Swaziland changes its name to eSwatini

The king of the tiny African nation of Swaziland has changed his country's name to eSwatini. The new name means "land
of the Swazis" in the local Swati language. King Mswati III is an absolute monarch, which means he has the power to
manage his country as he likes. He renamed his land on Thursday at celebrations marking 50 years of Swazi
independence from Britain. The day also coincided with his 50th birthday. Speaking at the nation's Golden Jubilee
celebrations, he said: "African countries, on getting independence, reverted to their ancient names before they were
colonized. So from now on, the country will officially be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini."

The change of name has been talked about in official circles for years. The king has regularly referred to Swaziland as
eSwatini in addresses in his country's parliament, at the United Nations General Assembly and to the African Union.
Swaziland gained independence from Britain in 1968, but unlike other former British colonies, it retained its colonial-era
name. Nyasaland became Malawi, Northern Rhodesia renamed itself Zambia, Bechuanaland changed its name to
Botswana, and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. King Mswati said that from now on, people would not confuse his country
with Switzerland. The UN, Google Maps and Internet companies now have to add eSwatini to their databases.

COMPREHENSION

1. What did the article say about the size of Swaziland?

2. What does eSwatini mean?
3. How old is King Mswati III?
4. What jubilee did the article mention?
5. What names did King Mswati say African nations reverted to?
6. Where had the name change been talked about?
7. In what year did Swaziland get its independence from Britain?
8. What was the colonial name of Zambia?
9. Which country would people no longer confuse Swaziland with?
10. What will Google Maps now have to change?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'country'?
2. What do you know about Swaziland?
3. What do you think of the new name of eSwatini?
4. Should there still be absolute monarchs in the world?
5. What is the point of having a monarch?
6. What should happen in a country's independence celebrations?
7. How much do you like your country's name?
8. How did colonization change the world?
9. What do you know about King Mswati III?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'kingdom'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. What would you change your country's name to?
13. How many countries would you like to visit?
14. Will the number of countries increase or decrease in the future?
15. How good are you at naming the world's countries?
16. How are Switzerland and Swaziland similar and different?
17. How does a name change affect a country and its people?
Get a job riding a Harley-Davidson all summer
There is a special job opening for eight people who love riding motorbikes, enjoy long, hot summers, and like feeling the
wind in their hair. The position is a summer internship for the legendary motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson. The
company is looking for people to learn to ride its bikes and then ride them across the USA all summer. It is offering this
job to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the founding of Harley-Davidson. The successful candidates will get special
training to ride a Harley and must then share their experiences of their adventures of riding around the USA on social
media. The lucky riders must also attend a number of events, including anniversary celebrations.

Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich explained why his company wants eight interns to ride motorcycles all summer. He
said: "We're continuously working to grow the sport of motorcycling. What better way to engage future riders than to
have a whole team of newly-trained enthusiasts share personal stories as they immerse themselves in motorcycle
culture and community – all while gaining marketable career skills. I'm looking forward to following their journeys,
learning about their experiences, and seeing them out on the road." To qualify, candidates must show they are good
storytellers, be able to use social media well, and describe what freedom means in an essay, video or photo portfolio.

COMPREHENSION

1. How many interns is Harley-Davidson looking for?

2. What might people like to feel in their hair?
3. How old will the Harley-Davidson company be this year?
4. What must successful candidates share on social media?
5. What must the lucky candidates attend a number of?
6. What does Harley-Davidson's CEO want to grow?
7. What will the interns immerse themselves besides communities?
8. What marketable skills will the interns pick up?
9. What must candidates show they are good at?
10. What word must job applicants describe?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'motorbike'?
2. What do you know about Harley-Davidson?
3. Why does Harley-Davidson have a cool image?
4. Do you enjoy feeling the wind in your hair?
5. Would you like to apply for this internship?
6. What do you think of internships?
7. Why is Harley-Davidson doing this?
8. Where would you go if you won this internship?
9. Are motorcycles the best form of transport?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'job'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. What do you think about motorbikes?
13. How much would you enjoy riding a motorcycle around the USA?
14. What is "motorcycle culture"?
15. What career skills might the interns learn?
16. How good a storyteller are you?
17. How would you describe the word "freedom"?
Children are as fit as endurance athletes
Have you ever wondered why children always seem to have bags of energy and never run out of steam? Researchers
have discovered that children have the stamina and levels of recovery of endurance athletes. In fact, scientists say
children's muscles recover from "high-intensity exercise" a lot quicker than athletes. A study looked at the performance
levels of children when they were cycling, and compared their fitness to that of athletes. Researcher Dr Sebastien Ratel
said: "We found the children used more of their aerobic metabolism and were therefore less tired during the high-
intensity physical activities. They also recovered very quickly - even faster than the well-trained adult endurance
athletes."

