English Listening Lesson: CHALLENGES

(upbeat music)

Think, it's a listening bingo.

And if you've played bingo before,

well, you'll know what this is all about.

♪ Open your ears, open your mind ♪

♪ It's time for a listening exercise ♪

♪ Maybe a dictation, but without intimidation ♪

♪ Maybe you're listening bingo ♪

♪ That can open a new window ♪

♪ To discover your new listening skills ♪

♪ So listen with me ♪

- Excellent.

Listening bingo, let's do it.

Let's go straight in.

We're gonna listen to someone talking about

the challenges that teenagers face.

Teenager.

Adolescent.

So somebody between 13 and 19,

'cause it's got a teen, right?

13, 14, 15,

16, 17, 18, 19.

So the challenges that teenagers face.

Just have a think.

What are the challenges teenagers think?

And that will get you ready for this listening.

As you listen, I want you to answer this question.

How many challenges related to technology

are mentioned?

So as you listen,

how many challenges related to technology are mentioned?

Okay, just give me a quick thumbs up

if you're ready to listen.

So remember, we'll listen all the way through

and just answer this question.

How many challenges related to technology are mentioned?

Let's do it. Listen carefully.

(upbeat music)

Not that one.

Come on, Keith.

I think teenagers face a huge number of problems these days,

and one of the biggest is social media

where they're under pressure to have an online presence

as well as an offline presence,

and they have to manage it every single day.

Comparisons abound

and they're under pressure

to appear to be as good and happy as their friends.

They may inadvertently share photos or opinions

they may later regret.

This can lead to a loss of friendships

or even be an obstacle to them later getting a job.

All of this can lead to severe mental health problems.

What's more, many are addicted to their phones,

and this can be a stumbling block

when it comes to studying well

or even building real face-to-face friendships.

On top of that, there's the pressure to study hard

and find a good job.

Of course, most rise to the challenge.

The only snag is, of course, in times of recession,

jobs are scarce.

And then once they've got a job,

they're really up against the wall.

New employees are put under incredible pressure

to perform and prove themselves.

Long working hours, overtime, and stressful deadlines

are the norm.

So in order to overcome these challenges,

I think teenagers need the support of their friends,

family, and teachers.

It's by no means an easy ride.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Wow,

Okay.

Between two and six, that's a big, big difference.

So I would say here...

How many challenges I mentioned?

I would say two, right?

Two.

One is social media,

the other phone addiction.

I think those are the two main challenges that I would say.

They talk about other things in smaller details

like sharing photos, privacy,

but really I think there are two main challenges.

Okay.

Now then, we're going to listen again,

but this time I want you to mark the boxes.

You can see the boxes here in the bingo grid.

Mark the boxes that contain

the exact words you hear.

The exact words.

Okay?

If it says under pressure, then you mark it.

If it says off pressure, don't.

It must be the exact words you hear.

And when you have a line of three,

type bingo and the words in the chat.

A line of three can be three in a row like this,

or it could be three

in a row like this.

Okay, there are different possibilities.

So let's listen again.

And as you listen, just mark in your head,

which are the three.

And when you've got it, you can just type bingo.

Okay?

Okay.

Let's do it.

Let's listen again.

I think teenagers face a huge number of problems these days,

and one of the biggest is social media

where they're under pressure to have an online presence

as well as an offline presence,

and they have to manage it every single day.

Comparisons abound

and they're under pressure

to appear to be as good and happy as their friends.

They may inadvertently share photos or opinions

they may later regret.

This can lead to a loss of friendships

or even be an obstacle to them later getting the job.

All of this can lead to severe mental health problems.

What's more, many are addicted to their phones,

and this can be a stumbling block

when it comes to studying well

or even building real face-to-face friendships.

On top of that,

there's the pressure to study hard and find a good job.

Of course, most teenagers rise to the challenge.

The only snag is, of course, in times of recession,

jobs are scarce.

And then once they've got a job,

they're really up against the wall.

New employees are put under incredible pressure

to perform and prove themselves.

Long working hours, over time,

and stressful deadlines are the norm.

So in order to overcome these challenges,

I think teenagers need the support

of their friends, family, and teachers.

It's by no means an easy ride.

Indeed.

So I've got some bingos here.

Let's check some of you.

I think Daniela was the first.

Under pressure, be an obstacle, up against the wall.

Cesar has the same,

as does Aung.

You guys have the right answer.

I'm gonna play it one last time

and I will mark the answer

as you hear the correct answer.

Remember, with listening,

the key is not just to get the right answer.

The key is to listen and listen and listen

as much as you can

to help you understand more quickly.

So last time, and I'll mark the answer,

and I'll shake my head when there's a red herring.

I think teenagers face a huge number of problems these days,

and one of the biggest is social media

where they're under pressure to have an online presence

as well as an offline presence,

and they have to manage it every single day.

Comparisons abound

and they're under pressure

to appear to be as good and happy as their friends.

