 31 de outubro, é uma das festividades mais misteriosas e aguardadas do ano. Por isso, convidamos você a embarcar em uma viagem fascinante através do tempo, explorando as raízes ancestrais dessa festa e as tradições que a transformaram em uma celebração repleta de fantasia e diversão. Prepare-se para descobrir a história e os costumes que moldaram o Halloween como o conhecemos hoje.
Origem As origens do Halloween podem ser traçadas até as tradições celtas. Habitantes das terras que hoje compreendem a Irlanda, o Reino Unido e parte da França, os celtas celebravam um antigo festival conhecido como Samhain. Esse evento marcava a véspera do ano novo, coincidindo com o final da época das colheitas e o início das preparações para o inverno rigoroso. Durante o Samhain, acreditava-se que a fronteira entre o mundo dos vivos e o dos mortos se tornava tênue, permitindo que espíritos e fantasmas vagassem pela Terra. Para afastar esses espíritos indesejados, eles acendiam fogueiras e usavam fantasias assustadoras, incorporando elementos de proteção e celebração à festividade. Por volta do século IX, o Cristianismo passou a ser disseminado pelas terras celtas e começou a se mesclar com as tradições pagãs locais. Os rituais celtas, incluindo o Samhain, foram gradualmente absorvidos e adaptados. A celebração do Dia de Todos os Santos, originalmente chamada All-Hallows, era uma data importante no calendário cristão para homenagear os santos e mártires. A véspera do Dia de Todos os Santos, que coincidia com a tradicional noite de Samhain, era chamada de All-Hallows Eve e, com o tempo, essa designação se transformou na palavra que conhecemos hoje como Halloween. À medida que os costumes cristãos se entrelaçavam com as tradições celtas, a festividade do Halloween começou a evoluir. Os elementos de fantasias, fogueiras e a crença na passagem entre os mundos permaneceram, mas com uma nova camada de significado religioso. Contudo, o Halloween ainda estava longe de se tornar a festa moderna repleta de doces, abóboras esculpidas e travessuras noturnas que associamos a ele hoje. Para isso, precisaríamos cruzar o Atlântico e entrar na história da colonização da América do Norte.
O Halloween nos Estados Unidos Durante o período colonial, a observância do Halloween era extremamente limitada, uma vez que a cultura puritana predominante na Nova Inglaterra via com desconfiança as festividades consideradas pagãs. À medida que as crenças e os costumes dos diferentes grupos étnicos europeus e dos nativos norte-americanos se mesclaram, uma versão distintamente americana do Halloween começou a surgir. As primeiras celebrações incluíam eventos públicos destinados a celebrar a colheita. Nesses encontros, as comunidades compartilhavam histórias sobre os mortos, dançavam ao redor de fogueiras e entoavam canções. Essas festividades tinham um caráter mais comunitário e eram centradas na gratidão e no reconhecimento das mudanças de estação. No entanto, foi na segunda metade do século XIX que o Halloween começou a se transformar em uma celebração realmente marcante nos Estados Unidos. Nesse período, o país recebeu muitos imigrantes irlandeses, que trouxeram consigo muitas das tradições celtas associadas ao Samhain. Elementos como fantasias, lanternas de abóbora (jack-o’-lantern) e as brincadeiras de “travessuras ou gostosuras” (trick-or-treating) tornaram-se parte integrante do Halloween norte-americano, tornando-o popular em todo território. Assim, o Halloween nos Estados Unidos passou por uma transformação gradual, incorporando elementos das tradições celtas e de outras culturas, transcendendo as fronteiras étnicas e religiosas até se tornar a festa colorida, divertida e ligeiramente assustadora que conhecemos hoje.