The researchers hope that their findings will help scientists better understand how the human body changes with age. It
could lead to advances in the fight against diabetes and other diseases. Dr Ratel said the research was particularly
important as more children were become less active. He warned: "With the rise in diseases related to physical inactivity,
it is helpful to understand the physiological changes with growth that might contribute to the risk of disease." He added
that children should maintain their fitness as they grow up and play as much as they could so they remain healthy as
adults. He said: "Children seem to have the ability to play and play and play, long after adults have become tired."

COMPREHENSION

1. What did the article say children have bags of?

2. What recovers more quickly in children than in adults?
3. What activity did researchers get children and adults to do?
4. What did children use more of than adults?
5. What did children do faster then adults?
6. What disease could the research help the fight of?
7. What are more children becoming?
8. What changes is it helpful to understand?
9. What did a researcher say children should maintain?
10. What can children do long after adults become tired?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'endurance'?
2. When do you have bags of energy?
3. When do you run out of steam?
4. How would you describe your levels of stamina?
5. Would you like to have the energy of a child?
6. What kind of shape are your muscles in?
7. What do (or should) you do about your fitness?
8. What would it be like to be an endurance athlete?
9. What physical activities do you like and dislike?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'athlete'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. How well do you understand the human body?
13. How much of the human body do scientists understand?
14. What are the dangers of children becoming less active?
15. What physiological changes take place as we age?
16. What endurance sport would you like to be good at?
17. Do you have the energy to keep up with children?
Amazon Alexa to reward kids who say 'Please'
Technology is now helping to teach children to be polite. Amazon will soon start selling a children's version of its virtual
assistant Alexa. The new digital assistant will be called "FreeTime". The child-friendly device will include what Amazon
calls a "Magic Word" feature. Of course, there are two magic words: "Please," and: "Thank you." The smart software is
programmed to encourage children to say "please" and "thank you" when they ask the device questions. An example of
this is if a child asks FreeTime: "What is the capital city of Australia?" Alexa will answer and end its response with:
"Thank you for asking so nicely." Amazon hopes this will encourage children to copy the device and be more polite.

Amazon says the new Magic Word feature is to answer the many customers who said technology was teaching children
to be rude. Many smart devices simply give out sentences without using any polite words. Parents said children copy this
way of speaking and forget to say "please" or "thank you". Children also got used to asking smart devices questions
without being polite. Not everyone is happy with this new technology. Josh Golin, executive director of Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood, said: "AI devices...interfere with the face-to-face interactions and child-driven play that
children need to grow." He believes parents should spend more time with children and teach them politeness.

COMPREHENSION

1. What is technology trying to teach children to do?

2. What is the new digital assistant called?
3. What is the feature of the software called?
4. What country might the device ask what the capital is?
5. What is the adverb the software will use in its responses to children?
6. What did many customers think the device was teaching children to be?
7. What do many smart devices not use when talking to children?
8. What is the job of Josh Golin?
9. What kind of interactions did Josh Golin think technology interferes with?
10. Who did Josh Golin say should spend more time with children?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'please'?
2. How important is politeness?
3. Who should teach us about politeness?
4. What do you think of virtual assistants like Alexa?
5. How important are the words "please" and "thank you"?
6. Are some cultures more polite than others?
7. Do you always say "please" and "thank you"?
8. How important is face-to-face interaction?
9. Who is the rudest person you've ever met?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'thank you'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. How polite are you?
13. Should technology teach children to be polite?
14. Why are people rude?
15. What do you find rude about tourists visiting your country?
16. Do you ever say things to rude people?
17. What do you think of a virtual assistant teaching children manners
Cold noodles help nuclear-free Korea talks
Historic talks have taken place between the leaders of North and South Korea, aided by the dish of cold noodles. North
Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in discussed a whole range of bilateral
issues, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsular. Cold noodles ensured the talks were conducted in a
jovial manner. After Kim Jong-un made history by becoming the first North Korean leader to cross the border and step
foot in the South, he joked about his gift of cold noodles for his counterpart. Long queues formed outside cold noodle
shops in Seoul. On social media, the term "cold noodles" was trending higher than "North Korea-South Korea summit".

