Level One

• Unit 1: Are You Good Looking?
• Unit 2: Comic Books
• Unit 3: Heroes
• Unit 4: Making Movies
• Unit 5: Advertising
• Unit 6: What's for Dessert?
• Unit 7: Big Adventures
• Unit 8: Is That Music?
• Unit 9: Women's Rights
• Unit 10: Extreme Sports
• Unit 11: Changing Communication
• Unit 12: First Dates

Unit 2: Comic Books

There are hundreds of popular comic strips in English on the WWW. Reading them is a great way to improve your English. You should choose a comic to read and try to understand the story. However, comics can be difficult to understand when they use common English idioms. Alternatively, it can also be fun to make your own comic. If you want to learn more about drawing comics, look at an online tutorial. The tutorial teaches you how to draw people and animals from basic shapes, as well as other tips to bring your illustrations to life.

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Unit 3: Heroes

The Time magazine list of 100 heroes includes biographical information about the lives of famous heroes in society. However, not all heroes are well known. Heroes can also be ordinary people who do extraordinary things. The website myhero.com lists both famous and not-so-famous heroes.

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Unit 4: Making Movies

Charlie Chaplin had a long and varied career. In fact, he was one of the first filmmakers, although most people only think of him as an actor. His accomplishments include acting in ninety films, directing seventy-six films and writing sixty-one films. Chaplin was also a film editor, producer, composer and member of the film crew. Movies have changed a lot since Chaplin's day, including the use of computer animation and special effects. Pixar is the home of computer-animated movies like Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. Pixar has an interesting website that shows how they make computer-animated movies. Also, George Lucas' special effects studio, Industrial Light & Magic, has a good website that shows examples of their work in famous movies, including the Star Wars series.

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Unit 5: Advertising

Advertisements are all around us; they are in magazines, on the radio, on the sides of buses, on TV and even on our clothes! Some advertisements use humor to make us want to buy their products; others, however, are just irritating. As a consumer, it is good to know the techniques that advertisers use to get our attention and try convince us to buy their goods and services.

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Unit 6: What's for Dessert?

Unit 6 introduces the topic of desserts, talks about their history and provides a recipe for tiramisu, a famous Italian dessert. Have you ever wondered how long your favorite foods have existed? Check out The Food Timeline. Click on some of the foods to find out more. If you are more interested in desserts, there are countless recipes available on the WWW.

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Unit 7: Big Adventures

Outward Bound is an organization that offers courses which develop skills like leadership and teamwork through outdoor activities such as rock climbing. Outward Bound operates in many countries around the world. Courses like these have become popular recently. Wildrift Adventures is a company that offers similar courses for business people.

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Unit 8: Is That Music?

If you are interested in music, the Internet Public Library's Music History 102 has information about music throughout history. It also has sound files of different examples of music. Another fun website is How Stuff Works. It has a great lesson about guitars.

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Unit 9: Women's Rights

In some societies, women are treated differently than men; for example, women may be paid less than their male colleagues, or are not allowed to vote in local or national elections. However, this is changing. Organizations like the American Federation of Labor promote equality in the workplace for working women. This evolution of women's rights is part of the larger civil rights movement, which promotes equality for people of different races and religions.

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Unit 10: Extreme Sports

Extreme sports push people to their physical and mental limits. One new extreme sport is extreme ironing: a sport that combines activities like rock climbing, diving or marathon running with ironing! Other examples of extreme sports are less unusual than this. Common examples include climbing and skateboarding.

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Unit 11: Changing Communication

A fascinating character to learn about is the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, the father of the telephone. However, much has changed in communication since Bell's time. A recent communication development is Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. This was once only used by planes and ships, but now GPS is available in some cell phones. To learn more about GPS, watch this presentation.

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Unit 12: First Dates

What type of person are you? Are you a leader? Do you like meeting new people? Personality tests may help you answer these questions scientifically. There are many personality tests on the WWW. Try one and discover what type of person you are. The type of personality you have influences the type of people you like. If you go on a blind date, you usually feel anxious because you do not know if you will like the other person or if they will like you! To find a suitable partner for a blind date, answer this online survey and see who your lucky partner is.

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