Unindo Tradições Partes da Irlanda e Escócia tinham uma tradição chamada guising. O nome, como você pode ter percebido, tem raiz na palavra disguising (fantasiar-se, disfarçar-se). No Halloween esse é um dos costumes mais emblemáticos, junto à prática do trick-or-treating. Crianças e até mesmo alguns adultos se fantasiam de personagens assustadores ou criativos e vão de casa em casa pedindo doces. Essa tradição é uma maneira lúdica de festejar a data e promove interações positivas entre vizinhos e comunidades. Outro símbolo icônico do Halloween é o jack-o’-lantern, a lanterna esculpida em uma abóbora. Essa tradição foi adaptada do folclore irlandês pois, originalmente, se utilizavam nabos, mas os colonos entenderam que a abóbora era mais propícia para esse fim pois era encontrada em abundância no solo norte-americano. Hoje em dia, esculpir abóboras é uma atividade muito popular durante essa época do ano, e essas lanternas são um dos principais elementos decorativos nas casas. Também é importante mencionar que, no início do século XX, o Halloween passou por mais uma mudança de direção, tornando-se cada vez mais uma celebração comunitária e menos mística. As festividades passaram a incluir jogos, atividades de artesanato e comidas típicas, como maçãs caramelizadas e cidra de maçã, além de concursos de fantasias. O Halloween moderno é um feriado que valoriza a diversão e a criatividade, proporcionando a todos a oportunidade de entrar no espírito do outono.
Level: Mixed Levels (B1-B2 and B2-C1) Type of English: Business English Tags: Science and Technology; Society and Change; Jobs; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Article Based; Vocabulary Lesson Publication date: 10/24/2023
This lesson looks at the development of AI and the impact this could have on jobs. Students will listen to an interview where this is discussed and also read extracts from three different essays about the possible negative impact of AI. Exercises focus on related vocabulary, reading and listening skills. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss questions on the topic and complete the lesson with an optional essay to write (by Joe Wilson).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L4).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L4).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L4).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L4).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Presenter: Now many of you will have noticed the rise of talk in the media recently about AI, or Artificial Intelligence. In the studio to talk to us about it today is Michelle McVee from the local business school. Michelle, welcome! Michelle: Thank you! Presenter:Why are people concerned about AI? Michelle:Well, much like when there’s any significant change, people are worried about losing what they have. The advances in AI seem to have moved very quickly of late, and it’s threatening a new area of work: white-collar jobs. We’ve all got used to the self-checkout in supermarkets and ordering food online when you’re already in a restaurant. That was technology taking blue-collar jobs, but now it’s the turn of the office workers. A report by Goldman Sachs has predicted that it could replace the equivalent of around 300 million jobs, but that the impact will be different from profession to profession. So where administrative roles could have around 46% of tasks performed by AI, it will only be 6% in the building industry and 4% in maintenance. Around 44% of tasks in legal professions will be replaced by AI. Presenter:So, is this likely to affect salaries? Michelle:Possibly. For example, journalists previously had to be excellent writers. Now with ChatGPT, you can generate reasonable writing quite quickly, meaning people with lower skills can compete for the same job which will drive down wages. We’ve already seen it with other professions too. London cab drivers used to have to do an exam called The Knowledge which carefully tested how well they knew how to get around the streets of London. Now, an Uber driver with a GPS can do the same thing, even if they’ve only lived in London for a few weeks. This reduced wages by around 10%. Presenter:Are we going to see any benefits from AI technology in the working world though? Michelle:Well, of course, technology itself does create new jobs. Around 60% of workers currently do jobs that did not exist in 1940 and even those that did, many of them have been altered by it. Think of how teachers teach now compared to how they did twenty or even ten years ago. There’s also the predicted impact on the global economy. It is thought AI will increase the value of goods and services we produce by 7%. We can also see it helping poorer countries who have fewer resources, for example in healthcare. Doctors and nurses will be able to use AI to be more productive and a lot of official tasks, such as filling out forms, claims and general paperwork can be automated. Presenter:What advice would you give to those who are worried about losing their jobs to AI? Michelle:We are usually scared of what we don’t understand. It’s better to use it as an opportunity to learn and see how you can use AI to help you, rather than just worry about it. Those who will adapt to the new world of work will be those who can use AI to get more done and to help others. Presenter:Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us today, Michelle. And now we’re going to take a look at… (fading)
Level: Elementary (A1-A2) Type of English: English for Kids Tags: Playing Games; Giving Opinions; 7-9 Years Old; Vocabulary and Grammar Publication date: 10/25/2023
The focus of this lesson is on language used to describe abilities related to free time activities. Learners look at the language and how it is used. Then they develop their understanding using different practice activities in written form. The lesson concludes with a speaking activity to consolidate their understanding (by Jeanette Corbett).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).
