Can you improve your English by playing board games? Why not? #trivialchallenge

I'm sure all of you have played Trivial Pursuit at sometime, the game all depends on your level of general knowledge but in this case just asking and trying to answer those questions can be a great way to boost your English knowledge.

Take a chance at #trivialchallenge

Look at the following questions, one per each category of the well-loved board game. 

The first person who can correctly write the six answers in the comments below or on LinkedIn will be entitled to a free 30 minute skype/telephone lesson OR a novel in English (according to your level). 

The challenge will run from today 24/02/19 - 03/03/19, so any answers after 03/03/19 won't be valid. 

Good luck!!!

1st Category - GEOGRAPHY

2nd Category - ENTERTAINMENT

3rd Category - HISTORY

4th Category - ART & LITERATURE

5th Category - SCIENCE & NATURE

6th Category - SPORT & LEISURE

Effective Presentation Openings in English - Part 1

When you attend a presentation as a viewer you realize that it needs to catch your attention right from the start to make it interesting enough to carry on listening. So what we're going to look at is how to make your opening catchy.

One way to make your presentation catchy is to use a problem scenario (related to the topic) to get the audience engaged from the very first minute.

Here are some question examples that would get people participating:-

What would you do if you went to a meeting and discovered you had forgotten your notes / powerpoint presentation / laptop, etc?

How many people here this morning / afternoon / evening have had an unpleasant colleague at work? If so, how did you deal with him or her?

Suppose you had to present a product and when you had to give a demonstration, the product wouldn't work, what would you do?

Can you think of other similar examples that are relevant to your sector / speciality?
Feel free to leave them in the comments!!!

Storytelling

Have you ever had to improvise at a meeting, while giving a presentation or to entertain visitors?

This is something that is a walk in the park in your native language but how about in English?

Perhaps you have your own repertoire of tried and tested anecdotes or stories but let's imagine you have to improvise.

First of all, we will need some connectors, such as:-

• AT FIRST
• IN THE END
• JUST THEN
• HOWEVER
• WHEN
• SUDDENLY
• BECAUSE OF THIS
• EVENTUALLY
• IN ORDER TO
• BUT SOON
• SO 
• LATER
• FINALLY

So let's put this into practice, take a look at the photo below and try to tell an imaginary story/ancedote using the pictures on the dice and at least five of these connectors.

Now think about if your story has:-

1. An introduction
2. Background (context)
3. A problem or main event
4. The resolution or continuation
5. A final comment or conclusion

Feel free to leave your stories or anecdotes in the comments below!