World leaders were optimistic on Friday that the summit would lead to peace between the two Koreas. The two
countries are technically still at war, having never signed a peace treaty since the end of the Korean War in 1953. China
praised the Korean leaders for their "political courage". It welcomed their joint declaration vowing to denuclearize the
Korean Peninsula and seek a peace treaty. China's foreign ministry called the handshake on the border between the
leaders a "historic moment". Many families either side of the border were separated by the Korean War. They are now
hopeful that better relations between their two countries will allow them to reunite with family members after decades
of separation.

COMPREHENSION

1. What kind of talks did the article call the summit in Korea?
2. What kind of issued did the leaders discuss?
3. What kind of atmosphere did jokes about cold noodles create?
4. How many N. Korean leaders have now stepped foot in the South?
5. What was trending more than "North Korea-South Korea summit"?
6. How were world leaders feeling on Friday?
7. What has never been signed between the two Koreas?
8. What did China praise the two leaders for?
9. What did China call the handshake between the two leaders?
10. How long have families been separated for?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'Korea'?
2. What do you think of cold noodles?
3. What do you know about relations between the Koreas?
4. How historic are the talks between the two leaders?
5. What are the chances of North Korea going nuclear-free?
6. What do you think of Kim Jong-un giving a gift of cold noodles?
7. How significant was it that Kim Jong-un stepped into South Korea?
8. What bilateral issues do the two leaders need to talk about?
9. What advice do you have for Kim Jong-un?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'noodles'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. Which are better - cold or hot noodles?
13. What do you know about Kim Jong-un?
14. What advice do you have for Moon Jae-in?
15. What will signing a peace treaty change between the two Koreas?
16. What are the benefits of Korean unification?
17. What will happen in the Koreas over the next year?
Every Indian village now has electricity
All villages in India now have electricity. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on Monday. He
said the final village in the country to get electricity was the remote Leisang village in the state of Manipur. The village
was connected to the grid on Sunday. Electrification of all villages in India was one of the government's biggest
promises. Mr Modi thanked everyone involved in the electrification project. He tweeted: "April 28, 2018 will be
remembered as a historic day in the development journey of India....We fulfilled a commitment, due to which, the lives
of...Indians will be transformed forever. I am delighted that every single village of India now has access to electricity."

In 2015, PM Modi promised he would give 18,000 villages access to electricity for the first time. Mr Modi said a village is
electrified when it has the basic power lines and 10 per cent of houses and public places (including schools,
administrative offices and health centres) have power. While Mr Modi is happy with the progress made, many people
say there is a lot more work to be done. The World Bank says 200 million Indians still lack access to electricity. The "India
Today" newspaper found that many villages still lacked electricity. One villager told its reporters: "The darkness creates a
big problem for the village as it is frequented by elephants."

COMPREHENSION

1. On what day of the week did Narendra Modi make an announcement?

2. What was the final village connected to on Sunday?
3. What was one of the country's biggest promises?
4. What date did Narendra Modi say would be a historic one for India?
5. How was Narendra Modi feeling about the electrification?
6. How many villages did Mr Modi promise to give access to power to?
7. What basic things did Mr Modi say villages needed?
8. How many Indians did the World Bank say had no electricity?
9. Which newspaper wrote about the lack of access to electricity?
10. What did a villager say visited his village at night?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'electricity'?
2. How important is electricity?
3. Why has it taken India so long to give all villages electricity?
4. What would it be like to live in a remote village?
5. Does your government always keep its promises?
6. What historic days has your country had recently?
7. What has transformed your life?
8. Would you prefer to live in a village or in a city?
9. What are the bad things about electricity?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'village'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. What would we do without electricity?
13. How is electricity made?
14. Have you ever experienced a power cut?
15. What is the most useful electrical appliance?
16. What would you do if elephants frequently visited your neighbourhood?
17. What problems can darkness cause?
Best to learn a new language before age of 10
New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests that if people want to achieve native-like
proficiency in a new language, they should start learning that language before the age of ten. The researchers added
that children up to the age of 17 or 18 remain adept at learning grammar. There is bad news for those who want to pick
up a new language beyond their late teens. The researchers say this is past the "critical period" when language-learning
ability starts to decline. Researcher Joshua Hartshorne said: "As far as a child is concerned, it's quite easy to become
bilingual....That's when you're best at learning languages. It's not really something that you can make up later."

