Learning Nugget October 2021
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but in 2021, trees are money Lumber used in construction, toilet paper, printing paper – you may have noticed that they’re currently all more expensive than you’re used to. This is because wood prices have gone way up in 2021. During the summer, they rose over 80% compared to the […]
Learning Nugget September 2021
A true pub quiz: Beer Munich’s Oktoberfest and the many smaller Oktoberfest celebrations that happen across Germany won’t take place in 2021, but there are sure to be plenty of people wishing the festivities could go on. Though there won’t be any large public parties, we wanted to pay an homage to the world-famous German festival. So, below we pose questions related to beer and […]
Learning Nugget July 2021
What’s not to like about Likes? The ability to Like something online hasn’t been around much more than a decade, but during that time it’s become an everyday aspect of many people’s lives. We Like photos of friends and family, YouTube videos, news articles, and plenty more. What’s interesting is that every time we do that, we’re participating in a system […]
Learning Nugget June 2021
Birder brained Most people are aware that birding – an activity where a person or group observes and identifies birds out of scientific and/or personal interest – is a hobby for some. Maybe you even own a pair of binoculars and a bird identification book yourself. But many don’t know exactly how big the hobby […]
Learning Nugget May 2021
The weird world of U.S. healthcare There are a lot of reasons the U.S. stands out in the world, like its giant economy or the wide popularity of its music, films, and television. One other way the U.S. is different from other high-income countries (most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) is how its healthcare system works. In the […]
Learning Nugget April 2021
Canals you haven’t heard about lately If you pay any attention to the news, you likely heard something about the big problem in the Suez Canal a few weeks ago. The Taiwanese ship the Ever Given ran aground and blocked the canal for six days. The reason this was so important is that the Suez Canal is by far […]
Learning Nugget March 2021
What is the Great Green Wall of Africa? The Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, Victoria Falls: these are some of the natural wonders of the world. In 2007, the African Union announced a plan to create a new one called the Great Green Wall. The idea behind the wall is to battle desertification by planting a network of […]
Learning Nugget February 2021
Coaching: In search of a change For most of the 20th century, the word “coach” usually meant one of two things: a horse-drawn carriage or a person who helps athletes improve. But in the 1980s and 90s the idea of a “life coach” emerged, and that profession is now what many non-native English speakers first think of when they hear “coach.” […]
Learning Nugget January 2021
Get paid to take an education vacation Did you know that in most of Germany there’s a law allowing workers to take extra paid days off beyond their normal amount of vacation? And, no, we’re not referring to new relief measures related to the pandemic. In some states, this law has been around for over 40 years. In U.S. English, you could call it an “education vacation” […]
Learning Nugget December 2020
Don’t let your gifts this year be “giftig” Even if there are no big parties to attend or Christmas markets to visit this year, there’s still one holiday tradition many of us will take part in: exchanging gifts. And with fewer distractions from the gloom of the long nights, picking just the right gift for a loved one might seem […]