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Unit 1-RelationshipsA confused generation - change bring problemsBella , whose real name is Zhou Jiaying, is a eleven-year-old girl who lives with her parent in Shanghai. Her parents represent what is called a confused generation. China’s economic boom has had a great impact on Chinese society: old ...

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Unit 1-Relationships A confused generation - change bring problems ! Bella, whose real name is Zhou Jiaying, is a eleven-year-old girl who lives with her parent in Shanghai. Her parents represent what is called a confused generation. China’s economic boom has had a great impact on Chinese society: old values (the respect of family and old generations) are fighting against new ones (money as the measure of success). ! Recently Bella’s parents have put her grandfather into a nursing home; it was an hard decision, because in Chinese tradition, caring for aged parents has always been a child’s duty. But times are changing and Bella’s ambition is to put her parents in the best (expensive) nursing home. ! Bella is always keeping her parents up to date with the latest slang and western brands. She knows the outside world better than her parent and their advices are no longer wanted. She doesn’t agree anymore with her parents and she keep in silence with them. !

Blood lines ! The USA is well known for being a melting pot of different ethnic groups and cultures, but this diversity is particularly evident in Queens, New York. Here generations of immigrants are all united by a common feeling of pride in their American identity, but also curious about their ancestral roots. They are interested in their recent history and how they can best honour their descendants’ memory.! Richard, 38, shared the story of his great-grandfather: he was a builder by trade like him, he went to America from Poland at the age of fifteen after the death of his mother. He arrived in America with nothing and got a job on the railroad in California. One day by chance he read an announcement in a newspaper, his brother who had also come to America was looking for him. They reunited in New York where they started working in construction. This story was passed down from his grandmother, the one who holds the family together. After knowing their roots, all the family now has a strong sense of belonging to a group.! Tanjia, 29 is a first generation American, her parents came from Jamaica, where getting a good education is a must. Her father ambition was to work as a doctor I the US and by working hard he made it. Instead his mother worked as a nurse and took care of her and her sister. Now both her sister and her are doctors, she said they inherited from their parent the desire to get ahead and America gives you the opportunity to follow your dreams.!

Video ‘Lady Liberty’ and Ellis Island ! Ellis Island is a museum and former immigration inspection station in New York harbour. It was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the US as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. At its busiest point, Ellis Island processed up to 12,000 immigrants per day.! 1

In 2013, Ellis Island reopened to visitors, who couldn’t visit it until that moment because of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy that had damaged the infrastructure. The disaster was also an opportunity to make a more sustainable park. Now, there are about 22,000 visitors who come to Ellis Island during the summer months. ! In the video, we hear a man speaking, his name is David Luchsinger. He is a steward of Liberty Island and describes himself as the last of the residents. In fact, he calls himself this way because he is connected with Ellis Island because of his grandparents (two sets of them), who had come through Ellis Island as immigrants. ! When immigrants arrived in Ellis Island, they were asked to drop the two or three bags that they were carrying to go upstairs and be processed. Everything that meant the world to them was in those bags, and they would never even know if they were ever going to see that picture of their parents or their children that they left behind. They were relying on their faith that everything was going to be okay. David said that no bag has ever been lost on Ellis Island.! • Judith’s grandparents were in their twenties when they left Italy to come to the US. She says that they were gutsy and brave.! • Pablo said he became emotional when he was crossing Ellis Island. ! • Peter’ parents became American on Ellis Island. They came from Hong Kong. He loves to be in that place.! • Raea’s ancestors came from Lithuania in 1914. She felt chills down her spine when she walked up the steps that her grandparents had walked up many years before!

Unit 2 - Storytelling A key moment ! In 1976 Niki Lauda was leading the world Formula 1 championship and one of the race was the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, an old 14 km track. The track was in bad conditions, it was narrow and bumpy. Even if many people, including Lauda, considered it too dangerous, his opponent Hunt argued not to stop the race.! So the race began, it had rained so parts of the track were wet and Lauda was driving more slowly, but after changing his tyres with dry weather ones he began to speed up. Suddenly, he came out of a corner too fast and lost control of the car, it hit a bank on the other side of the road and burst into flames. Lauda was taken out of the car alive, but he had suffered several burns. ! At the same time, the race restarted and Hunt managed to win. Six weeks after the accident and plastic surgery, Lauda went back into his car at the Italian Grand Prix. Since the accident no race has been organised at Nurburgring track.!