CLICK HERE to download/watch the videos (Am/Br English).
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
1.I can do tricks.(PAUSE)He can skateboard. 2.We can do fantastic tricks. 3.Can you dance? Yes, I can.(PAUSE)Can he dance? Yes, he can. 4.Can we exercise? Yes, we can. 5.I can’t jump. He can’t jump. 6.Can you dance? No, I can’t.(PAUSE)Can she dance? No, she can’t. 7.Can we exercise? Yes, we can.(PAUSE)Can they exercise? No, they can’t. 8.I’m good at jumping.(PAUSE)You’re good at skateboarding.(PAUSE)She is good at riding a scooter. 9.We are good at doing tricks.(PAUSE)I’m not good at jumping.(PAUSE)You’re not good at skateboarding. 10.He isn’t good at riding a scooter.(PAUSE)They aren’t good at doing tricks.
Level: Pre-Intermediate (A2-B1) Type of English: General English Tags: Society and Change; Life Stages; Past Tenses; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Speaking; Pronunciation; Vocabulary and Grammar Publication date: 10/26/2023
In this lesson, students develop their conversational skills by talking about life events. The students start by discussing the lead-in questions and then, using pictures, make predictions and identify collocations used to describe life events. They then focus on the meaning, form and pronunciation of the phrases and complete a series of practice activities before learning and using time phrases to describe past events. The students then hear the language in context by listening to someone telling their life story and completing a comprehension task. Using the example answer as a model, they then consolidate and personalize the language from the lesson by planning and retelling their life journeys (by Victoria Aitken).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).
AUDIO TRANSCRIPTS
Pronunciation: years → two thousand fifteen → nineteen ninety → two thousand thirteen → nineteen ninety-nine → two thousand twelve → two thousand and four → twenty-twenty → two thousand and one
Simon’s life I was born in 1987 in a small town outside San Francisco, California in the USA. I was the second child. My brother, Pete is two years older than me. I think I started school when I was five, or maybe it was six. My elementary and high schools were both in San Francisco. I really enjoyed school. My favorite subject was Modern Languages and I studied French and German. Then, in 2007, I moved to London to study for a language degree and graduated in 2010. I had a fun time at university and made some great friends. After that, I traveled around Europe with some friends for six months. We bought a train pass and had the most amazing, carefree summer. When I returned to London in 2011, I found a fantastic job as a translator for a hospital. I worked there for six years and then I started my own online business. Five years ago, I moved back to California and bought a small cottage in the countryside. I wanted to move away from city life.
Level: Mixed Levels (B2-C1 and C1-C2) Type of English: Business English Tags: Beliefs, Religion and Superstition; Behavior, Feelings and Emotions; Celebrations and Special Events; Controversial Issues; Society and Change; Special Report; 18+ Years Old Publication date: 10/25/2023
This lesson looks at the businesses that focus on the Halloween holiday as a basis for their sales. Students will read an article on the topic and listen to an interview with two people discussing horror attractions. Exercises focus on related vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension and offer students the opportunity to discuss questions on the topic (by Joe Wilson).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L6).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L6).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L6).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L5).
CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L6).