The research was based on an analysis of results from a 10-minute online grammar quiz. Over 670,000 language learners
of all ages participated in the test. Researchers measured the grammatical ability of people who started learning a
language at different points in their life. Professor Hartshorne focused on grammar rules that were most likely to
confuse a non-native speaker as a gauge of that person's proficiency. MIT researcher Josh Tenenbaum suggested people
simply might be too busy to learn a language later in life. He said: "After 17 or 18, you leave home, you work full time, or
you become a specialized university student. All of these might impact your learning rate for any language."

COMPREHENSION

1. What is the abbreviation of the university that conducted the research?

2. Until what age do children remain adept at learning grammar?
3. What kind of news did the researchers have for adults?
4. What kind of point did researchers describe?
5. For whom did researchers say it was easy to become bilingual?
6. How long was the grammar quiz that people took?
7. How many people took a grammar quiz?
8. What did the article say was likely to confuse non-native speakers?
9. What reason did a researcher give for adults not learning a language?
10. What might leaving home or starting work impact?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'language'?
2. What kind of language learner are you?
3. Would life be different if you spoke English fluently?
4. What do you think of language lessons in kindergartens?
5. What new language would you like to learn?
6. What is the best way to learn a language?
7. Why is it harder for older people to learn a language?
8. What are the benefits of being multilingual?
9. How difficult is your language to learn?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'learning'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. How happy are you with your level of English?
13. How useful are/were your English lessons?
14. How important is grammar?
15. What is the most important language skill?
16. What makes the perfect language lesson?
17. What kind of language teacher is the perfect teacher?
Singapore-Kuala Lumpur world's busiest air route
A new report by the air-travel intelligence company OAG says Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is the world's busiest
international air route. From March 2017 to the end of February 2018, exactly 30,537 flights flew between Singapore
and KL. There was an average of 84 flights every day - that's one flight every 17 minutes or so. The route is covered by
Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and a host of budget airlines. The flight time between Singapore and KL is just under
an hour. Asia has the top seven busiest international air routes, with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Osaka seeing
the busiest traffic. New York LaGuardia to Toronto, and Dubai to Kuwait were the busiest non-Asian routes.

OAG provided more statistics on how busy the skies were in the year to February 2018. The busiest route if you count
the number of passengers was Hong Kong to Taipei. More than 6.5 million passengers flew between these two cities.
Singapore-Jakarta was second, with 4.7 million; followed by Singapore-KL, with just over 4 million passengers. OAG also
reported on the busiest domestic routes. The world's busiest domestic air route is between Seoul and the South Korean
island of Jeju. In 2017, 65,000 flights covered the route, with almost 180 flights per day - one every seven-and-a-half
minutes. The only long-haul route in the top-20 list is New York JFK to London Heathrow, which has around 38 daily
flights.

COMPREHENSION

1. What kind of intelligence company is OAG?

2. How many flights went between KL and Singapore in a year?
3. What was there a whole host of flying between KL and Singapore?
4. How many of the top ten busiest routes are in Asia?
5. What was the Dubai route mentioned in the article?
6. What was the busiest route by passenger numbers?
7. How many passengers flew between Singapore and KL?
8. What is the world's busiest domestic route?
9. How often do flights fly between Seoul and Jeju?
10. How many flights are there between New York and London?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'air'?
2. What do you think of air travel?
3. What problems do busy air routes cause?
4. What are the good and bad things about airplanes?
5. How safe is air travel?
6. Why are routes in Asia the busiest?
7. What is the best form of transport?
8. What do you think of budget airlines?
9. What do you think of your national airline?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'route'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. What would the most dangerous air route be?
13. How can airlines cut the pollution they create?
14. What is the best airline in the world?
15. Do you prefer domestic or international flights?
16. Where would you like to fly to?
17. What will air travel be like in the future?
Number of Japanese children at record low
The number of children in Japan has fallen to its lowest number since records began. There were 170,000 fewer children
in Japan at the end of March 2018 than there were a year earlier. Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications issued a report on Friday showing the falling numbers of children. According to the statistics, the
number of children aged 14 or under dropped for the 37th consecutive year. There was another record fall in the ratio
of children to the overall Japanese population. This dropped to a new record low of 12.3 per cent and was the 44th year
of decline in a row. This ratio is the lowest among countries in the world with a population of 40 million or more.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to address the country's dwindling birth rate. He has introduced
several measures to encourage lower-income families to have bigger families. However, these measures seem to be
having little success. This is coupled with the fact that fewer Japanese people are getting married, which demographers
say is a "ticking time-bomb" for Japan. The number of annual births in 2016 fell below one million for the first time since
the government began collecting data in 1899. Japanese demographers predict that by 2050, Japan will have 23 per cent
fewer citizens. This means a rapidly aging society and a greatly diminishing workforce.

