(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

Rudy and three of his friends were trying to decide where they should go for their next vacation together, but they couldn’t agree. The other three had suggested either California, New York, or Colorado, but Rudy recommended Florida. For several days, they talked about the cost of traveling to these places, the price of hotels and things to do. Rudy wasn’t having any luck convincing them to choose Florida, but then he remembered an interesting story about a restaurant menu. This story gave him an idea about how to convince the others to agree with him.

In Beijing, China, managers of group of restaurants asked researchers to help them increase the sales of certain dishes on their menus. They didn’t want the increase in sales to cost them more money. For example, they didn’t want to lower the price, or use more expensive ingredients or hire new experienced chefs. They just wanted to change the label next to the dishes on the menu. They tried labels like “Restaurant Specialty” and “Chef’s Recommendation, but sales of those dishes didn’t increase. Then they used “Most Popular.” This was immediately … (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the eighth article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

Continue reading →

(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

Carmen and Erik had a problem being happy. They thought that the purpose in life was to feel happy, and they thought that they knew what they needed to do in order to be happy. However, when they did it, they still weren’t as happy as they expected to be.

A psychologist explained a big reason why it is not effective for people like Eric and Carmin to chase happiness. If our goal is to feel an emotion (for example, happiness), and if we don’t feel as we had expected to feel, we will think that there is something wrong with us.

However, researchers say that we can prepare ourselves to have positive experiences without the disappointments. (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the seventh article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

Continue reading →

(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

This article in not about fashion. It’s not about the impression people get when they see someone wearing glasses. It’s about helping low-income people.

A 42-year-old grandmother in Bangladesh named Jasmin Atker was making the equivalent of $52 a month on her small family farm. Then one day, a nonprofit organization gave her a pair of glasses. After that, her income jumped almost 200% to $150 a month.

Researchers found similar improvements in people’s income in villages in Bangladesh and India after they had received glasses. (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the sixth article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

Continue reading →

(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

Complaining to a friend about something can often become a part of everyday conversation. Perhaps it’s about a teacher’s style, or about the pay at a job, or about the food in the school cafeteria, or about someone you both know.

Researchers have studied the reason why complaining is so common, what benefits it might have, and the problems it can cause the complainer. Also, the researchers looked at ways that we can learn to complain more effectively.

Complaining can actually become a pattern among friends, classmates and co-workers. For example, Allie had a part-time job as a waitress that she enjoyed after classes.The restaurant was supposed to close at 9 p.m., but recently the manager was letting customers enter later than that. This meant that the staff (waiters, waitresses and cooks) often couldn’t leave unit 10 or 10:30 p.m. or later.  This became the most common topic of conversation among the staff members as they were leaving and later in text messages.  (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the fifth article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

Continue reading →