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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Simon: Good morning, everyone. Now, we’re entering into ‘spooky season’ and here to talk to us today about how businesses have turned screams into green is friend of the show, Sophia Westlake, Sophie, welcome! Sophie:Thanks, Simon, Good to be back. It’s been a little while. Simon:We’ve missed you. But it’s great to have you here. So, we’re still actually weeks away from Halloween, but it seems to dominate October now, doesn’t it? Sophie:I think it takes people’s mind off the fact that the nights are getting longer, and the weather is getting colder. There’s something very comforting about Halloween, I think. Simon:While it's a major US holiday, not everywhere celebrated Halloween. It was never really a big thing in the UK in the past, for example. The big night in Fall over there was Bonfire Night on November 5th. For our listeners that don’t know, this night celebrates the failure of a group of men to blow up the Houses of Parliament, a historical terrorist incident, I guess. Big bonfires are made, fireworks are set off, and people eat toffee apples. Bonfire Night was what it was all about in the UK. But Halloween was a big deal in Hollywood movies like ET - The Extra Terrestrial and of course, Halloween! Sophie:That’s right, I think the fact that it’s such big business in the US has led the charge in other places in the world, including the UK. Though I think the American tradition of going to people’s houses to ask for candy or ‘trick or treating’ as it’s called hasn’t taken off so much because you really need everyone to be participating for that to happen. But I think everyone likes a bit of horror and is always up for a good reason to have a party and dress up, right? Simon:That’s right. In fact, The UK was where Dracula decided to come after all! Haunted houses are also popular at this time of year, especially in the US. Have you ever been to the haunted house in Albany? Sophie: I have! Terrifying! For our listeners who don’t know what we’re talking about, the haunted house experience allows you to walk through spooky scenes set up in a large house or building and, there are, ah, a few surprises waiting to scare you around every corner! Simon: I managed to go when it wasn’t busy. It was just me and my girlfriend at the time. She had to tell me not to scream so loudly. I think I must have shortened the tour by about 15 minutes because I was just running. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared. Sophie: Yes, these immersive experiences are a big draw for people and they’re willing to pay money to be scared out of their wits. And they’re increasingly not limited just to the time around Halloween. McKamey Manor in the US is billed as an extreme haunted house and now operates in Tennessee and Alabama, having originally been started by the owner, Russ McKamey in California. It’s so popular that he claims to have 30,000 people waiting to do the experience. The tour lasts between 7 and 10 hours. They even offer a reward of $2000 to anyone who can complete the experience, but to date, no one has. Simon:I think that’s not going to be for me. If I can’t handle a normal haunted house for 20 minutes, I’m not going to be able to deal with a haunted house for ten hours. Sophie:Maybe Zombies are more your thing? Zombie Infection is an experience you can complete with friends, and they have multiple locations around the UK. You’re equipped with realistic guns, and you’ll have to solve puzzles and make decisions, possibly about whether or not to save the friends you came in with. The event is staffed by professional actors wearing movie make-up and entry is mostly limited to those 18 and over due to the scare value, but there are some venues that offer a tamer version that is open to those 12 and over. Simon:I think I’ll probably stick to watching The Walking Dead from behind a pillow for my zombie needs. After the break, Sophie and I will be listening to your experiences of haunted attractions, so don’t go anywhere, because we will find you! Sophie: (laughs)
When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to learn — all while spreading access to education across the world.
Luis von Ahn: So, I'm from Guatemala. This is a public service announcement, that is where Guatemala is. (Laughter) Also, that is not where they keep the prisoners. That is called Guantanamo. (Laughter) Not the same place. So, Guatemala's right below Mexico. And for the Americans in the audience, and let this sink in, because it really applies in most ways, for the Americans in the audience, you can think of it as Mexico's Mexico. (Laughter) Just like the US doesn't want illegal immigration from Mexico, Mexico doesn't want illegal immigration from Guatemala. It's a smaller country. It's a poor country. And well, what can I tell you, it has much better Mexican food. (Laughter) Guatemala is a very poor country. And a lot of people talk about education as something that brings equality to different social classes. But I always saw it as the opposite, as something that brings inequality. Because what happens in practice is that people who have a lot of money can buy themselves a really good education and therefore continue having a lot of money. Whereas people who don't have very much money barely learn how to read and write and therefore never make a lot of money. And this is especially true in poor countries. Now, I was fortunate that I received a rich person's education even though I didn't grow up rich. And it’s because I’m an only child. And my mother, who was a single mother, spent all of her resources on my education. And this allowed me to come to college to the US and eventually get a PhD in computer science. Now because of all of this about 10 years ago, I decided I wanted to do something that would give equal access to