Once upon a time ! The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, lived in Germany in the 19th century. They published a collection of stories in 1812, called “Children’s and Household Tales”, that has 2

been translated in 160 languages since the publication and is considered a global publishing phenomenon. ! Their story: When the brothers were young, they met a man who led them to a library of old books with enchanting stories. Inspired by these stories, they started to collect their own ones by listening to the folktales people told them. ! At first, their collection of stories had no illustrations and were full of scholarly notes, since the brothers considered themselves as students determined to save the local folklore. For this reason, they only sold a few copies in Germany. However, Wilhelm continued to improve and reshape the collection until 1857, when he published the final edition. In order to make the stories more acceptable to parents, since they were displaying unpleasant details, he stressed the moral of each tale: don’t talk to strangers, keep your promises, work hard and obey your parents. ! Why are the stories still popular today? - Because they are stories about our struggle for happiness. Grimm’s stories give people an escape from the reality of daily life and a hope for a better future.!

Video How not to climb a mountain! The two climbers in this video wanted to climb the Middle Palisade Mountain in Sierra Nevada, USA. This mountain is a 14,000 hundred-foot peak and the climbers were illprepared for this experience, they had only read how to climb a mountain on the internet. ! When they arrived at the base of this huge pick, they thought it was Middle Palisade because it was the biggest mountain there. As they stared to climb, they realised that it was harder than they thought, they thought they might be on the wrong route. When they finally reached the peak of the mountain, they saw the summit register and realised that they had climbed the wrong mountain.! To reach the real summit they had to cross a huge, treacherous ridge, which looked like death to them. The climb was very difficult (the rock was peeling off like sheets of paper) and took them twelve hours. Although the climb was horrible, they said that the experience was good and advised the interviewer to do it too.!

Unit 3 - Science and technology Is technology the answer?! What is overpopulation? - Overpopulation is a situation where there are more people than there are resources, like food, water, land, energy, to support them. When an area becomes overpopulated, people will go hungry, pollution will increase, unemployment will rise; people might even begin to fight over the limited resources. ! Overpopulation is an issue that divides opinion. The American biologist Paul Ehrlich wrote a book in 1968 in which he stated that medical science had advanced too far, and that we were keeping too many people alive. As a result, millions of people would starve to death. ! Why did mass starvation not happen? - Mass starvation hasn’t happened because in the 1970s/1980s scientists developed better seeds and better pesticides to increase food 3

production. Other experts in the scientific community say that we are entering a more productive era of safer and cheaper food with the help of biotechnology and nanotechnology.! Have we now reached a point where we cannot rely on science, and instead we have to start reducing our consumption? - As the economist Thomas Malthus pointed out, people are basically lazy, so they won’t act unless they have to. He claimed that the population will continue to grow until war, disease or famine arrive to stop it.!

Appropriate technology! The term ‘appropriate technology’ is quite new, but the concept isn’t. In the 1930s, Gandhi claimed that the advanced technology used by western industrialised nations wasn’t the right route to progress for his homeland, India. He wanted affordable technology that would lead to greater social equality (empower poor villages and help then to become self-reliant).! The term ‘appropriate technology’ was first used by Schumacher in 1970s to promote his philosophy of technological progress: a technology which suits the needs and abilities of the user and takes into account environmental and cost considerations. The solutions, according to Schumacher, had to be practical, long-term and firm in the hands of those who had to use them (solar-powered lamps, water purifiers).! The principle of ‘appropriate technology’ also has its place in the developed world. A Swedish state-owned company uses the energy produced each day by the bodies rushing through Stockholm’s central train station by absorbing their heat through the ventilation system, in order to heat an office building nearby. This is expected to bring down central heating costs.! ‘Appropriate technology’ needs to take into account cultural aspects: fit in with people’s customs and social practices. This didn’t happen in the case of a device for shelling corn developed to help women in a Guatemalan village; it certainly saved time, but after a few weeks the women returned to the old manual method because it gave them an important opportunity to chat with each other.What did Gandhi and Schumacher trying to highlight?! It is this kind of sensitivity to what is appropriated that Gandhi and Schumacher were trying to highlight.!

