International Students NZ

Today’s picture: Intrinsically good hospitality from Saudi students, Massey University Albany, International Cultural Fair, May 2009

Part 1: Today's word

An intrinsic part or quality of something is an essential feature – it belongs to the thing itself . It cannot be added or taken away. So, if something is intrinsically good, it means that it’s good in itself, not just because it has good effects on something else. For instance, according to one view of ethics (the universalist or deontological view ),actions are intrinsically good or bad. Another view (a consequentialist or teleological view), goodness isn’t intrinsic to actions themselves, so you can only evaluate actions in context and their goodness or badness depends on the consequences they have on other people.

Click here for interactive exercises on academic vocabulary and writing.

Part 2: Test

Here are FOUR sentences with the word of the day. But only THREE are correct. Which is the Odd One Out?

It has been argued that a commitment to sustainability is intrinsic to organizational success.

It is unsurprising that participation in the training programme was limited, as the employees viewed it as having little intrinsic value.

Our research focused mainly on the intrinsic environment of the club, since our resources were not sufficient to investigate the wider social setting.

The firm wrongly believed that by focusing on the intrinsic quality of the product itself, a market would somehow emerge of its own accord.

Part 3: Practice Questions:

What intrinsic qualities do you bring to your subject?

Is it possible to say that any actions are intrinsically wrong?

Part 4: The Phrasal Test - Part 6

1) The scientists had to s _______ a _______ their personal interests in order to work effectively as a team.
2) Though the course was difficult, I was determined to s ______ it t ______ in order to qualify.
3) The loss of data s ______ the project b ______ by several months.
4) In ‘The Origin of Species’, Charles Darwin s _______ o _______ to explain how evolution is the result of natural selection.
5) I s _______ t _______ several articles on the subject to get a general idea about current thinking.
6) The university has s ______ o _______ their profitable English language teaching division, which from now on will have a separate management and marketing structure.
7) What really s ______ o _____ from her research was the thoroughness with which she checked every detail.
8) Physicists were t _______ a _______ to discover that, according to their research, the rocks were older than the supposed age of the universe.

Part 5: Kiwi Quiz Question

“English Language Partners” is an organisation which offers migrants to New Zealand individual help with English language in their own homes. How much do migrants pay for this service?

For more information, click here

Part 6: Today's online listening:

This is an interview from Radio New Zealand with Philippe Legrain, a British expert on migration, who is visiting New Zealand and has given presentations at the English Partners National Conference and here at Massey University

Vocabulary for the article:

a prerequisite
hostile
to mediate
homogenous
a fallacy
xenophobia
a backlash
a misconception
a zero-sum game

Questions for the article:

1) Philippe Legrain argues that his own ethnic diversity ....

is a prerequisite for understanding other cultures
is not immediately obvious
gives him a deeper insight into the refugee experience
was the basis for his academic success

2) Philippe Legrain argues that higher productivity is associated with ...

economies in developing countries with uniform cultures
developing countries with separate ethnic groups
knowledge-based and culturally-diverse economies
technological innovation by highly-educated experts

3) Philippe Legrain argues that diversity is essential for teams to produce ..

consensus
groupthink
innovation
interaction

4) Philippe Legrain argues that increasing diversity in the workforce is particularly important for New Zealand companies now because of ...

legal requirements
Treaty principles
economic recession
globalisation

5) Philippe Legrain concedes that societies which are not diverse can achieve economic progress if ...

their economies are based on well-established technological industries
their governments invest in precision engineering
their climate discourages emigration
their legislative framework protects the interests of minority groups

6) Philippe Legrain uses the examples of Barack Obama and Sergei Brin to argue that ...

a more effective points based system is needed
it’s impossible to predict immigrants’ future contributions to society
the United States has much to learn from New Zealand and Australian practices
immigrants are needed to fill gaps in key technological skills

7) Philippe Legrain points out that one major economic benefit to developing countries (such as Samoa) from migration of their citizens to developed countries (such as New Zealand) is ...

overseas aid
remittances
liberalisation
trade

8) Philippe Legrain cites the case of Polish migration to the UK in support of ...

less control of migration
tighter visa regulation
spread of technology
cross-cultural training

9) Philippe Legrain believes that demographic changes in developed economies will lead to ...

the growth in environmental refugees
increasing incentives to migrate
the need to protect domestic industries
more positive attitudes to immigration

Today’s musical suggestion: from Scotland
Letter from America by The Proclaimers
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