education to everyone. Oh, by the way, this is what I want to talk to you about today, giving equal access to education to everyone. At the time, I was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and I decided to work on this with my PhD student, Severin. The way my brain works, all of education is just too general of a problem. So, I decided, let's start by teaching one thing. And then I started thinking, OK, well, what should we teach first? Should we teach math? I mean, we both love math. Me and my cofounder, we both love math. And, you know, we didn't decide to do math. Then we started thinking, well, maybe we should teach computer science. But eventually, and this is maybe surprising to people in North America, eventually, we decided that the best subject to start with was teaching foreign languages. And let me tell you why. There's a number of reasons. One of them is that there's a huge audience for it. There’s about two billion people in the world learning a foreign language, both in school and outside of schools. Most of these people, by the way, are learning English. About 80 percent of them are learning English. In this weird map right here, all the countries in green are countries in which people are predominantly learning English. And the reason for that is because English can truly transform your life. In most countries in the world, knowledge of English can significantly increase your income potential. So this is another reason why we decided to start with foreign languages. And it's because you can directly make more money if you learn another language, in particular English. And see, this is pretty different than many other subjects. For example, take math. In the case of math, just knowledge of math does not increase your income potential because usually you have to learn math to then learn physics to then become a civil engineer, that's how you make more money. Whereas with languages, if you are a waiter and you learn English, now you can be a waiter at a hotel and make more money. So, we decided, well, let's get started by teaching languages. Now, we also convinced ourselves that the only way to really reach a lot of people was by using a mobile phone, or a smartphone in particular. See, building schools all over the world is simply too expensive. On the other hand, most of the world's population already has access to a smartphone, and the trend is that that fraction is only going to increase. So, we decided at the time that we would make a way to learn foreign languages on a mobile phone that was accessible to everyone. And then we called it Duolingo. Thank you. (Applause) Now in order to truly be accessible to everyone, rich and poor, Duolingo uses a freemium model to support itself. What that means is that you can learn as much as you want without ever having to pay. But if you don't pay, you may have to see an ad at the end of a lesson. Now, if you don't like ads, you can also pay to subscribe to turn off the ads. And it turns out that the vast majority of the revenue for Duolingo comes from people who pay to subscribe to turn off the ads. Now, who are these people who pay to subscribe to turn off the ads? Well, they're usually well-off people in rich countries like the US and Canada. Who are the people who don't pay to subscribe? They usually come from poorer countries like Brazil or Vietnam or Guatemala. So, what I like about this model is that it is a small form of wealth redistribution because we're basically getting the rich people to pay for the education of everyone. So, I like that. (Applause) So with smartphones, we can reach a lot of people and we can even get the rich people to pay for the whole thing, which is great. However, if you're trying to deliver education with a smartphone, you run into a humongous problem. And it is that smartphones come equipped with some of the most addictive drugs that humanity has ever engineered. TikTok, Instagram, mobile games. See, delivering education over a smartphone is like hoping that people will eat their broccoli, but right next to it, you put the most delicious dessert ever made. (Laughter) If you really want to deliver education to everyone, not only do you have to make it accessible, but also you have to make it so that people want to actually learn. And with Duolingo, we've been able to do this. And at the highest level, the way we've done this is by making the broccoli taste like dessert. I'll say it another way. What we've done is that we've used the same psychological techniques that apps like Instagram, TikTok or mobile games use to keep people engaged, but in this case, we use them to keep people engaged but with education. Let me give you some examples of these techniques. One of the most powerful ones is the notion of a streak. What a streak is, is it’s just a counter that measures the number of days that you've used the product consecutively. You just take that number, you put it very prominently in your product and then people come back every day. And the reason people come back every day is because, well, if they don't come back, that number resets to zero and people don't want to lose their streak. It works. Now, on the one side, streaks have been criticized for, for example, getting teens addicted to Snapchat. But in the case of an educational app, streaks get people to come back to study every day. Now, to give you an idea of the power of streaks, in the case of Duolingo, we have over three million daily active users that have a streak longer than 365. (Applause) That means they haven't missed a day in the last year or longer. Now, fun fact about streaks. What country do you think has the longest average streaks for an educational app? It's Japan. Of course. Shortest-ever streaks? Latin America, baby. (Laughter) But we're fun, hey, we're fun. (Laughter) Another important mechanism to get people to come back to your