Video 3D-printed prosthetic limbs ! Charlotte is a young girl that has lost both her hands and legs due to meningococcal septicaemia. Even if this might seem a sad story, it is not. Charlotte is a strong, independent girl who is able to move, draw and write. She has fine motor skills and she always refuses to be helped.! She has got false limbs, but they are too basic, a more sophisticated prosthetic hand costs a lot and since she is growing up, she needs bigger ones every year.! A 3-D printed prosthetic limb could be the solution. At a target price of £1,200, it’s within range of normal families. Children are a bit under-served by the prosthetics industry, so this project can help them because of the cost component.! 4

How a 3-D printer works - First a 3D scan is made using a tablet computer. Then a 3D printer constructs it bit by bit. For the first time these techniques are being combined to custom-build a robotic hand. When you put it on and flex your muscles, the hand in response will open and close all of the fingers. It’s still at the prototype stage, but this new advance means that for Charlotte, a working hand is not far off in the future.!

Unit 4 - Art and creativity Reverse graffiti ! The idea of graffiti is to spray-paint an image that expresses a particular message on a blank wall. Since the images are usually painted on walls which the artist has no permission to paint on, the policy of most city authorities is to remove this kind of artwork. ! The principle of ‘reverse graffiti’ is different, artists take a dirty wall and make images by removing the dirt. Their aim is to draw attention to the pollution in our cities. ! The Brazilian artist Alexandre Orion turned one of São Paulo’s many car tunnels into a scary mural by scraping away the dirt caused by cars’ pollution. It portrays white skulls and reminds the drivers of the effect that their pollution is having on the planet. To erase the graffiti the city authorities decided to clean part of the tunnel; encouraged by this, Orion continued making reverse graffiti on both sides of the tunnel and as a result not only did the authorities clean the whole tunnel, but also every car tunnel in São Paulo.!

Why do we need music?! Humans spend on average a fifth of their lives listening to music. Music is rooted in every culture, it plays an important role in satisfying our psychological and emotional needs, even though it is not something we need to survive.! Why is music so important to us, than? -The neuroscientist Valorie Salimpoor believes that the answer lies in music’s ability to simulate us both emotionally and intellectually.! On an emotional level: ! • Music has the power to excite or soothe us (national anthem/lullaby-motherese).! • Music produces emotions that we immediately fell and understand, but that we hardly can explain. When we are sad, sad music seems to help us regulate negative feelings and even lift us out of them.(someone else shares our loss/someone is suffering more than we are).! • Music’s emotional power also comes from the fact that can make a verbal message stronger (rap/hip-hop songs with social message).! On an intellectual level, Salimpoor says that music challenges our brains to understand and recognise certain systems and patterns. When we figured out how a new system works, we find this intellectually rewarding. We experience the same satisfaction when we begin to understand a new language and its patterns. !

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Video Art for the people ! In Cheltenham, UK, a graffiti made by Banksy has been found on the walls of a private building. The artwork was hidden by wooden boards and scaffolding. Now that it has been found, the owner of the building wants to sell it, but the people in Cheltenham do not agree with this decision and started to protest.! The artwork, which has been painted round a public phone booth, consists of a graffiti portraying a group of 3 spies, listening to what the person inside the phone box is saying. ! This graffiti has been made in Cheltenham because the city is home to the GCHQ, the British Government Communications Headquarters, a government agency that checks communication on the Internet and other electronic media to protect national security.! The residents do not want the artwork removed, because they think that it is something made for the town, and for this reason, they think that the owner of the building shouldn’t sell it because it should be free for everybody. Campaigners argue that because the spy booth relates directly to Cheltenham, it belongs here and to the community.! The sale of the mural has re-started the debate over what’s public art and what can be bought by a private individual. The “Slave Labor” mural which appeared on the side of a discount store in North London was removed and sold at auction for around three quarters of a million. The one person missing from this campaign is the artist himself, who remains anonymous.!