They may inadvertently share photos or opinions

they may later regret.

This can lead to a loss of friendships

or even be an obstacle to them later getting the job.

All of this can lead to severe mental health problems.

What's more, many are addicted to their phones,

and this can be a stumbling block

when it comes to studying well

or even building real face-to-face friendships.

On top of that,

there's the pressure to study hard and find a good job.

Of course, most teenagers rise to the challenge.

The only snag is, of course, in times of recession,

jobs are scarce.

And then once they've got a job,

they're really up against the wall.

New employees are put under incredible pressure

to perform and prove themselves.

Long working hours, over time,

and stressful deadlines are the norm.

So in order to overcome these challenges,

I think teenagers need the support of their friends,

family, and teachers.

It's by no means an easy ride.

Okay, excellent, good.

So you're absolutely right, guys.

Well done.

You've got the bingo there.

That was the one.

Under pressure, be an obstacle, up against the wall.

Let me just go through the script a final time,

and I'll just point out some phrases.

"So a huge number of problems"

is a nice kind of Collocation, a huge number of something.

The biggest is social media, under pressure.

So an online presence is to be visible online.

Also, we talk about an offline presence,

which is to be visible in real life.

So your offline,

sorry, your offline presence is you in real life,

the clothes, your hair,

if you are washed or shaven,

how you speak, how you present yourself to the world.

My online presence

is what people see on Facebook and YouTube.

So this is my online presence.

When I walk into the street, I don't look the same.

I have a different offline presence,

a little bit.

Okay.

Every single day is a nice expression.

Every single day is emphasizing every day.

Comparisons abound is a good one.

Actually, when we say something abounds,

it means there are a lot, right?

There are a lot of them.

You can say

traffic abounds.

There's a lot of traffic.

Sunshine abounds,

there's a lot of sunshine.

Rain abounds, there's a lot of rain.

Mobile phones abound in our modern society

just means there are a lot of them.

Under pressure, you know the expression.

Inadvertently is a nice adverb.

It just means accidentally,

to accidentally.

Thank you.

Inadvertently is kind of,

subconsciously, you're unaware of it.

It's accidentally doing something.

Loss of friendships, an obstacle,

later getting a job,

severe mental health problems.

Severe

is a nice kind of collocation here.

Severe problems, severe mental health problems.

What's more, they can be addicted to...

Just notice we say addicted to something,

In English, to be addicted to.

A stumbling block, we've mentioned before, right?

A problem in order to progress.

On top of that, there's the pressure to study, find a job.

Most teenagers rise to the challenge.

We've talked about the snag.

We've talked about the only snag is...

This is the most common collocation. right?

When we talk about a snag, we usually say,

the only snag is da, da, da, da.

Jobs are scarce.

That just means there are few jobs.

So to be scarce means there are few.

So you've got

abound means there's a lot.

Scarce means there are few.

Right?

So cars abound,

there's a lot of cars.

Cars are scarce,

there are few cars.

Up against the wall,

we've talked about put under incredible pressure.

Another nice collocation incredible pressure, big pressure.

Working hours, overtime, stressful deadlines.

Stressful deadlines, another collocation.

Something is the norm, it means is normal,

to be normal.

It's the norm.

It's just a nice way,

an informal way of saying to be normal.

So in order to overcome these challenges we've talked about,

to overcome a challenge,

they need support of their friends, families.

It's by no means an easy ride.

It's by no means

means not at all.

So it's emphasizing a negative thing.

It's by no means, it's not at all an easy ride

English is not easy.

If you want to emphasize,

English is by no means Easy.

Yeah, with a negative.

It's by no means easy.

English grammar is by no means easy.

Great. That's it.

It's probably useful.

Let me play it through one last time.

It'd be useful probably for you to

listen and read at the same time.

Let's just do it a final time.

I think teenagers face a huge number of problems these days,

and one of the biggest is social media

where they're under pressure to have an online presence

as well as an offline presence,

and they have to manage it every single day.

Comparisons abound

and they're under pressure

to appear to be as good and happy as their friends.

They may inadvertently share photos or opinions

they may later regret.

This can lead to a loss of friendships

or even be an obstacle to them later getting the job.

All of this can lead to severe mental health problems.

What's more, many are addicted to their phones,

and this can be a stumbling block

when it comes to studying well

or even building real face-to-face friendships.

On top of that,

there's the pressure to study hard

and find a good job.

Of course, most teenagers rise to the challenge,

the only snag is, of course,

in times of recession, jobs are scarce.

And then once they've got a job,

they're really up against the wall.

New employees are put under incredible pressure

to perform and prove themselves.

Long working hours, overtime,

and stressful deadlines are the norm.

So in order to overcome these challenges,

I think teenagers need the support

of their friends, family, and teachers.

It's by no means an easy ride.

Well done, you, for staying focused and concentrating.

(upbeat music)