product are notifications. On the one side, notifications can be really spammy and annoying, but in the case of an educational product, people actually want to be reminded to learn. In the case of Duolingo, we have a very sophisticated AI system that basically chooses when to send the notification and also what to say in each notification to maximize the probability that people come back. Now, interestingly, even after all this sophistication, it turns out that the algorithm for choosing what time to send you a notification is pretty simple. Do you know what is the best time to send people a notification? I'll tell you. It's 24 hours after they used the product last. There's an easy explanation. If you were free yesterday at 3pm, you’re probably free today at 3pm as well. So, this is what a very sophisticated millions of dollars of AI found. (Laughter) It's funny. Now with notifications you shouldn't be spamming. And we're not spamming, with Duolingo, we actually stop sending notifications after seven days of inactivity. So, if you don't use Duolingo for seven days, we stop sending you notifications. Now, at some point it occurred to us, if we're stopping to send people notifications, we should let them know. So we started sending this notification to people saying, "Hey, these reminders don't seem to be working. We'll stop sending them for now." You know what people do when they get this notification? They come back. (Laughter) Passive aggressive. (Laughter) Works for my mother, works for Duolingo. (Laughter and applause) These passive aggressive notifications are really good at getting people to come back because they feel like our green owl mascot has given up on them, so they come back. And speaking of our green owl mascot, by the way, because all our notifications come from our green owl mascot and well, he's passive aggressive and also pretty pushy, this has given rise to a lot of memes on the internet that make fun of the great lengths that he will go through to get you back to learn a language. Here's one of my favorite ones. This is it's a meme, it’s one of my favorite ones. (Laughter) Basically, looks like you forgot your Spanish lessons. And then there's an intruder alert, presumably the owl broke into your house to get you to learn language. Now, Duolingo has entered the zeitgeist. And there's thousands of memes, there's SNL skits about it. And it's because we've managed to get people to want to learn a language by using the same techniques that mobile games and social media use to get people engaged. And this is a really important point, let me say this. I don't actually believe that there's a way to make an educational app be as engaging as something like TikTok or Instagram or mobile games. But the good news is that -- And by the way, the reason I don't believe that is because ultimately you have to teach people something. And it's hard to compete with, like, cats and celebrities. But the good news is that I don't think you have to. See, here's the thing. When you're learning something, you get meaning out of it. Whereas when you're scrolling for two hours on Instagram, a lot of times afterwards, you feel like you just wasted your time. So, I think it's actually OK if your educational product is only 80 or 90 percent as engaging as something like TikTok, because the other 10 or 20 percent will be provided by people's internal motivation, though of course, not much more than that. This is really a key point. If we want to get people to do something meaningful, you can use the same techniques that apps like social media use to get people to do it. And even if you're not as engaging as those apps are, you can still get hundreds of millions of people to use your product. In the case of Duolingo, for example, there are more people learning languages on Duolingo in the United States than there are people learning languages across all US high schools combined. (Applause) And this is true in most countries in the world. My hope is that -- I know we can do this, but, you know, my hope is that as humanity, we can do what Duolingo has done for learning languages but for all other subjects. Where we can get people to learn math with mobile phones, like millions of people to learn math with mobile phones or physics or whatever. I hope for a future in which screen time is not a bad thing, in which we can deliver high-quality education to everyone, rich or poor, using a mobile phone. But the single most important thing that I can end this talk with, is a reminder to please, pretty please, I beg you, do your language lessons today. Thank you very much. (Laughter) Thank you. (Applause)
Helen Walters: Luis, thank you so much. I wonder if you can just say a little bit more about that last point, how do you think you can apply this type of thinking to other subjects? So, you mentioned math, and things like that. How do you do that? Luis von Ahn:I think in particular, subjects that are learned through repetition and it turns out most things that are kind of really meaningful are learned through thousands of repetitions. You learn to read through repetition, you learn elementary school math through repetition. Most things that you can learn through repetition, you can actually gamify and turn into something like Duolingo, where people just do it a lot and do it fun. It's a little harder for things like explanations. That probably is going to require some really good videos. Sal Khan is doing a really good job with that. But for things that require a lot of repetition, I think we can use the same methods. Helen Walters: Amazing. Thank you very much for sharing it out. Luis von Ahn: Thank you. (Applause)
About the speaker
Luis von Ahn Educational equity technologist Crowdsourcing pioneer and Duolingo CEO, Luis von Ahn built the world's most downloaded education app on a mission to make quality education available to everyone.