Unit 5 - Development From reality to fantasy ! In the 1950s a sheikh with big dreams wanted to transform his village occupied by pearl drivers, fishermen and traders. A small river ran through the village to the sea and there the sheikh imagined building a gateway to the world. In order to make his dream reality, he had to ask a neighbour to lend him millions of dollars. With that money he could make the river wider, build roads, schools and homes, and so the people came.! His son continued to develop his father’s projects and transformed Dubai into an airconditioned fantasy world, that has become the capital of luxury. He built the world’s tallest high-rise building (Burj Khalifa), the world’s biggest shopping mall and the world’s largest motorway intersection, that helped Dubai become the shopping capital of the Middle East.! Dubai attracts more than three million tourists a year. Its most famous landmark is the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island built in the shape of a palm tree, it provides holiday villas for the rich and famous people. Due to the financial crisis of 2008, Dubai failed to sell many of its luxury apartments, but recently property in Dubai has been increasing in value again. ! How does the rest of the world feel about Dubai? - people ask themselves if Dubai is a model that people want to copy or if they fell like the city has rejected its heritage and decides to become the Las Vegas of Middle East.! 6

The teenage mind! Adolescence is thought to be the most difficult stage in human development. When we think of teenagers some stereotypical behaviour comes to mind like not wanting to communicate with parents or adults, doing silly or dangerous things and constantly chatting to friends on social media. But it is useful to consider what lies behind it.! At around the age of fifteen, we reach a peak in what scientists call ‘sensation seeking’, which is the hunt for experiences that are unusual or unexpected. Sensation seeking doesn’t necessarily mean being impulsive, teens oft plan their thrills. ! It might seem dangerous, but it can also be a positive thing: trying out new things can expand your world. Teens generally take more risks because they value the reward of getting something they want more highly. Researchers believe this willingness to take risks is linked to the human need to be able to adapt to new surroundings when they are young.! Another characteristic of adolescents is that they prefer the company of people their own age (peers). This is partly because peers offer more novelty and variety than boring old family, and also because teenagers need to invest in the future rather than the past. ! Excitement, novelty, risk and the company of peers, define adolescence in almost all human cultures, modern or ancient. Adults complain about these characteristics but, actually, they make teenagers quite possibly the most adaptable human beings around.!

Video Scandinavian mega-bridge ! The Øresund Bridge, also known as Scandinavian mega-bridge, is a bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden over the Øresund Strait in the Baltic Sea. This bridge was built because both Denmark and Sweden needed something from each other: Copenhagen, Denmark, needed cheaper housing, while Malmö, Sweden, needed more jobs. The government of each country thought that by connecting the cities with a bridge, they would create one big metropolis.! The Øresund Bridge is the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge that can carry cars and the huge weight of trains. It is two hundred feet above the sea level, the support towers soar 670 feet, jabbing at clouds and making the Øresund Bridge one of the tallest cement structures in Sweden. ! In order to build the bridge together, different companies formed a consortium. The countries signed an agreement in 1991 and began to work together. The project faced a lot of technical difficulties, concerning air and sea traffic. They couldn’t build a lower bridge because that would have affected Denmark’s shipping traffic; on the other hand, they couldn’t build a higher bridge because of the Copenhagen airport. So, they decided to build part tunnel (in the area closer to the airport) and part bridge to solve the problem. In order to build a proper tunnel, architects had to build an island for the tunnel to emerge from water. The result is one of Europe’s longest bridges.!

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Unit 6 - Alternative travel Staycations ! Staycations are holidays at home, they involve things that people would do on holiday like sightseeing, eating out, going swimmin...