COMPREHENSION

1. How many fewer children were there in Japan in the year to March 2018?
2. What did Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issue?
3. How many years in a row has the number of children in Japan fallen?
4. What is the percentage of children to the whole Japanese population?
5. For how many years in a row has Japan's children-population ratio fallen?
6. What has Japan's leader been trying to address?
7. Who has Shinzo Abe been trying to get to have larger families?
8. What are fewer Japanese people doing?
9. When did the number of annual births in Japan first fall below a million?
10. What did the article say was "greatly diminishing"?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'children'?
2. How useful and important are children?
3. What problems are there with a falling birth rate?
4. What's the best number of children to have?
5. How can Japan's government increase the birth rate?
6. Is a shrinking population a good thing?
7. What more should governments do for children?
8. What things about children annoy you?
9. What was it like being a child?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'birth rate'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. How can a leader encourage couples to have more children?
13. What support does your government give to families?
14. Why do you think fewer Japanese people are getting married?
15. Why is a low birth rate a "ticking time-bomb"?
16. What things about children make you smile?
17. What problems does an ageing workforce create?
Carbon footprint of global tourism is huge
Climate scientists from the University of Sydney in Australia say tourism causes over 8 per cent of greenhouse gasses.
They also say that this figure will continue to increase because the tourism industry is growing. Their study looked at the
carbon footprint of many different areas of tourism. It studied the CO2 emissions from transport, events, hotels,
restaurants and shopping. It even researched the carbon emissions from producing souvenirs. The researchers spent 18
months conducting the research. They included the tourist activities of 189 countries. Researcher Dr Arunima Malik said
her team analyzed the impact on the environment of over one million businesses involved in tourism.

The researchers said domestic travel was a bigger cause of CO2 emissions than international or business travel. Air travel
was the largest part of tourism's footprint. The researchers said flying would continue to increase global emissions as
more people in the world become richer. The countries causing the most harm were the biggest and richest nations. The
USA, China, India and Germany had the largest tourism carbon footprints. Their carbon emissions will continue to
increase as more of their citizens travel. The researchers encouraged holiday-makers and travelers to try and reduce
their carbon footprint when on vacation so their travel causes less harm to the planet.

COMPREHENSION

1. Which university are the climate scientists from?

2. What is growing that will cause greenhouse gasses to increase?
3. What did researchers look at CO2 emissions from the production of?
4. How long did the research take?
5. How many businesses did researchers analyze?
6. What was a bigger cause of CO2 emissions than international travel?
7. What was the largest part of tourism's carbon footprint?
8. What did the article say more people in the world would become?
9. What did researchers encourage people to do?
10. What do researchers want less harm done to?

DISCUSSION

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'carbon'?
2. What do you know about greenhouse gasses?
3. What is your country's carbon footprint like?
4. What are the good things about tourism?
5. Which areas of tourism create the most emissions?
6. How bad is tourism for the environment?
7. What can we do to reduce CO2 emissions?
8. What do you know about eco-tourism?
9. How worried are you about your carbon footprint?
10. What do you think of when you hear the word 'footprint'?
11. What do you think about what you read?
12. Do you prefer domestic or international travel?
13. What are the bad things about tourism?
14. Should we try and limit the number of flights?
15. What area of tourism most harms the planet?
16. Should we go camping more to help the planet?
17. Should people travel less?